Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 46 Entries. Sunday, March 1 View Page Hi Everyone! First of all I've been watching this site for a few years now and have every single one of you to blame for my recent obscession! Last year was the first time I have had a garden of my own to grow giant pumpkins so was very pleased with my 132 and 139 efforts. Though this year I am hopefully going to beat that. This photo is of last years patch. Moved in shortly before the pumpkin season so could only manage bare minimum soil prep. I could only manage 300ft2 for both plants.   Wednesday, April 1 View Page After a wet summer the previous year, I decided that I would like to try the polytunnel approach. Had to compromise by growing other veg and 2 grapevines in order to convince the other half, but its all good! Managed to get a 24ft x 16ft poly. I specified aluminium base rails so that the secondaries can grow under and out of the poly. So in theory 384ft2 inside the poly and a further 168ft2 outside. Well it could go further but once outside the boundaries of the veg patch my big black bear of a dog will think its fair game!   Thursday, April 2 View Page Inside the completed poly. Though I didnt want to really put a path in, it makes it easier for access to the other veg.   Tuesday, April 21 View Page As I was working most evenings and weekends trying to get the poly up this year I didnt realise people it was time to start the seed! lol. So several weeks behind where I could have been. Anyway I must give a big thankyou to those who gave me seed for this season. Thankyou to Ian & Stuart Paton, David Thomas and Mark Raymont. For the first year in the poly I selected the 1188 Paton, 462 Thomas, 936 Raymont, 830 Raymont, 1289 Holland and 1161 Holland. I only plan on growing 2 plants but as there is a family competition the remaining plants will not go to waste.   Friday, May 1 View Page All seed germinated but sadly the 1188 Paton on the far left damaged itself on emerging from the seed so seems to be stunted from the rest. I will keep it going to see whether it pulls back with the others.   Friday, May 8 View Page As a christmas gift I was given some four leaf clover bulbs, so I thought I would grow them along side the pumpkins for good luck!   Thursday, May 14 View Page As you can see the 1188 Paton is still lagging and very stunted so he gets priority over the lucky charm.   Wednesday, May 27 View Page The main runner for the prime location ended up being the 936 Raymonts. This is the 2nd 936 as I have to admit that I had a school boy error!!!!! Planted the plant really carefully, not disturbing the roots and all. Gently backfilled and loosen any compression. Then I stand back to admire.........I've gone and planted the vine the wrong direction!!!!!!! Instead of a 22 ft open bed hes heading for a polytunnel wall 2ft away! Luckily I had the 2nd plant because the first just crumbled up when i tried to move it. Oh the shame!!!!   Wednesday, May 27 View Page In the end the 936 Raymont has been given the prime spot. The 830 Raymont to be grown along side it and the 1289 Holland to be grown outside in a small patch. The 462 Thomas was given to my Grandad. My Dad took the 1161 Holland. Sadly the 1188 Paton didnt recover. Thankyou for the oppertunity though Ian & Stuart.   Friday, June 19 View Page 936 Raymont growing nicely. The bamboo canes make 2 days worth of growth at each spacing. At the moment it is putting 6inches on a day. Cant get over how big the leaves are. Didnt get anything like that last year!   Thursday, June 25 View Page These leaves are awesome. This 6th leaf is measuring 24inches long by 24inches wide.   Thursday, June 25 View Page The vine has changed gear and is now putting on 8inches a day. Vine total length is just under 9ft.   Friday, June 26 View Page The first female is just appearing at the tip just over 9ft out on the main.   Thursday, July 2 View Page I cant believe the rate of growth. Didnt get anything like this last year. The main vine put 12inches on in the last 24 hours. I had heard that this was a vigorous plant. I believe it now. First pumpkin at 9 1/2ft should be pollinated tommorrow morning. I have a 2nd appearing at 13 1/2ft on the main. I have decided to train the 830 Raymont on the right to just a main vine hugging the far right. The 936 can have everything else. Its already out under the poly with no probs. The only problem is what to do with my other veggies that are in the path of the 936! Its rushed on faster than I anticipated. My carrots arnt ready yet! lol   Friday, July 3 View Page First female on the 936 Raymont was pollinated with the 1289Holland first thing this morning.   Friday, August 7 View Page As you can see quite a jungle in my 24 x 16 poly. Next year I'll definately only grow the one. Some Mission Impossible aerial acrobatics could have probably been useful. No compaction, easily pick those hard to reach flowers. But alas, I would probably be found suspended in a tangled mess!   Saturday, August 29 View Page Well since my last post I've had a bit of a disaster! Well, the day I decided to chose my keeper I chopped halfway through the stem of my 2nd choice pumpkin with the intention of going fully through the following day. The next day I awake to find a hole in my 1st and left with a half strength 2nd choice! So assuming my season had finished early, I decided to patch the big pumpkin up with caulking and see how far I could keep it going for a pb. The hole appeared at 160lb and has been constantly patched up for 27 days now and still growing. At present it is taping at 534lb. I decided to keep the 2nd pumpkin as I thought the 1st would just rot very quickly. The 2nd is weighing in at 239lb. Well, it doesnt matter now what happens as Im happy to just beat the 139lbs that I grew last year.   Sunday, September 6 View Page Whilst taking some measurements I spotted a smurf! Not everyday you see one of those in the patch, but I didnt want to disturb it as it was only intersted in pulling the weeds.   Saturday, September 12 View Page Here is the 936 Raymont with both pumpkins only 6ft apart on main vine. The largest of the 2 is estimated at 591lbs and the smaller is 313lbs. Both pumpkins seem to be slowing right up now. This last month has been hectic at work so I havnt been able to pay it as much attention as I would have liked ie feeding and watering, but chuffed none the less.   Friday, October 2 View Page Well the AG is going to be lifted the weekend of the 10th so I'll report back after the event as to whether the Pumpkin decided to behave or decided to create a crater in roof of my garage! Grew some small 'Spellbound' pumpkins aswell this year for eating and carving so tried extreme carving. This is my 2nd ever carving. Will have to have a go at this on the AGs   Friday, October 9 View Page Well its the day before I weigh the pair. Currently estimating at 623lb and 333lb. Guess we shall see tomo. Would love the both combined to go over 1000lb, but think thats wishfull thinking. You can see the cut through the stem on the pumpkin in the background where I almost cut it off the day before I discovered the hole in the larger one! Well fingers crossed for tomo. Im still surprised that after 68 days there are still no soft spots or decay around the patched pin hole in the pumpkin wall. Is it possible it healed itself up behind the caulking??!   Friday, October 9 View Page A close up of the stem where I almost chopped the stem off the day before a pin hole appeared on the larger pumpkin.   Saturday, October 10 View Page The morning of the 'Lift'. 'The Mission'- Lift an estimated 623lb pumpkin on foot from the poly to the back of the garage, then lift over the garage with machinery provided by the local farmer. Success or fail? We shall see. Now, I know what people will be saying - "Why on earth did you grow a giant pumpkin in your backgarden when you can't even get it out of your garden on foot/wheel?" To be honest I didn't think I would even be able to grow a pumpkin as big as this. It measured 39 inches wide which was 3 inches too wide for the side gate! In the pic most of the leaves have been cleared from the poly ready for the team of friends and family to arrive.   Saturday, October 10 View Page If we combined all of the lifting teams experience at lifting it would be zero except for the info I have found out here on BP.com. With that in mind we thought it best to practice on the smaller pumpkin.   Saturday, October 10 View Page As its not everyday people get to do something like this there were lots of laughs to be had. People really got stuck in.   Saturday, October 10 View Page 'Touch down'- the est. 333lb went like a dream so now for the est. 623lb   Saturday, October 10 View Page The shoulders on this fella feel really solid. So we lifted the lighter blossom end up first to slip the tarp under. I'm the first to admit I'm not hot on all the genetics side of things ie. whats good and whats not, but I'm learning. I guess I was hoping some of the 20% heavy from Mark's 936 Raymont would be passed down! hehe. The shoulders gave me some hope.   Saturday, October 10 View Page "Squeeze in everyone" The tunnel actually came with double wide doors so I'm gutted that I didnt use the other one now. May have to add it back on for next year incase I do actually grow a wider one. Failing that the aluminium rails can be lifted up and put back down if needs be. Saves re-trenching and re-sheeting the poly.   Saturday, October 10 View Page With the extra weight everyone gets stuck in and the pumpkin is on its way. Some people had problems getting down to help out but those that managed to get down were a huge help and we couldnt have done it without you so a big thankyou to all of you!   Saturday, October 10 View Page Once again touch down and now ready for the pumpkin to take to the sky.   Saturday, October 10 View Page If I hadn't met Rob the local farmer whilst doing some tiling for him this next part would never have been able to take place. Using the tele handler we were going to send the pumpkin over the garage as the side gate was too narrow.   Saturday, October 10 View Page Strapping him in for take off   Saturday, October 10 View Page At this point actually dawns on me what I asked people to do,lol. Suspend a 623lb pumpkin above my garage! If I wasn't worried before I'm worried now!   Saturday, October 10 View Page 'Ping' enough said!   Saturday, October 10 View Page Only joking! The pumpkin touched down safely which was a huge relief. I suppose if it had fallen through the garage I would have had an excuse for why the garage was a mess!   Saturday, October 10 View Page Once the tarp and straps substracted I was chuffed to find it go 8% heavy to become 675lb.   Saturday, October 10 View Page Me and the 675 McMinnis. I didnt realise my hand was on the pumpkin for this pic. lol. No one else noticed either. Nevermind. Only added an extra kg to the scales   Saturday, October 10 View Page Loaded onto a pallet and ready for the van.   Saturday, October 10 View Page Again, another contact made through my tiling was Barton Grange Garden Centre. I tiled their till desks and work stations about a year ago and seemed very interested in displaying the pumpkin for me. So, they provided the transport to get it on the road. Dont think my berlingo light van would have managed!   Saturday, October 10 View Page Loaded onto the van and just about ready to go   Saturday, October 10 View Page Well, the 'mission was a success'. Even though the pumpkin had a small hole in it I truly had an enjoyable season. Thankyou to everyone who helped me out on the lifting day. A special thanks again to those that sent me seed and lent me their advice. Thanks especially to Mark for this seed in particular. I still have to weigh the est.333lb pumpkin, but with the larger pumpkin going heavy and hitting 675lb, the secondary goal of 1000lb combined weight could be a achievable. I'll find out later when I try to carve it into a witch.   Sunday, November 1 View Page Well I carved the smaller of my 2 pumpkins this weekend. I will post a pic of the completed article after the closing date of the carving competition. The pumpkin had a seed count of 450. Lovely large seeds compared to what I grew last year. Average length of seed was 30mm but I suppose this shrinks once dry. On Halloween night the pumpkin with carving went on loan to a family/friends Halloween party for display. Then Sunday morning I chopped it all up to weigh on the bathroom scales. Having already weighed all the carved flesh the total weight of the est.333 turned out to be an UOW of 354.6lb. 6.5% heavy. So, the 675 and 354.6 grown on the 936Raymont came to a total of 1029.6lb.   Sunday, November 1 View Page After finishing the carving I lifted the ply that the 675 had been growing on. A little mouse home! They obviously didnt like the sand that the pumpkin was growing on.   Tuesday, November 3 View Page Heres the 354.6McMinnis with a makeover. Finished the witch carving on saturday and is now entered into a competition. Hopefully it looks like a witch. Im only in the pic as the rules state I have to be in the pic, lol.   Friday, November 6 View Page Just found out I've WON the 'Wychwood Brewery 5th National ‘Art of Pumpkin Carving’ Competition 2009'!!!!!!!!!.................. OMG!!!!!! http://www.wychwood.com/competition_pumpkin_2009.htm All that time spent carving paid off - lol   Wednesday, November 11 View Page The wychwood brewery have updated their website now with my mug shot and winning pumpkin carvings. http://www.wychwood.com/competition_pumpkin_2009.htm Totally over the moon!