Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 67 Entries. Monday, January 20 View Page I potted up some of the "arms" on my 55 pound Rutabaga to overwinter it and hopefully get it to go to seed. The plants seem to be doing well. I also kept the entire rutabaga in the cold room to hopefully plant it outside in the spring and produce some seeds. We'll see what happens I guess.   Tuesday, January 21 View Page The official start of the 2014 season was a couple weeks ago when I seeded a few Ailsae Giant Onions from Exhibition Seeds. With a bigger garden and more sunlight on the garden (a couple big trees fell over during Ice Stormageddon late last month) I have big plans for 2014. I'm growing 3 pumpkin plants with the following seeds on the seeding list; 1381 Checkon, 1409 Miller, 1442 Matesa, 454 LaRiviere, and what ever else may show up. I also have seeds for the following giants which I plan to grow as well; heavy beet, heavy carrot, cabbage, kohlrabi, long gourd, tomato, bushel gourd, field pumpkin, rutabaga (not turnip), tall sunflower, tall corn, and maybe others if I have the space.   Friday, April 4 View Page The plants enjoying some long awaited spring sunshine. The snow covered patch is in the background. Pictured is giant amaranth, heavy beets, heavy carrots, rutabaga, onion, kohlrabi, heavy peppers. I've no luck with the cabbage this year, for some reason they look fine until transplanted, then after a couple weeks they rot and die. Other cruciferous plants seem fine.   Saturday, April 5 View Page Here is my pumpkin lineup for this year. I'm growing three plants out of these ones that will be seeded. Backups will likely be my own 1386's. My first choice lineup is the 454, 1409, and 1381. My fist choice for crosses will be 454 x 1409, 1409 x 1381, and 1381 x 1409 but a lot can happen between now and the end of June.   Friday, April 25 View Page Last post should have been dated April 24. Seeded Main Plants today (25th); 1381 Checkon 2023 Mathison 454 LaRiviere x2 and 1442 Matesa for Back-up Also seeded 245.5 English Bushel Gourd x 4 108.75 Eaton LG 111.5 Martin LG Our Daughter is growing the 703.5 Schweigert   Saturday, April 26 View Page Applied soil drench products today ahead of the rain; Eximo, Soil Life, Green Tee, and Soil Restore Plus all at 3oz per 1000 sqft. A good rain the following day washed it all in.   Sunday, April 27 View Page Planted a few things today in the garden. A cabbage, two rutabaga, and a kohlrabi. All being grown for weight. Yesterday I got the hoop houses in place so I can start warming the soil ahead of my May 10ish planting day.   Sunday, April 27 View Page The other plants awaiting their turn and hardening off outside in my new high-tech greenhouse. The frames beside the greenhouse are made of 1/2 inch PVC and will be covered with foil emergency blankets using PVC clips. These will go inside the hoop houses covering the giant pumpkins at night. Just covering with an emergency blanket at night will increase the temp by at least 5 C with no other heat source. Just the soil heat being reflected back. An easy way to keep it warmer at night with no electricity needed.   Wednesday, April 30 View Page Thanks to the generosity of a great friend who has entrusted me to grow this seed, I've just spent the longest 4 days of my life waiting for the 2032 to pop through the soil. One of the 454's isn't showing any signs of germinating yet but the other one looks great.   Sunday, May 4 View Page Starting some tomato seeds today. I'm going to start 3 of each and plan to grow about 12 plants in the garden. I usually plan to do a couple seedings about 2 or 3 weeks apart but in all honesty I've always got too busy and forget so this will likely be my one and only batch. Thanks everyone that provided these great seeds. I hope to beat my PB of 4.90 pounds this year as I plan to give it a real serious effort. Stay tuned!   Sunday, May 11 View Page Got my pumpkins planted in the garden today. Went with 1381 Checkon, 2032 Mathison, and 454.5 LaRiviere. Our daughter planted her 703.5 Schweigert.   Sunday, May 11 View Page Here is the hot house made of PVC and emergency blanket. It will go over the plant each night to help keep it warm. It makes a big temperature difference with the need for a heat source.   Sunday, May 11 View Page Also planted giant onions, beets, kohlrabi, rutabaga in the garden.   Sunday, May 11 View Page Here is the picture to go with that post.   Sunday, May 11 View Page Earlier planted cabbage, rutabaga, and kohlrabi. Not doing much but it has been really cold and wet until a few days ago.   Saturday, June 14 View Page Way overdue for an update. Here's an overview of the pumpkin patch. Four plants total, three are mine, one is our daughters.   Saturday, June 14 View Page Giant onions doing better than other years.   Saturday, June 14 View Page First time trying kohlrabi. I have two from two different varieties.   Saturday, June 14 View Page There's a rutabaga in there somewhere. I have three of these on the go. From 75.2 Thomas.   Saturday, June 14 View Page Giant beets. I have four total from three strains. These two are from Glassford. Apparently they needed more room. They are already monstrous and taking up a big area.   Saturday, June 14 View Page Giant carrots looking good compared to last year. I have three of these.   Saturday, June 14 View Page Long gourd starting to take off. So are the weeds by the way, but they will be gone shortly.   Saturday, June 14 View Page The bushel gourds are slow to get going. I hope I see some action soon. This is one of the two 245.5 English bushel gourds I have growing.   Saturday, June 14 View Page Sunflowers are behind compared to other years and one just got eaten yesterday by something.   Saturday, June 14 View Page First time I got Amaranth seeds to germinate. They look kind of what I would expect after getting the dime bag of seeds in the giant veggie exchange.....if you know what I mean. Should get the neighbours talking (more than they already do).   Saturday, June 14 View Page Tomatoes just went last weekend. I have 24 plants total. Twelve in cages on one side of the patch and twelve on the ground on the other side. I have a fertilizer impregnated paper mulch that I'm going to try with some of the tomatoes.   Saturday, June 14 View Page The 2032 Mathison. A bit of a problem child so far but hoping to get it on track.   Saturday, June 14 View Page My best plant so far is the 1381 Checkon. It's right on track with my PB from 2012 when I grew a 1386.   Saturday, June 14 View Page The 454 LaRiviere is a little behind the others but still on track for a decent pollination date.   Saturday, June 14 View Page Our daughters plant, 703.5 Schweigert. Best looking plant in the patch. She usually grows on the back hill but this year she actually got a spot at the edge of the patch growing towards the back hill. She figured she deserved it after beating me last year with her 473 compared to my 0.   Tuesday, June 24 View Page First pollination of the season this morning .... and it was our daughters plant. She came running out in her PJ's and rubber boots to do the deed. We hope it takes as there isn't another female showing even way in the tip. The cross is 703.5 Schweigert x 2032 Mathison. A nice 4 lobe female at 10 feet on the main.   Monday, June 30 View Page First two pollinations for me yesterday. 2032 Mathison x 1381 Checkon 5 lobe 10 feet out and the reverse cross 1381 x 2032 4 lobe 12 feet out. Very hot humid weather yesterday and for next few days so fingers crossed. Our daughters 703.5 Schweigert seems to have taken and is doubling in size every day for the past couple days.   Friday, July 4 View Page The patch is filling up nicely. Hopefully all pollinations done. 2032 Mathison x 1381 Checkon and reverse cross done June 29th both look good. The 454.5 LaRiviere x 2032 Mathison was just pollinated today. The plant has been behind the others since day one and last week a squirrel chewed the top off the main vine for about a foot. I had high hopes for this plant but they are fading fast. Our daughters 703.5 Schweigert x 2032 Mathison pollinated June 24th looks great. Earliest pollination ever for our patch.   Friday, July 4 View Page On the 2032 Mathison. Lots of stem hopefully for lots of pumpkin.   Friday, July 4 View Page Trying something different with the giant tomatoes this year. I'm using biodegradable paper mulch impregnated with fertilizer. Hopefully this will cut down on disease from soil splashing up and provide a steady feed as it degrades. I have 16 plants in cages and 10 on the other side of the garden growing on the ground on the paper mulch. Not sure if it's the weather or just really good seed lines I'm using this year but almost every plant has a mega-mega bloom showing.   Friday, July 4 View Page 245 English bushel gourd finally starting to take off. I'll let it grow another week before trying to get something pollinated on it.   Friday, July 4 View Page The giant amaranth are at the 8 foot mark. First time growing these, not sure if I should be cutting off the side branches or not. From seed that's like dust to this massive plant in such a short time is amazing to me.   Friday, July 4 View Page First time growing kohlrabi. Not sure if this is good or not but looks pretty crazy to me.   Friday, July 11 View Page I have lots of great megablooms on my tomatoes this year. Most years I have none for some reason. Hopefully these pollinate well and I can take a run at my 4.90 PB from two years ago.   Tuesday, August 19 View Page I'm growing marrow for the first time this year. Here is a picture of the smaller one that split. I hope the bigger one holds together so I can get it to a scale.   Tuesday, August 19 View Page I have the healthiest pumpkin plants I've ever had at this time of year. Unfortunately we've also had a lot of rain, and cold weather. Out of the four plants we started I have two decent pumpkins. Our daughters plant unfortunately split both pumpkins she had going after losing the first set at day 20 so the plant has been ripped out.   Tuesday, August 19 View Page The 1381 Checkon doing good. I haven't measured in a while so I'm not sure exactly what it tapes but should be in the 800-900 range right now.   Tuesday, August 19 View Page The 2032 Mathison is my biggest at this point. You can't really tell by the picture but it's really wiiiiiiiide. If it holds together I'll be able dig out my oversized pallet I made a few years ago. :)   Tuesday, August 19 View Page I'm growing giant amaranth for the first time this year. What a crazy plant! To have an annual with seed like dust grow into a massive tree like this in one season is wild. I ran out of ladder a long time ago and I have no idea how to get this thing to a weigh off, but I will try.   Tuesday, August 19 View Page My onions are just about done but I think they are the biggest I've ever grown.   Saturday, August 23 View Page I picked and weighed the smaller of my two marrow. This one split a few days ago. This is now the 72 Nieuwenhoff 2014 Marrow (DMG) The seed that grew it was the 78.4 Bohnert 2012 and it was selfed.   Saturday, August 23 View Page Another pic of the 72 Nieuwenhoff 2014 Marrow (DMG) (78.4 Bohnert 2012 X self)   Monday, August 25 View Page Here's a good sign. I may have to start digging a hole soon. Anyone who's seen my trellis knows how tall it is.   Monday, September 1 View Page The first Giant Pepper of the year. Weighs 498 grams grown from my 391 gram pepper from last year. The largest pepper that I can find records for was 521 grams. If anyone knows the official record please let me know.   Sunday, September 7 View Page Spanish onion picked today as it was starting to rot weighed 4 pounds 15 ounces or 2241 grams.   Sunday, September 7 View Page I have two long gourds off the 111.75 Martin 2012 seed that are doing VERY well.   Sunday, September 7 View Page Very happy with the pumpkins this year after a pretty cold slow start. This is the 2032 Mathison.   Sunday, September 7 View Page This is the 1381 Checkon. Same size as my other pumpkin :)   Monday, September 8 View Page I've never tied up my long gourds and never had any problems. Starting now I'm one of the people that tie up their long gourds after finding this one today. It was 129.5 and still growing.   Tuesday, September 9 View Page New Personal Best Long Gourd! 80+6+10+10+3+20=130 inches! Wait....WHAT? It has to be in one piece?   Friday, September 19 View Page Picked another pepper today and it weighs 530 grams. My heaviest one yet.   Saturday, September 27 View Page The 1338 DMG est Nieuwenhoff 2014. I found a 6 inch white spot on it today that was indeed a rotten spot. It likely succumbed to the stem split I have been battling since 300 pounds. Hopefully it has seeds as it's a pretty good cross regardless of its outcome. (2032 Mathison x 1381 Checkon)   Saturday, September 27 View Page The stem split was hard to get at as the stem was laying down with very little room to get under it to make a few cuts.   Saturday, September 27 View Page It was starting to get some green on it in the last few weeks and was still growing up until about a week ago. So in my dreams I am assuming it would have gone heavy heavy.   Thursday, October 2 View Page A couple of my marrows have ripened to this colour. Does it mean they were crossed with field pumpkin somewhere down the line or is this just the colour they turn when really ripe. From what I have been able to find out, these would not be allowed in competition. Correct?   Thursday, October 2 View Page Here's another picture of the biggest one.   Saturday, October 11 View Page A new PB pumpkin .... 1389 .... only up 3 pounds from a couple years ago, but I'll take it. It went a little heavy and was on the 1381 Checkon crossed with the 2032 Mathison. First place at Erin Fall Fair GPC weigh off. I was so sure I didn't have a PB this year that I bet a good friend of mine that if I did, I would shave off my beard. So this may be the last picture of a bearded me you see for a while. I also got a PB Bushel Gourd of 166 (on the 245 English). A pat on the back goes out to Brian Cleave, a first year gourder, who beat me with a 189 pounder .... a huge BG for our Ontario climate and only 9 pounds short of a Canadian record. When I first bought Bushel Gourd seeds from Quarry Farm Gourds a few years ago they told me not to expect much because with our short season we won't get much over 60 pounds. I guess we showed them, LOL. I also had a 25.8 pound beet, a 69 pound marrow, and a 58 pound rutabaga. I'll post some pictures of the others when the fair is over and I have a few minutes to make the display in front of our house.   Sunday, October 19 View Page I didn't know it at the time but this was the heaviest load I've ever had in my old 1999 Dodge truck. Luckily I didn't have far to go as the Erin Fall Fair Weigh Off is just 15 minutes away.   Sunday, October 19 View Page Our daughter with the 1389 Nieuwenhoff 2014 (1381 Checkon x 2032 Mathison) It had an OTT of 395 so it went a bit heavy too. I was expecting around 1300 as I usually go to chart or slightly light so it was a bit of a surprise to end up with a new PB.   Sunday, October 19 View Page Here are some of the accomplishments for this year. Bushel Gourd 166 lbs (new PB) off the 245.5 English. Marrow - 69 pounds (first time growing) off the 78.4 Bohnert 2012. Rutabaga - 58 lbs (new PB). Beet 25.8 lbs (new PB) off the something Glassford, sorry can't find the stake back. Tall corn 226.5 inches (new PB) off Montana seed. Tall sunflower 210.5 (new PB) off my own 204 "White Lightning" strain. Long gourd 128 inches (new PB) not pictured,off the 111.75 Martin 2012. Also not in the picture is a 530g bell pepper I grew from my own Collosal strain. The other pumpkin in the picture is a 460 pounder off the 454 LaRiviere that a mouse chewed up the main vine so I gave up on it and stopped doing anything after the growth slowed right down at day 20 or so. Last but not least is the 1389 Nieuwenhoff (new PB). A pretty good year considering the weather we have had in Ontario. Can't wait for next year!   Monday, October 20 View Page We were very fortunate to have a great amateur photographer at our local weigh off that I help out with. She is also a pumpkin grower so she was "voluntold" to be the official photographer for the event. I was blown away by the pictures she took so I thought I would share them with everybody. I love seeing pictures from other weigh offs so I hope others enjoy the same. Here is the link ... there are two galleries (one with the pumpkins and one with the other vegetables and misc pictures). Enjoy! http://eringiantpumpkingrowers.weebly.com/photo-gallery.html   Tuesday, October 21 View Page I think we can all relate to this one.