Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 101 Entries. Friday, February 4 View Page The 2011 growing season has started. The heavy carrots and parsnips are up and running. I hope to concentrate on heavy carrots and tall corn this year as well as a big pumpkin, but in total I'll have a go at 26 classes. I doubt all will make it to the weigh-off, but here is the list I hope to at least start: amaranth beetroot(heavy) beetroot(long) carrot (heavy) carrot (long) corn cucumber (heavy) cucumber (long) field pumpkin kohlrabi leek long gourd - 2 of these 3: 135 Jacobus / 112.9 Offermann / 121.5 Lyons marrow - 206.5 Wursten melon (long) parsnip (heavy) pepper (heavy) pepper (long) potato pumpkin - 1421 Stelts radish runnerbean rutabaga/swede squash - 1055 Pitura + 767 Johansson (pollinator) sunflower (tall) sunflower (head) tomato - 7.33 Hunt / 5.35 Lyons / 5.18 Lyons / 5.0 Clerinx / 4.59 Lyons Just a few of each except carrots and corn.   Thursday, March 3 View Page The new corn and sunflower cage (9 ft tall). In the cage: 3x Olotillo corn 3x Tehua corn 3x Montana corn 3x Olotillo Grande corn 3x Richard Hope tall sunflower 2x St. Valery long carrot 1x long beetroot 1x 121.5 Lyons 10 or 112.9 Offermann 09 long gourd 2x ornamental hanging gourds Outside the cage: 3-4x Puya Grande corn In the low poly tunnel to the back: strawberries edible melons heavy cantaloupe - 38 Daho 10 In the back poly tunnel 4x tomato (7.33 Hunt, 5.0 Clerinx, 5.35 Lyons, 4.59 Lyons) 4x heavy carrot 1x heavy parsnip 1x heavy radish Behind the last poly tunnel: 2x heavy carrots in barrels   Thursday, March 3 View Page Front few of main patch. Left of the path (30ft x 18ft): 1055 Pitura* Right (front): potatoes, giant radish, giant swede, giant kohlrabi Right (back): 206.5 Wursten marrow Beside poly tunnel door: 3x runner beans   Thursday, March 3 View Page Inside front of large poly tunnel. right: 4x heavy carrots in raised bed 1x 135.0 Jacobus WR long gourd left (not pictured): 1000 litre water container 2x heavy cucumber 3x long cucumber 1x long melon   Thursday, March 3 View Page Pumpkin patch (650 sq ft) 1421 Stelts backup: 1421 Stelts and 850 Slusarek   Thursday, March 3 View Page Patch 3 Front: 206.5 Wursten marrow Behind that: 2x heavy carrots in barrels 3x heavy radish (1x in barrel) 3x heavy beetroot Behind that comes ornamental flowers, the sweet corn patch, the berry patch (blackberries, yellow and red raspberries, blue berries and strawberries). Behind the fruit cage, normal vegetables (beans, onions, spring onions, carrots, beets, zucchini, etc).   Thursday, March 3 View Page Small poly tunnel (only left side pictured). 3-4x heavy peppers 2x long peppers 3x heavy parsnips 10x heavy carrots 1x snack cucumber (they can't all be big!) Not pictured is patch 4: Large head sunflowers, giant amaranth (if they germinate), 767 Johansson* (genetics plant), Lyons heavy field pumpkin, Spanish competition rabaquet squash, Jala tall corn and about 15 types of ornamental pumpkins/squash/gourds. Behind my house (don't tell my wife, she will find out later): 1x 5.18 Lyons tomato (greenhouse) 2x Uchima Grande tall corn 2x heavy carrots 1x heavy parsnip   Wednesday, April 13 View Page Some of the potted up tall corn - mostly the second planting. The first planting corn plants are quite a big taller. Included are: Olotillo, Olotillo Grande, Tehua, Puya Grande, Uchima Grande, Montana, Jala. I'd say Puya Grande has a slight lead at the moment. Other giant vegetables: Sown: long and heavy cucumber, long melon, long carrot, pumpkin (2x 1421 Stelts), tomato Potted up: leek, potatoes, long peppers, kohlrabi, swede, cantaloupe Planted out: heavy carrot, parsnip and peppers To be sown still: marrow, sunflower tall and head, beetroot heavy and long, squash, field pumpkin, radish, runnerbean, long gourd   Tuesday, April 19 View Page My new lighting system for the tomatoes. Other giant veg: Amaranth - lost my only plant - skipping them this year Carrot (heavy) - almost all in final postions (about 25-30 of them) Carrot (long) - haven't germinated yet Corn - Montana, Puya Grande leading; Tehua way behind; Montana, Olotillo and Tehua in final position, rest in greenhouse Cucumber - long have germinated; heavy have not yet Kohlrabi - set out three - a few backups in greenhouse Leek - doesn't look like much - got seeds too late for competition Melon (long) - one has germinated Parsnip - 4 planted out; one in greenhouse Pepper - heavy and long planted out in greenhouse Potato - several above soil Pumpkin - both 1421 Stelts seeds have germinated Swede - 3 planted out; backup in greenhouse Tomato - all seeds (7.33, 5.35, 5.18, 5.00, 4.59, 4.29) have germinated Cantaloupe - 4 plants under artificial light To be sown still: marrow, sunflower tall and head, beetroot heavy and long, squash, field pumpkin, radish, runnerbean, long gourd   Thursday, May 5 View Page 1421 Stelts (main plant) in the greenhouse. Still small and growing slow, but we are still having frost at night. Backup 1421 even smaller.   Thursday, May 5 View Page Some of the giant carrots in the smaller greenhouse.   Thursday, May 5 View Page The swedes and kohlrabi.   Thursday, May 19 View Page 1421 Stelts -main plant   Thursday, May 19 View Page Some of the giant veg waiting to go outside. In the far back, three giant beetroots growing for seed, which should be ready at the end of June.   Thursday, May 19 View Page Some of the giant potatoes with the kohlrabi and swedes behind it in the enclosure. * beetroot - both heavy and long being thinned out slowly * carrot (long) - down to 2 per tube * carrot (heavy) - about 25-30 growing in 6 different places * corn - 3 each of Montana, Tehua, Olotillo, Puya Grande and Uchima Grande in the corn cage - 8x Jala outside the cage being grown for seed - backups of most in the greenhouse still - Olotillo Grande still needs to be planted out - hope to end up with 18 competition plants * cucumber (long) - both in greenhouse * cucumber (heavy) - most didn't germinate - one waiting to be planted in greenhouse * field pumpkin - 2x 103 Lyons up and running waiting to be planted out when weather improves * kohlrabi - 3x doing well outside * leek - planted out 7 - very small due to late arrival of seed * long gourd - 135 Jacobus planted in greenhouse - 121.5 Lyons and 112.9 Offermann waiting to be planted outside * marrow - started 12x 206.5 and 1x 77.6 - going with 2x 206.5 for competition and 1x 77.6 for genetics * melon (long) - one planted in greenhouse * parsnip - 5x - doing ok * pepper (long and heavy) - all in greenhouse * potato - 6x outside and 5x inside (thanks to Mr. Glazebrook for the seed potatoes!!!) * pumpkin - 1421 Stelts main doing well, backup a bit smaller * radish - 11 days till sowing * runner beans - sown today * rutabaga/swede - 3x doing well outside * sunflower (tall) - sown today * sunflower (head) - will be sown next week * tomato - 2x Lyons in the greenhouse, rest waiting to be planted in smaller hoophouse - growing 6 * squash - 1055 Pitura* outside in hoophouse - 767 Johansson didn't germinate - backup 1055 only had cot leaves - so no backup * cantaloupe - waiting to be planted in low polytunnel * rabaquet squash - waiting to be planted out   Monday, May 30 View Page 1421 Stelts Started heavy radishes and biggest head sunflowers today. All other giant veg is up and running. Cantaloupe and runner beans waiting to be planted out. Tallest corn stalk about 135cm (just over 4 ft).   Friday, June 3 View Page Just a list of what I currently have in the garden based on the EGVGA giant veg categories. These do not include backups. Category 1 - Atlantic Giant Pumpkin (1) - 1x 1421 Stelts Category 2 - Cucurbitaceae 1 Squash (1) - 1x 1055 Pitura * Cantaloupe (2) - 2x 38 Daho Field Pumpkin (1) - 1x 103 Lyons Watermelon (0) Category 3 - Cucurbitaceae 2 Marrow (2) - 2x 206.5 Wursten Cucumber: heavy (1) - 1x Glazebrook/Cobbs Cucumber: long (2) - 2x Glazebrook/Cobbs Category 4 - Heavy root Beetroot (7) - 7x 23.2 Wursten Carrot (ca. 25) - Flakkee, Flakkese, unknown English strain Parsnip (5) - 5x Picador Potato (7) - 7x Kondor Category 5 - Long Beetroot (1) - 1x Exhibition Long Black Carrot (2) - 2x St.Valery Long gourd (3) - 1x 135 Jacobus, 1x 121 Lyons, 1x 112.9 Offermann Parsnip (0) Runner bean (3) - 3x Jescot-Long-Un Category 6 - Brassica Cabbage (0) Kohlrabi (2) - 2x Superschmelz Radish (5) - 5x Sukurajima Swede (3) - 3x Cornish variety Category 7 - Tall Amaranth (0) Corn (19) - 4x Montana, 3x Vanden Olotillo, 3x Olotillo, 3x Uchima Grande, 3x Puya Grande, 3x Tehua Sunflower (3) - 3x Richard Hope Sunflower: head (3) - 3x Horde/Craven Category 8 - Other heavy Celery (0) Leek (7) - English Pot Leek Onion (0) Pepper (3) - 3x Colossal Tomato (10) - 2x 7.33 Hunt, 2x 5.35 Lyons, 2x 5.15 Lyons, 1x 5.00 Clerinx, 2x 4.59 Lyons, 1x 4.29 Timm Non-competition classes Melon: long (1) - 1x Armenian Yard Long Pepper: long (3) - 3x Spanish Squash: rabaquet (1) - 1x Codina   Saturday, June 11 View Page 1421 Stelts - slow but steady - nice small leaves on short stems which is ideal in a greenhouse   Saturday, June 11 View Page 135 Jacobus WR long gourd with a few giant tomatoes in front   Saturday, June 11 View Page 206.5 Wursten WR marrow - all vining plants are very slow this year (too dry and cold?)   Saturday, June 11 View Page The other 206.5 marrow. Also slow. I still have 3 plants per patch, hoping at least one will throw a true marrow.   Saturday, June 11 View Page 1055 Pitura - really slow   Saturday, June 11 View Page 3 of the 7 beetroots I have going   Saturday, June 11 View Page Some of the smaller carrots in the half open greenhouse   Saturday, June 11 View Page Some of the carrots in the closed greenhouse   Saturday, June 11 View Page The tall corn in the corn cage - tallest here is 150cm.   Saturday, June 11 View Page The long cucumber plants (in the big greenhouse)   Saturday, June 11 View Page I have 30+ ornamental pumpkins/squash/gourds growing including a few field pumpkins and a rabaquet squash for competition   Saturday, June 11 View Page 2 kohlrabi left and 3 swedes though the swedes are being eaten alive like every year regardless of netting. I sprayed them today.   Saturday, June 11 View Page Vanden Olotillo corn in the backyard.   Saturday, June 11 View Page Some of the parsnips and a few giant carrots in the closed greenhouse   Saturday, June 11 View Page The main competition potato plants   Saturday, June 11 View Page Some of the giant tomato plants - from top to bottom: 7.33 Hunt; 5.35 Lyons; 5.00 Clerinx; 4.59 Lyons. That concludes a quick tour of about half of my giant veg plants.   Monday, June 27 View Page 1421 Stelts - only one female on the plant (@ 20 ft) so only one shot this year to get it right   Monday, June 27 View Page Beetroot with carrots and marrows in the back   Monday, June 27 View Page Some of the giant carrots   Monday, June 27 View Page Some of the corn with long carrots and beetroot in the front left corner   Monday, June 27 View Page The two long cucumbers   Monday, June 27 View Page a giant kohlrabi   Monday, June 27 View Page one of the marrows - hoping it produces marrows and not something else - so leaving the first two fruit on just to see before I set anything serious   Monday, June 27 View Page A Montana corn stalk - outside of the corn cage and now about 300 cm (about 10ft)   Monday, June 27 View Page Some of the giant parsnips   Monday, June 27 View Page One of 5 radishes   Monday, June 27 View Page One of three swedes   Monday, June 27 View Page 4 of the 10 tomato plants from top to bottom: 7.33 Hunt 5.35 Lyons 5.00 Clerinx 4.59 Lyons All producing huge megablooms which I have been taking off until the plants get big enough to support them   Monday, July 11 View Page 1421 Stelts - day 10 Cute, but the smallest day 10 measurement I have ever had.   Monday, July 11 View Page 1055 Pitura* - with nights still between 7 and 12°C, this one just won't grow - no females available yet and only two secondaries developed on the right hand side.   Monday, July 11 View Page 206.5 Wursten - possibly the best marrow plant I have ever had - it's this one or none at all   Monday, July 11 View Page beetroot - way behind last year   Monday, July 11 View Page Tall corn - about 3 ft shorter than last year - just too cold - Uchima Grande leads the show   Monday, July 11 View Page Cucumbers - right on schedule - should be pollinating a long one soon   Monday, July 11 View Page The biggest of the two kohlrabi plants - miles ahead of last year   Monday, July 11 View Page Field pumpkin (103 Lyons) with other ornamental pumpkins behind it and way at the back my small greenhouse   Monday, July 11 View Page My largest radish and behind it to the left, my largest outdoor carrot   Monday, July 11 View Page One of the three swedes I have going - it is already larger than any I have grown in recent years. My cantaloupe plants drowned so are out of the race. The long carrots and beetroot seem to be doing ok. The runner beans are right on schedule. The 135 Jacobus LG inside is almost ready to pollinate (way too early). Outside the Lyons and Offermann LGs are doing ok though the Offermann is a bit behind schedule. Giant carrots and parsnips seem to be doing better than last year. Sunflowers are no good this year. Too cold. Potatoes struggling along - nothing special yet. Peppers are off and running - time will tell. Tomatoes are doing about average. Leek is miles behind because of a late planting but still alive and even healthy.   Friday, July 22 View Page 1421 Stelts - day 20 - 77 lbs - worst day 20 ever it has been a cold, wet, dark and windy past two weeks temps mostly between 8-18°C   Friday, July 22 View Page Corn - tallest (Montana) is 3.8 meters   Friday, July 22 View Page Long cucumber - this one is far too crooked (not from this angle) and measures 12in (30 cm) - no backup on this plant but several on another plant   Friday, July 22 View Page Kohlrabi   Friday, July 22 View Page long melon (Armenian Yard Long "Cucumber")   Friday, July 22 View Page long gourd (135 Jacobus) - 12in (30cm) - fastest growing I have ever had - but don't know if it has took or not yet   Friday, July 22 View Page long carrots and long beetroot - no idea what is happening in those tubes, but this is the first year they haven't died on me (yet)   Friday, July 22 View Page the half outside carrots and a parsnip - in the back a radish which went to seed, as they almost all did - a (water) rat has been eating away at my two biggest carrots - one of them is about half gone - put a pail around them and they didn't like that   Friday, July 22 View Page swede   Friday, July 22 View Page 4 of the 10 tomato plants - all doing equally well and in the pollination period   Monday, August 1 View Page 1421 Stelts - day 31 On day 30, the 1421 was 23.5" CC short of the 1200 lb benchmarks. The plant is turning yellow due to lack of sunlight. The weather has been extremely cold (some days max. 13C/55F), wet and dark. Nights are in the high 40s/low 50s. and is being ripped apart by the wind. The marrow plants are way behind and I will have to pollinate on smaller plants this year in order to get a marrow ready on time. Weather forecast isn't looking good. Going to be a tough year.   Monday, August 1 View Page A baby heavy cucumber. Due to the weight these can reach, I like to have them laying down.   Monday, August 1 View Page A long cucumber. At 67cm (26.5"), it is just 3cm short of my personal best and is still growing slowly.   Monday, August 1 View Page 135 Jacobus LG - slowly picking up speed and now doing about 16-17cm a day (6.5"). Plant could use a bit more sunlight.   Monday, August 1 View Page Potatoes got blight. This is the biggest I dug up. 870 grams = 1.92 lbs Next year I will have to start a month later, get rid of blossoms, spray against blight, protect from wind and grow in raised beds. I still have a few plants going but doubt of anything worthwhile will pop up in time for the show.   Monday, August 1 View Page The 4.29 Timm seems to be the most promising tomato at the moment. All 10 plants are extremely healthy and all have multiple megablooms, of which the 4.29 Timm are the largest.   Monday, August 1 View Page Just a list of what I currently have in the garden based on the EGVGA giant veg categories compared to what I started with. Category 1 - Atlantic Giant Pumpkin (1) - 1x 1421 Stelts Category 2 - Cucurbitaceae 1 Squash (0) - was 1 Cantaloupe (0) - was 2 Field Pumpkin (3) - 1x 103 Lyons; 2 x Howden (was 1) Watermelon (0) Category 3 - Cucurbitaceae 2 Marrow (2) - 2x 206.5 Wursten Cucumber: heavy (1) - 1x Glazebrook/Cobbs Cucumber: long (2) - 2x Glazebrook/Cobbs Category 4 - Heavy root Beetroot (6) - 6x 23.2 Wursten (was 7) Carrot (ca. 12) - was ca. 25 Parsnip (5) - 5x Picador Potato (2) - 2x Kondor (was 7) Category 5 - Long Beetroot (1) - 1x Exhibition Long Black Carrot (2) - 2x St.Valery Long gourd (3) - 1x 135 Jacobus, 1x 121 Lyons, 1x 112.9 Offermann Parsnip (0) Runner bean (3) - 3x Jescot-Long-Un Category 6 - Brassica Cabbage (0) Kohlrabi (2) - 2x Superschmelz (was 3) Radish (3) - 3x Sukurajima (was 5) Swede (3) - 3x Cornish variety Category 7 - Tall Amaranth (0) Corn (17) - Montana, Vanden Olotillo, Olotillo, Uchima Grande, Puya Grande, Tehua (was 19) Sunflower (2) - 1x Richard Hope; 1x Craven (was 3) Sunflower: head (2) - 2x Horde/Craven (was 3) Category 8 - Other heavy Celery (0) Leek (7) - English Pot Leek Onion (0) Pepper (4) - 4x Colossal Tomato (10) - 2x 7.33 Hunt, 2x 5.35 Lyons, 2x 5.15 Lyons, 1x 5.00 Clerinx, 2x 4.59 Lyons, 1x 4.29 Timm Non-competition classes Melon: long (1) - 1x Armenian Yard Long Pepper: long (2) - 2x Spanish Squash: rabaquet (1) - 1x Codina   Saturday, August 6 View Page 1421 Stelts - day 36 Slowly catching up to the 1200 lb benchmarks, but still out about 20 inches.   Saturday, August 6 View Page 135 Jacobus long gourd - it was a day away from reaching the ground, so I had to get it to lean at an angle. This past week has been warm, but overcast with little sun. The LG grew 8.3" in 24 hours during the only day with sun. The 4-day average is a meagre 7.3" per day.   Saturday, August 6 View Page Because of the cold, wet and dark summer, the sweet corn has tassled in the 4-5 ft range while it usually does about 8 ft here in Holland.   Saturday, August 6 View Page The tall corn is also severely stunted. It has only now managed to grow above the 10ft high corn cage. The tallest one is about 13 ft.   Saturday, August 6 View Page My only chance at a big marrow. The first one is almost ready to pollinate and is out 15ft. This one is right on time (I planned an August 7th pollination), but the other marrow plant is a ways behind.   Tuesday, August 9 View Page This has been without a doubt the worst year I have ever had for growing. It has been raining for 8 weeks and the 10-day forecast is expecting a lot more rain with little to no sunshine. Everything is rotting in the patch now. Temperatures are at about 16C during the day. I lost this swede (my biggest) to rot today along with two more carrots and 4 tomatoes. It doesn't look like I will have much if anything for the weigh-off in October. The long gourd pretty much shut down overnight, so nothing from it either, I'm afraid. The only thing I have going now is a long cucumber which is in the 75-80cm range.   Friday, August 19 View Page And it just keeps on raining! Another gloomy, wet week behind us. Here is the 1421 Stelts at day 49.   Friday, August 19 View Page Two marrows on the 206.5. The left one got cut off after the picture was taken as the right one was growing 2x faster.   Friday, August 19 View Page Runner beans. Lost one of the three plants to drowning. Longest bean now about 60cm.   Friday, August 19 View Page Long cucumber. New PB for me. Measuring in the 80-85cm range. Outside I keep on losing stuff to drowning and rotting. Competition field pumpkin rotted away. Will have to show one of the surviving ornamental field pumpkins, I guess.   Friday, August 19 View Page 135 Jacobus long gourd. It is so cold at night here, that I have to pack this one in with fleece. If it survives till the weigh-off, it will be a new PB for me and finally one over 100". Growth is minimal now. The LGs outside have pretty much drowned. Still no LGs growing on them.   Friday, August 19 View Page Heavy sweet peppers. Look a bit smaller than last years, but they might still have some growth left.   Saturday, August 27 View Page I picked my smallest heavy cucumber as spider mite had killed the plant and caused the cucumber to ripen way too early. Only 3.4kg (7.5lbs) and not worth entering anywhere. I have a much bigger one left. The weather this week has been very challenging. We had a few storms and enormous amounts of rain. Yesterday one of my marrow plants was actually floating. We are now in our 10th week of rain and I lost another swede and 4 more tomato plants. The 7.33 Hunt, 5.35 Lyons and 5.00 Clerinx plants got pulled as the fruit just simply rotted off the stem. The 4.29 Timm lost its fruit as well and I will try to get another one going. The 4.59 Lyons has blight but the fruit hasn't been affected yet. At the moment I only have 3 tomatoes set on the 10 plants I initially had.   Saturday, August 27 View Page My first heavy pepper of the season weighed in at 461 grams (1.02 lbs), just 0.01 lbs short of last year's. I have one pepper left that might be a bit bigger.   Wednesday, August 31 View Page Weather experts calculated the summer of 2011 to be the wettest since 1906. This marrow plant has been flooded several times and water in a patch in Holland is quite unique as we have a good drainage system over here, but waterlogged is waterlogged. This marrow will only be for genetic purposes now.   Wednesday, August 31 View Page 1421 Stelts at day 59 (now day 61). The last few days temperatures didn't get much higher than 13C during the day with nights at about 8C. This one is close to 200 lbs behind the other pumpkins I have grown in the past.   Wednesday, August 31 View Page The giant cuke has laid down to rest and ripen.   Wednesday, August 31 View Page The long gourd has also stopped growing.   Wednesday, August 31 View Page Along with the cucumber, this might be my only success this year. Currently a bit over 85lbs at day 24. Mine usually grow 40-50 days. Now it's just a question of keeping it from splitting.   Wednesday, August 31 View Page Heaviest cucumber weighed in at 5502g (12.1 lbs) today. Nowhere near anything spectacular but a PB for me. My longest cucumber taped 85.5cm (33.7"). Again quite a bit short of the record (38.5"), but still a PB.   Saturday, September 3 View Page The one that got away. The excessive rain caused my largest carrot to rot as well. Final weight was 3.1kg (6.8lbs). We had two sunny days this week, but the forecast is predicting an awful lot more rain for the next ten days. The marrow taped over 100 lbs today.   Wednesday, September 7 View Page It was bound to happen. Another enormous rain storm and the marrow split at the stem. It tapes 124 lbs and is still quite young. That ends my marrow season as well, as I have no backup except for a drowned plant on another plot.   Friday, September 9 View Page Day 70 on the 1421 Stelts and finally taping just over 1000 lbs. I just calculated that we had rain on 87 of the last 90 days. Long term forecasts predict rain for the next two weeks. After a lot of planning and work this year, it looks like I will have nothing worthwhile to show. All of the outside crops are lost or severely stunted due to drowning. Some of my growing colleagues in Holland are in even worse shape, so the weigh-off on October 1 certainly won't be as spectacular as last year.   Wednesday, September 14 View Page Decided to weigh the marrow today before the seeds started to rot. It was still growing 5lbs a day when it split. Now 135.5 Wursten 11 DMG. Just a little light to the charts.   Thursday, September 29 View Page It looks like the Dutch Giant Vegetable Championship on Saturday is going to be quite uninteresting. All but three of the (major) growers have nothing to show or can't come. And the rest of us don't have anything earth shattering. The 1421 is going to have to go 11% heavy for a PB and 13.5% heavy for a new Dutch record.   Thursday, September 29 View Page I hope to be showing in more than 15 classes, but only the 135 Jacobus LG is worth mentioning. Only it and one of my parsnips will be a new personal best I am guessing.   Monday, October 3 View Page The season is almost at an end. Just a tomato, sunflower head and a runner bean left in the giant veg garden. Pictured is my long gourd and very disappointing pumpkin. Here is the list of giant veg I started out with and what became of them, based on the 8 giant veg classes of the EGVGA. Category 1 - Atlantic Giant Pumpkin (1) - 1421 Stelts - 957lbs (went 18.4% light)- worst grower I have ever had Category 2 - Cucurbitaceae 1 Squash (1) - 1x 1055 Pitura* - drowned Cantaloupe (2) - 2x 38 Daho - drowned Field Pumpkin (1) - 1x 103 Lyons - drowned Category 3 - Cucurbitaceae 2 Marrow (2) - 2x 206.5 Wursten - 1 split at 135.5 lbs - other 70.5lbs Cucumber: heavy (1) - 12.13lbs (PB) Cucumber: long (2) - 85.5cm (PB) Category 4 - Heavy root Beetroot (7) - heaviest weighed 11.9lbs (smallest ever) Carrot (ca. 25) - 24 drowned or rotted, smallest survived @ 3.57 lbs. Heaviest dmg was 6.8lbs Parsnip (5) - 7.5lbs (PB) Potato (7) - all plants drowned - biggest surviving seed potato was 1.86lbs Category 5 - Long Beetroot (1) - 92.1in (PB) Carrot (2) - 61.4in (PB) and 46.1in Long gourd (3) - 2 drowned, 135 Jacobus produced 122in (Euro record) Runner bean (3) - 25.6in (PB) Category 6 - Brassica Kohlrabi (2) - both drowned Radish (5) - all 5 went to seed; heaviest 2.87lbs Swede (3) - 2 drowned; smallest survived @ 19.4lbs Category 7 - Tall Corn (19) - severely stunted: Olotillo is still growing, tallest Montana was 15ft 9in Sunflower (3) - only one stunted one survived @ 12ft 1in (worst ever) Sunflower: head (3) - heads never matured as plants pretty much drowned; waiting for last "survivor" to grow a bit Category 8 - Other heavy Leek (7) - got seed too late so only 1.92lbs Pepper (3) - several at 1.03 and 1.02lbs Tomato (10)- 7 plants drowned/blight, rest stunted - still need to weigh the only survivor on the 7.33 Hunt   Monday, October 3 View Page With the coldest and wettest summer (with least sun hours) ever recorded in Dutch history, only three growers made it to the weigh-off, which meant they all won a prize. We put on the best show we could with a wide variety of giant veg, but the pumpkin results were pathetic, except for Joost Wouters who got a new personal best. The top three were my 1421 Stelts at 957lbs, on the right Arnold Horde's 1059 Vincent-McGill at 681lbs (he wasn't there) and on the left Iwan Horde's 731 Huff* squash at 500lbs. Iwan and Joost's fruit all went around 15% heavy, while mine (grown inside) went more than 18% light. Note the scars on the other pumpkin and squash, caused by a severe hail storm they went through.   Wednesday, December 7 View Page This year's results have been evaluated and where possible changes have been or will be made. My giant vegetable line-up for 2012 is pretty much ready to go. Just waiting for a few seeds to arrive. Besides these, regular fruit and vegetables, cut flowers and ornamental gourds, squash and pumpkins. Multiples of most. PUMPKIN: none SQUASH: 1002 Jarvis* BEETROOT (long) - Medwyn Williams BEETROOT (heavy) - Glazebrook line and "Mammoth" CARROT (heavy) - Flakkee and "Bangor" CUCUMBER (heavy) - Glazebrook and Thomas CUCUMBER (long) - Glazebrook and Wursten CORN - Olotillo, Olotillo-Tuxpeno, Tehua KOHLRABI - "Kossak" and "Superschmelz" LEEK - "Mammoth Pot" LONG GOURD - 135 Jacobus ONION - Glazebrook PEPPER - "Colossal" POTATO - "Kondor" FIELD PUMPKIN - 85 Eaton MARROW - 135.5 Wursten, 99.6 Osmala PARSNIP - "Picador" SUNFLOWER (tall and head) - Richard Hope strain TOMATO - 7.33 Hunt, 4.59 Lyons, 5.35 Lyons RADISH - "Sukarajima" RUNNER BEAN - Jescot Long'un SWEDE - unknown strain