Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 116 Entries. Tuesday, January 13 View Page It won't be long and spring will be here. I am excited for the upcoming season. I have some top Squash and Ag genetics going into my patch this year, with seeds from LaRiviere,Wolf,Sperry,Berard and Holub among others. As for the vegetable garden, the only seeds I have started so far are onions and many cultivars of the super hot peppers. I have planted some of these ultra hot types in my garden before and they always start off so slow, so this year I figured I would try starting them very early to have a more respectable sized transplant in May. Some of these types were so hot they took your breath away when the bag was opened. I also wore gloves! Regular bell and sweet peppers don't get started until the second half of February. They are much more vigorous right out of the gate.   Tuesday, January 13 View Page A little trivia here. The first person to guess correctly, wins a packet of the flower that they correctly named. In my previous post, What is the type of flower that is in the foreground of the picture? Hint; It is old fashioned and not very common anymore, it does however, have a close relative that is quite well known.   Tuesday, January 13 View Page Congratulations to John Nieuwenhoff and Andy Wolf. Both of them guessed the correct answer. John beat Andy by a hair but said Andy could have the seeds as John's garden is already full, and space is at a premium! The flowers in the picture are called Balsams. They are a type of impatiens. The ones in the picture, self sow every year. I don't even have to plant them, I only have to thin them out. They seem to grow well in the same conditions as ordinary impatiens and take the shade very well. The ones in the picture were in full sun. Last year was very cool and the sun did not seem to bother them at all. In a normal summer they would probably do O.K. as long as they a bit in the heat of the day. Kind of like what Jewel weed does which is also an impatien.   Friday, February 20 View Page I am so sick of winter. We had -4 here this morning and it looks like tonight will be in the negative digits again. At least there is no wind tonight. The coldest night I have gotten on my min/max thermometer was -8 Fahrenheit last Sunday night. I have to say that in my 40 years of life in CT, this winter takes the cake. I am grateful however, at least we haven't had snow in the same amounts as Massachusetts. Let's not talk about global warming right now. Grrrrr!!!   Friday, March 27 View Page I am looking forward to a new year of growing. It looks like it will be a couple more weeks before the soil is workable, we still have snow on parts of the garden. The snow is melting fast despite the fact that we have not had any warm weather. My son and I will be working together this year to hopefully produce a new personal best with the AG's and Giant squash. I will get pictures posted once we get started here.   Saturday, March 28 View Page I just saw this old quote today. I thought it was interesting. "It must be felt that there is no national security but in the nation's humble acknowledged dependence upon God and his overruling Providence." -- President John Adams   Friday, May 15 View Page My season is underway here. The plants have been in the ground since the end of April. Here is my line up 1676 Sperry 14 1299.5 Wolf 14 626 Wolf 14 373 LaRiviere squash (dark green) 1578 Holub squash 14 1245 Berard 13 1426 LaRiviere 14 Bushel gourds 2 177 Westfall plants. Watermelons 191 Blair 13 Carolina Cross 170 Bright 14 Black Diamond   Saturday, May 30 View Page 1642 Sperry, my fastest grower. It has been hot and dry, the pumpkins and melons have gotten off to a fast start. We really need rain. We have only had a couple of showers since the snow melted. We average about 4" of precipitation for every month of the year, this is definitely a drought for us.   Saturday, May 30 View Page 1426 LaRiviere. My 626 Wolf and 1299 Wolf are also about the same size as this one. The 323 LaRiviere squash is a little slower out of the gate. I don't mind though. I am growing the 323 for it's looks, not size. I won't complain if the 323 happens to grow big. I have been very busy and I just have not had the time to spend on these plants. I grow so many crops I feel like a juggler this time of year. Things usually slow down a bit once we role into July. Right now I am just trying to stay in front of the weeds and getting crops planted, when they should be. Plus with the absence of rain, this adds and additional challenge. Despite all the failures and hard work, I still love it, it brings me so much joy to be out in the garden sweating it out, watching the plants grow. I have been doing this since I was a kid, I love it now as much now as I did back then.   Saturday, May 30 View Page 1578 Holub in the foreground, 1245 Berard behind it. Spring vegetables in the background.   Saturday, May 30 View Page A friend of mine had this odd plant show up in his yard in New Hampshire. It grew to about 6' and had beautiful purple flowers, like a thistle almost. He told me that it was a Fullers teasle. He sent me seeds and I planted them last year. Since it is a biennial it should flower this year. Notice how it collects water in it's leaf axil's. Such a beautiful plant. I will photograph it, once it flowers   Saturday, May 30 View Page A pretty 'Roseum Elegans' Rhododendron. Despite a hard winter they look great. Winter sun and wind are tough on Rhodey's. I would love to be able to grow some of the types they do in the Pacific northwest. One year I was able to locate a variety called R. catawbiense 'Album Grandiflorum' what a spectacular looking flower they had. I have not seen them available since then.   Saturday, May 30 View Page 177 Westfall bushel gourds. Back to back.   Saturday, May 30 View Page 191 Blair melon off to a good start. I hope to keep them free of disease and insects. I have not grown a decent watermelon yet. In my opinion. My plants just lack the health that I see in other growers patches.   Saturday, May 30 View Page 170 Bright Black Diamond melon. I am looking to grow this over 100 pounds, but I will be happier with 150!   Saturday, May 30 View Page Early planted beans, summer squash and sweet corn. Thanks to all the growers who sent seeds to me this year.. Steve Sperry Al Berard Lloyd Bright Gene LaRiviere Andy Wolf John Nieuwenhoff Scott Holub Phil Wellington and Everyone in the veggie exchange Glen Knox I may be forgetting someone, So I thank you too.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page It has been a while since I updated my diary. I figured it was about time to get some pictures up of what I have going so far. In this picture you are seeing the 1578 Holub squash. I have this one growing on a secondary vine. I am not sure what is going on with the plant as the new vines and leaves seem stunted. The squash fruit are obviously still growing though. I hit the plant with some nitrogen, hopefully this will get the plant moving once again. I am having a hard time culling my secondary sets this year as they are all better shaped and faster growing than the sets on the main. I know, I know, you don't have to tell me it will take pounds off, but sometimes I would rather get something over nothing. Allowing two to grow, doubles my chances of making it to the finish with at least one squash off this plant.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page 1578 Holub set on the main vine. These are very, very light colored. I am wondering how squashy these will turn out.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page 1245 Berard set on the main vine. This big hoss doesn't have the shape that I wanted but if it makes it to the finish, I won't really care about that. I don't have two sets on this plant. Only this one.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page This picture shows the 1245 Berard in the background, in the foreground is the 1578 Holub. It is hard to tell from this picture but these plants could look better. These two plants are being grown in the standard fashion that I have always grown with. They are on tilled soil, I cover at the leaf nodes, and they have 12' secondaries in a Christmas tree pattern.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page My son Abel's plant, a 525 Wolf. This one went in the garden on June 14th. I had planted the seed back in early April in a 1 gallon pot. I kept trimming it back, to keep it small. It was definitely pot bound! There is a small fruit on the main vine that has a big scar on it because my son hit it with the hoe when hoeing it. This patch receives a lot of shade, but Abel is still hoping he can grow a nice looking pumpkin around 500 pounds or so.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page Boone County White corn, hoping to beat 16' this year.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page A 177 Westfall bushel gourd. I have two plants, back to back. They look great. Dark green leaves, short leaf stems, and lots of white flowers every night. The plan is to cull down to 2 or 3 per plant.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page My 191 Blair melon, This one got Matt D's, Anthesis. This plant looks O.K. Lots of voles are tunneling under this plant and ruining the root system, I have had this happen before and I have never been able to get them under control. I fear that my melon season may be just about done with this one. I have not had much luck with giant melons. Oh well, at least my eating ones ('Jubilees') look good still.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page !70 Bright 'Black Diamond' This one has a much smaller plant than the 191 Blair. The plant has been infested with aphids. I have never had aphids like this before. The fruit is a tremendous grower but I fear it will be cut well short of it's potential as it is being eaten from beneath by the voles also. Grr! This is really too bad. I have never had a melon grow like this one. I wouldn't be to surprised to see Lloyd grow one over 200 on this line. He is really honing in on something special. I doubt they will ever compete with the Carolina cross variety, but who knows?   Tuesday, July 14 View Page A close up shot of an aphid covered leaf.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page There are five plants in this picture. They are the 323 LaRiviere squash, 1426 LaRiviere, 1642 Sperry, 1299 Wolf, and 626 Wolf. The plants in this patch were grown over a hay mulch. Here is what I did. In April I spread 4" of partially composted horse manure and shavings. I mixed in some M-roots and Chickety-doo into each planting site. Then I covered the area with mulch hay. As the plants grew I kept expanding the hay mulch. Early on I noticed I was not getting enough rooting, so I began covering the leaf nodes with garden soil. This helped increase rooting and reduced wilting and leaf burn. It just took a while for the roots to catch up with the tops. These plants have been superior right from the start. I am not sure why. I had known that "dale" in Australia had been growing some whoppers with a permanent mulch, I contacted him and he advised me to watch the Movie "Back to Eden" on a website called documentary storm.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page Here is a picture of the 1642 Sperry on June 24th. Anyways back to my story. So I watched the movie and I found it very interesting. dale has been able to grow world class pumpkins in a climate that other growers would think it would be impossible to do so. He is in the sub tropics in a citrus growing region. The climate is similar to that of Florida. Where I am located in Connecticut, the climate is not nearly so extreme but the permanent mulch concept still works! I am excited to see how things turn out. If any of you are interested, you ought to check out dales diary his season starts sometime around September.   Thursday, July 16 View Page 1426 LaRiviere overhead shot. It is wide on the blossom end narrow on the stem end. I don't remember ever having this shape before. I am not sure what to expect out of this one.   Thursday, July 16 View Page 1426 LaRiviere shot from behind the blossom end. It looks good from that angle.   Thursday, July 16 View Page 1299 Wolf, this one is growing like gangbusters and looks like it will be a nice orange. The blossom end has turned out to be a little lopsided, I didn't know that was going to happen, I may have kept a different one. Anyways, I really like what I see so far.   Thursday, July 16 View Page An overhead shot of the 1299 Wolf.   Thursday, July 16 View Page 626 Wolf, This one will be bright orange. I wish the shape was a little different. I just hope I can keep it from growing over it's blossom scar. It is on a slight slope and it seems to want to head that way. I am not looking for any records off this plant and the plant shows good vigour. I will probably allow a couple side vines to set. I feel this plant can produce a beauty.   Thursday, July 16 View Page 323 LaRiviere, this one is a wheel! I wish I had flipped it onto it's blossom end and grown it as a cinderella. It has the color I was hoping for, just not the shape. I am hoping to see another set take on this plant, but it doesn't seem like that is going to happen. They all are aborting on me. Squash are definitely a different beast entirely.   Thursday, July 16 View Page Giant tomato plants went into the garden today. I am hoping that my timing is right for the Durham Fair at the end of September. We will see. The plants that went in are from the giant veggie exchange. Sorry I did not right down the genetics.   Thursday, July 16 View Page 1642 Sperry, This is the beast, ugly as sin but it wants to grow big. I do have a problem though. When you click to my next entry you will see a set on the same plant that is on a secondary vine. It is long and low and has a symmetrical shape. I have fallen in love with it. Decision time is looming, what should I do?   Thursday, July 16 View Page 1642 Sperry secondary vine set, long and low. My favorite shape when looking to grow big!   Thursday, July 16 View Page Giant tomato plants that went into the garden today.   Thursday, July 16 View Page Here we go again, This is a Cucurbita ficifolia plant that volunteered itself on the manure pile. I will trim it for a while to keep it out of the garden. Soon it will take over the yard!   Thursday, July 16 View Page Giant onions growing just beneath the manure pile. These are Schnicker giant onions from the giant veggie exchange. I mulched with hay to keep the weeds down. Behind them are some potatoes that I planned to grow to a large size, I never did thin the potatoes underneath, so who knows what I will get.   Thursday, July 16 View Page 154 Sweet melon on a bushel gourd rootstock. Maybe my last hope for a good healthy giant melon plant. This one went in late. The late set ones always do well for me, maybe I ought to change up my approach next year.   Thursday, July 16 View Page Two rows of 'Beuregard' sweet potatoes.   Sunday, July 19 View Page Today was a scorcher, tomorrow looks like it will be too. Tonight the pumpkins are going to pack those pounds on, big time.   Tuesday, July 21 View Page I was walking around the patch and I noticed some yellow leaves on the 1426 LaRiviere. This appears to be YVD, which I am unfortunately quite familiar with. I will wait just a little bit though. I want to see some other signs, just to be sure. I would hate to lose this plant. But it seems that I lose one or two every year to it. I just hope I don't lose everything like in 2012. Time to start praying and then do some spraying! Very dry here, lawns are starting to brown up. No rain forecasted in the near future, another thing to pray for.   Friday, July 24 View Page I am still hoping for rain here. It has been very dry. I hope we get a shower on Sunday. Then it looks like things are going to get hot. Mid 90's by Wednesday. A couple of patch observations; I love the 1299.5 Wolf. It will be big and it will be orange. I am still waiting for more YVD symptoms on my 1426 LaRiviere. Maybe I am seeing some sort of deficiency. That would be great news. So for the time being the 1426 remains in the patch and it seems to be rock solid. Fingers are crossed. My 1245 Berard seems to have a hole in the blossom end. I stuck a pigweed stem up the crack and it met resistance. So maybe it doesn't go into the cavity. If it doesn't rot, I know I am good. My two best pumpkins are the 1299 Wolf and 1642 Sperry. The 1245 Berard isn't too far behind. I hope to get some more pictures posted come August. I feel that we have had some good growing weather in this part of the country. I hope to see some big numbers come weigh-off time.   Thursday, July 30 View Page The 1426 Lariviere has stopped growing, and the fruit does not feel firm enough to me. I will leave it for a few more days, I am hoping I am wrong. My 323 LaRiviere squash is also showing YVD on one of it's vines. The squash is definitely a beast. Already my personal best. I will be sad the day it rots. I will leave it until then. I did hit the plants with a foliar spray of mancozeb, just in case it is a manganese deficiency. I was hopeful at first but as time progresses I think I may be kidding myself. I have never had YVD on a mature plant that is already deadheaded and just growing fruit. I just hope I can keep things together and have something to weigh come September. I will get pictures up like I promised, it will be August in a couple of days.   Friday, July 31 View Page 1426 LaRiviere showing signs of YVD. (most of the yellow leaves had already been removed but it's creeping onto other leaves now.)   Friday, July 31 View Page The 1426 LaRiviere pumpkin has stopped growing and has gotten soft. Thank you YVD!   Friday, July 31 View Page 323 LaRiviere squash, showing the tell-tale signs of YVD.   Friday, July 31 View Page It has a nice sized squash though.   Friday, July 31 View Page Stem end of the 323 LaRiviere squash. Like most squash this one has a nice long stem.   Friday, July 31 View Page 323 LaRiviere from the side. It's definitely a wheel!   Friday, July 31 View Page 323 LaRiviere squash. In this picture the squash has been flipped ala Joel Jarvis cinderella style.   Saturday, August 1 View Page I thought this was interesting, this is the stump of the 1426 LaRiviere. After removal I noticed that the vine had a yellow and green color. In my experience, I usually see that with pumpkins that will have a nice orange color. My 1426 did not look like it was going to be orange it was a light colored fruit, but I am now wondering if it would have gotten some color later in the season.   Saturday, August 1 View Page 170 Bright Black Diamond plant. After vole and aphid damage, this plant was overtaken with weeds. I didn't think it was worth the effort to pull them, as the plant was already nearly dead. This doesn't take long in my garden, I have too many weed seeds in the soil. I need some new soil without the huge weed seed reservoir. What they say of weeds is true, "One year seeding, seven years weeding." I have some weed control ideas for next year.   Saturday, August 1 View Page 170 Bright Black Diamond. My guess is 50- 75 pounds. I think this one will have seeds worth saving though.   Saturday, August 1 View Page 154 Sweet on a bushel gourd rootstock. This one is growing over hay and has no voles yet. It is a really fast grower, unfortunately it is growing on it's stem and the stem has split in two. I will just leave it and see how it does. I like how the later set plants perform for me. I seem to have less problems all the way around. Fast growing plants resist disease and insects so much better. The problem is I get so excited and impatient that I can't wait to start my seeds in the spring.   Saturday, August 1 View Page 191 Blair plant. Still holding on despite being laden with voles tunneling under the plant. It is now quite a good sized plant and looks pretty healthy. (Except the very center part.) I am pleased, by now I usually see my plant's health spiraling downhill.   Saturday, August 1 View Page 191 Blair fruit on the main vine, sprayed with Anthesis back in June. A slow grower but still seems to be growing nicely. Maybe the Anthesis will keep it going longer. I have one more dose of Anthesis left to use on something, Hmmm maybe I can try it on a giant tomato or two.   Saturday, August 1 View Page 191 Blair finger vine fruit. A fast grower, it looks to be a longer fruit compared to the one on the main vine. Yeah, I know I am a wuss for not culling down to one. I have a real problem with committing I guess. LOL   Sunday, August 2 View Page 1245 Berard pumpkin. Sorry I haven't taken any measurements yet. Not sure I would want to either. I think this one may be going down soon. You'll see why in my next entry.   Sunday, August 2 View Page There is a hole in the blossom end. It has been there for a few weeks and so far I have not been able to push a stem off a pigweed all the way through. It would almost be a miracle if this makes it. I know how thin the blossom ends are. It seems that pumpkins no longer have "snouts" in the modern 2,009 Wallace era. I think the snouted ones were more resistant to blossom end splits. On the flip side the ones with snouts were probably more likely to get a dill ring and split at a rib. Always a trade off.   Sunday, August 2 View Page A Red Haven peach loaded up. It should have been thinned. Who has the time and patience. The little ones taste just as good anyhow.   Sunday, August 2 View Page 'Boone County White' tall corn from Sandhill Preservation Center. The fence in the background is 5' tall for a reference.   Thursday, August 6 View Page 1642 Sperry, side vine pumpkin. Huge dill ring started. No ribs though, so this pumpkin may just make it. Ugly as heck.   Thursday, August 6 View Page 1642 Sperry side vine pumpkin. A long low pumpkin.   Thursday, August 6 View Page 1642 main vine pumpkin. This pumpkin is a tank! Thank goodness this isn't a beauty contest.   Thursday, August 6 View Page 1642 Sperry main vine pumpkin. No growth hormones were used on this, it just grew this way, naturally. The young pumpkin looked O.K., then it grew up. I usually pride myself in growing well shaped pumpkins. Not this year.   Thursday, August 6 View Page 626 Wolf side vine pumpkin. Maybe I have a nutrient deficiency or something. It is starting to get that peanut shape too.   Thursday, August 6 View Page 626 Wolf side vine pumpkin. My last chance for a perfect and round deep orange beauty. This 626 Plant is huge and can easily support these extra pumpkins on it.   Thursday, August 6 View Page 626 Main vine pumpkin. It is growing on a hill and has completely grown over it's blossom end. I didn't spend the time with this one early on. I should have built up the soil and levelled the stem and blossom end. But I didn't.... This pumpkin is still very pretty to me and it really wants to grow! It catches water around the stem after watering it. I then have to get the water out.   Thursday, August 6 View Page 626 Wolf main vine pumpkin, overhead view. Nice mottling. A real wide pumpkin. I haven't taken measurements yet, so I don't know how big this is.   Thursday, August 6 View Page 1299.5 Wolf. My baby! This plant doesn't receive sun until after 11:30. There is a huge black cherry tree planted just to the east of the plant. The plant and pumpkin don't seem to mind as they are big! I love it. I wish I had more like this.   Thursday, August 6 View Page 1299.5 Wolf. A majestic shot through the foliage. Fingers are crossed on this one. I am hoping for a new personal best this year.   Thursday, August 6 View Page A bushel gourd set. A little lopsided which seems about par for the course this year. I may choose another set that has better shape. Unless this one makes me fall in love with it. My plan is to grow only 2-3 gourds per plant. I hope I can stay on top of culling out all the numerous little gourds. They are starting to show up everywhere!   Friday, August 7 View Page I really like the permanent mulch method. My plant's health is superior on the mulch as opposed to that of the tilled soil. Check out this link, it could be one of the reasons why. www.ct.gov/.../using_earthworms_to_improve_soil_health_and_suppress_ diseases_01-27-12.pdf‎   Wednesday, August 12 View Page Let's try this again. This is the link I was trying to provide. The other one did not work. I hope this does. I love this stuff! http://www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/documents/publications/fact_sheets/plant_pathology_and_ecology/using_earthworms_to_improve_soil_health_and_suppress_diseases_01-27-12.pdf   Monday, August 24 View Page This is what I believe to be a trinidad scorpion plant. A picture of the fruit will be in the next entry. If any hot pepper growers are reading this, please let me know what variety this is. I have almost ripped this plant out a couple of times. I am afraid someone will pick one and unknowingly try to use it. Such a beautiful plant, It has to be almost 3' tall.   Monday, August 24 View Page Here are the peppers. Also very beautiful.   Monday, August 24 View Page My 1299 Wolf is about 20' away from a big old black cherry tree. It was loaded with cherries this year. Lot's of them have fallen into the leaves on the 1299. It doesn't seem to hurt the plant at all. Maybe it's foliar feeding! LOL The coons have been filling their bellies with the cherries. I also ran across a huge pile of poop in a field the other day. It was much to big to be a coon though. It had to be from a large black bear. I have never seen such a heavy year for all the fruit trees, even the wild apple trees are loaded with fruit and most of them are in good shape. Hard to believe. Usually un-sprayed trees would be full of insect bites and all kinds of damage, Most would have fallen off in June as they abort due to all the insect and disease damage. It's really neat to see such healthy fruit. Maybe I need to get started building a cider press. I am not sure I have time for any more hobbies though.   Monday, August 24 View Page Here is a picture of it. I am sure it has a rotten trunk, but somehow it manages. It has survived some pretty heavy hurricane winds while other trees have not made it through.   Monday, August 24 View Page Another shot of it.   Monday, August 24 View Page It's been a great year for tomatoes. These are 'Better Boy's'. In my opinion they are the best variety, the yields can't be beat and the taste is very good too. I have been growing them for around 30 years! The heirlooms are great but they just don't yield like this variety. Also splitting is not a big problem with them either. All the best tasting heirlooms get splits as they mature.   Monday, August 24 View Page 1642 Sperry, the weeds are now taking over. This plant still has a couple of nice pumpkins on it though. Nice long ones.   Monday, August 24 View Page A different variety. Also loaded up. Lot's of canning to do.   Monday, August 24 View Page 154 Sweet melon. Still getting fatter. No record breakers coming from my patch this year. Someone in CT should have a monster though. The weather has been really good for melons. Warm and dry.   Monday, August 24 View Page Some Speckled Sussex hens.   Monday, August 24 View Page My bushel gourd plants, starting to lose them to the weeds. This is with the hay mulch too. Next year I will have to put the mulch down thicker. Obviously the pigweed was able to poke through in the thin spots. I am not sure I will be able to beat my PB of 187.   Monday, August 24 View Page Another shot of the bushel gourds. Both plants are 177 Westfall's.   Monday, August 24 View Page 1299 Wolf in the background. It is still growing!   Tuesday, August 25 View Page We just got a nice heavy downpour. What a blessing as we have had less than 3" since July 7th. It has been a while since we have had a real summer like this. This is how I remember summer as a kid.   Sunday, August 30 View Page This is the 1245 Berard. I harvested it yesterday. For some reason the pumpkin stopped growing in mid to late July. After it stopped growing I did not put the time into it and the patch filled up with pigweed and lambsquarters. Some of the weeds are well over 6' tall. (Sorry no patch picture, it is too embarassing.) The pumpkin did split in the blossom end sometime in July but it never penetrated into the cavity. So this is a sound fruit. It's taping in the 550 pound range. It thumps like a rock. I am guessing it probably weighs in the 600-700 range. Thanks for the seed Al. I hope someone will grow a monster on the 1245 this year, unfortunately it won't be me.   Sunday, August 30 View Page 1245 Berard stem end. It has a nice glossy pink skin. No canteloping. Not a bad looking pumpkin. If I had done some early season adjusting to lift the blossom end, it may have resembled the 1067 Kent I grew last year. Which was quite a beauty, even though it was pink and not orange.   Sunday, August 30 View Page 1578 Holub squash. This squash was planted right next to the 1245 Berard. On this one the plant and squash stopped growing in early to mid July. I am not sure why. The tips were stunted and they wilted badly everyday. (sort of resembling YVD.) Yet, It definitely wasn't YVD, It is a mystery to me. It did have a decent pumpkin on a secondary vine that was probably bigger than this one when it was culled. This one is taping about 150 pounds. Once again sorry no patch picture. You couldn't even see any squash leaves in that jungle of weeds.   Sunday, August 30 View Page 1578 Holub, this would be classified as a pumpkin, I believe.   Monday, September 7 View Page 1642 Sperry, getting loaded for the Goshen fair. This pumpkin has the looks of a classic Rhode Island pumpkin. Rhode Island pumpkins aren't grown for looks but they tend to kick butt at the scales. Solid as a rock. It's taping 312"   Monday, September 7 View Page 1642 Sperry, a different angle.   Monday, September 7 View Page 1642 Sperry again, at harvest. Why is it always so darn hot when I pick these things? Sweat was dripping off me. It's like a desert here. Rain, we need rain!   Monday, September 7 View Page A nice little melon off the 191 Blair watermelon this was grown on a small side vine as an after thought. Maybe 85 pounds. I brought this to the fair to be carved by a man that shows up every year at the fair and does a carving exhibit. I have a bigger one on the 191 plant, it will probably go to Bethlehem next week. Nothing great in my melon patch this year. Too bad. The weather has been perfect this year for melons. Too many cucurbit diseases present in my soil, I need some virgin ground to grow on. On a bright note the eating melons have never been sweeter. I grew Jubilee, Willhite Tendergold, and Desert king. Not a bad year to try the Desert King, but drought resistance doesn't help too much if the plants weaken because of the wilt. Which they did. It takes some getting used to, eating a yellow melon, but the taste is very good.   Monday, September 7 View Page A 'Desert King' melon   Monday, September 7 View Page A 'Desert king' melon the inside.   Monday, September 7 View Page A shot of the Goshen Fair large pumpkin exhibit.   Monday, September 7 View Page My pumpkin took first place with a weight of 792 pounds, the pumpkin on the right took 2nd with a weight of 768. His was bigger, mine just happened to be a rock!   Monday, September 7 View Page At the fairgrounds they had a real pumpkin patch. It was loaded with some nice looking pumpkins. The fair-goers really enjoyed being able to see what the plants look like. Hopefully this will answer some of the questions that we pumpkin growers get every year. Yes they are real, no we don't use milk or steroids, and it took less than 6 months to grow. Not a couple of years.   Monday, September 7 View Page This pumpkin was my favorite in the display garden.   Monday, September 7 View Page This sow and her piglets were a big hit at the fair. There was a whole barn filled with just pigs. Exhibitors were from all over New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut. It was nice to see. Many fairs around here have gotten away from doing pigs. Pigs love going to the fair. All the scratching and attention they get from the fairgoers. I remember one year, I heard a farmer complaining that the fair had turned all his pigs into pets. LOL   Friday, September 18 View Page 626 Wolf, right before harvest.   Friday, September 18 View Page 1299 Wolf right before harvest for the Bethlehem fair.   Friday, September 18 View Page My friend Bob and the 1299 in front of him.   Friday, September 18 View Page The 1299 Wolf on the trailer with the 626 Wolf behind it. A 106 pound Carolina Cross melon in the background. The melon was off the 191 Blair seed. Once again I got off to a good start with the melons but aphids, mites and disease moved in and took the plant out in early August.   Friday, September 18 View Page Another shot of the trailer. The 1299 went on a special over-sized pallet because it had such a huge circumference.   Friday, September 18 View Page The 1299 Wolf weighed 1,063 pounds. A new personal best! The 626 Wolf was weighed as an exhibition pumpkin it weighed 707 pounds.   Friday, September 18 View Page After the fair I decided it was time to cut the 1299 open for seeds. The 1299 had these dark spots and I believe it wasn't fit for sale. I cut her open to get the seeds, it had thick walls and a small cavity. Lots of good seeds were harvested and are drying now. Just to be safe I did soak the seeds for a few minutes in a ten percent bleach solution. The cross is the 1299 Wolf x 1426 LaRiviere. This seed will see dirt in my patch next year. These are the kind of seeds that I like. A 1,063 pound pumpkin is not large by today's standards, but it was much larger than any other out of my patch this year. Anyone interested in growing this pumpkin is welcome to seeds when they are ready.   Friday, September 18 View Page Here it is cut open.   Wednesday, November 25 View Page Not much going on here pumpkin wise. But I thought these tillage radishes were pretty impressive and worth sharing a picture of. They grew very large this year. The tillage radish seed was just thrown over the soil after the potato crop was harvested. This was done the first week of August.   Wednesday, November 25 View Page Another picture of the beastly tillage radishes. In this one I threw in an egg carton and a buttercup squash for a size reference. The longest one taped somewhere around 24" they had a really thick circumference too.