Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 314 Entries. Friday, January 1 View Page Happy New year!!   Sunday, January 31 View Page Spent the day at the 27th Annual Lowcountry Oyster Festival. :)   Sunday, February 7 View Page Checked out the patch today. Soil is looking very good. Even the worm population has increased, and drammaticly at that. As soon as the nights get a bit warmer its time to start working the soil again. Cant wait...   Friday, February 12 View Page Lookie Lookie what is this I see....SNOW in the good old state of SC. This is just the start, suppose to snow all evening. Last snow here in this area was four years ago. :)   Friday, February 12 View Page Its been snowing now for an hour now..... :)   Friday, February 12 View Page Heather making a snowangel....Psssttt..I made one too..LOL   Saturday, February 13 View Page Alright,,,a couple more snow pictures,,,   Saturday, February 13 View Page purdy....   Saturday, February 13 View Page Heathers first snowman ever!!! ( she 9, thats how special snow is here)   Sunday, February 14 View Page Its winter time, so time for some playing around. After germing a seed we took some leaf tissue,,,,here a stomata in close up. Amazing how 1000 plus pound fruit grow due to tiny openings like these in the leaf.   Sunday, February 14 View Page The nutrient highway within the leaf. close up of a vein.   Sunday, February 14 View Page The tiny hair on a pumpkinleaf thrue a microscope.   Sunday, February 14 View Page And when checking out the little roots of the plant,,one of these guys popped up.....mr nematode.   Sunday, February 21 View Page Time to get 2010 season started. With a day in the upper 60s theres nothing else you can do.   Sunday, February 21 View Page First additive for the soil. Bio char...to up our carbon levels.   Sunday, February 21 View Page Then work the upper 5 inches and thats it for right now. Next months we will go on. Soil looks nice but needs a bit more time to get in top shape. With the temps rising,,the little soil critters wil start working harder. We will feed em, and let them do their thing.   Sunday, February 21 View Page And yes,,we need new fencing.   Saturday, March 20 View Page A good way to start off the first day of Spring by getting a new PB...... Since the second week in Jan.(2 months) I have lost 25 pounds as of today.....Yaaaa Me... :)   Thursday, March 25 View Page Alright time for some spring adjustments..here is some stuff....   Thursday, March 25 View Page Some meals....   Thursday, March 25 View Page Then i thought i was gonna try a " no till" regiment and grabbed a shovel and after 40 minutes i had this done...   Thursday, March 25 View Page Then i grabbed the tiller and in about 5 minutes i had this part done.....   Thursday, March 25 View Page So i came to my senses and decided that a no till regiment wasnt gonna work for me. Reduced tilling...yea,,,No tilling,,,,dont think so. And so i finished the patch mixing in the ammendments. We will finish this proces in the month to come.   Thursday, March 25 View Page And let me add this: i know the good thing about covercrops and their advantages over a naked patch. But...that rey,,,what a pain in the....really!!   Thursday, March 25 View Page When i say rey, i really mean rye..but you probably figured that out already.....   Friday, April 16 View Page Just got back from Vacation so will share some pictures... First off we visted two diff. memorials to our WWII Vets.   Friday, April 16 View Page Each cross represents a fallen soldier. This was just the right side of the grounds. Left side had just as many. A kind of sad feeling when you are standing there and looking out at all of them at one time. Each grave has been adopted by families from there and on certain days they put out flags and flowers on them.   Friday, April 16 View Page They also have a wall on the grounds that has the names of all thoes whom died and that are burried on the grounds. Decided we should lay down some flowers too while we were there.   Friday, April 16 View Page They also have there each state that is represented in the fallen....Here is South Carolina's....   Friday, April 16 View Page Here is a letter from President Eisenhower.....   Friday, April 16 View Page The purple heart is awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving.   Friday, April 16 View Page Old WWII bunker near Franks home town. It is in a forest that we went and walked around one day.   Friday, April 16 View Page Here is the Name of Franks home town.....   Friday, April 16 View Page Breathtaking views everywhere....Alot of country side to see. Alot of farm land and little towns in between.   Friday, April 16 View Page MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man look how green that grass is. It is cold there but the soil is so rich so grass is realllyyyy green. Wish we had some of that soil here to grow in.   Friday, April 16 View Page Another thing I wish we had over here....MMMMMMMMM...makes my mouth water looking at it....   Friday, April 16 View Page Ok a bit of siteseeing....a local Windmill...   Friday, April 16 View Page Family Pic...   Friday, April 16 View Page Seen alot of old churches. Some going back to the 16th centry. Here is a pic of one of the windows...   Friday, April 16 View Page Heather lighting a candle...Our little Angel....   Friday, April 16 View Page Jos sharing his great wisdom to us....To bad I could not understand what he was saying or I would have taken notes..lol..   Friday, April 16 View Page Was cool to meet Jos. He made our visit a very welcome one. Showed us around and then took us back to his home for a drink. Thanks again Jos for showing us your patch.   Friday, April 16 View Page Well I would post all the pics but we took 395 of them. LOL.. So here is the last pic. This was the flight home from Chicago...We just made it out of Europe, if we would have been only an hour later we would have been stuck. The Volcano in Iceland grounded all flights out of Europe, so was a close call for us. :)   Saturday, April 17 View Page Our growing has begun....Wishing everyone good luck this season....   Saturday, April 17 View Page And here this years shot at mater glory. Tomato patch has been prepped better then ever before but we will have to see. Newbies at giant tomatoes, but motivated.   Sunday, April 18 View Page Went to the patch and put some peatmoss down. Our soil turned out more then neutral and so to acidify we used cottonseed meal and peat moss instead of sulfur. I like the benifits both of them have. Also sprayed for weeds around the patch. Last years abundent squash bugs made us decide to make weeding a priority this year. All hiding places for bugs wil be eliminated. The patch itself is dry after two rainless weeks but looking good. Some kelpmeal and humic acid and its a done deal. After that is time to grow,,somewhere in may.   Sunday, April 18 View Page This is the patch right now. After two weeks of almost no rain it kinda like a dessert. Aleast on top that is. Use the day to inventory all pesticides and fungicides and was happy to find that we dont have buy a lot this year.   Sunday, April 18 View Page Theres somebody that lives at our patch. He is a cool and laid back guy, who produces good stuff for our patch. We went today to harvest that stuff. But first......   Sunday, April 18 View Page meet Nipper.   Sunday, April 18 View Page We collected Nippers stinky patch gold into a pile   Sunday, April 18 View Page Layered the gold with hay that had a distinct " urea " smell.   Sunday, April 18 View Page And after two hours a 15 foot long 4 foot high pile of Horse kaka. Our investment in fall.   Sunday, April 18 View Page Thank you Nipper!!   Tuesday, April 20 View Page Isn't she Purdy...... I got so tickled after picking up our new addition, I could not stop smiling. Seeing how I have become the patch Spray Queen, this is gonna make my(our) life in the patch alot easier. :) Now all I have to do is just practice with her so I dont overdue it and blow the plant away with all that power she has.....LOL...   Sunday, April 25 View Page Melon season begins today for us. Three of our 155's annd two 259 Kents are soaking.   Sunday, April 25 View Page Test run for our new equipment. Tinas Happy!!   Sunday, April 25 View Page Spent some time at the patch today. Ironite, some grub killer, and molasses for the patch. Manure pile we mad last week is steaming and wil be turned either the next week or the week after. Things are starting to come togheter.   Tuesday, April 27 View Page Checked Melons...All three of our 155.5 Finders popped open in two days. :)   Tuesday, April 27 View Page Here are our Giant Sunflower and one of the 7.18 Harp Tomato seedlings getting some extra light. :)   Tuesday, April 27 View Page Pic of our germing chamber. Staying at 85 degrees..... :)   Saturday, May 1 View Page Let The Fun Begin for 2010!!!!!!   Sunday, May 2 View Page May 2 and 95f at the patch. If this is a sign of whats to come then its gonna be a record breaker summer this year. Today we spread kelp meal and put up the wind fense. Also turned our manure pile, wich is come along nicely, very hot and ashes inside. Turned it and watered it down, then coverd with hay thats the horsy peed on. lol. Now its time for a shower and a cold one.   Sunday, May 2 View Page Germination in 21 hours on our 1164. Nothing like a good start!   Tuesday, May 4 View Page Did some more transplanting today. Here is a pic of the Giant Sunflower at a week old.   Tuesday, May 4 View Page Melons are growing nicely. Here is our 155.5 Finders at a week old. Also a note that the root structure on the 259.2 Kent melons are very nice looking. :)   Tuesday, May 4 View Page At 55 hours the 985 Werner has germed. :)   Wednesday, May 5 View Page I just love flowers. Here is my new balcony Hibiscus flower that opened up today... :)   Sunday, May 9 View Page And here we go.... We are gonna plant back to back this season. On the left is the 985 Werner(BackUp-1164 Finders) and to the right is our 1164 Finders. Making use of our shade cloth since we dont have the need for hoops just a need for protection. :)   Sunday, May 9 View Page Since it is Mothers Day..here is a close up of our offspring from last year..1164 Finders -1041.5 Mckie X 1255 VanKooten... :)   Sunday, May 9 View Page Melons went in today too. Our 155.5 and here is the 259.2 Kent. :)   Sunday, May 9 View Page And since we were in the patch anyway,,,we set up our misters to. And not to early,,with the little rain we get,,we water not just the plant, but we also try to keep the soil critters active, by not letting it dry out. 7 hours in the patch today,,time for a cocktail....   Tuesday, May 11 View Page Put up some extra wind protection for the babies. Also set the timers for the watering system. And this season priorty is weeding, so did a bit of that too.... :) Its good to be back in the patch again....   Sunday, May 16 View Page Here is our Secret Plant. From now on it will only be called Plant #3... :)   Sunday, May 16 View Page It got to 93 degrees today in the patch. Here is our patch AC unit... :)   Sunday, May 16 View Page Here is the 259.2 Kents Melon, it is working on its second and third leaves...   Sunday, May 16 View Page Getten them weeds out of there..... :)   Sunday, May 16 View Page This year we are gonna try both, Misters and Shade Covering. Heat is our friend and our enemy here so stepping up the defense a bit to try and get our fruit to last past 67 days this season.... :)   Wednesday, May 19 View Page GOT ONE!!! Love these little Bag O Bug catchers. It is hard to see in the pic but that black spot is a Japanese Beetle. Used them last year and had great success with them. :)   Wednesday, May 19 View Page Man that hurts everytime. Culled two today so left inside the Circus Tent, in Ring #1 is the 1,164 Finders and in Ring #2 is the 985 Werner. After only a week and a half in the patch both are working on their 5th and 6th leaves. Plant #3 which is a week behind is working on its 3rd leaf. :)   Thursday, May 20 View Page Close up of Plant #3, working on its third leaf. Yesterday I fed the babies some seaweed and fish. Today sprayed them with a mild solution of Neem Oil. Also sprayed around them with Garlic barrier. First leaf on our 1164 is now at 10 inches on day 11 in the patch. :)   Friday, May 21 View Page Gonna use the diary more this season to make little notes so we can keep track of stuff. Day 12 in the patch, our 1164 is working on its first tendrial on the left side. :)   Saturday, May 22 View Page Like Mr. Norm I spent some three hours with My Old Hoe(old one works just as good dont need to send off for a new one in the mail)today in the patch. I like to give her a more respectable name, My Patch Friend cause she helps get them darn weeds out. Tomorrow Frank will get to use her. :)   Thursday, May 27 View Page Day 19 in the patch..... Did a compost tea drench tonight and a light spray on the leaves. Today had to cut one leaf off so the 1164 would lay down. Main is now at 12 1/2 inches and growing about 3 inches a day. Here is a pic of the first leaf. :)   Thursday, May 27 View Page Funny patch moment of this season...LOL...Note to self...Make sure you have a extra pair of clothes at the patch. Why? Cause today while picking weeds out of the patch I bent over and.....RIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPP went my lucky patch shorts...I had to stop at the store afterwords too. So I tied a chefs jacket from work around my waist and went in..LOL.... I bet it looked kind of funny.... :)   Sunday, May 30 View Page it rained bad.   Sunday, May 30 View Page But thats ok.   Sunday, May 30 View Page Tomatos for Treetop.   Sunday, May 30 View Page More tomato....   Sunday, May 30 View Page 985 werner   Sunday, May 30 View Page 1164 Finders   Sunday, May 30 View Page plant #3   Sunday, May 30 View Page 155 Finders   Sunday, May 30 View Page spidermites.....   Sunday, May 30 View Page Close up of webbing. Drenched with Bifenthrin and Merit.   Sunday, May 30 View Page Stumps are already getting extra protection. We try to keep mr foamy out the patch this year.   Tuesday, June 1 View Page Man was it a hot one in the patch tonight. At 7:40 PM the tempature was at 91 degrees and the humidity was at 98%. My hair in the pic is not from rain but from sweat and look how red the tips of my ears are... :)   Tuesday, June 1 View Page Plants taking off now, had to move windfence out some more to make room for growth. Our 1164 was at 29 inches on Sunday now in two days it has gone to 50 inches--so we are over 4 ft.... growing 10 inches a day..Wahooooo...Grow baby grow... The 985 Werner is at 29 inches. Today began the time consuming burring vines, using Mycor at each leaf note and burring, cutting tendrials, pining down vines and directing sidevines. Also tonight did a compost tea drench and a fungacide spray. Patch time was 3 hours.:)   Wednesday, June 2 View Page 985 a foot a day now...taking off   Wednesday, June 2 View Page 1164 Finders, biggest and fastest plant we got right now...   Wednesday, June 2 View Page One of the Harp plants...   Saturday, June 5 View Page Battle of the weeds is a tuff one..   Saturday, June 5 View Page plant #3 is a couple feet behind the other two, but it was later in the patch. Developing beautifully sofar...   Saturday, June 5 View Page On the right hand side on top, the time (evening) and on the bottom right the temperature....cooler with cold drinks is very important......   Sunday, June 6 View Page The skewers we use for the plants sometimes serve completely diffrent purposes...   Sunday, June 6 View Page Another patch resident, a girasol sunflower. Growing very nice sofar.   Monday, June 7 View Page first bloom on one of the Harps is a mega bloom...   Monday, June 7 View Page eating tomatoes have started..   Monday, June 7 View Page And although we bought a stihl mister, we still rely on smaller sprayers for full underside of leaf coverage. Heres Tina giving the plants some tlc..   Monday, June 7 View Page melons are doing good.   Tuesday, June 8 View Page Made some extra protection on the main vine tips, we have babies to protect now...Its gonna be 95 degrees the rest of the week....   Thursday, June 10 View Page Its gonna be a very hot rest of the week. Sunday it is suppose to be 99 degrees. Plants now have misters, shade covering, and tip protection. Misters are set to go off every 10 min for 30 seconds at a time. Our 1164 is in the background and the 985 Werner is closest.....   Thursday, June 10 View Page Avg time in the patch right now is 3 hours a day. Put out two new Japanese Beetle traps last night and tonight one already had 5 in it and the other one had two. Sunflower is now at 4.5 FT tall. And maters and melons are growing fast. As I was leaving tonight a storm started rolling in so my thoughts tonight as I try and sleep will be about the plants.....   Friday, June 11 View Page The first flowers are starting on our 155 Watermelon....:)   Friday, June 11 View Page It amazes me how something so TINY can produce something so BIG...Here is the first female on the 985 Werner..   Friday, June 11 View Page :) is all I can do when I see this little one...This will be our first baby from our own seed... :)   Saturday, June 12 View Page look at this woman...dedicated,,serious.....   Saturday, June 12 View Page ok....not THAT serious!!   Saturday, June 12 View Page But definately dedicated!!   Saturday, June 12 View Page Dedicated to grow a big sum of money togheter for a good cause!!!   Monday, June 14 View Page Harp tomato plants producing mega blooms...   Tuesday, June 15 View Page We have two of our 155.5 melons in the patch. Here is the same one in the pic on June 7th a week ago from our diary...:)   Tuesday, June 15 View Page And here is our second 155.5 melon. Sidevines are coming out real nice on it. This is the one with the male flowers on it.   Tuesday, June 15 View Page Ok baby pics. This is our 1164, this female is at 15 Ft. Leaving leaf attached right now to provided some extra shade along with misters, shade covering by an extra tarp, so that is 3x the shade protection with hopes in keeping her cool... Temps have been at 100 degrees with heat index at 110 degrees. Pollination is gonna be tricky....:)   Tuesday, June 15 View Page Here is the 985 Werner baby. She is at 12 ft. If all goes well looks like we will be pollinating these babies on the same day or a day apart...:)   Tuesday, June 15 View Page Just a measurment note....Day 38 in the patch...Both our 1164 and the 985 Werner are at 17 ft long and Plant #3 is at 12 ft long on day 31 in the patch. :)   Thursday, June 17 View Page weird chick....   Thursday, June 17 View Page Gotta train em early....It can cut your weeding time in half!!   Thursday, June 17 View Page secret weapon..plant #3   Thursday, June 17 View Page 1164 Finders..best plant in the patch sofar!   Thursday, June 17 View Page The average temperature is 96 F for the next 7 days. Getting a set is going to be hard....   Sunday, June 20 View Page sunflower and sc style gardening outfit...   Sunday, June 20 View Page the patch....   Sunday, June 20 View Page the myccor lady working on plant #3......   Sunday, June 20 View Page tuck em in for the night,,,   Sunday, June 20 View Page time to go home.....   Tuesday, June 22 View Page "Best Friends Forever", this is our new cat Ziggy along with our shelter dog Roxy(whom is 100 pounds). We adopted Ziggy almost two months ago from a local shelter that saved him from the pound. He was on the schedule to be put to sleep. We are so lucky that they saved him he is the sweetest cat. Since day one these two hit it off. They eat together, groom each other, play together, and sleep together. Adopt a ShelterPet. :)   Wednesday, June 23 View Page Despite the near 100 degree temps for three weeks straight plants are looking good. The combination of shade cloth and misters is helping alot, no flagging. Pollinated first female on Monday 1164 x 985, we will see if she takes. Three more coming up in the morning, two on the 985 Werner and one on secret plant #3.:)   Thursday, June 24 View Page Pollinated only two today. 985 Werner x Plant #3 and Plant #3 x 985 Werner. Also hand pollinated the watermelon, selfed it.   Friday, June 25 View Page 4 Pollinations this morning.... 1164 x Plant #3 Main Vine, 1164 x 985 Werner x 2, 985 Werner x 1164. Frank has had the pleasure of doing all the pollinations so far, I hope I get the chance this season to atleast pollinate one...Yes I'm jealous that Frank is having all the fun... :)   Saturday, June 26 View Page One pollination this morning....I finally got to pollinate...yaaaa..... 1164 x 985 Werner :) Three more coming up tomorrow that will make 11 babies in the nursery...   Sunday, June 27 View Page Violent t-storms have cost us leafs on each plant...tuff season sofar.   Sunday, June 27 View Page pollinations: 1164 x 985 985 x 1164 both sides. 985 x plant #3 main vine. perfect 5 lober 20 feet out.   Sunday, June 27 View Page mammoth   Sunday, June 27 View Page still growing...   Sunday, June 27 View Page t- storm damage...   Sunday, June 27 View Page After long sunday in the patch, t storm damage is fixed. Things look ok.   Sunday, June 27 View Page 1164 lost leafs and got some sunburn, but still going strong.   Sunday, June 27 View Page And after a long day in the patch,,,,,,HUNGRY!!!!!!   Tuesday, June 29 View Page Forth and hardest hit of storms today. Tina called crying taking cover to not get hit by lighting 60 mph gusts and hail. Hail was small...wind was the killer. The last 5 days any hope for a personal best got blown away,,,literaly   Tuesday, June 29 View Page You gotta love the risk factor of this hobby...30 minutes of storm can almost distroy two months of work....   Tuesday, June 29 View Page Its gonna take more then a $**%^$@# storm to knock us out. We lost a battle,,but wil WIN the war!!!   Tuesday, June 29 View Page Mother nature just provided us with some extra shadecovering. You alwasy have to look for a positive when there is a negative. This tree used to be straight before the storm.   Sunday, July 4 View Page One of the harp tomato plants   Sunday, July 4 View Page sunflower opening at 10 to 12 feet.   Sunday, July 4 View Page Lost a lot of leafs in the storms. But we are still in buisness.   Sunday, July 4 View Page Plant #3.   Tuesday, July 6 View Page Temps went down this past week to the lower 90's so we have our sets now. :) 1164 Finders x Plant #3 Day 8 985 Werner x Plant #3 Day 7 Plant #3 x 985 Werner Day 12   Thursday, July 8 View Page Finally we have some melons going. There are two on each plant. Only two days old but they grew.... :)   Friday, July 9 View Page My Birthday Dinner.... Thank you My Love. :) Im lucky not to be the only one that can cook in this family. This is what is known as Frogmore Stew down here in the South.   Friday, July 9 View Page Here is another one of the baby melons. In the morning I will add some more sand to it. :)   Friday, July 9 View Page 985 Werner.......Off to a slow start because of the heat but it is starting to take off....   Saturday, July 10 View Page Plant #3 gained 20 pounds today. Gains for past couple of days were 9,9,14,20. She is speeding up. :) Go Team Pink !!!   Saturday, July 10 View Page Dont know what is worse, high temps or low temps with storms. We have lost count on how many storms so far. Gonna need some high blood pressure meds after this season, if we last that long. The storm cell in the pic had Tornado cell in it.   Monday, July 12 View Page Here we go again.....   Monday, July 12 View Page Time for a patch update. After dodging some killer tornado spawning severe t-storms today, we use time to spray for disease and bug, wich is very neccesary in this muggy weather. Heres our 155 Finders melon plant.   Monday, July 12 View Page And this is our most promising set on that plant. This plant started out slow, and kind off bushy but turned into an awsome plant.   Monday, July 12 View Page did i really say the word plant three times in the last post?,,,pfffffffff!!   Monday, July 12 View Page And heres my lovely wife measuring....   Monday, July 12 View Page This the other melon plant wich is also a 155. Same seed, completely diffrent plant, a lot more open. Both plant have 2 sets wich we will narrow down to one next week. We wanted to grow a 259 kent, but where unlucky with the seedling in early season. (sorry Chris)   Monday, July 12 View Page First eating tomatoes are ripening...   Monday, July 12 View Page Heres the two biggest Harp tomato plants i got. The high june temperatures (hottest june since 1952, average 94,6) have caused a lot of blooms to abort, including some nice mega blooms. But theres plenty of fused blooms coming and hopefully we will have a couple of sets growing soon. Drought and t-storm down poors cause some pseudo-leafroll, wich is ok with me,,,wont hurt the plant to much.   Monday, July 12 View Page One of many double blooms. Hopefully this one will take...   Monday, July 12 View Page Pumpkin on the 1164. ( we got a tradition of growing ugly fruit, and it appears we are keeping it alive...)   Monday, July 12 View Page Fruit on the 985 werner. A shape we never grew before,,,i like it!!   Monday, July 12 View Page King of the patch on plant #3. In its teens and doing mid 20s for the last couple of nights. Not bad sofar.   Monday, July 12 View Page And considering the fact that our plants have had to deal with above average heat and have been scorched by the sun for about two months they still look ok.   Monday, July 12 View Page And if your intrested in our weather forecast then heres the link: Its probably gonna Hot, Humic and Horrific....(not even mentioning the ..... ...... t-storms)   Monday, July 12 View Page http://www.wistv.com/Global/category.asp?C=1683&nav=menu36_3 The link!!   Tuesday, July 13 View Page And again....Right under Lexington, the deep red color, that is where our patch is at. Notice very little rain around other then that area. Its got to stop....Please...   Wednesday, July 14 View Page Stump on our 1164. Can't get my hand around it. :)   Wednesday, July 14 View Page As the sun goes down for the day, tucked the melons in for the night. Will cull down to one on each plant on Sunday.   Wednesday, July 14 View Page Day 20 for Plant #3.. Cir @ 81.....   Thursday, July 15 View Page Well the end has come for our sunflower. The head measured 12 inches. Looks like we will be sending out some sunflower seeds next season. :)   Thursday, July 15 View Page Melon #1   Thursday, July 15 View Page Melon #2   Friday, July 16 View Page On day 21 Plant #3 gained 30 pounds.... :)   Sunday, July 18 View Page A Melon Male flower....   Sunday, July 18 View Page Female flower on melon....   Sunday, July 18 View Page Stump of our 155.5 Finders melon, with a pop can next to it on the right hand side in the shady part. Its hard to see but this by far the biggest melon stump we ever had!   Sunday, July 18 View Page We are now down to one melon on each plant. The melon on the left we had to flip a coin to figure out which one to cull. Even with melons sometimes it is not easy to choose which one to cut off. :)   Sunday, July 18 View Page you didnt really look for a pop can near that melon stump,,,did ya???   Monday, July 19 View Page Day 13 for melon. We hit the chart today with 91 1/2 OTT....   Monday, July 19 View Page Spraying some Seaweed on our babies. Plant #3 looks the best now out of the three of our plants.(Despite it was almost destroyed by a storm) We should be at 300 pounds tomorrow with the pumpkin on this plant. :)   Tuesday, July 20 View Page A day after hitting the OTT chart, melon gained 5.5 pounds for the day....wow.. Jumped up 7 inches in OTT.... :)   Tuesday, July 20 View Page Day 26 for Pumpkin on Plant #3. CC is now at 104 1/2...Gained 32 pounds to put us over 300 now... :)   Thursday, July 22 View Page Day 16 for melon #1. It has gained 18.5 inches in OTT and gained 16.1 pounds in just three days. OTT now at 110. Melon #2 hit the chart today. It is at 95 OTT. Same age as melon #1 but growing just a bit slower so we ended some fingers yesterday. Guess that it why it jumped up 8 inches in OTT. :)   Friday, July 23 View Page Day 29 Pkn Plant #3 is doing an avg of 32 pounds a day now. Today it went over 400 pounds. :)   Friday, July 23 View Page It has been sooooo exciting watching this melon grow. The dang thing gained 6.6 pounds since yesterday. So that makes it 50 pounds now according to the OTT Melon Chart and it is only Day 17. :)   Sunday, July 25 View Page 4 days over 100f now,,heat index 110 today. Pretty warm season sofar.   Tuesday, July 27 View Page The Season of Storms....Storms + 100 Degree Temps + 100% Humidity = 0 Pumpkins.....:(   Tuesday, July 27 View Page And then there was one......Tough Year...   Thursday, July 29 View Page Day 35 for our one and only pumpkin we have left, this one is still holding for now but patch note...It poured down rain again today....   Thursday, July 29 View Page Day 23 for melon #1...It is at 76# and melon #2 is at 52#....   Thursday, July 29 View Page Just took this pic off our balcony....A lightning bolt. Mother Nature has given us a show just about every night. Her power is breath taking sometimes.   Friday, July 30 View Page A couple of patch notes: Day 36 for Pkn and we went over 300 OTT. Also was wondering why melon gains went down by a couple of pounds...Found a baby melon on each plant the size of my hand..Them little stinkers can hide well... :)   Saturday, July 31 View Page Looks like mummy.   Thursday, August 5 View Page All these came from one melon plant....These little suckers can hide really well... :)   Thursday, August 5 View Page Day 30 for Melon #1... Not only did we make it to 100 lb's today we went over it... :)   Thursday, August 5 View Page Sideview of Melon #1   Thursday, August 5 View Page Melon #2....Next week at this time should be at 100 lb's too... :)   Friday, August 6 View Page And yet again.....   Sunday, August 15 View Page Lost our last Pumpkin so no Pumpkins coming out of our patch either this season. Melons are still growing so we will have to see if we can get a PB with them. Pics will be posted later after we clear out the patch and weigh the pkn.   Sunday, August 15 View Page This seasons result. Its been a hard and long summer in the the patch. The weather has been more extreme then other years,,,hotter, wetter, more storms and ,,,,more disease. Heck ,,,its raining right now,,lol. Oh well..good years, bad years,,,all in the game. 325 ott. final weight 796.8 lbs 10% heavy,,seed 1421 stelts. Pollinator 985 werner. final feeling: bummer   Sunday, August 15 View Page With its best gains only reaching 30s, this pumpkin never could reach its full potential. Even the large plant supporting it was no match for the infernal weather that would make hell feel like a cool winter day. Humidity up at a 100% and you got a recipe for disaster   Sunday, August 15 View Page And so, only middle aged we decided to stop the suffering of this sick plant. Fusarium, rizocthonia, foaming stump, aphids, squashbugs,,you name it and it had a shot at this plant. With an even for us unusual high disease pressure this year, and un-favorable weather, we threw in the towel on this plant, for there was no shot at pumpkin glory anymore. Only thing that last is that famous saying: " Theres always next year" (we'l be back!)   Sunday, August 15 View Page Oh and theres that one tomato. ( yes just one,,,lol)   Tuesday, August 17 View Page At day 42 Melon #1 is at 136.3 pounds.We are 19 pounds away from going over our PB...   Tuesday, August 17 View Page Another view....Didnt get to measure or feed melons tonight...cause another storm moved in...Pffffffff...   Tuesday, August 17 View Page Ment to say in last post didnt get to measure Melon #2 cause storm moved in so fast will have to go back tomorrow evening...Could barley see where I was going....   Wednesday, August 18 View Page Watermelon measurements: #1 75 1/2 CC 52 1/2 Front To Back and 39 side to side.....= OTT 167 = 136.3 Pounds #2 69 1/2 CC 48 1/2 Front To Back and 36 side to side......= OTT 154 = 110 Pounds   Monday, August 23 View Page So,,,,you think you got weeds huh?   Monday, August 23 View Page stem end side on our biggest. Doing about 2 lbs a day for last 5 days, when today i discovered some other melons that took,,,they shure know how to hide.   Monday, August 23 View Page Two blossom end sides on this picture,,,lol (Tina is gonna kill me)   Monday, August 23 View Page We are 7.5 lbs away from our personal melon best. But with the way this season has been been going,,i wouldent be surprised if it would stop growing about a pound before we make it.   Saturday, August 28 View Page Another day, another storm, vines blown over,,leafs gone...what a year....!!   Sunday, August 29 View Page We tied in est our PB on melon today. Decided not to pull since it did another 3 pounds in the past two days and melon #2 did another 4 pounds. :)   Wednesday, September 1 View Page Day 57 for melon #1. The dang thing grew another #5 pounds so we are at OTT 177 = 160.0 pounds...WAAAAAAHOOOOOOO!!!!   Wednesday, September 1 View Page Melon #2 ...OTT 166 = 133.8 pounds... :)   Wednesday, September 1 View Page No this is not a double post....Barbeetoo you said I need a size reference...Well if you look real close you can see a FLY sitting on the right hand side of the melon...There is that a good enough reference for ya...LOL... :)   Sunday, September 5 View Page Started patch prep today. Loaded up and dumped 10 wheelbarrows of composted horse poo that we collected back in April.(about 20 more to go) It no longer smelled like poo but instead smelled like fresh dirt...:)   Sunday, September 5 View Page Melons are still packing on the pounds... #1 @165.0 and #2 141.3... :)   Monday, September 6 View Page And here it is!! lol. After the hottest summer ever, we found out that our tomato growing spot is to hot. Growing 5 beautifully full plants and seeing every megabloom fall off and scorch into oblivion was frustrating. Next year a new spot, with less sun and an early start should yield into somthing decent. The bacterial spot didnt help either,lol. Nevertheless, i present to you the 1.07 Finders. Because giving up just isnt an option.   Wednesday, September 8 View Page Day 63...Melon #1 167.5 lb est OTT 180 and #2 142.5 lb est OTT 170..... Will check again on Sat or Sun.... :)   Saturday, September 11 View Page Today est is at 170 lbs..... :)   Saturday, September 11 View Page Melon #2 est 145 lbs..... :)   Saturday, September 11 View Page Heather placing a flower on our local 9/11 monument. The firemen you see are made from some steel that was from the world trade center site...   Saturday, September 11 View Page Sideview melon #1.....   Saturday, September 11 View Page Sideview melon #2.....   Sunday, September 12 View Page Girth of our smallest melon   Sunday, September 12 View Page Girth of our biggest. length 33   Sunday, September 12 View Page Went fishing this evening. Hooked a big one but it got off the line..Dang it....But not all was lost, got to see this sight of nature at its finest...Perfection... :)   Monday, September 13 View Page catching them is fun.....   Monday, September 13 View Page Mummy making you hold it is not that much fun!! (fake smile?)   Thursday, September 16 View Page Day 71 for our big melon. Est at 172.5. Only growing about 1/2 lb a day now. Melon #2 is at est 150. Will leave both in the patch till the weigh off which is only a week 8 days away, unless something major happens between now and then. :)   Friday, September 24 View Page Just before loading.   Friday, September 24 View Page Smaller of the two fruit.   Friday, September 24 View Page Ready to Roll!!   Saturday, September 25 View Page When Chris Kent drove up,,it looked like he brought an aligator,,,   Saturday, September 25 View Page That alligator turned out to be the biggest melon i ever saw.   Saturday, September 25 View Page Time for Chris to move this Giant...   Saturday, September 25 View Page a closer look   Saturday, September 25 View Page and closer   Saturday, September 25 View Page on the scales and checking the bottom. While this was happening a ballon popped with a loud bang...Janet Kent almost had a hart attack,,thinking it was the melon,,,tention and anticipation was in the air...   Saturday, September 25 View Page And heres Chris,,,adrenaline musta kept this poor guy up for nights,,,it was for him to stay calm. Next to a great grower,,,one of the nicest guys youl ever meet.   Saturday, September 25 View Page And with cheering and loud applause the biggest melon ever was weighed. Heres a intensely happy and relieved Chris Kent. With out a doubt the best melon grower in the world at this point in time.   Saturday, September 25 View Page Early in the morning some visitors from Kentucky arrived...   Saturday, September 25 View Page The Van Hooks,,bringing an orange beauty,,and BIG to   Saturday, September 25 View Page But back to the melons for a sec. Heres Sam measuring our two mega green jelly beans.   Saturday, September 25 View Page Time for the scale   Saturday, September 25 View Page Tina with our 145 Finders   Saturday, September 25 View Page And yours truly with our 172.8 Finders. A new pb for us.   Saturday, September 25 View Page Susie unloading here Giant. With 994.6 i,d say this is a rookie to keep an eye on. That and 194 lbs melon and a 239 a week earlier. What a great first season. Congrats Susie!!   Saturday, September 25 View Page Heres Sam with the biggest squash of the day. Grown of his own seed it weighed in at 717 lbs. A great looking squash. Next to that he took some killer long gourds and field pumkins plus two Giant Pumpkins along. Congrats Sam!!   Saturday, September 25 View Page And last but not least the James and John with their winning entry of 1210 lbs of a 991 urena. Very Very nice Fruit..congrats!! And two great guys to finaly meet!   Saturday, September 25 View Page Not every day that you get to pose behind a World Record!   Saturday, September 25 View Page And a thank you to guys who organized the yadkin valley valley weigh off. Thanks to Sam, Rick, Brad and their crew everything went smooth. A wonderfull time meeting great people!!   Saturday, October 2 View Page Was a perfect day for a walk. "The Walk For A Cure" was today. Was glad to be a part of it.   Saturday, October 2 View Page They even brought out the Pink Cadillac...   Saturday, October 2 View Page I pretty much stayed in the middle during the walk. Here is a view of the front of the pack....   Saturday, October 2 View Page A view of the back of the pack...Est. 8,000 were there... :)   Wednesday, October 13 View Page Was a good year at the fair. This is Heather's Igloo cake she recieved 1st place for and she also got two 2nd places. One for her chocolate muffins and one for her chcolate cookies...Yaaaa Heather...Proud of our little one :)   Wednesday, October 13 View Page Here I got first for my caramel cake..   Wednesday, October 13 View Page Here I got 2nd for my Karo Syrup blueberry pie. I also got second with my choc. peanutbutter cake and fruit cake. :)   Wednesday, October 13 View Page And our pride and joy... Was fun talking to people tonight about the melon. Got an invite to the next Watermelon Board Meeting coming up in Jan. :)   Sunday, October 24 View Page Next season 2011, I Tina Finders promise to give and put all my effort into my tomato patch. Yes I said my tomato patch, it will be my project and mine alone. So started today off by cleaning the mater patch out. I added 6 wheelbarrows of horse poo add a couple more things and then tilled it in. Next weekend I will build up that area by adding some more organic material. Wish me luck :)   Sunday, October 24 View Page Cover crop starting to come up....   Sunday, October 24 View Page Patch ready for the winter...Come on 2011 hurry up and get here...   Monday, October 25 View Page Picked up melon from the State Fair. It has been exactly a month since we picked it and it was still in great shape. I know Frank put the knife into the melon to cut it but I felt as if the knife was going into me too...LOL...   Monday, October 25 View Page She was pretty solid on the inside....   Monday, October 25 View Page Meloncomb....:)   Monday, October 25 View Page You ever wondered what 1,188 watermelon seeds looked like. Well here you go, yes I counted every one... :) I see a "seed contest" coming up next season for a big named Pumpkin seed for whom ever grows the biggest melon off our 172.8 Finders..LOL..Stay tuned you will want to get in on this action. Send bubble request to f.finders@hotmail.com   Monday, October 25 View Page This was a nice way to end the season/year. With a couple of fair wins Next season hope there is a GPC ribbon in the middle of the picture. :)   Saturday, October 30 View Page Started ammending mater patch. First corn meal....   Saturday, October 30 View Page Next some Gypsum...   Saturday, October 30 View Page Next some Bone Meal...   Saturday, October 30 View Page EggShells...   Saturday, October 30 View Page Coffeegrounds.....   Saturday, October 30 View Page Alfalfa....   Saturday, October 30 View Page Peat Moss...   Saturday, October 30 View Page Manure...   Saturday, October 30 View Page Sprayed on some Molasses.....   Saturday, October 30 View Page Added more Peat Moss...   Saturday, October 30 View Page Tiller Time...:)   Saturday, October 30 View Page Three hours and she is almost done. I will add some leaves next weekend. :)   Saturday, November 6 View Page Leeeeeeeaaaaaaavvvvvvvesssssssss........In the Mater Patch...   Saturday, November 6 View Page Leaves and some more POOOOOOOOOOOOO....:)   Saturday, November 6 View Page After adding leaves and some poo I tilled the mater patch. I now have 6 inches of a top layer. We will now rest for the winter...:)   Saturday, November 6 View Page "One Small Step For Tina's Tomato Patch, One Giant Leap For Monster Maters"   Sunday, November 7 View Page Decided to put down some more leaves today and cover Mater Patch up.....:)   Sunday, November 7 View Page Started a compost pile in the corner of the patch today...   Saturday, November 20 View Page We don't even have a yard with leaves yet we go out and rake others...So is that crazy or just being dedicated to this hobby. Most normal people would call us crazy... :)   Saturday, November 20 View Page Well since we had plenty of leaves to spread around, decided to uncover mater patch one last time and add some more. Ok now that is it for mater patch... :)   Saturday, November 20 View Page Added some leaves to the compost pile too...:)   Saturday, November 20 View Page Red Clover coming up.. :)   Monday, November 22 View Page Eden, 1994-2010 "Rest in peace sweetie..."   Friday, November 26 View Page Got this in the mail today from Deb-Okie- I love it. It wasn't till I was taking the pic of it did I realize it was a pair of feet. Cute Deb Thanks. It will be hung at the mater patch for pics....:)   Saturday, November 27 View Page Spent the day adding to and turning the compost pile.   Saturday, November 27 View Page An upclose shot of horse poo....:)   Saturday, November 27 View Page We are serious about making a nice compost pile for next season...   Saturday, November 27 View Page It might be me but I think Tina is taking this compost thing a little too serious though. LOL...   Saturday, November 27 View Page AWWWWWWWWW...Cant wait till the season starts again...Come on 2011 hurry up and get here...   Sunday, December 5 View Page Norm, ibuprofen please,,,,,compost pile is turned..   Sunday, December 19 View Page We adopted this little girl yesterday. She looks and acts so much like the one we just lost a couple of weeks ago, that we have decided to keep the name Eden going. She has fit right in,a purrrfect match. :)   Monday, December 20 View Page Added three wheelbarrels of horse manure to the compost pile. Its turned and cooking.