Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 165 Entries. Thursday, April 14 View Page Soaked and potted seeds for attempt at early fair pumpkin today. I am trying to germ 2 678 Young 2008 seeds (919 Richards x 772 Poirier)which is the pumpkin in the picture. I have also started a 695 Young 2008 (588 Young x 670 Daigle)as a back up in case the thin 678's don't germ. Onions were planted in mid Dec. and are doing better than last year and giant tomatoes are coming along nicely as well.   Sunday, May 1 View Page Here is a shot of the lg side of the patch with garden tilled and hoops in. Far right hoop is the 993 Vincent McGill. Hoop to the left is the 1059 Vincent McGill.   Sunday, May 1 View Page Here is the pool side of the patch with our nice green pool. The hoop in the middle on the top is the 1131 Gansert and the hoop to the left is the 695 Young.   Sunday, May 1 View Page Here is the 993 Vincent McGill. I pre treated all of the pumpkins with a 50% solution of Triazicide to hopefully keep seed corn maggots from killing the seedlings. Our soil is still kind of cool and we broke records for snow this winter and had a record rain fall in April.   Sunday, May 1 View Page 1059 Vincent McGill.   Sunday, May 1 View Page 1131 Gansert.   Sunday, May 1 View Page 695 Young. This plant has been in the ground for a week and seems to be doing fine.   Sunday, May 8 View Page A week has gone by and more bad weather. We received 2 more inches of rain on top of the 6 inches the week before. Here is the 993 VM doing well and I am happy it has survived a week of cold yuck. Hopefully next week will be better.   Sunday, May 8 View Page 1059 V.M. is doing ok as well. I am hoping this guy will green up a bit more with some sun that is forecast for this week.   Sunday, May 8 View Page 1131 Gansert. Still plugging along but needs sun like the others. Hopefully the first slow leg of the marathon won't hinder the rest of the season.   Sunday, May 8 View Page 695 Young is doing fine, I think it is used to cloudy rainy and cold. I also transplanted 26 onions today and 4 sunflowers. The boys have a total of 8 lacrosse games this week between them. Hopefully the weeds will wait.   Sunday, May 22 View Page I have posted for awhile so thought I would get some pics in. We have been clobbered with rain the same as most others in the northeast making this a tough spring. But with that being said it is still growing and that is why I do this silly hobby. Here is the lg side of the patch. We were able to weed yesterday between rain showers in the afternoon.   Sunday, May 22 View Page This is the pool side of the patch. We started the pool filters yesterday so the pool should start to clear up in the next few weeks of pics. We also planted our other assorted veggies hoping for no more frosts in the forecast.   Sunday, May 22 View Page Planted 127 Jutras today in a semi dry soil mix. Lets hope next week is a bit drier than the past one.   Sunday, May 22 View Page 1059 VM this plant is starting to rebound and the new growth looks good.   Sunday, May 22 View Page 1131 Gansert. This plant is starting to look better as well. Cold soil and a high salt level slowed it down. Hopefully the problem is fixed and it will take off.   Sunday, May 22 View Page 695 Young. This plant seems really happy although it is not behaving as well as I like with its new growth pointed to the moon.   Sunday, May 22 View Page Here are two Orig. Big Zac tomatoes.   Monday, May 30 View Page Another week has gone by and it has continued to be wet. I poured another 3 1/2 inches out of the rain gauge this week. We have had the 3rd snowiest winter, wettest April and now the wettest May in the past 120 years. Lake champlain was 3 feet over flood stage at its worst. With all of this going on the patch seems to be moving forward albeit slowly.   Monday, May 30 View Page Here is a shot of the pool side. Pool is looking good for compared to the ugly green it was just a couple of weeks ago.   Monday, May 30 View Page 127.5 Jutras LG still slowly plugging along. No protection for this little baby and it seems to be surviving the tough love.   Monday, May 30 View Page 1131 Gansert. This plant seems to be coming out of its "funk" and starting to vine. Hoping for some nice color here.   Monday, May 30 View Page 1059 Vincent-McGill. This plant is starting to vine and moving out of its slow funk as well.   Monday, May 30 View Page 993 Vincent-McGill. This plant has been trouble free from the start and is moving along nicely at about 4 feet in length.   Monday, May 30 View Page 695 Young. This is the first to lose its hoop house. Trouble free plant with bright yellow vines and sitting a little over 6 feet long.   Sunday, June 5 View Page Hopefully our last frost is over as we took the hoops down this weekend. It is quite a bit of work taking hoops down and setting up hail netting but it is a nice feeling. I will finish setting up the water this week but for now mother nature is giving us more than we know what to do with.   Sunday, June 5 View Page Here is the other side of the patch with our swimmable pool. The pool has cleaned up quite nicely this year.   Sunday, June 5 View Page 127.5 Jutras. This was a later start but is starting to acclimate to wet VT soil.   Sunday, June 5 View Page 993 Vincent-McGill. This plant is taking off well with secondaries starting to form. It is just under 6 feet long.   Sunday, June 5 View Page 1059 Vincent McGill. Plant is starting to pick up the pace after a slow start. Just over 5 feet currently.   Sunday, June 5 View Page 1131 Gansert. This plant had a real slow start but is seeming to get it all together now. Right about 4 feet long.   Sunday, June 5 View Page 695 Young. This plant is still growing very fast and is currently at 8 1/2 feet in length.   Sunday, June 5 View Page Here are our original Big Zac tomatoes. These are starting to grow fast.   Sunday, June 5 View Page Giant onions. I don't have the knowledge or desire to push these to WR status, but would sure like to break our record of 3 1/2 pounds this year.   Sunday, June 12 View Page Almost half way through June and what a weird spring early summer it has been. We broke records for monthly rainfall in both April and May and we have 4.5 inches already for June. Our monthly June average is only 3.8 so we are due to be close to breaking records again. With that being said the plants are doing well but I am worried about disease if we don't dry out soon. Here is a pic of half the patch.   Sunday, June 12 View Page Here is the other side. We have had to drain the pool 3 times already this year because it is over flowing. Of the 4.5 inches of rain in June we have gotten 3.4 inches of them in the past 4 days.   Sunday, June 12 View Page 127.25 Jutras. This little long gourd has been just beat up but is still alive. Hopefully will be on the trellis by next weeks photos.   Sunday, June 12 View Page 993 Vincent-McGill. This poor plant is the only one not covered by hail netting and is also in the wettest part of the patch. But is still turning into a fine plant at approximately 9 feet long with a baby in the blossum tip.   Sunday, June 12 View Page 1059 Vincent-McGill. This plant has been a steady grower and is about 8.5 feet long with first baby at 7 feet. That is closer than I want but will pollinate anyways and see what comes after.   Sunday, June 12 View Page 1131 Gansert. This plant is starting to grow faster. It is currently just under 7 feet and has a baby in the bud.   Sunday, June 12 View Page 695 Young (588 Young x 670 Daigle). This has been a real agressive plant and is 11.5 feet long. The vines are real yellow and the main vine is very thick.   Sunday, June 12 View Page Here is the first pumpkin on the 695 Young and is at 9 feet. I am thinking it should open mid week and will be a keeper if I can get it pollinated.   Sunday, June 19 View Page Happy fathers day to every dad out there. We had a great day today visiting my Dad and helping out in his pumpkin patch and than off to lake champlain to small mouth bass fish with my whole family and my friend Matt. Here is the lg side of the patch.   Sunday, June 19 View Page Here is the pool side. The plants are growing well for the season that we have been having and we are hoping it will continue through fall. I have also resurrected our Pumpkin God Tiki Idol for a little help this year.   Sunday, June 19 View Page 127.25 Jutras. We have finally made it to the trellis so growth will be much faster now. Maybe a little behind with this lg but time will tell.   Sunday, June 19 View Page 993 Vincent-McGill. This plant has been trouble free and there is a female on the tip that we are hoping for. The plant is a little over 11 feet and growing solid with nice side vines.   Sunday, June 19 View Page 1059 Vincent-McGill. Another plant growing fine. We let an open pollination go a couple of days ago to see what it would look like but it was only at 7 feet. There is a female just out of the bud that I want. The plant is just under 11 feet long.   Sunday, June 19 View Page 1131 Gansert. This pumpkin has been a bit of a challenge but is growing ok. Seems like it has more stunted side vine growth than most, but the baby looks to be nice and yellow. This plant is a little over 9 feet long with a baby just out of the tip.   Sunday, June 19 View Page 695 Young. This plant has been agressive and fairly easy to manage. I pollinated our hopeful keeper on June 16th which will be our pumpkin for the Champlain Valley Fair if everything goes well.   Sunday, June 19 View Page Here is the pollination on the 695 Young at 3 days old with the Pumpkin God tiki.   Sunday, June 26 View Page Here is an overview of our very wet patch this morning. I spent 3 hours attempting to aerate the soil with a stirrup hoe. We received 3.15 inches of rain in the last 4 days and more showers predicted for today. Overall the patch still seems happy. Also last 4 days have been very cool with high temps in high 50s and low 60s.   Sunday, June 26 View Page Here is the other side. Needless to say we haven't used the pool much with the cool temps. Since the official start of summer began our weather has been crap.   Sunday, June 26 View Page 127.25 Jutras. Plant is growing well but has slowed the last few days hopefully once it's feet dry out a bit it will take off again. Just shy of 5 feet this morning.   Sunday, June 26 View Page 993 Vincent-McGill. This plant is growing well and I pollinated a female at 11.5 feet this morning with 3 males from the 1059 VM. Unfortunately the main has a major crack about a foot past the female. I am going to need to train a secondary just in case this gal doesn't take.   Sunday, June 26 View Page Here is the 993 female this morning.   Sunday, June 26 View Page Here is the little lady covered up. I use my wifes old stockings which works well before and after pollination. I also covered with ziplock bag last night due to big rain storms.   Sunday, June 26 View Page 1059 Vincent-McGill. This plant has been trouble free. We should be pollinating in a couple of days.   Sunday, June 26 View Page Here is the first pollination that we will attempt at 12 feet. We let one go at 7 feet a week ago. The plant is about 14 feet long.   Sunday, June 26 View Page 1131 Gansert. This plant has taken off as of late but seems to have a mind of its own and is being selfish with secondaries. This is our smallest plant to date and is sitting at 12 feet.   Sunday, June 26 View Page Here is the first on the 1131 at 9 feet and 9 inches. We will probably pollinate it when it comes but see when the next will blossum.   Sunday, June 26 View Page 695 Young. Unfortunately our 1st pollination is at a standstill and looking like it may abort so I have decided to focus on the next one that will hopefully be open by end of the week. Plant is about 16 feet long and very full.   Sunday, June 26 View Page Here is the 2nd on the 695 that we will hopefully get a good pollination on. This female is at 15 feet.   Sunday, June 26 View Page Here are the Big Zac tomatoes. These are growing strong but no mega blossums yet.   Tuesday, July 5 View Page I am a bit late posting due to the holiday but here is the latest. I have 2 out of 4 plants pollinated I believe with one pollination on the third today and a pollination on the 4th tomorrow. We got 2 inches of rain on July 3rd but that the last 2 days have been beautiful and dry. Storms predicted for tomorrow the 6th though.   Tuesday, July 5 View Page Here is the other side of the patch. All of the plants have been healthy and growing well so far, but we are just through the first third of the season so far. My fingers are crossed.   Tuesday, July 5 View Page 127.25 Jutras. This plant is starting to take off and should be close to the top of the trellis tomorrow which is 12 feet. I am hoping for a mid July pollination.   Tuesday, July 5 View Page Here is the keeper on the 993 Vincent-McGill at 9 DAP. This is 993VM x 1059VM and is growing slow but sure.   Tuesday, July 5 View Page 1059 Vincent-McGill. This gal was pollinated this morning with the 1131 Gansert and was 5 lobes at 15 feet or so. If she sets I will get a better measurement.   Tuesday, July 5 View Page 1131 Gansert. This gal is at 8 DAP and is crossed by the 695 Young. She is a little behind the 993 but is doing fine. I have never had big 10 day numbers in my patch but usually nice consistant growth through out.   Tuesday, July 5 View Page 695 Young. Here is our hopefull to be pollinated tomorrow. Probably going to use the 1059 VM. We thought we had an early pollination for our fair on this pumpkin but unfortunately it aborted.   Tuesday, July 5 View Page Kelsae onion. This is at 9.5 inches in circ. Our biggest ever was at 19.5 and we are hoping to be that this year.   Sunday, July 10 View Page This was a beautiful summer weekend weather wise with lots of sun and nice temps in the low 80's. We had a successful bass fishing trip today with a good number of small mouth bass in the 15-19 inch range. We released them all but took a lot of pics. Here is the lg side of the patch.   Sunday, July 10 View Page I think I have all of the pollinations done for the year but will continue to pollinate down the mains just in case. We are also starting to pick lots of blueberries and raspberries.   Sunday, July 10 View Page 127.25 Jutras. This little guy is over the top of the trellis and is about 15 feet long. We are starting to see male blossums coming, so the females can't be too far away.   Sunday, July 10 View Page 993 Vincent-McGill. This gal is at 14 DAP and has an ott of 79 inches. Not my largest by far but slow and steady. I think she may end up quite pretty.   Sunday, July 10 View Page 1059 Vincent-McGill. This is our hopeful keeper at 4 DAP.   Sunday, July 10 View Page 1131 Gansert. This plant has very thin vines, but the pumpkin growth has been solid. Here we are 13 DAP and an OTT of 68.   Sunday, July 10 View Page 695 Young. This is our hopefull keeper at 4 DAP.   Sunday, July 10 View Page Here is our largest onion so far with a circ of 11 inches. Can't wait to slice these on a burger.   Sunday, July 17 View Page Summer has seemed to come to VT with nice warm temps plenty of humidity and of course black flies and skeeters. This has been a good week of growth for pumpkins and I am almost done pruning and burying vines for 2011. Here is the long gourd side of the patch.   Sunday, July 17 View Page Here is the other half. We are picking lots of blueberries and raspberries still. Andrew and Kerry made a batch of raspberry jelly that was delicious. All plants seem to have a keeper which is a good start for me.   Sunday, July 17 View Page 127.25 Jutras is running on the top of the trellis and is about 20 feet long. I am hoping females start showing up soon.   Sunday, July 17 View Page 993 Vincent-McGill. This gal is growing well and is at 151 ott at 21 DAP. I like the color of this already.   Sunday, July 17 View Page 1059 Vincent-McGill. This little beauty is starting to pick up steam and is at 83 ott at 12 DAP.   Sunday, July 17 View Page 1131 Gansert. This is my best chance at growing a boat this year. She is 127 ott at 20 DAP.   Sunday, July 17 View Page 695 Young. This little girl is doing well after a tough vine placement and is 77 ott at 11 DAP.   Sunday, July 17 View Page Onions are doing well with the largest at 12 7/8 inches.   Sunday, July 24 View Page We just got through one of the hottest weeks in the patch but everything seems to have survived and is doing well. Here is a look at the lg side.   Sunday, July 24 View Page Here is the other half. Soon the blueberry season will be over and the green netting gone. We have had a good yield this year of blueberries and raspberries.   Sunday, July 24 View Page 127.25 Jutras. This has gone to the end of the trellis which is about 20 feet of plant and I have headed it back the other way. We may have one pollinated but not much plant behind it.   Sunday, July 24 View Page Every year we name our pumpkikns and this year the boys and I were not fully in to it so my wife took control. This is Goddess Pomona (993 Vincent McGill) Pomona is the name for the "Goddess of the garden."   Sunday, July 24 View Page Here is a better shot of the 993 Vincent-McGill. She is 28 days old today and estimates at 243 pounds.   Sunday, July 24 View Page Here is Goddess Ceres (1059 Vincent-McGill) which stands for "Goddess of the harvest."   Sunday, July 24 View Page Here is a better pic of the 1059 Vincent-McGill. She is 19 days old today and est at 108 pounds.   Sunday, July 24 View Page Here is the sign for the Goddess Hestia (1131 Gansert) Hestia is the "Goddess of the family."   Sunday, July 24 View Page Here is the pic of the 1131 Gansert. She is 27 days old and est at 162 pounds.   Sunday, July 24 View Page And last but not least we have Goddess Maia (695 Young) Maia is the "Goddess of springtime, warmth and increase."   Sunday, July 24 View Page Better pic of the 695 Young. She is 18 days old today and est at 96 pounds.   Sunday, July 24 View Page Here is a neat pic of the giant onions. The largest one had a circ of 14.5 inches today. No record breakers but I bet they will taste good.   Sunday, July 31 View Page Happy end of July. We just spent the day boating and fishing on Lake Champlain. The water was warm but the fish weren't biting. The patch has been doing well I just have my fingers crossed for mother nature to be gentle with me the rest of the fall. Almost every plant is fully terminated and the leaves are healthy. We had a few days in the low 50's this week so out came the quilts and those days our growth slowed a bit.   Sunday, July 31 View Page Here is the other half of the patch. The nets are off the blueberries so we can share a few with our feathered friends. The harvest has been good this year with many gallons of berries frozen just waiting for winter pancakes and pies,   Sunday, July 31 View Page 127.25 Jutras. This plant is starting to pick up the pace with a number of pollinations. This is our largest and is 33 inches at day 9. Long gourds are fune to grow and I look at them as a nice distraction from the pumpkins.   Sunday, July 31 View Page Pomona (993 Vincent-McGill) is continuing to color up nicely. She is averaging 20-25 a day which is typical for me on the high end. Here she is at 35 days and 265.5 OTT for an estimate of 400 pounds.   Sunday, July 31 View Page Ceres (1059 Vincent-McGill) is starting to turn up the heat and starting to show some color as well. She is at 26 DAP today with an OTT of 226.5 for an est of 254 pounds.   Sunday, July 31 View Page Hestia (1131 Gansert) She is still plugging along nicely. Not as an agressive grower as the other 3 currently but is gaining nicely. I am hoping this gal gets into the 7-800 class to be a nice boat for us in the regatta. Today she is 34 days with an OTT of 235 for an est of 282 pounds.   Sunday, July 31 View Page Maia (695 Young)is growing pretty consistently as of late. She is 25 days old and has an OTT of 215 for an est of 219 pounds.   Sunday, August 7 View Page Another week has passed and the weather has been warm for the most part with chilly nights thrown in. I have brought the blankets and quilts out quite a bit. All of the pumpkins are still growing and are sound for the most part. I spent 4 hours in the patch today mostly spraying ferts and will need to do a bit of weeding each night this week as I think that is my best bet.   Sunday, August 7 View Page Here is the other side of the patch.   Sunday, August 7 View Page 127.25 Jutras. I believe I have 3 pollinated on this plant, all selfs. Here is the oldest and best and is 75 inches today at day 16. This is the best I have ever done this early and hope the growth stays strong to day 40 or so.   Sunday, August 7 View Page Pomona (993 Vincent-McGill) is still the beauty of the patch. She is 42 DAP with an ott of 297 or around 555 pounds. She has averaged 22 pounds a day this past week.   Sunday, August 7 View Page Here is a view from the stem end. Probably one of the prettiest I have grown at this early in the year. I hope she stays as pretty as she matures.   Sunday, August 7 View Page Ceres (1059 Vincent-McGill) has been the fastest grower this week. She is 33 DAP with an ott of 274 and est weight of 439. She has averaged 26 pounds a day this past week. She is also starting to color nicely, I think she may be a looker too.   Sunday, August 7 View Page Hestia (1131 Gansert) has had a couple of issues this week but is still putting on pounds. Her stem split on 8/3 but seems to be doing ok as of now. She is 41 DAP and has an ott of 267 with an est weight of 407 pounds. She is my best bet at growing a boat and is starting to color up a bit.   Sunday, August 7 View Page Here is the stem split on the 1131. As soon as I saw it I got a knife and started to elong the split. By cutting the split longer towards the vine seems to take stress off the pumpkin end of the split. I have dusted it with copper fungicide using a pipette to get inside of the split. As of now the split is shallow and I need to make sure to keep it dry.   Sunday, August 7 View Page Maia (695 Young) is growing good so far and is going to be a real tall pumpkin I believe. She is 32 DAP with an ott of 257 and an est. of 365 pounds. She has averaged 21 pounds a day this past week.   Sunday, August 21 View Page Here is a patch update. This has been a very busy summer but is starting to get much busier now that the kids are playing high school football. Both of the boys made varsity so we have one schedule this fall which is the first in many years. Yay! On the down side we have a football game during every GPC weigh off within a 4 hour drive. Including the VT weigh off. Fortunately the game during the VT weigh off is only about aa half hour away so I will try to do both.   Sunday, August 21 View Page Here is the other side of the patch missing one pumpkin. Maia (695 Young) BES on us on 8/13 at 480 pounds. When we cut her open the blossum end was 4 to 5 inches thick but had one crack in the flesh that went straight through the blossum.   Sunday, August 21 View Page 127.25 Jutras. Here is our 1st pollination that will be brought to the champlain valley fair. It is 33 days old today and measures 109".   Sunday, August 21 View Page 127.25 Jutras. Here are 2 more pollinated on the same plant. Not sure if this is going to help any of them length wise but I wondered what the plant could do. I also wonder what the record number of inches are off from 1 gourd plant. These two are both 21 DAP and one is 87 inches and the other is 86.25 inches. So far 282.25 inches on one plant.   Sunday, August 21 View Page Pomona (993 Vincent-McGill) This is day 56 and she is continuing to darken up. She is growing a bit slower than we would like but still plugging along. She is just under 800 pounds today.   Sunday, August 21 View Page Here is a side pic of the 993.   Sunday, August 21 View Page Ceres (1059 Vincent-McGill) This kin has been our best grower so far and is 47 days old today with an ott of 332.   Sunday, August 21 View Page Here is a side view of the 1059.   Sunday, August 21 View Page Hestia (1131 Gansert) This gal has certainly had issues but is still very slowly growing. She has an ott of 303 today.   Sunday, August 21 View Page 1131 side. This is our only semi boat shaped pumpkin so we are limping her along hoping to grow her to 700ish pounds.   Sunday, August 21 View Page Here is our tallest sun flower we believe and will be going to the champlain valley fair this Friday. We are guessing it is about 13 feet long.   Wednesday, August 31 View Page Here is a photo of my wife and I getting ready to unload Pamona (993 Vincent-McGill) at the Champlain Valley Fair.   Wednesday, August 31 View Page Here is the fair photo with the sign on it for Pomona (993 Vincent McGill) She taped at 820 pounds but weighed in at a Lucky 777 pounds or about 5% light. After 16 years of growing this is my first lucky 777 pumpkin.   Sunday, September 4 View Page I thought I would start out the diary with our tall sun flower this year. She came in at 14'2" which is not a pb but I am happy over all. I am glad I picked it before Irene came through.   Sunday, September 4 View Page Here is the long gourd side of the patch. We have an empty space where Pomona was (993 VM) or now the official 777 Young 2011.   Sunday, September 4 View Page Here is the other side missing Maia (695 Young) BES at just under 500 pounds.   Sunday, September 4 View Page Here is my wife with our "gourd board"(something we put together so people can have their photo taken with the lg.) People are amazed when they stand up next to a tall vegetable. This currently is our new pb at 110.75 inches.   Sunday, September 4 View Page Here is our long gourd trellis after tropical storm Irene. I wanted to share the picture so others could see how I tried to secure the lgs. The tape used is the plastic construction tape type that is quite flexible. This allowed the gourds to still move but didn't allow them to get momentum. Seemed to work or I just got lucky, or a little bit of both.   Sunday, September 4 View Page Here are the twins on the 127.25 Jutras. I think people will be amazed when these 2 make it to a weigh off that they were on the same plant. They are 35 days old today and I need 5-6 more decent days. We are having very bad storms tonight so my fingers are crossed. They both measure 1xx. LOL   Sunday, September 4 View Page Goddess Ceres. (1059 Vincent-McGill) She is still growing slowly and is at 360 for an OTT at day 61. Her color is just starting to come in and we think she may go as dark orange as Pomona. Just hoping she may go a little better to the charts due to her plump behind!   Sunday, September 4 View Page 1059 Vincent-McGill from the side.   Sunday, September 4 View Page Stem end of Ceres (1059 VM)   Sunday, September 4 View Page Hestia (1131 Gansert). This gal has had a bunch of issues but is still plugging along. Sitting at 314 for OTT today.   Sunday, September 4 View Page Hestia (1131 Gansert) from the side. This will be our boat for the VT regatta.   Sunday, September 11 View Page Can't believe we are almost half way through September already. Today was a crisp clear, blue sky day here in Vermont much like it was 10 years ago during the World Trade Center attacks. Many moments during the day I stopped to reflect on the tragedy of 9/11 and to give my gratitude to all of the heroes that we have in our everyday lives. Here is a view of the last 2 pumpkins in the patch.   Sunday, September 11 View Page 127.25 Jutras. This has been such a pleasure to grow and fortunately has given me 3 new personal bests. The smallest is officially 110.75 and the other two will be measured at our VT weigh off but are both in the 120" range.   Sunday, September 11 View Page Here is the Goddess Pomona (993 VM x 1059 VM)on her final throne. She is still solid and hopefully will last to Halloween before we take the seeds out. I am thinking this could be a real nice orange producing cross and look forward to growing it next year.   Sunday, September 11 View Page Blossum end of Goddess Ceres (1059 VM x 1131 Gansert). She is still slowly putting on the pounds even though we are into 40 degree nights. I measured her at 367 OTT today and am hoping she adds a few more inches in case she goes light. It has been a few years since we had a 1000 out of our patch and our fingers are crossed.   Sunday, September 11 View Page 1059 side view.   Sunday, September 11 View Page 1059 stem end view. You can see that she is starting to get real nice color as well. Hopefully this will keep darkening up as she gets older.   Sunday, September 11 View Page Goddess Hestia (1131 Gansert) This gal has slowed to a crawl at best but is still alive. She tapes about 670 pounds and appears to be large enough for a boat which is a plus.   Sunday, September 11 View Page 1131 Side shot. Her stem issues have all dried up nicely so we think she is going to make it to the end which is a good thing.   Sunday, September 18 View Page Here is the patch as of this afternoon. I decided to pick the 1131 as it had stopped growing for about a week and we had the time and helpers. So here stands our lone pumpkin that is still attached.   Sunday, September 18 View Page 1131 Gansert. Here is a picture of the blossum end. We officially have measured her today and got an OTT of 313.5 inches estimating her at 650 pounds. We will be bringing her to the VT weigh off to get an official weight as long as she holds.   Sunday, September 18 View Page 1131 side view. I hope she will make an ok boat.   Sunday, September 18 View Page 1131 Gansert stem end. She split on us mid August and we had to nurse her all the way through. The split is dry now and hopefully will make it to the regatta.   Sunday, September 18 View Page 1059 Vincent-McGill. She is 74 DAP today and when I uncovered her this morning I noticed the sand on her base was pushed around. Unfortunately a mouse had burrowed into the sand and chewed a bit on her. The tunnel in the sand went quite deep under the pumpkin. So this afternoon I decided to lift her up and take a quick peak. Fortunately the mouse wasn't real hungry or I interrupted it soon enough. We decided to sit it back down on a padded pallet with mill fabric on top of it. Seems like every time I cover a pumpkin when it is cold I get critter issues.   Sunday, September 18 View Page 1059 Vincent-McGill side view. We got an OTT of 371.5" today which makes this a personal best measured pumpkin for our patch. Time will tell if we have a new personal best weight. lets hope she's not a balloon.   Sunday, September 18 View Page 1059 Vincent-McGill stem end. I cut a couple of the small secondaries in order to loosen up the main enough to raise her in the air to take a peak. Hopefully we will still get some sort of growth the next week or how ever long I can keep the plant alive.   Tuesday, October 11 View Page Our VT weigh off was last Saturday. Here are a couple photos of the now official 1103 Young. Here I am lifting her in the patch. Not sure if I am grimacing from the weight or maybe from the fear of dropping her. Ha!   Tuesday, October 11 View Page 1103 Young sitting safely on our trailor. The cross is the 1059 Vincent-McGill x 1131 Gansert she went 1% heavy. She was also fortunate to win our sites Howard Dill award.   Tuesday, October 11 View Page Right side of stem 1103 Young.   Tuesday, October 11 View Page Blossum end of 1103 Young   Tuesday, October 11 View Page Left side of 1103 Young.   Tuesday, October 11 View Page Here is everything ready to go. In the back of the truck we also brought the 124.5" Young lg (127.25 Jutras x self) and the 124" Young lg (127.25 Jutras x self)   Thursday, October 13 View Page Here is the official weigh off picture of the 1103 Young. It was a warm beautiful day.   Thursday, October 13 View Page Here is our longest long gourd measuring 124.5 inches. This is the new Vermont record beating Dan and Holly Boyce's entry by 1/8th inch. My hats off to the Boyces' for a great season and a new Vermont record squash.   Saturday, November 5 View Page Here is the picture of the family posing in the front yard with the 1103.   Saturday, November 5 View Page Here is our pumpkin carved out with a few friends. Thanks to Wilbur for the green squash from the Champlain Valley Fair. People kept asking us if it was a giant green pepper.   Saturday, November 5 View Page Here is the final photo of the patch for 2011. Soil tests are done some ammendments added and a nice deep till from Dick Squires and winter rye is spread. Boy does a tiller on a tractor save a lot of time. Thanks again to Ken for creating and maintaining such a fantastic website to document my conquests for new personal bests.