Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 73 Entries. Sunday, April 19 View Page Started my tomato seeds today. Soaked the ZacZilla seeds for a few hours in a water/KNO3 mixture. Hopefully that will help the germination rates with them.   Friday, May 1 View Page One of the first things I did this off season was to upgrade my compost sifter. The new sifter does in a few hours what used to take a week or more. Well worth the time, and money to make it.   Friday, May 1 View Page I saw a video on online of a guy using this to sift rocks to look for gold. I figured that if it could handle big river rocks it could handle compost. I was not disappointed.   Friday, May 1 View Page The second thing that I did was to upgrade the pallets underneath my water tank. The old wooden ones were starting to rot. I was looking to purchase some plastic ones through work for $20 each, but found these ones for $5. I couldn't pass them up. I only had to drive an hour away to pick them up. I figure I should never have to worry about replacing them again. Good deal.   Tuesday, May 12 View Page These are the two seeds that I am growing this year. The 1317 Clementz 13', and the 1374 Engel 14'.   Tuesday, May 12 View Page They both broke soil after three days. I am going to grow the Engel as my main plant, and the Clementz as my pollen plant.   Tuesday, May 12 View Page Hopefully on 5/13/15 I will be able to put them into the ground. On top of a few other things I had to add per the soil test here are a 50 lb. bag of Kelp Meal, a 50 lb. bag of Soybean Meal, and 50 lb. bag of Cottonseed Meal, and a 50 lb. bag of Alfalfa Meal.   Tuesday, May 12 View Page I was given the opportunity to try out the lineup of RAW Solubles products from NPK Industries this year. This is what they sent me. I look forward to seeing what they can do. I will run comparison tests throughout the year, and post my results in my diary.   Tuesday, May 12 View Page My tomatoes are doing good so far. It is still too cold to put them outside. I will wait another week, and go from there. I started 7 ZacZilla seeds, and 6 of them sprouted. I have a good feeling about all of us growers, and the tomatoes this year. We should see some good numbers.   Friday, May 15 View Page I planted my pumpkin plants last night. I drenched them with RootShield, and RAW Transplant Solution. This is the 1374 Engel 14'. This will be my main plant. It was the more aggressive of the two.   Friday, May 15 View Page Here is the 1317 Clementz 13'. While both of them were growing great, the Engel was just the healthier looking plant at this point. Only time will tell if I made the right choice or not.   Friday, May 15 View Page We got a new protector of the fort a few months ago. She is a great dog all around, but she is still a puppy. She has come a long way so far. Yet she still lacks in certain areas of listening. This will be her first year around pumpkin plants so I am debating about putting fencing around the garden so that she doesn't destroy it? Part of me says just to let it be, and see what happens. We had a puppy around for a year a few seasons ago, and once he sniffed around he left things be.   Monday, May 18 View Page Tomato plants are in the hoop house hardening off. Should be ready to plant on Friday or Saturday.   Tuesday, June 2 View Page Compost tea looking good after a few hours.   Tuesday, June 2 View Page Putting the amendments for the tomatoes down before I till them in.   Tuesday, June 2 View Page Trying something different this year on most of my tomato plants, and all of my vegetable plants. It is a mix of 1/4 Biota Max tablet, 2 teaspoons Actinovate, and 2 teaspoons Mycogrow mixed in a gallon of water. All the plants were dipped in the solution before planting. I am going to see if this stops whatever disease attacked all the plants last year due to the rain. Only time will tell?   Tuesday, June 2 View Page Tomato plants are in the ground.   Monday, June 8 View Page We got pounded by hail, and wind for about 30 minutes today. The main plant might be a total loss? I will know for sure in a few days. If so the pollen plant will be my main, and only plant. I will just have to adjust the vine path. The tomato plants seemed to have done much better. It appears that I only lost a few leaves all together. I did notice a few whiteflies on one of the plants. I will have to spray them tomorrow.   Wednesday, June 10 View Page The 1374 Engel 2014 suffered a vine split due to the storm. It is about 2.5 inches long. It also lost about three leaves. The plant seems to be ok other than that. I am going to let it grow, and see what happens.   Wednesday, June 10 View Page The 1374 Engel 2014 on 6/10/2014. It will outgrow the tent in a few days. The bad news is that it is going to rain for the next 8 days.   Wednesday, June 10 View Page The 1317 Clementz on 6/10/2014.   Wednesday, June 10 View Page I was finally able to get the metal tomato stakes in the ground today. They are at least a foot and a half into the ground. I shouldn't have to worry about the plants falling over now. Fingers crossed.   Saturday, June 20 View Page These are the pouches that I made out of the leftover shade cloth that I had. It is 50%. I put them on the tips of the vines to prevent them from getting burnt.   Saturday, June 20 View Page Here they are in action.   Saturday, June 20 View Page Not sure how it happened but the main vine on the 1317 Clementz 13' got cracked about a foot and a half from the tip. Luckily there is a secondary right behind where it happened. I will make that one the new main vine. I figure I am now a week and a half behind? It could be worse I guess.   Monday, June 29 View Page This is my first year grating plants using the Approach Grafting method. Thanks for all the help Materdoc. I was only successful with one plant. I know where I messed up at, and will correct that problem next year. As you can see in the picture the rootstock and the plant are not the same size, but by using the Approach Grafting method they fused successfully. The plant is a purple Hungarian Wax pepper plant. I am just glad that I got one that worked.   Monday, June 29 View Page This is by far the biggest cluster of tomatoes I have ever had together at the same time. It is on one of the ZacZilla plants.   Monday, June 29 View Page Here is a nice bloom on one of my 5.01 plants.   Monday, June 29 View Page Here is the best bloom that I have going so far. It is on the 5.75 Domingo plant.   Tuesday, June 30 View Page This picture should have been with the last entry. Not sure why it didn't load.   Tuesday, June 30 View Page Noticed some type of disease on one of the zucchini plants. Not entirely sure what it is? It was only on one of them so I pulled the plant, and will replant a new one in a few days.   Tuesday, June 30 View Page Here is another picture.   Tuesday, July 7 View Page This one is 4 fused together from the 5.75 Domingo.   Tuesday, July 7 View Page This one has potential and is on the 4.57 MacCoy.   Tuesday, July 7 View Page I have never seen a female flower fuse onto a stem and vine before. Glad it is on a side vine at the end of the line.   Tuesday, July 7 View Page This is the most deformed female I have ever seen so far. This too was from a side vine. I am sure others have seen worse, but I have not.   Tuesday, July 7 View Page This one should have gone with the 4.57 MacCoy a few entries back. Not sure why some of my pictures have not been loading?   Thursday, July 23 View Page This is the only tomato I have on the 5.75 Domingo plant. It is at 17 1/4" today. A gain of 1 1/2" in the past two days.   Thursday, July 23 View Page This is one I have on a ZacZilla plant.   Thursday, July 23 View Page A different angle of the same tomato on the ZacZilla plant.   Thursday, July 23 View Page This is the lone tomato I have on another ZacZilla plant. It looks to be at least three tomatoes fused together to me, but I could be wrong.   Thursday, July 23 View Page This is the deformed 4 lober that I pollinated on 7/14/15. It is the 1374 Engel 14' x 1317 Clementz 13'.   Thursday, July 23 View Page This 4 lober was not deformed, and was pollinated on 7/19/15. It is the same cross as the last one. I have one more to pollinate towards the end, but I like the positioning of this one the best and might end up keeping it. I am not sure yet.   Tuesday, July 28 View Page I ended up culling the other two pumpkins, and am pretty much all in on this one. Finger crossed. Unfortunately this one is selfed as I was do not have the other plant anymore.   Tuesday, July 28 View Page Here is a shot of one of my ZacZilla plants.   Tuesday, July 28 View Page A different angle of the same tomato.   Tuesday, July 28 View Page This is the biggest tomato that I have on any of my ZacZilla plants right now.   Tuesday, July 28 View Page This is the third ZacZilla plant the I have, and my favorite looking tomato of all that I have growing.   Tuesday, July 28 View Page A side view of that last tomato.   Tuesday, July 28 View Page The tomato on the 5.75 Domingo is 19 3/4" today.   Sunday, August 9 View Page This was the biggest tomato that I had growing. It is on the second 5.75 Domingo plant. I had high hopes for this guy. It started to blush on the side of the upper, right corner today. It is has a CC of 23". I am hoping to maybe get another 1/2" or so before I pluck it. Time will tell.   Sunday, August 9 View Page I have two ZacZillas that are shaped like this. The CC on one is 19 1/2", and the other is 16 5/8". Not sure how much more bigger they can get?   Sunday, August 9 View Page I also have two ZacZillas that are growing like this. The CC on one is 21 1/4", and the other is 16 1/4". Odd to me that the shapes are that different between the four plants.   Sunday, August 9 View Page I culled all the other pumpkins on the plant. Sadly I wasn't able to keep the cross that I wanted. This pumpkin is selfed. Today makes it DAP 15. I am not sure if I like how it looks or not? Seems to me like it is too early for it to be ribbing? But what do I know? It is growing so that is all that matters at this stage.   Saturday, August 15 View Page This is from the second 5.75 Domingo that I planted. Came in at 4.43 lbs., and the CC was 24". I had high hopes for this one, but once I saw it blush I knew it wouldn't make it. I will say that it added another 1 1/4" from the first blush to the time I picked it.   Saturday, August 15 View Page A bottom picture of the tomato. Looking at the bottom of it I have to wonder if it didn't germinate right? No way to be sure. I still have a few potentials left so we shall see what happens.   Saturday, August 15 View Page Yesterday was DAP 20 for the pumpkin. The CC was 59 1/4". Nothing spectacular, but it could be worse. The bottom of it is growing more than the upper parts of it. It is going to be an ugly one if I can get it to grow all the way.   Wednesday, August 19 View Page How much is that you ask? Why that is 4.25" of water in 24 hours. Guess I don't have to water for a few days. So far no blossom end split so that is good.   Wednesday, August 19 View Page Noticed a little spot of rot on the stump a few days ago. So I scrapped it away, and applied full strength Daconil to it. With all the rain we have been getting it is was still getting wet. I even had it covered. Yesterday I went out and it had a puss bubble on it. I scrapped that and any new rot away. I then sprayed it a few times with a 10% bleach solution. Then patted it dry. After a sun drying I dusted it with Captan. Today I went out to check it, and things look much better. Hopefully that fixed the problem. Fingers crossed.   Thursday, August 20 View Page My first submission for the ZacZilla contest. This one came in at 4.56 lbs.. The CC was 23 1/4". This one went heavy.   Thursday, August 20 View Page Just a different angle of the tomato.   Thursday, August 20 View Page Weighed this one off of the 6.59 Boudyo also today. It weighed in at 4.58 lbs.. The CC on this one was 24".   Thursday, August 20 View Page You can tell from this angle that the tomato didn't pollinate correctly. That is clearly my fault. I will have to use the toothbrush more next season. This could have gone over 5 lbs. if I would have pollinated it right.   Thursday, August 20 View Page This picture should have shown up two entries ago. Not sure why that keeps going on.   Wednesday, August 26 View Page This is the tomato from the first 5.75 Domingo. It only weighed in at 4.52 lbs..   Wednesday, August 26 View Page Lost my pumpkin to a stem split the other day. As I was disposing of the plant I noticed that it split in two places. Had to be from user error. Will just have to support the vine better next year. Biggest and best looking plant I have had so far. A shame.   Wednesday, August 26 View Page I was picking peppers a few days ago, and noticed that I had a few more orange ones than I should have had. I have been planting Bulgarian Carrot peppers for years. I guess last year the bees crossed those with the Chili peppers that were growing nearby. One of the peppers that I kept for seeds just happened to have the cross in them. Makes you wonder which other ones are crossed out there. I am going to attempt to grow these again next year to see what happens. If I can get them to germinate and produce will I figure it will take me around 5-6 years to stabilize the cross. They are spice, and have good flavor to them. If anyone would like any seeds send me an email, and I will dry some extra ones out.   Wednesday, August 26 View Page Just a picture of one of the plants. There are two of them growing.   Wednesday, August 26 View Page My second ZacZilla tomato that I grew. This one came up a bit short. It only weighed 4.18 lbs.. I have two more growing so we shall see what happens. We have had a week of cold weather here, and I don't think that is helping the cause.   Saturday, August 29 View Page Weighed a tomato from the 5.33 plant. Sadly it only came in at 4.03 lbs..   Saturday, August 29 View Page This one was grown off of the 4.04 Johnston. Man that has been the best seed for me so far. I hope I have one more left? This one came in at 5.26 lbs.. So very close. Better luck next year.   Saturday, August 29 View Page I had some vine rot problems this year so I figured I would give mustard seed a try this year. Hopefully it will work.   Sunday, September 6 View Page I weighed the last two ZacZilla tomatoes yesterday. They weighed in at 4.04 lbs., and 3.77 lbs.. I am not sure how I feel about the ZacZillas. I saved some seeds from one of the tomatoes, and I will grow one or two of them next year. Maybe they need another year to stabilize?