Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 140 Entries. Sunday, January 22 View Page Thought I would start my diary off this year with a very Cornish sight, a field of winter cauli with St.Michaels Mount in the bacground, with only 3 mornings of very light frost this winter the cauli crops look well and are about 3 weeks ahead at the moment. Last year we had temps down to -8C for several nights which killed off a lot of cauli crops. Good luck to everyone in 2012!   Sunday, January 22 View Page Cabbage are looking good at the moment, will probably pot them up next weekend.   Friday, January 27 View Page After a long wait my Parsnip World Record has been confirmed by Guinness! Here it is at last it arrived yesterday! Along with 6 trophies from the EGVGA classes last year, I am especially pleased with the the Gold coloured cup to the right of the certificate, it is for the WR and is engraved with the details of parsnip, thank you EGVGA.   Sunday, January 29 View Page I potted my cabbage up on Thursday this week as I had a day off work, weather is still mild for the time of year.   Sunday, January 29 View Page I started these celery on the 14th Jan along with parsnips and carrots, the carrots are just about breaking ground but the parsnips are slower.   Sunday, February 5 View Page Winter has arrived in Cornwall! 3 nights of frost this week and 2 of them had a low of -6C, my carrots are nearly all germinated with the parsnips now breaking ground. I started swedes and kohl rabi seeds yesterday, the heater in the greenhouse is just about keeping the temps high enough.   Sunday, February 12 View Page I transplanted celery yeasterday, I have started plants for George, Simon, William, Barry and me so have a propagator full! Parsnips have now germinated so next week will transplant them and the carrots into tubes to grow on. Swedes and kohl rabi have also germinated.   Sunday, February 19 View Page Quite a bit going on this weekend, these are my swedes all transplanted yesterday, also transplanted some Kohl Rabi and planted some beetroot seeds.   Sunday, February 19 View Page And today I have transplanted my carrots ans parsnips into their tubes.   Sunday, February 19 View Page The parsnip and carrot plants have roots to the bottom of their pot already.   Sunday, February 19 View Page Celery seem to be moving faster than last year.   Sunday, February 26 View Page My celery is growing very fast this year, I have potted them up today. Parsnips and carrots have now got a rough leaf and are looking about the same as last year.   Sunday, March 4 View Page I have potted up some Swedes and Kohl Rabi today.   Sunday, March 4 View Page Also potted Brad's beetroot up into 3.5 inch pots. Started some tomatoes as well.   Sunday, March 4 View Page Carrots and parsnips are looking well and on target. So far I have Cabbage, Carrots, Parsnips, Swedes, Kohl Rabi, Celery, Beetroot and Tomatoes started, the ground is too wet to work down this weekend but I have cleared all of it ready to go. I will hopefully get the cabbage ground ready soon.   Sunday, March 11 View Page Everything is growing well,the weather has warmed up a little and it is drier this week so I have started to work down ground for cabbages. Swedes in picture will go in the ground in 2 weeks.   Sunday, March 18 View Page I have got most of my ground ready this week, cabbage ground is ready so I will probably plant them one evening this week and here is my tunnel ready for carrots, parsnips, swedes etc. I have planted some potatoes in there this afternoon. Only one pumpkin plant this year and one squash they will go in the far end of the tunnel along with a couple of marrow plants.   Tuesday, March 20 View Page Cabbage have been planted this evening, weather is mild at the moment.   Thursday, March 22 View Page I have planted my swedes in the tunnel this evening, 9 plants-4 from P&P and 5 of my usual strain.   Sunday, April 1 View Page Last weekend I planted carrots, parsnips, kohl rabi in the tunnel.   Sunday, April 1 View Page I even planted a couple of early celery to try.   Sunday, April 1 View Page The swedes are growing very fast again, today I have started my pumpkin and squash seed, the pumpkin line up this year should hopefully be an 1180 Pukos if it germinates! Backup is a 1611 Daho.   Sunday, April 8 View Page Swedes are growing very well, I can see a difference on them every day.   Sunday, April 8 View Page My tunnel is filling up, I have planted Celery, Beetroot, Tomatoes and even some Onions in this week.   Sunday, April 8 View Page Carrots are begining to form.   Sunday, April 8 View Page Pumpins and squash are germinating well, this one is my own 668*.   Sunday, April 8 View Page We have dug our first new potatoes this evening, very nice!   Monday, April 9 View Page Here is a carrot begining to form, somehow I managed to put a picture of an onion in yesterday.   Thursday, April 12 View Page Pumpkin and Squash have hit the ground this evening, I have gone for the 1611 Daho pumpkin.   Thursday, April 12 View Page And the squash this year is my own 668 Thomas* which is very big already.   Saturday, April 14 View Page Things are still growing in the tunnel, nights are a bit cold but the temperature inside here is ok. I have started my marrow seed this afternoon, lineup this year is 76.9 Wild, Tim Saint 2011, 70.1 Thomas, 85.5 Thomas, 99.2 Osmala, 86.4 Osmala, 66 Baggs and 206.5 Wursten.   Sunday, April 15 View Page My Swede is still growing fast!   Monday, April 16 View Page 1611 Daho has the first leaf growing, I was very sorry to hear Mehdi's news this week, all the problems in our working days and weeks seem very trivial in comparison.   Monday, April 16 View Page My 668 Thomas* has also got it's first true leaf, I am very pleased with both of the plants so far.   Monday, April 16 View Page The weather was hot yeasterday so I had to open up the sheet to keep it cool, the gauge hit 46C at one point!! It has gone back to cooler weather today with rain and wind forecast tonight.   Friday, April 20 View Page I started these cucumbers yesterday, 18 in all and 100% have germinated. I also started canatalope melons but they have not yet germinated, marrows are now popping through the compost. I only have runner beans and radish to start now but they will go in May.   Sunday, April 22 View Page I have a new photographer, my daughter Maddie has a new camera and is going to take most of the veg photos this year, here is the first one of a carrot.   Sunday, April 22 View Page Beetroot are growing well, I have been plagued with ants and have dusted around every plant this week, it seems to have worked.   Sunday, April 22 View Page This celery is in the tunnel, I have plants to go outside but the weather is windy and wet so they are safer in the greenhouse.   Sunday, April 22 View Page Parsnip   Sunday, April 22 View Page Potatoes are looking well.   Sunday, April 22 View Page Onion.   Sunday, April 22 View Page My 3 Kohl rabi look the same at the moment.   Sunday, April 22 View Page My swedes are growing very well still, I think they like the cooler weather.   Sunday, April 22 View Page Cabbage   Sunday, April 22 View Page My 1611 Daho looks great with the second true leaf on already.   Sunday, April 22 View Page And my 668* Thomas is looking about the same as the pumpkin.   Sunday, April 22 View Page All of the marrows are now up, I had 3 206.5 Wursten's which all germinated, I have realised that I have planted them all a week or so earlier than last year.   Sunday, April 29 View Page It has been raining all day so far and is forecast to continue, my tunnel is begining to fill out a bit now and just needs some sunshine.   Sunday, April 29 View Page My parsnips are now starting to show some neck.   Sunday, April 29 View Page My swedes are all splitting well, I think that if they are splitting then they are growing fast.   Sunday, April 29 View Page I planted a couple of marrows in the tunnel on tuesday this week, these are both 70.1 Thomas, my other marrow plants have been potted up into bigger pots as I think it will be too wet to plant them out this week, I have also planted 4 long cucumbers in the tunnel yesterday.   Sunday, April 29 View Page my 1611 Daho has moved on this week but is in need of some sunshine now.   Sunday, April 29 View Page Same story with the 668* Thomas.   Sunday, May 6 View Page We had a couple of hours out this afternoon, the Cruise ship Emerald Princess was anchored off Falmouth this afternoon so Sarah, Madeline and I drove out to Mannacan to see it, what a ship!   Sunday, May 6 View Page Swedes are still going well.   Sunday, May 6 View Page 1611 Daho is looking well though the weather is cold.   Sunday, May 6 View Page And the 668* is a little behind the 1611.   Sunday, May 6 View Page Our Crab apple arch is in full flower now, hopefully plant marrows out tomorrow.   Monday, May 7 View Page Planted out my marrows today, this is the 76.9 Wild. Runner beans have gone in their pots today and I have planted 4 celery outside.   Sunday, May 13 View Page Yesterday and today have started like this, a light frost on the grass, temp in the tunnel was 7C so no damage so far!!   Sunday, May 13 View Page Not a lot of giant veg going on today, I have been on a road run on my Father's John Dere 'A', 55 tractors on the run in all, it was a charity run in aid of St.Julia's Hospice. Pastys for lunch! Good day in all.   Monday, May 14 View Page 1611 Daho is now begining to vine.   Monday, May 14 View Page My 668 Thomas* is also vining but smaller than the 1611.   Monday, May 14 View Page The swedes are getting ugly!   Sunday, May 20 View Page Cornwall had the great honour of being the first place for the Olympic flame to land, yesterday it started it's journey from Lands End. We caught up with it in Marazion, here is one of the torch bearers.   Sunday, May 20 View Page We were luck enough to see a relay change over, there will be 8000 of these in the next 70 days as the flame works its way around the country before starting the Olympic games London 2012. Apparently the route has been planned to be within 10 miles of 95% of the UK population.   Sunday, May 20 View Page I have planted watermelons and cantalopes this weekend, I have ran out of room under cover so I came up with this idea, also started some radish, the only things left to plant now are some runner beans. The watermelons are 137 Osmala, 107.4 Daho and 222 Hunt. Cantalopes are 40.5 Daho and 38.3 Daho.   Sunday, May 20 View Page My 1611 Daho is about 5 foot long now but with the cold weather it is probably about half the size of last year.   Sunday, May 20 View Page There is a female in the tip of the 1611.   Sunday, May 20 View Page My 668 Thomas* is trying to grow upwards, plant looing healthy.   Sunday, May 20 View Page My 668 Thomas* is trying to grow upwards, plant looing healthy.   Sunday, May 20 View Page Cabbage also growing well.   Sunday, June 3 View Page My 1611 Daho has really taken off in the past 2 weeks, I pollinated the first female yesterday but only had a 668* to pollinate with, 2 more females later this week.   Sunday, June 3 View Page Cantalopes are growing well.   Sunday, June 3 View Page Cucumbers are now away, I have tied them up today.   Sunday, June 3 View Page My onions are begining to swell up.   Sunday, June 3 View Page Radish have been thinned out to one plant and are in rough leaf.   Sunday, June 3 View Page Swedes are still going well though I have lost one with a hollow neck.   Thursday, June 14 View Page I have pollinated 2 marrows in the tunnel this week, both 70.1xsibb and this morning I pollinated a perfect 5 lobe 1611 Daho x self. The Veg in the tunnel is growing well, my early celery experiment has gone wrong and seeded but the others are ok so far. Swedes are going very well with only one lost so far, Kohl Rabi are enjoying being grown under cover, carrots look bigger than last year so far, tomatoes have started to flower, parsnips look about the same as last year, potatoes have a lot of top but who knows what is underneath??, cucumbers are climbing and the weather is very wet and very windy!! Marrows outside have taken a real beating with the wind, thank goodness for a bit of cover!!   Sunday, June 24 View Page We have had another wet and windy week, the whole country seems to be suffering from the same weather, this is one of my outdoor marrows with wind damage even though I tried to make wind breaks this year.   Sunday, June 24 View Page Indoor marrows looing a lot better, probably too far ahead if anything.   Sunday, June 24 View Page This is my best looking carrot at the moment, it has now started to shoot out more roots at ground level.   Sunday, June 24 View Page My kohl Rabi are going well, they are starting to shoot out pups on the bottom.   Sunday, June 24 View Page Swedes look like this below....   Sunday, June 24 View Page ....and this on top.   Sunday, June 24 View Page Later planted celery is ok so far, both early plants have now seeded.   Sunday, June 24 View Page Cucumber flowers about to start.   Sunday, June 24 View Page Onions are making slow progress.   Sunday, June 24 View Page And finally I have a squash set and a pumpkin, they need sunshine now.   Sunday, June 24 View Page Picture for above post!!   Sunday, July 29 View Page I haven't posted for a few weeks now as work has been very busy, late June and the first 2 weeks of July was very cold and wet, one day I recorded 36mm of rain. Then about 2 wees ago now summer started! Here is my 1611 Daho, I haven't put a tape near it but it looks to be growing faster now that the sun is shining.   Sunday, July 29 View Page When it warmed up the blossom end started to open up but so far it looks as if it will hold.   Sunday, July 29 View Page My squash is growing slowly and is a funny shape.   Sunday, July 29 View Page I started with 9 swedes and am now down to 5 in all, they look ok at the moment but anything can happen in the next 4 weeks.   Sunday, July 29 View Page My beans are setting and need to be thinned.   Sunday, July 29 View Page Brads beetroot seed are looking to be true.   Sunday, July 29 View Page My cabbage are slow to heart up this year but plants look healthy.   Sunday, July 29 View Page My carrots are doing ok.   Sunday, July 29 View Page Out of 4 cucumber plants there is only 1 long one the others are short and fat.   Sunday, July 29 View Page Celery look well.   Sunday, July 29 View Page Kohl Rabi is still growing slowly.   Sunday, July 29 View Page I have grown some onions this year as well, not very big but I am pleased with them.   Sunday, July 29 View Page My marrows have recovered a bit from the beating they had from the wind a few weeks ago.   Sunday, July 29 View Page I have lost 2 radish so far with rot but the others look a bit like this one, may lose more yet I think.   Sunday, July 29 View Page I am down to one cantalope melon an it doesn't look very happy, no fruit yet.   Sunday, July 29 View Page But I do have some watermelons that may be set, not quite sure yet.   Sunday, July 29 View Page I have a megabloom on my tomato, I did have one on this plant earlier but it rotted off in the wet weather.   Sunday, July 29 View Page Potatoes are still green but are slowly dying back.   Sunday, July 29 View Page And finally the parsnip looks about the same as last year.   Sunday, August 5 View Page Well I think my 1611 Daho has grown but still haven't put a tape on it, the weather is not too bad at the moment, sunny spells with heavy showers.   Sunday, August 5 View Page Bit of a disaster with my swedes, the 2 best ones have developed some rot, this one weighed in at 70lb, still have 4 good ones but for how long????   Sunday, August 5 View Page It looks like I may have a personal best with a watermelon, this is the 137 Osmala Finish Record seed. I have never managed to get one to this size!!   Sunday, August 5 View Page I have left 2 marrows grow on the 66 Bags plant to see if I can stop them from splitting, I am guessing they are at about 60 to 70lbs at the moment.   Sunday, August 12 View Page I am very pleased with my watermelon, I have never yet got one onto a show bench so hopefully this one will make it. Last week the camera case was a lot bigger than the melon!   Sunday, August 12 View Page My 1611 Daho is still growing but I still haven't put the tape near it.   Sunday, August 12 View Page Only 3 swedes left now, pulled another one this afternoon.   Sunday, August 12 View Page My cucumber is still growing slowly but has started to ripen.   Sunday, August 19 View Page Weather earlier this week turned into a storm with strong gusts of wind and rain, my cucumbers are supported from the roof of the tunnel and this one was nocked off at 18.2Lb uow, Lucky the other 3 are ok, next year I need to make a frame inside the tunnel!!   Sunday, August 19 View Page Still have 3 swedes left.   Sunday, August 19 View Page Watermelon still growing and nearly making the camera case look small   Sunday, August 19 View Page Potatoes have still got some green in them, can't wait to dig them up this year, only 10 days to go!!   Sunday, August 19 View Page Only one kohl rabi left, the other 2 split and rotted just to add to the gaps in the tunnel.   Sunday, August 19 View Page Still haven't taped the 1611 Daho, I think in the right hands this seed would make a very big pumpkin, I have only got a small plant, I haven't buried all of the vines and still there is a very decent pumpkin (for my standards) on it.   Sunday, August 19 View Page First show is 10 days away now, with all the problems I have had I am still very happy with my veg as long as they stay in one piece, I am still watering plants but have stopped feeding now so hopefully they will make it.   Wednesday, August 22 View Page Just 7 more days to GROW!! start digging and cutting next Wednesday!!   Wednesday, August 29 View Page We have been lifting veg this morning for the show tomorrow, here is a PB onion for me.   Wednesday, August 29 View Page My daughter has insisted I put this photo on as she caught the look of shock on my face when I picked up this swede!!   Wednesday, August 29 View Page Pumpkin is loaded!!   Saturday, September 1 View Page Quick Shepton Mallet update, I have won 8 classed including the swede class at 78lb (mine is the one on the right), Peter Glazebrook has broken the Lond Parsnip record at 5.607 meters. Classes are down a little this year but most of the UK has not seen the sun! Will post more when the weight make it out of the show office.   Monday, September 3 View Page Back from a very good weekend at Shepton Mallet, here is Peter's WR long parsnip (the one with the red card!). All of the results are now on the EGVGA website. http://egvga.webs.com/2012giantvegresults.htm   Sunday, September 23 View Page Last show for me next week, the garden is now looking thin with most of the veg dug/cut and shown, still have a couple of carrots and one more parsnip though, this one has a small forest on top, will be interesting to see what is under it next week.   Sunday, September 23 View Page Forgot to say the show is at Malvern, no class for celery but if I have room this one may go anyway.   Monday, October 1 View Page Had a good weekend at Malvern show, here is the carrot with the big top, weighed in at 10.8lb. All results from the show are on the EGVGA web site.   Monday, October 1 View Page The NVS had their National show at Malvern this year, despite the weather this year the quality of the veg was superb.   Monday, October 1 View Page This was a very colourful class, I had a chat with the winner and he tells me that it took several hours to display.   Monday, October 1 View Page Another shot of the NVS show.   Sunday, October 14 View Page I jumped in the car yesterday morning and went up to the GPC weigh off in Southampton, here is Ian and Stuart with the winning pumpkin at 1160lb.   Thursday, December 6 View Page I started my cabbage on the 16th November this year, all germinated and will be potted up at the weekend.   Thursday, December 6 View Page I have also got some pot leeks going, first time trying these. The weather has been very wet this year, started some patch prep a couple of weeks ago but can't get on the ground.