Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 38 Entries. Wednesday, February 9 View Page My wife is a professional blogger and my family's lives in the public's eye, for better or worse. So for fun my wife and decided to air our family issues in the public by trying out for NBC's The Marriage Ref. More details to come...   Sunday, April 10 View Page The following is my 2011 seed lineup. I like the long growing genetics of Pete's 1161 and the 1288 pollinator in the 1306 Mohr looked like it had some fire power and heavy genetics in it. Joe's 1421 plant was the best looking pumpkin plant that I have ever seen in Colorado. The vines were massive, the pumpkin had an ideal shape and it was also a long grower. The 1725 pollinator was a very aggressive plant that got pulled because of disease but I like what the 1725 did last year and I want those genetics in my lines. I'm hoping not to grow the 1325 Sperry this year but have it as a backup in case something doesn't germinate. Steve made some great crosses this last year and the 1326 is my favorite. My kids are going to grow my 868 Johnson this year. The 1161 was a long grower and the 1544 was the best plant Scherber ever had until it went down with disease so it looks to be a great pollinator. The kids will have a chance to prove that out.   Thursday, April 14 View Page The Marriage Ref's first episode will air on June 26th NBC announced.   Thursday, April 21 View Page You gotta love this time of year.   Thursday, April 28 View Page Plants doing a little sunbathing. Nice to finally have some consistent sun again in Denver.   Thursday, April 28 View Page Doh! Last pic was the old pic. This is the right one.   Sunday, May 8 View Page A big thanks to all of the growers in the RMGVG. Particularly Barry, Biz, Joe and the Wiz. Had some troubles in the patch this last week and they stepped up and offered me new plants. Pictures here is one of my hoop houses caught on a hail netting pole 8 feet in the air.   Wednesday, May 11 View Page After my weather troubles I've got a new lineup. In hoop house #1 868 Johnson (1161 Rodonis x 1544 Revier) and 1306 Mohr (1161 Rodonis x 1288 Wallace). In hoop house #2 1308 Todd (50 Todd x 901 Hunt) and 1204 Scherber (1421 Stelts x 1725 Harp).   Thursday, May 19 View Page This is the 1308 Todd (50 Todd x 901 Hunt). Seed came from the Colorado state champ pumpkin. 901 pollinator went 26% heavy. Hoping that translates into big and heavy pumpkins.   Thursday, May 19 View Page This is the 868 Johnson (1161 Rodonis x 1544 Revier). The pollinator was a real beast of a plant until it go the "crud." It had a pumpkin on it that was the biggest Joe Scherber has ever had so I'm hoping that side of it comes into this plant. The plant that grew the 868 had an amazing root system and a canopy of leaves. Grower got in the way of this plant last year so I'm hoping to find its potential some thing year.   Sunday, June 12 View Page The most recent picture of the 868 Johnson (1161 x 1544). Looks a lot like last years plant. It knows how to grow leaves. Hoping it knows hot to grow fruit.   Sunday, June 12 View Page The 1204 Scherber (1421 x 1725). This thing only knows how to grow in one direction but it does it well. Hopefully the side vines will start kicking in soon.   Sunday, June 12 View Page Got the hail netting up last week. Hopefully won't need to use it this year.   Wednesday, June 22 View Page My wife and I will be on The Marriage Ref this Sunday, June 26th airing our dirty laundry about giant pumpkin growing to the world. Watch Jerry Seinfeld seranade me with his Pumpkin Man song. www.denverpumpkins.com/2011/06/sing-along-im-pumpkin-man-pumpkin-man.html   Monday, June 27 View Page I guess if you took an entire season of pumpkin growing and threw in a dash of comedy, what aired on The Marriage Ref tonight would be about accurate. It was all in fun. Sometimes I told the directors I wouldn't do some of the stuff that they asked me to do. Other times I went along with it in the name of comedy. I would hope that nobody was offended. Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself. As a good grower once told me, "You have to be a little crazy to be part of this sport." If nothing else you can turn to your wife or husband from this point forward and say, "Ya but I'm not as crazy as that guy that was on The Marriage Ref." Lol   Tuesday, June 28 View Page This is my 868 Johnson (1161 Rodonis x 1544 Revier). So far I have seen many of the best traits of my 1161 plant and the 1544 plant. The leaf canopy is exactly like last year's plant. Shorter, smaller leaves and lots of them. The root system is also like my 1161 plant with what looks to be a fairly aggressive root system. The pumpkin growth has been more like the 1544 plant. Somewhat aggressive from what I have seen so far. The 1161 plant last year was slow growth for the first 10 days. I wasn't even sure if the pollination had taken. This plant you could see the newly pollinated females double in size in about a day.   Tuesday, June 28 View Page Pictured here is my 1204 Scherber (1421 Stelts x 1725 Harp). Pollinated it with the 1810 Stevens today. This plant is a bit like a rocket, liking to grow forward but not big on the side vines. Nice football shaped pumpkins on this one.   Tuesday, June 28 View Page A grower I think will want to watch seeds coming out of Colorado the end of this season. You won't see seeds from 1,500+ pound pumpkins here because our enviroment makes that challenging but I think you will see some crosses with the gentics that a smart grower will recognize as being as good or better than anything else you will find elsewhere. There are clones of the 1725 Sweet and 1663 Zoellner in Colorado as well as 1810 Stevens and 1450 Wallace plants with a lot of interesting crosses being done. Not to be overlooked are some of the Colorado seeds. We had our best season ever last year with the biggest being grown from the 50 Todd (that isn't a typo) and some more being grown this year. This year I am planning on having a 1204 Scherber x 1810 Stevens cross and a 868 Johnson x 1161 Rodonis (1161 would be pollen from the 1725 Sweet clone). The later cross will have three generations of 1161 in that seed (crossing fingers that I can make that cross happen next week).   Wednesday, July 6 View Page This is the 1204 Sherber from a couple of days ago. Crossed it with 1810 Stevens.   Wednesday, July 6 View Page This is the 868 Johnson. Crossed it with 1725 Harp. No males were available from either of the clone plants so the 1725 was the next best option.   Friday, July 8 View Page Doesn't mean anything, but a new personal best for a 10 day measurement. The 1204 Scherber measures 22 inches today.   Thursday, July 14 View Page This is the 868 Johnson (1161 Rodonis x 1544 Revier) aka "Jerry". Day 10. Biggest day 10 measurement I've ever had.   Thursday, July 14 View Page This is the 1204 Scherber (1421 Stelts x 1725 Harp) aka "Ricky". Day 16. Previous biggest day 10 measurement I've ever had. Early I would have said this one was going to be a light orange like mom but it has been going a little more orange the last few days.   Sunday, July 31 View Page This is the 1204 Scherber (aka "Ricky"). Continues to grow very well. Both pumpkins are more than 12 inches larger on the circumference measurement than my two personal best pumpkins from last year on the same number of growing days. Big thanks to Joe this last week for watching them while I was out of town.   Thursday, August 4 View Page Joe says this one is going to be my biggest (might be because it is grown off his seed). I don't care which one weighs the most when they hit the scale but I'm leaning slightly towards the 868 pumpkin for going the heaviest. It is 6 days younger but got out of the gate faster and seems to have a little more to give. This 1204 fat bottomed girl is going to win in the beauty category between the two however.   Thursday, August 11 View Page Slower growth this week (probably due to the heat) but they are still packing on the pounds.   Monday, August 15 View Page Looks like there is something in the weeds in Colorado.   Monday, August 15 View Page Thanks to everyone for stopping by on the RMGVG patch tour.   Friday, August 19 View Page The 1204 pumpkin is growing...   Friday, August 19 View Page ...And Growing...   Friday, August 19 View Page ...And...Doh! To much growing!!! Split showed up where a dill ring hit a deep rib and it opened up today. A real shame. It was well on it's way to go 250 pounds over my personal best. It is a nice looking pumpkin. I'll take some offical measurements to get an unoffical weight soon. The cross is 1204 Scherber x 1810 Stevens.   Tuesday, August 23 View Page Let me know if your wife or significant other would be interested in wearing one of these shirts at this year's weigh-offs. I know my wife will be wearing one.   Saturday, August 27 View Page Picture of "Ricky" the pumpkin. The cross is 1204 Scherber x 1810 Stevens.   Saturday, August 27 View Page Dear Jerry Seinfeld. I hope this pumpkin picture proves two things. First, giant pumpkin don't have to be ugly. Second, this pumpkin was named after Ricky Gervais and hopefully it proves that the "British" don't have to be ugly (if you watched me on NBC you'll know what I am talking about).   Sunday, September 4 View Page This is the 656 Johnson est. (868 Johnson x 1725 Harp). Pumpkin went down early due to a spot of rot.   Saturday, September 17 View Page Pictured here is Joe Scherber with his pumpkin that he lost to a spot of rot. If you've met Joe you know at 6'4" that he isn't a small man so it gives some perspective to the size of this pumpkin. Probably would have ended up as a Colorado state record. The cross is 1725 Harp x 1161 Rodonis [1725 Sweet clone] which in my mind makes it a very intriguing cross. The pumpkin was flawless on the inside and fairly thick.   Saturday, September 24 View Page Biggest and prettiest pumpkin I've ever grown. To bad it split a month ago or we might have been even bigger and prettier. This is the 926 Johnson (1204 Scherber x 1810 Stevens). The 1810 was also a very orange, shiney pumpkin so I suspect it might have some nice looking offspring.   Sunday, September 25 View Page I stand corrected. My pumpkin was actually 924.5. The photo of the pumpkin that I looked at after the weigh-off had my hand on the pumpkin so it through off the scale and I couldn't remember what the actual weigh was but when I watched the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPX2YPHc_4k) of the weigh-off this evening I saw the corret weight.