Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 65 Entries. Sunday, March 1 View Page I sure hope this is a great growing year! Last year was a bust because of this darn marauding squirrel!   Tuesday, March 3 View Page Here's my PB from 2013...She was about 350lbs. Started really late and wasn't the best growing year.   Friday, March 6 View Page Had fun carving it for Halloween though!   Wednesday, March 11 View Page Here's my 2015 lineup... Hopefully this will be a great growing season!   Sunday, April 26 View Page Success! This is the 1231 Kline '14. I've also had a few others germinate, but this one is extremely vigorous.   Saturday, May 2 View Page Nothing says gardening happiness like a steaming pile of poo! Getting the patch ready on a beautiful weekend!   Sunday, May 3 View Page Patch set and ready for action. It's always a challenge to make the most out of a small space living in a residential neighborhood in North Vancouver. We'll try to eek out a much weight as we can get! Now to get that squirrel!   Sunday, May 10 View Page Ack, had to leave for the week for a work trip to Banff and Lake Louise, AB. The 1231 Kline continues to impress. Never expected it to get this big and leggy in such a short time. I'll put her in the ground this weekend.   Monday, May 11 View Page 1231 Kline in the ground. Tried to be very gentle considering how leggy it was. Notice the squirrel protection...   Monday, May 11 View Page And with cold protection.... Fingers crossed   Tuesday, June 9 View Page Main leaves on the 1231 Kline are 23" in diameter! Weather conditions are really cooperating this year and the plant is growing well! Trenching and starting regimen of Alaska fish fertilizer and SuperThrive.   Tuesday, June 16 View Page 1231 Kline growing aggressively. Good side vine growth. Vine about 11 feet from stump now.   Tuesday, June 16 View Page And lookie lookie... Our first female on the main. Will be about 12ft out when ready to pollinate. Looks like it will be in a good position. Will keep an eye on this one.   Thursday, June 25 View Page Vine over 15 ft long now. Side vines putting on over 1ft of growth per day. Impressive plant coupled with impressive stretch of weather we've been having!   Thursday, June 25 View Page Yay! The female I was hoping would prove good position, etc. bloomed along with a few BIG male flowers. Was hoping to cross it with the 1379 Hoelke (my backup), but that plant is way behind - hasn't even sent males yet.   Thursday, June 25 View Page Here she is freshly pollinated   Sunday, June 28 View Page A perfect example of why I have squirrel protection around my giant pumpkin. This is from one of my jack-o-lantern vines. The little bugger loves to get in there and shred the vines. I have tried everything from sonic pest control to critter sprays. It's a real nuisance. My neighbor has vowed to rid it from this earth as it shredded all of his beans and corn. I won't be sad if he's successful.   Sunday, June 28 View Page 1231 Kline today... Lush green beauty! Sending females like crazy, have 6 ready to bloom today. Will have to keep an eye on the current favorite to see if it's showing promise. At least I have a number of other prospects from which to choose.   Sunday, June 28 View Page 1231 Kline day 3. Looks like pollination was successful! Fingers crossed it doesn't abort with the heat we are having.   Wednesday, July 1 View Page Vine 20+ft long x 20+ft wide. Pollinated 7 blossoms today. Though, the original I pollinated is showing steady gains (slower than I'd like... But keeping an eye on it). At least I have plenty to choose from.   Wednesday, July 1 View Page This shows the growth on the original pumpkin from yesterday to today.   Wednesday, July 1 View Page Helps to attach the pic....   Thursday, July 2 View Page 1231 Kline day 7. Looks like it's already forming a stem split. It's not a worry, was most likely going to cull. Have several others to choose from including one in a much better position that I was able to cross pollinate with the 1379 Hoelke (which was my goal for next year's plant).   Sunday, July 5 View Page 1231 Kline - 10 DAP   Sunday, July 5 View Page 1231 Kline x 1379 Hoelke - 4 DAP   Tuesday, July 7 View Page 1231 Kline - 12 DAP. Looking good!   Wednesday, July 8 View Page 1231 Kline - 13 DAP   Thursday, July 9 View Page 1231 Kline - 14 DAP   Thursday, July 9 View Page Here's a good comparison shot of the 1231 Kline x 1379 Hoelke - 8 DAP on top and the first 1231 Kline back when it was 8 DAP on bottom. Making a cull decision easier for me!   Friday, July 10 View Page 1231 Kline - 15 DAP OTT = 88   Saturday, July 11 View Page 1231 Kline - 16 DAP OTT = 95   Thursday, July 16 View Page Made my final cull to get to one pumpkin on the vine. Was a tough decision. This was DAP 20..OTT 117. Estimated 43lbs. Weighed in at 45.8 = 6.5% heavy.   Thursday, July 16 View Page May I introduce everyone to Fridwulfa! She'll be the one we cheer on to go the distance. This is the second pollination on the 1231 Kline. DAP 15 OTT 89   Thursday, July 16 View Page May I introduce everyone to Fridwulfa! She'll be the one we cheer on to go the distance. This is the second pollination on the 1231 Kline. DAP 15 OTT 89   Thursday, July 23 View Page Day 21: Was away on a work trip. Happy to come home to see Fridwulfa growing well! Had a friend come by to water as we're in stage 3 water restrictions now. Will have to install a drip system for next year. OTT=159   Friday, July 24 View Page Here's Fridwulfa day 23 (1231 Kline '14). She packed on 10 inches and 18 lbs last night. Growth is steady but not earth shattering. Will take that over a split any day! Today Vancouver is finally getting much needed rain! OTT: 169   Saturday, July 25 View Page This is a pic of the 1231 Kline from the stem end.. Pretty pumpkin!   Friday, July 31 View Page Day 30 today: 1231 Kline coming in at just around 300lbs... Another stretch of beautiful weather has her a very happy pumpkin!   Tuesday, August 4 View Page Day 34 for the 1231 Kline and she just topped 400lbs... Growth is nice and steady. Fingers crossed she makes it all the way to the end of the season!   Wednesday, August 5 View Page Here's a view of my patch taken on Saturday Morning - August 1   Monday, August 10 View Page Fridwulfa (Kline 1231) continues to chug along. Here she is at day 40 sitting right around 600lbs. 2200 lbs growth in a week? Yeah, I'll take that!   Monday, August 10 View Page Oops...that should have read 200lbs of growth in a week! Haha   Tuesday, August 11 View Page Another patch view. Looking good!   Monday, August 17 View Page Day 46... Sitting right around 700lbs now. Daily gains are still right around 20lbs a day. Just trying to keep her healthy to go the distance! October seems so far off... Haha   Thursday, August 20 View Page Day 50 for the 1231 Kline (aka Fridwulfa). She's taping in right around 750lbs. Daily gains are tapering to the 20lbs per day range. Hoping for a long slow taper!   Monday, August 24 View Page 1231 Kline day 54. Over 800 now.. Looking good!   Wednesday, August 26 View Page Day 55 and looking pretty. Have been exposing her to the sun the last couple of days to give her some color before we head into a rainy stretch of weather.   Monday, September 7 View Page After a wild week of crazy weather including a storm that saw over 675 trees toppled in the Vancouver area and a power outage for over 500,000 people, the pumpkin still chugging along. She's right around 1,000 lbs now.   Saturday, September 12 View Page Fridwulfa (1231 Kline) day 73... She's going orange now! At just the right time. Growth has slowed but is still steady and the vine still looks good. This is fun!   Saturday, September 12 View Page Fridwulfa (1231 Kline) day 73... She's going orange now! At just the right time. Growth has slowed but is still steady and the vine still looks good. This is fun!   Thursday, September 17 View Page Fridwulfa update: Day 78. CityTV Breakfast Television crew came this morning to film a feature on Fridwulfa for broadcast tomorrow morning. Hope to post a link to the segment.   Friday, September 18 View Page Nice little story ran today http://youtu.be/r3qNoTAuVBg   Saturday, October 3 View Page Today was the big day! So happy that my pumpkin went over 1,000 lbs! Confirmed weight of 1,018 lbs. Placed 4th and became the 11th person in BC history to grow a pumpkin over 1,000 lbs! It was a perfect day and big congratulations to Scott for placing first with his 1,411 lb beauty, Dave and Glenn placing 2nd and 3rd and Kate (Howard Dill Winner)! Honoured to be amongst you all!   Saturday, October 3 View Page Here she is ready to be weighed.   Monday, October 5 View Page Here's a nice little video of how we moved the now 1,018 Pelletier pumpkin and some clips of the weigh off: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAXosV_mlMw Was a fun day!   Sunday, October 11 View Page Getting the garden ready for overwintering. Here's the 1018 Pelletier stump. It's as big as my leg!   Saturday, October 17 View Page Last week's activity: Vines pulled, patch weeded, tilled, soil samples taken from 8 random sections of the patch and sent to the laboratory for analysis, limed and 10 lbs of fall rye scattered and steel raked in. It's been so warm and wet here that the rye has already germinated and is growing well.   Saturday, October 31 View Page Happy Halloween!   Saturday, October 31 View Page Another view of Fridwulfa carved   Saturday, October 31 View Page And last but not least..   Saturday, October 31 View Page Went to open her up today...   Saturday, October 31 View Page Awesome sidewall thickness!   Saturday, October 31 View Page ... Even at the stem end   Saturday, October 31 View Page The end of a great season!   Saturday, October 31 View Page And lots of seeds for next year