Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 30 Entries. Sunday, March 15 View Page I have a confession to make: I love the winter. I'd take winter over summer any day. Alas, sometimes you have to push winter aside to make room for warm-season endeavors. With 8-10" of snow over my patch (and more to come, perhaps), I've cleared about a dozen spots around my pumpkin patch in the hope that I can muster up enough thawed dirt for a soil test. After a couple cloudy days, the future test sites have melted into mud for the first couple inches, so hopefully some sunny weather will get me the rest of the way.   Friday, April 10 View Page Started a few giant tomato seeds today, as well as a 359 Foss for my "early" pumpkin. The rest will wait another week or so.   Tuesday, April 14 View Page Four days after planting, the 359 is coming along nicely. Posted from my phone using a web browser... seems to work well.   Thursday, April 16 View Page My soil test results. It doesn't look terrible to my untrained eye. The obvious deficits are in nitrogen and boron, but I'm sure I'm missing some of the finer details as well. Would love suggestions.   Thursday, April 23 View Page Started two 1503 Urena (1730 x 991), two 890 Bogie (1225 Courson x 2328), and several 1503 Grande (1288 x 898) seeds today... will plant the strongest one of each and keep the rest as backups. Many thanks to the folks who shared/traded their seeds over the winter.   Saturday, April 25 View Page Today's project.   Friday, May 1 View Page 359 Foss in its hoop house as of today. The other plants will spend a few more days getting established before going into the patch.   Saturday, May 2 View Page 359 Foss is in its hoop house as of yesterday. My other plants will wait another few days to get established before entering the patch. Started two 279 English bushel gourd seeds, two 129" McWilliams LG seeds, and a couple other LGs today.   Tuesday, May 5 View Page The rest of my AG plants were set outside yesterday. Here's the 890 Bogie...   Tuesday, May 5 View Page ...the 1053 Grande...   Tuesday, May 5 View Page ...and the 1503 Urena.   Friday, May 15 View Page Fifth leaf unfurling on the 359 Foss plant. The other plants, a couple weeks younger, are catching up, though the 1053 Grande is particularly aggressive. Seeing the first cucumber beetles today... ugh.   Friday, May 22 View Page Looks to be a nice little megabloom developing on my 4.48 Fulk (Meisner Delicious) plant. First time growing giant tomatoes, and I can't wait to see how it plays out.   Sunday, May 24 View Page 1053 Grande has a twin leaf structure emerging, but I don't see any signs of multiple vines yet. Not concerned as it's a fine plant otherwise.   Thursday, May 28 View Page Vine tip on the 1503 Urena has decided to grow backwards. I've been tempted to try "fixing" it, but that's probably how I end up with a snapped main...   Monday, June 1 View Page 4.48 Fulk megabloom looks ready to open tomorrow. Not entirely sure how many individual blooms are involved here (or even if it's possible to tell), but I'm quite pleased.   Wednesday, June 10 View Page First baby pumpkin showing up in the tip of the 359 Foss (currently at about 8 ft long). 890 Bogie is my slowest plant so far, but I've read that the 2009 line can be a little sluggish out of the gate, so all is well. Looking forward to milder nights to kick vine growth back into gear.   Thursday, June 11 View Page A couple young leaves on two different plants have developed some dead-looking tissue (very limp, thin, and matte) despite looking otherwise healthy. I haven't sprayed anything except Sevin. I'm going to chalk it up to sunburn, but if anyone has a more certain answer, please shoot me an email.   Friday, June 19 View Page A few clumsy overhead shots incoming. First, the 359 Foss, started a couple weeks ahead of the other plants.   Friday, June 19 View Page 890 Bogie. Still my least aggressive plant, and I'm having a little trouble getting consistent side vine growth out of it, but I'm confident it'll pull its weight when the time comes.   Friday, June 19 View Page 1503 Urena. The plant started out a bit problematic with vines growing upwards/backwards and leaves/secondaries trying to sneak to the wrong side, but it's long since grown out of that. May have just been bad seedling posture on my part.   Friday, June 19 View Page Finally, the 1053 Grande, still the most aggressive plant. After a couple untoward "extras" in the beginning, she took the cool, rainy weather in stride, and quickly closed the gap between it and the 359.   Monday, June 22 View Page Baby update: 359 Foss has a pumpkin set to open tomorrow just over 14 feet out on the main, with something like 17 good secondaries behind it. Beautiful plant but doesn't seem to throw a lot of females, so hopefully this one is in play. 890 Bogie has a female for tomorrow as well, around 9 feet out with 8 formidable secondaries. I'll pollinate it for insurance/practice but it's not ideal. 1503 Urena at just over 11 feet, though it won't be open for a few more days. 1053 Grande has a particularly nice looking baby at a smidgen under 12 feet, backed by a veritable forest of side vines. Hard to tell if it's going to open tomorrow or Wednesday, but I should have a better idea by this evening.   Wednesday, June 24 View Page Well this doesn't look great. 1053 x self. Another female in six or seven days, hopefully a little more uniform looking.   Wednesday, June 24 View Page 890 x self, prettier female but probably not a keeper either due to small plant. 359 didn't open today, and the next female after that probably isn't for another 8-10 days. Not ideal in the patch this morning.   Thursday, June 25 View Page This is more like it. 359 Foss x self - guess it was just a late bloomer, quite literally   Friday, June 26 View Page Ugh, more funky lobes. 1503 x 1053   Monday, June 29 View Page 1053 x open this morning. The rain kept me from tending to my plants this weekend, and I thought I had another day on that one. Much nicer female than the last one (whose pumpkin is already taking on a funky shape).   Wednesday, July 1 View Page 1503 x 1053 (again)   Sunday, July 5 View Page My first 1053 Grande fruit is growing nicely, roughly 22" around at day 11. Probably will keep this one after all. 359 Foss 19" around at day 10, almost perfectly spherical and already taking on some deep color. I really hope this one makes it through the season. 890 Bogie 17" at day 11, and its vines have stopped growing entirely. Will have to do a separate soil test for this particular area of the garden in the fall. Both 1503 pollinations have taken, but I didn't bother to measure just yet.