Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 25 Entries. Sunday, February 20 View Page Wow Feb 20th and I haven't started my diary yet! I am slacking!! Nick decided we will only have 4 plants this year, which means 2 each. At first I was a bit mad and wanted my normal 3 with 1 backup. But seeing how I have this "little monster" to take care of now, I think 2 will be just about perfect. Luckily the kid loves being outside!   Sunday, February 20 View Page Blaine will love the summer even more than the winter because it will mean LESS CLOTHES! and yes, they caught fish that day :)   Thursday, March 10 View Page See you boyZ in Niagra!!!   Thursday, March 10 View Page Let's call this series: Blaine's last week with Stewie!!   Thursday, March 10 View Page fun times   Thursday, March 10 View Page mom's been waiting for this pic for a year now!   Thursday, March 10 View Page Kissing Stewie goodbye! (sorry if I left you a smudge, Chris! CONGRATS AND ENJOY!!)   Sunday, March 13 View Page can't believe i didnt post one of fav pics from niagra!! blaine had some major fun up in the falls: you know staying up past his bedtime, etc. getting there was a bit difficult and involved 3 hours of hysterical screaming. but we survived!! good memories!   Monday, April 25 View Page I thought my diary would be as good of a place as ever to moan and complain about the extended forecast. I was all set to start my seeds early this year too. Puke.   Saturday, May 7 View Page this cant be good.... gonna cover it with soil and do a little praying.   Saturday, May 7 View Page these were the seeds we started. 100% germination success. too bad the crazy root problem on the one. i'm too embarrassed to say which it was. :(   Thursday, May 12 View Page Finally got the plants out on 5/12. All in all, that really isn't very far off of most years. Didn't get the soil all dried out and plastic on (to heat it up) this year though. Oh well. This week looks to be another week of rain every single day. :(   Tuesday, May 24 View Page So today a meteorologist on a Cleveland newschannel informed viewers that in NE Ohio it has rained 40 of the last 54 days. Half an hour later a storm hits dumping 1.25 more inches on my patch. Nice.   Monday, June 27 View Page Believe it or not I don't have any patch pics but this will have to do. The kid is a walking maniac now and loves carrying his shovel around and walking up and down the rows of peas and fava beans while I pick. Patch update: may not be as far behind as I originally thought because we polinated a 1385 Jutras and 1161 Rodonis yesterday and a 1236 Harp today. May end up pulling out all our "primary plants" and going with the "backups". [dont yell at me but yes the 1385 and 1161 were backups; maybe I shouldn't admit that lol]. Weird weird things happening this year out there!!!!   Thursday, July 7 View Page The only way I can get any work done is when this happens. AND IT DOESNT HAPPY OFTEN! lol. Patch update: We ended up planting 7 plants: 1725 Harp, 1385 Jutras, 1161 Rodonis, 1725 Harp, 1725 Harp, 1236 Harp, and 444 Beachy. We had intentions of pulling out 3. So far we've pulled two 1725 Harps. Looks like my plants will be the 1385 and 1161, Nick will have the 444, 1236, and 1725 (two will be grown as a flag). We had two day 10 meausurements yesterday of 22 and 23 inches (trust me, that is very good for our patch! The 1725 was 17 inches on day 10!!). Crossing fingers for no aborts like last year!   Sunday, July 24 View Page here's my two pumpkin plants. 1385 on the left and 1161 on the right.   Sunday, July 24 View Page i like the looks of that fruit. i've grown a few 1385's and this reminds me of one in particular.   Sunday, July 24 View Page didn't expect to get a tall orange fruit off of a 1161 but pumpkins are funny things!   Sunday, July 24 View Page Well this season offically became Nick's off season while he was out of town last week. We had 90 degree temps and 4 inches of rain in an 18 hour period. Splitsville USA. I feel really sad for him. He pulled out his three plants tonight. Now I really must cross my fingers that it doesn't happen to me too. :(   Monday, August 1 View Page My heart broke when I read the news Saturday night. Steve contributed so much to the pumpkin community and I will never forget everything he did for me in 2009. The remainder of my season will be dedicated to him. Everyone is right, his spirit will live on in all of us, in patches across the world.   Saturday, August 13 View Page This is my 1385 beauty. Or maybe I should have said my 1385 with my beauty. Not setting the world on fire but it's been a tough year!!   Friday, September 23 View Page I love how Nick trusted Blaine to steer that thing! LOL.   Friday, September 23 View Page Loaded up and ready to drive it to the weighoff [with the tractor]. LOL. nah not really, but would be fun! :)   Saturday, September 24 View Page EEK! Forgot to finish out my diary! New Bremen Pumpkinfest was a great time! Even better time since my pumpkin went 19% heavy and finished 3rd. Biggest shock of my life. Always nice to pay for gas with prize $. 1315 C. Harp 2011 (1385 Jutras selfed)   Thursday, December 22 View Page These beauties went to Canfield. Glenna has the 2 on the left and mine is the 1 on the right. 1192 C. Harp 2011 (1161 Rodonis selfed)