Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 84 Entries. Sunday, March 18 View Page Here's a quick recap of the 2011 growing season (since I failed to complete last year's diary): our 1134 Scalise ended up producing the 857.5 Bouch, 18% heavy at the Altoona, PA weigh off. We had a terrible time trying to stop a stem rot problem from mid-August until we harvested her, and I believe it stalled out this pumpkin's late-season growth.   Sunday, March 18 View Page our 1381 Checkon produced the 1,006.7 Bouch, 21% heavy at Pumpkinville.   Sunday, March 18 View Page After some good discussion of current pH recommendations at the OVGPG advanced seminar yesterday, I dug out this little pH meter. One of my uncles gave this to me several years ago and, honestly, I've never used it. Inspired by the seminar, though, I decided to experiment a little bit   Friday, March 23 View Page here is the photo that was supposed to accompany the last entry   Friday, March 23 View Page I decided to check some known samples to make sure that the pH meter was at least slightly accurate. Here is some bottled water from Walmart....just a whisker under 7.0 where it should be   Friday, March 23 View Page Next, I checked distilled white vinegar and it came in at around 2.6 to 2.7. I read a range of pH levels listed for white vinegar on the internet, but did find several sources which listed it at 2.7, so I think it's at least fairly accurate.   Friday, March 23 View Page Moss has begun taking over some parts of our yard...we haven't applied any lime in far too long. I scraped away some of the moss and did a check here: 6.0   Friday, March 23 View Page Here is a sample from one location in our main patch and , much to my surprise, we're coming in at 7.0 here. Our fall soil test showed pH of 6.2 so we applied hydrated lime and it seems to have done a nice correction.   Friday, March 23 View Page Here is a sample from another location in the main patch...6.9. If our meter is reading .1 low, that should put us at 7.0-7.1. We're going to do a formal test soon to make sure we're not off track.   Friday, March 23 View Page Here is "Mount Coffee". A friend of ours works at a local Country Fair convenience store and was able to arrange having the employees save used coffee grounds for us. Since last fall we've accumulated around 3,000 lbs of spent grounds.   Friday, March 23 View Page As I tried to read up on the use of coffee grounds I found conflicting views, some sources reporting used coffee being quite acidic, some saying that the brewing process removes a lot of the acid. So, here we go with our handy little meter again.....and we got approximately 6.8 (6.9 if we're .1 low on our meter)   Friday, March 23 View Page The amazing weather, coupled with loads of inspiration from yesterday's OVGPG seminar, has me out in the main patch with my broadfork.   Friday, March 23 View Page As I continued working in the patch my broadfork transformed into a bentfork. LOTS of rocks   Friday, March 23 View Page Here is an area being prepped for next year. I've grown vegetables in this garden in the past and will grow pumpkins in it next year while our current AG patch will be rested. I spread lime, did a very shallow till, then planted buckwheat. WAY too early to plant anything, but we're hoping it will catch before it inevitably turns colder. In the background is our small jack-o-lantern patch.   Friday, March 23 View Page Here is the threat to all new growers' yards.....patch sprawl. As if we don't have enough to take care of this year, I tilled a new patch today that will be home to one or two orange pumpkin plants, possibly to sell, and to some field pumpkins.   Friday, March 23 View Page We had germinated some seeds for practice and didn't know what to do with them once they did germ. Based on our pH results when we checked the used coffee grounds, I decided to experiment a little. Here is on of our 857.5's planted in nothing but spent coffee grounds. I'll give some updates periodically.   Friday, March 23 View Page Here's Brady helping out in the patch. We still have more leaves in this area than I'd like. Having had the unbelievable good fortune to give a shallow till, Brady and I soaked the patch down with a dilute molasses bath. The worms are hard at work, hopefully we can get the microbes supercharged to break everything down before planting time.   Friday, March 23 View Page Here's our "coffee pumpkin". It actually looks really nice. We've even been able to put it outside during the day to get some sunshine.   Friday, April 20 View Page These will be our two primary plants. The 1368 has some powerful genetics behind it, and the 1676 was grown off of the 1381 Checkon, the seed that gave us our 1006.7 last year. A seed that can go 1000+ with our soil and beginner's mistakes just HAS to be good!   Friday, April 20 View Page We've stepped up our insect/disease fighting arsenal this year. Here are a few of the products we will be using.   Saturday, April 21 View Page Here is one of our planting sites with its heating cable in place   Saturday, April 21 View Page The last entry shows a site with two heating cables in place. When we first decided to enter this hobby last year we planned on growing 3 plants. We have since decided that two is plenty, but still have 3 cables. Rather than one of them sitting out the season in the garage, this site got 2 of them...but the second likely won't be used.   Saturday, April 21 View Page Here is Brady hard at work trying to break up some of the hard pan clay in our other site. We have the heating cable in place, and we repeatedly pounded rebar stakes into the clay to try to shatter/loosen it somewhat and hopefully provide some additional drainage.   Tuesday, May 1 View Page The value of soil heating cables in our area: soil temperature outside of our hoop houses...   Tuesday, May 1 View Page Soil temperature inside the hoop houses. I read an article from Ohio State University stating that biological activity doubles every 10 degrees. Hopefully this will help us off to a fast start   Tuesday, May 1 View Page Here is our 1676 Checkon. In the left corner of the frame you can see a makeshift CO2 generator we're trying. Highly doubtful if it is helping at all due to the unusually warm daytime temperatures making venting of the hoop houses necessary.   Tuesday, May 15 View Page Here is our 1368 Devlin. Kind of sluggish so far with droopy leaves...but powerful genes behind it   Tuesday, May 22 View Page The 1676 main is getting close to touching down. So far, so good   Tuesday, May 22 View Page The 1368 Devlin is growing nicely but still has an odd, droopy look to it. All conditions seem spot on, so I won't worry (yet)   Sunday, May 27 View Page I've begun burying the 1676's vines and I've noticed occasional double roots developing. I imagine this could be quite a helpful trait if it continues   Monday, June 18 View Page pollination day! It may be a bit early, 6 days earlier than last year for us. But, I like the position of this female, and she is about 17 feet out on the main.   Monday, June 18 View Page Here is a VERY scary transverse split in the 1676's main vine that unexplicably occurred. I'm not sure if I should try splinting it or not.....ugh   Monday, June 18 View Page The 1676 in its entirety today. The newly pollinated female is at the bottom of the frame. We've had some slug damage to some leaves and some sunburn as well but, overall, I think we're OK at this point.   Thursday, June 28 View Page Here is a pic of next year's patch. Piper Sudan grass is growing here now. I hope to mow it when it gets 3-4 feet high, stimulating deeper root penetration. Later on we'll till it in and plant buckwheat, then possibly winter rye (if we have enough time)   Friday, July 6 View Page As I've buried vines this season the 1676 continues to have multiple roots, sometimes just out of the nodes on the bottom of the vines...   Friday, July 6 View Page and sometimes from the nodes on top of the vines.   Friday, July 6 View Page Here is our baby 1676 Checkon. I don't know how in the world I scratched it so badly already   Monday, July 9 View Page Yet another instance of the exceptional rooting of the 1676 Checkon. I wish the photo had come out more clearly, but you can still see the 5 individual roots starting from the top of this vine   Monday, July 9 View Page OK, just one more view of these roots starting out. Hopefully this helps us get LOTS of extra pounds out of the patch   Monday, July 9 View Page I've been neglecting the 1368 Devlin in our diary...but not in the patch. It is off to a nice start, here at day 16 since pollination and is a brilliant yellow. I self-pollinated this plant because our 1676 male flowers don't seem to produce much pollen.   Monday, July 9 View Page The 1676 Checkon, three weeks old today.   Tuesday, July 17 View Page 1676 Checkon, 29 days since pollination. 210 OTT   Tuesday, July 17 View Page Bird's eye view of the 1368 Devlin, she is growing low to the ground and BROAD. Day 24 since pollination, 221 OTT with a circumference of 98 inches.   Tuesday, July 17 View Page More of a ground-level view of the 1368 Devlin today   Friday, July 20 View Page Possibly the beginning of the end for our 1676 Checkon. All was well this morning but, at some point during the day, this awful stem split appeared. I can probe into the center of the stem but not into the cavity of the pumpkin. A fan is blowing on it now, praying it will dry out and heal   Saturday, July 21 View Page The 1676 made it through the night with its stem split, actually gained 26 lbs which is good for this pumpkin as it has been rather slow to grow. Currently 237 OTT for 305 lbs. The split was fairly dry today and the tissure surrounding it looked pretty good. I swabbed it with some dilute bleach then applied sulfur and Captan. Cross your fingers....   Saturday, July 21 View Page 1368 Devlin, 255 OTT today with a circumference of 116 inches. 376 lbs, gaining in the low 30's each night, 181 lbs in the past week   Saturday, July 21 View Page Vines.....who needs 'em??? Well, this plant does!!!! This is a 115.5 Crissman field pumpkin plant. Very odd, producing no vines at all and is just a mess of leaves and flowers around the stump. We're going to grow it out just to see what happens   Saturday, July 21 View Page On the opposite side of the patch from the vineless field pumpkin I have pair of AG plants with awesome orange genetics. Here is an 896 McMillan that has grown a double main vine. Like its strange patch counterpart, we're going to grow it as an experiment. Here is a shot of it's two tips on the main   Monday, July 23 View Page 1676 Checkon, day 35, 246 OTT   Monday, July 23 View Page The ever-growing stem split on our 1676 is confined to the stem (for now). We keep a fan on it and all is dry inside and it has not progressed into the cavity   Tuesday, July 24 View Page The main on our ribbon vined plant has split into two, but the top section still seems to be doubled. We'll continue to grow it to see what it does   Tuesday, July 24 View Page Here's another experiment of ours. I took a small tertiary vine that I had pruned off and buried it in another garden. After two weeks of looking as though it would die, it has rebounded and is growing. Notice the female flower near the tip of the vine.   Tuesday, July 24 View Page Here is our vineless field pumpkin plant. It gets bushier but still has no vines   Tuesday, July 24 View Page Here is a shot of the interior of our vineless field pumpkin plant....crazy   Wednesday, August 1 View Page 1676 Checkon, day 44: 287 OTT   Wednesday, August 1 View Page 1368 Devlin, day 39: 313 OTT   Wednesday, August 1 View Page 1368 Devlin, day 39: 313 OTT   Tuesday, August 21 View Page Just an evening shot of our patches, our competition patch in the distance and an "experimental" patch in the foreground   Saturday, August 25 View Page Brady, Lily, and I took a trip to Williamsport, PA for the Little League World Series. We had a blast and got to see some exciting baseball   Saturday, August 25 View Page We saw Japan defeat Panama in the finals of the international bracket, then saw Tennessee take on California in the U.S. finals. Here was the scoreboard as the teams entered the bottom of the sixth inning (the final inning in little league baseball). Surely it is curtains for the Nor-Cal boys, right?????   Saturday, August 25 View Page As Lee Corso would say on College Gameday: Not so fast, my friend!!! Cali would mount an epic, 10-run rally to stave off defeat....for awhile   Saturday, August 25 View Page I think we all surely felt the boys from Tennessee would be shattered after watching their huge lead slip away. Once again....not so fast! They answered with a monster, 9 run inning of their own and ultimately won 24-16.   Sunday, August 26 View Page The string of nights with temperatures in the 40's seems to have stalled our pumpkins badly. Here is the 1676 today, 340 inches and crawling   Sunday, August 26 View Page Aerial shot of the 1368 which has also slowed a great deal. 363 OTT today   Saturday, September 1 View Page Here we are in next year's patch. Earlier in the summer I planted Piper Sudangrass and mowed it once it reached about 4' tall. I let it regrow to 4' again, mowed it, then tilled it in. I followed with a planting of buckwheat, which we now see is beginning to flower and is ready to till in.   Saturday, September 1 View Page After one pass through with the tiller. I tried to mow the buckwheat but my mower would just push it down flat and not actually cut it, so I'm going to use the tiller to grind it all up.   Saturday, September 1 View Page After tilling. I hope to plant another crop of buckwheat in a few days and aim to get it grown and tilled in and still have time to get a fall cover crop planted before it gets too cold. Here in central PA....that's being pretty optimistic   Tuesday, September 4 View Page 1676 Checkon at 347 OTT. Growth is SLOW but it is growing   Tuesday, September 4 View Page With the split issues our 1676 has had, I've never fully terminated the plant. One of our top goals was to have both pumpkins make it to the end of the race, so I have continued to let occasional vines grow to try to keep Luna intact. As a result, we have quite a lot of young, healthy leaves after the pumpkin. I'm hoping that a side benefit of this may be some growth in the latter stages of the season.   Tuesday, September 4 View Page Sunny, our 1386 Devlin, at 374 OTT   Thursday, September 20 View Page Giving the girls a little sun on a nice, warm evening. Luna is starting to show quite a bit of green on top.   Friday, September 21 View Page Here we go...all the months of pampering, feeding, watering.....being ripped to pieces! Cleaning out vines for our first pumpkin-loading of the year. Loading scares the heck out of me (we're not very good at it)   Friday, September 21 View Page Loaded for Port Farms! We're looking forward to meeting some fellow pumpkin-heads and having a lot of fun. PRAYING for better weather than is being predicted for tomorrow   Saturday, September 22 View Page Port Farms! The weather wasn't the greatest, but we had a ball at beautiful Port Farms in Waterford, PA.   Saturday, September 22 View Page One of the highlights of the kids' visit to Port Farms...the Corn Box! As the name implies, it is like a giant sand box but filled with tons of shelled corn. We had to stop here twice   Saturday, September 22 View Page Here Brady and Lily feed some of Port Farms' resident goats. There are a lot of fun family activities at Port Farms, we would highly recommend visiting!   Saturday, September 22 View Page Our 1676 Checkon pumpkin has made it to a weigh off...something we are quite proud of. Stem problems plagued this pumpkin from very early in the season and I'm sure robbed her of some growth. OTT here was 351.5, estimated 952 lbs but I'm soooo hoping for 1K.   Saturday, September 22 View Page Local personality Bubba loved it...it was hysterical! He and his companion couldn't believe the size of the pumpkins   Saturday, September 22 View Page After much anticipation our pumpkin hits the scale! Will she make 1,000??????? The scale reads...................65.5 lbs. :-( It seems our pumpkin may be the first to ever weigh about 93% light to chart. We have set new standards for the pumpkin terms "airbag" or "marshmallow"   Saturday, September 22 View Page After much anticipation our pumpkin hits the scale! Will she make 1,000??????? The scale reads...................65.5 lbs. :-( It seems our pumpkin may be the first to ever weigh about 93% light to chart. We have set new standards for the pumpkin terms "airbag" or "marshmallow"   Saturday, September 22 View Page Well, a backup readout for the scale officially read 1065.5 lbs, our new PB.   Saturday, September 22 View Page 5th place at Port Farms. This view shows the 3 stem splits we dealt with all season; again, we're just thrilled we made it to the scale with this one.   Saturday, September 29 View Page We planted one of our 1006.7 Bouch seeds from last year in hopes of having a big pumpkin for our local Elk County Fair. We didn't have a big one (200 lbs exactly) because I accidentally killed the one I had set on the main vine....long story. We had one other open pollination on the the 5th secondary, about 3 feet out on the vine. It got minimal attention compared to our competition plants but still turned into a nice pumpkin that we felt deserved to be taken somewhere. Here we are at Del Grosso's Amusement Park Harvestfest, first place at 797 lbs.