Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 81 Entries. Tuesday, March 22 View Page Time to fire up the 2011 diary. I'll start with a few pics from my visit to Niagara Falls.   Tuesday, March 22 View Page Al, Sam, and Erin, enjoying the meet and greet on Friday night.   Tuesday, March 22 View Page Jane Hunt's pumpkin seed necklace. A beautiful necklace and a beautiful lady.   Tuesday, March 22 View Page Me, Don, and Judy hamming it up for the camera.   Tuesday, March 22 View Page This is a family tree of the 1810.   Tuesday, March 22 View Page L-R: Andy, Judy, Sam, Al, Me, and Erin saying goodbye and heading back to the U.S.A. I had a great time and hope to go back next year.   Wednesday, April 13 View Page The week after I got home from Niagara, I started my tall corn after discussing corn strategy with a couple of the corn growers up there. These plants were started on 3-19, so this Saturday, they will be 4 weeks old. They seem gigantic to me, but never having grown tall corn before..they may be little bitty things LoL   Wednesday, April 13 View Page Another group shot of the tall corn. If you look to the far right, you'll see one that is much shorter than the rest. I think it might be a dud, as the leaf in the center of the stalk doesn't seem to want to grow. On the far left, I had one that kept leaning (I think a bird landed on it) so I put a stake in there to prop it up. If I should be staking these while they're in the pots, please let me know.   Wednesday, April 13 View Page I have a few plants that seem to be especially nice. This is seed I got from Dave R. It is a beautiful plant. Thanks Dave!   Wednesday, April 13 View Page Here's a really nice plant from Johnston/Butler. It is my tallest plant to date. Thanks so much for the seed guys!   Saturday, April 23 View Page Today's flooding is probably the worst the creek has been out of it's banks since we moved here. So thankful my house sits up on a knoll and we didn't allow the builder to do a walk out in the basement like he wanted to LoL   Tuesday, April 26 View Page Checked the extended forecast this morning. I will have a 3 or 4 day period coming up with just slight chances (20-30%) of rain. Since I have my huts up and plastic down on the plots,I'm gonna get started. Seeds are filed and soaking right now. Pots are warming up in the germ box. Cross your fingers that it all works out :) Starting 2 of each of these: 1622 Young 1544 Revier 1663 Zoellner 1131 Gansert A big thanks to Don, Chad, Jeff, and Norm for the seeds!!   Tuesday, May 3 View Page The rain continues to fall. This is our worst flood of the season and hopefully the last! I decided to show you the full view of the creek to give you a better idea of just how much rain we've been getting here in Southwestern Ohio.   Tuesday, May 3 View Page Luckily, neither my tomato patch or my pumpkin patch are located near the creek! I've got some water standing, but once the rain stops (if it ever does) this will drain off quick. Here is a picture of my patch. My sorry little stand of rye still not tilled in, no fence, no amendments added..just the huts. The two huts to the right I worked by hand last week and they are ready to go with just a tiny bit of drying out needed, the two on the left will be needing some major drying out. I'm going to work on doing some drainage tiles as my winter project.   Tuesday, May 3 View Page Since I can't do anything else outside, I'll show off my chicken boots again!   Tuesday, May 3 View Page Quack Quack Don Young!   Wednesday, May 11 View Page Another pumpkin hut planted yesterday. One more to go. Here is a photo of my Mother's Day present. Say hello to Tom :)   Wednesday, May 11 View Page By request, here is a full body shot of Tom. He's a big ol boy!   Wednesday, May 11 View Page All pumpkins are in the ground. Still plenty of things to go. I'll get there eventually, I guess.   Sunday, May 15 View Page Some leaf lettuce I'm growing in window boxes on my deck   Sunday, May 15 View Page I'm also growing spinach in a window box. Once these crap out, I will replant with flowers.   Sunday, May 15 View Page A pair of 1544 Reviers looking happy in their hut   Sunday, May 15 View Page Since I got so many emails about Tom, I thought you might enjoy a photo I took today of him strutting LoL   Tuesday, May 24 View Page It's been so wet here, I still haven't gotten to plant my tall corn. I have to wonder how tall it would be if it was in the ground?! LoL   Monday, May 30 View Page Got 3 very large melon plants put in the ground today plus a 1658 Young. Go me!   Wednesday, June 1 View Page I worked both patches today. Feels good to have the entire patch tilled and amended all at the same time!   Wednesday, June 1 View Page 3 humongous melon plants newly transplanted.   Wednesday, June 1 View Page 239 Leonard got planted in the extra space in the tomato patch last night. Had a female on it already LoL   Thursday, June 9 View Page Got started early this morning to try and beat the heat. Culled one of the 1544's and worked worm poop into the plot, then buried vines on all pumpkins, pinned down melons as needed, and watered everything good. Finished the evening off with a big drench of secret spinach on all pumpkins and melons. Will have to till again this weekend, weather permitting, since I see lots of weeds popping up.   Friday, July 1 View Page Pollination on 1544 this morning. Crossed with 1131 Gansert. I now have at least pollination on all plants. Hurray!   Friday, July 1 View Page This is my 1622 Young.   Friday, July 1 View Page Finally a good use for this crap lawn mower I bought from Lowe's a couple of years ago (free lawn cart included). This is my homemade mister setup, called the Stihlbilly.   Friday, July 1 View Page This 1131 male was used to pollinate the 1663 Zoellner the other day. Note the two "paintbrushes". Looks a little abbynormal to me ;)   Saturday, July 2 View Page 1131 Gansert this morning. I have one female pollinated on it and one more that just came out of the growing tip.   Saturday, July 2 View Page Melons are starting to fill in nicely.   Saturday, July 2 View Page 1663 Zoellner. 13 days old.   Thursday, July 7 View Page The melons are really starting to fill up the patch fast. I didn't expect much from these guys since I was so late getting them planted and they were so big. They are doing okay and I'll have to be making some culling decisions soon.   Thursday, July 7 View Page Here's my little "too nice to kill" 1658 @ 10 days old. This plant was started as a backup to the 1622s and it just won't quit. I only had room in the patch for 4 pumpkins and 6 melons. Mother Nature wasn't cooperating with the melon planting so this pumpkin sat in the greenhouse for a good month in a 2 gallon pot growing and waiting. I decided she deserved a chance to grow proper so I took space from 3 melons and am growing her in a giant flag pattern. We'll see how it turns out.   Saturday, July 9 View Page 1663 Zoellner Day 20   Saturday, July 9 View Page 1622 Young Day 20   Sunday, July 10 View Page 1131 Day 10   Monday, July 11 View Page 1544 Revier. Day 10   Tuesday, July 19 View Page 113 Kent open pollination. Melon is 15-20 days old. Named Buttah.   Tuesday, July 19 View Page 178.5 Mudd open pollination. This one is just a little younger than the Kent melon, so around 15-20 days old. This little devil is on fire. Named Sandy.   Tuesday, July 19 View Page 1622 Young on Day 30 Nickname: Chunk Hat for scale left in the house. Oops   Tuesday, July 19 View Page 1663 Day 30 Nickname: Zee   Tuesday, July 19 View Page 1658 Young Day 20 Nickname: Lefty. Grown in a flag pattern   Wednesday, July 20 View Page 1131 Gansert Day 20 Nickname: Inga   Saturday, July 23 View Page July 21 was Day 20 for the 1544 Revier. I took the pic, but forgot to post it.   Saturday, July 23 View Page Hello New York! Yesterday morning, I found a melon hiding in the foliage way up near the stump on the 174 Wolf. I threw a sheet over it to protect from the hot sun and this morning, it had grown out of the sheet. I'm naming it Stretch!   Wednesday, July 27 View Page I was gonna call this pumpkin Chunky, but I decided I like Fluffy better. So here is the glorious Fluffy Barber on day 37.   Wednesday, July 27 View Page A giant tomato I found on Tim Pennington's 3.94 plant. Grow baby tomato grow!   Wednesday, July 27 View Page Sandy Mudd. Open pollinated. Really a nice melon.   Saturday, August 6 View Page Time for an update. Yesterday, I cut 3 pumpkins and pulled the plants out. The 1131 had a mushy brown stem that was not clearing up. The 1663 quit growing awhile back and I just couldn't bring myself to cut it and then if that wasn't bad enough, I snapped the stem on the 1658 trying to scooch it over a little bit away from the main. I sat the 1131 and the 1663 over in the shade covered up to try and keep for the porch (?) and the 1658 went to the pigs. They said bring us some more of those white pumpkins!   Saturday, August 6 View Page Here is the 1544 Revier. I had just named this pumpkin Casper because it was so white. Now it is starting to color up so I'm calling it Orange Casper LOL The plant has some issues...but I'm trying to keep it as healthy as I can and grow some new foliage to carry it thru the rest of the season.   Saturday, August 6 View Page Here is Fluffy. She is lumpy and bumpy and fluffy all over. Nice and orange and starting to cantelope. I'm in love.   Saturday, August 6 View Page Here's my melon patch. I have 3 nice melons going now. Closest to the camera is the 113 Kent, aka Buttah. Behind that is the 178.5 Mudd, aka Sandy. Finally, way in the back is my youngest melon that is catching up quick. Notice how close it's set to the stump. This was the best shaped melon on the plant and the clock was ticking and I went with it. It is growing very fast. It's the 174 Wolf and is called Stretch.   Sunday, August 7 View Page The SOGOG Patch Tour was today. I saw some NICE pumpkins! This is Joe Gerchy with one of his pumpkins. Beautiful patch Joe.   Sunday, August 7 View Page This is Rob Valentine. It was so hot and sunny and I could barely see my camera screen. Looks like I had Rob standing right in front of his pumpkin! Oops!   Sunday, August 7 View Page Chris Vanderpool had some nice ones going too.   Sunday, August 7 View Page The news station was interviewing Doc and all the other growers on the tour. Celebrities!   Sunday, August 7 View Page Check out this stump! It was about the size of a 3 lb coffee can. Impressive!   Sunday, August 7 View Page And here is a main vine. Wow!   Sunday, August 7 View Page We did not make it to the final stop of the patch tour or picnic, as we had to get home soon, but we did stop at Cecil's house to see his patch for a minute. Instead of posting pics of his pumpkins, I thought he might rather see his family. We missed you today Cecil!   Saturday, August 13 View Page Time for an update: The melons are doing pretty good. It's about 6 weeks to my county fair and I'm really hoping to take a big one there. This is Buttah   Saturday, August 13 View Page A peek thru the foliage of Sandy.   Saturday, August 13 View Page Here's Stretch...   Saturday, August 13 View Page We had BLTs tonight. Here's a pic of the tomato I cut up. The variety is called Lescana. Awesome tomato!   Monday, September 5 View Page I lovelovelove tomatoes. Here is some of this year's harvest. I was instructed to use a few up so we can use the island again LoL   Monday, September 5 View Page It's only 62 here today so I decided to make some cream of tomato soup. Yummmm!   Monday, September 5 View Page Here's my largest tomato grown to date. Thank you Tim Pennington for the seed.   Friday, September 23 View Page Time to load up Fluffy for the giant pumpkin competition at my local fair. Here is hubby and CJ hooking up the lifting ring. (I'm too nervous to help and have been banished from the patch)   Friday, September 23 View Page Making sure the straps will hold and the bottom is sound...   Friday, September 23 View Page Too wet to go out the front of the patch and across the ditch. So they decided to back all the way around the patch instead. (By this point I can't watch anymore and have gone into the barn)   Friday, September 23 View Page I inspected the bottom. Looks pretty good. Nice and flat and no visible damage...   Friday, September 23 View Page Easing it onto the pallet waiting in the driveway. Yay! we made it!   Friday, September 23 View Page Since my county fair contest is not GPC, I will measure the pumpkin myself. After trying in several places I took the largest circumference. Final measurements on Fluffy are: 137" circumference, 94" side to side, and 86" end to end. OTT of 317" and 672 lbs   Friday, September 23 View Page Finally loaded up and ready to go early tomorrow morning. I'll keep you posted on the results...   Saturday, September 24 View Page I'm happy to report that Fluffy weighed in at a whopping 782 lbs. 120 lbs over estimate! Good enough for the first place trophy and prize money. Woohoo! Thank you again to Don Young and Jeff Zoellner. The cross on Fluffy is 1622 Young x 1663 Zoellner. The watermelons get weighed tomorrow. Stay tuned...   Sunday, September 25 View Page Here are two of my melons loaded up for the county Fair. On the left we have Stretch...a super long torpedo melon (35" straight length) and Sandy..a nice tall melon. Stretch will be entered into the oblong watermelon category and hopefully win for her perfect oblong shape and Sandy will go in the heaviest watermelon class. The fair guys were nice enough to give me a courtesy weigh on Stretch and she came in at 159.5 lbs. Sandy weighed in at 179.5 lbs. A personal best for me and hopefully big enough to win the blue ribbon. I still have one melon left. I'll take her to a gpc event in the next week or two. Stay tuned...   Tuesday, November 29 View Page For Andy: Here is that pest Tom up on the tractor. He thinks he is King of the Farm.