Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 41 Entries. Saturday, April 16 View Page Sorry I am a little late posting things. It's been a really warm and extremely dry spring. Let's try to get an early jump on things. In the backyard we have a 1175 Holub as the main plant, with a 1578 Holub as a backup. The soil heating cables have been in for 3 weeks and it's time to plant. Out at the farm in the greenhouse I put in a 1317 Clementz and a 1484 Lyons as a backup. I'm only growing one plant in the greenhouse this year. Let's go big or go home.......   Sunday, April 17 View Page It's a little earlier than I usually do in the main patch, but why not. I'm betting things will be fine in June when they outgrow the hoophouse and the wind and rain can be brutal. Alex is planting squash again this year. He's got a 1578 Holub and a 1421 Jutras as a backup. I stuck in a 1659 Miller and a 1221 Barber as a backup. The long gourd plants went in today at home. We'll plant the gourds at the farm in a few days. Alex is growing a long gourd at home as well.   Friday, April 22 View Page This is not good. It's been really warm the past few days. I went away on my spring band trip to Banff and everything was fine with the plants. The day after I got back, things got busy and I figured the plants in the greenhouse would be fine. Problem was, we hit 28 degrees celcius and I should have vented the greenhouse. The 1317 Clementz took some damage from the heat. The 1484 Lyons is fine and didn't suffer any damage. Ugh. The 1484 is a 1317 Clementz x 1676 Daletas. I may have to go with this one. I have a 1070 Crews pumpkin and another 1421 Jutras squash in pots at home just in case. I was hoping to plant these two in the corners of the greenhouse as pollinators. That may change.   Wednesday, May 18 View Page It's been an up and down season so far. Some bugs decided the 1317 Clementz was a tasty affair and took it out in late April. They left the 1484 Lyons in tact. Oh well. Then the tempterature dropped to -5 a few nights in a row. Not trusting the heaters, I put blankets over the plants at the farm. All worked out and the plants survived the cold....but didn't survive the coverings. I snapped the main vine off the 1484 Lyons. Ugh Ugh Ugh Ugh. This was the other plant in the greenhouse. To top it off, the stem coming out of the ground split open pretty good. Ugh   Wednesday, May 18 View Page So, let's try something. The 1221 Barber is doing pretty well alongside the 1659 Miller in the main patch and is going to get culled in a week or so. So, let's give it a shot. I carefully dug it out and replanted it on the other side of the greenhouse, running towards the 1484 Lyons and we'll let the two plants fight it out.   Tuesday, May 31 View Page Alex's plants are off to a good start. He's pulling the 1421 Jutras and keeping the 1578 Holub   Thursday, June 9 View Page The 1659 Miller. It is time to take down the hoophouse, but it's been a brutally windy spring and I'm keeping the covers on for as long as I can, but eventually they have to come off.   Monday, June 20 View Page The 1175 Holub squash at home. I had a female open yesterday at 11 feet, but I was in Banff running my annual marathon. The boys got up early and had to pollinate for me. Unfortunately, no squash pollen available. Ugh. They had to use pollen from the 1659 Miller. I'm not terribly worried as I have a few more opening in a 5-6 days.   Monday, June 27 View Page The 1175 Holub ariel view. The 25th had a female open at 14 feet and was pollinated with the 1421 Jutras pollinator plant from the corner of the greenhouse. The 26th had another open at 15 feet and was selfed. The wind finally died down yesterday and I was able to take the plastic off the house. Just too windy to take the risk.   Monday, June 27 View Page Off comes the plastic and up goes the shade cloth. It also doubles as hail protection for about 70% of the plant.   Tuesday, June 28 View Page The 1659 Miller. It, along with Alex's 1578 Holub have suffered some wind damage since they outgrew their hoophouses but they should bounce back. I pollinated the 1659 at 11 feet on June 26th with the 1484 Lyons   Tuesday, June 28 View Page It looks like I'll be keeping the 1221 Barber. The first 3 weeks after the transplant, it did nothing. Now, it's flying. The 1484 Lyons is slower than it should and is not producing many secondaries, other than the first two. I've also discovered many tree roots in the south side of the greenhouse where the 1484 was planted. This is the side of the greenhouse where the kids usually planted. Maybe that's why I kept beating them? I also threw in number of marigold plants this season. I'm trying to keep away the grasshoppers and spider mites. I'll try anything after last year's mess.   Friday, July 1 View Page Happy Canada Day! We spent a great day at Waterton hiking up to Bertha Lake. Nice long hike with the kids. But before hiking, it's time to pollinate. Alex's 1578 Holub put out it's first female and he pollinated it with my 1175 Holub squash. We got a huge dump of rain earlier this week in a massive thunderstorm. No hail or wind, just a lot of rain, which was badly needed. The first female on the 1221 Barber opened on the 29th. I was too busy worrying about the thunderstorm the night before to check the greenhouse and missed it opening until later that morning, so if it does take, it will be an open pollination. Not my best year for keeping track of things. I'm not too worried, it should have one opening in 3-4 days. Still lots of time. The plant is growing really well now and should take over most of the greenhouse in about 10 days. The 1481 Lyons is just sticking around for a pollinator then will get pulled.   Sunday, August 14 View Page I just realized it's been a while since I updated the diary. So here goes. The 1221 Barber in the greenhouse. Should get a nice colour, but I'm not after colour. I'm still finding lots of roots from the trees nearby. This is frustrating me.   Sunday, August 14 View Page The 1659 Miller. It has been a disappointing year out at the farm this year. This, and Alex's 1578 Holub were beat up quite bad in late June by the winds and are not producing good weight gains. I've lost interest in this one. It's sitting at around 300 pounds and has a bad shape.   Sunday, August 14 View Page The first 3 squash on Alex's 1578 Holub main vine all hit about 24 inches in circ. and then all aborted. This is #4 and was pollinated by the bees a few weeks ago. So, instead of one biggie, he's going for 2 or 3. My 1659 Miller had a few pop up on some secondaries so I'll see what I can get out of them. This is is the biggest, beside Alex's 1578.   Sunday, August 14 View Page My 1175 Holub plant at home. I wonder how long the town will let me grow into the alley?   Sunday, August 14 View Page Overhead view of the patch and long gourds. The gourds got off to a slow start this year but we have a heat wave coming up in the next few days.   Sunday, August 14 View Page Knock on wood......the 1175 Holub at home. Just a bit bigger than what Alex has out at the farm. Taping 317 1/2 inches today.   Wednesday, September 21 View Page Been a busy summer. Keep forgetting to update the diary. Here goes. The fruit at the farm have slowed to a crawl a while ago. Here is the 1659 Miller. Rain is in the forecast so I picked it early for the Greenhaven weighoff for the Children's Wish Foundation. Taping at 80 78 126 for an ott of 289 and estimated 519 pounds. This one never did put on any decent numbers.   Saturday, September 24 View Page Comes in a little heavy at 535 pounds. Second place. First, I believe, was 655 or so. I didn't write it down. This was a busy place and a lot of money was raised for the charity.   Wednesday, September 28 View Page The 1175 Holub at home. This has been a great squash to grow. It just kept packing on the pounds. I did a few things differently and a little cooler this season.   Thursday, September 29 View Page Time to load things up.   Thursday, September 29 View Page Thanks Dustin for helping to load it.   Thursday, September 29 View Page The 1221 Barber at the farm. Hasn't moved in about 10 days. Nice colour.   Thursday, September 29 View Page Under the foam, again, more mice. This one had babies. Good thing it was under the foam and nothing hurt the pumpkin. The cats have not been doing their job.   Thursday, September 29 View Page Whew, they are on the trailer. Alex was running around the farm with the other kids. They were busy playing baseball with the crabapples..... Unfortunately, we forgot to get a picture of his squash. It's in the back of the truck.   Thursday, September 29 View Page The 1221 Barber is taping at 541 pounds. The squash.............is just a bit bigger.   Saturday, October 1 View Page Ooooh no. The squash did not like the 720 trip to Smoky Lake. It was taping 1165.......   Saturday, October 1 View Page Ooooh no. The squash did not like the 720 trip to Smoky Lake. It was taping 1165.......   Saturday, October 1 View Page I tried that last post from my phone when we were at the weighoff at Smoky. Now I'm back home at my computer so I can tell the whole story. After an early morning start, Alex and I arrived in Smoky Lake just as the rain really began to fall. It wasn't that cold so it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be....   Saturday, October 1 View Page A better picture of my roller coaster ride. I got the tarp off the pumpkin, he got it off the squash. He yells at me, "the squash split" It had some old minor surface splits, but I wasn't prepared to see this. It was fine when we loaded it on Thursday.   Saturday, October 1 View Page So, 720km drive turned out to be a bit of a problem for the squash. Final numbers were 106 98 173 for an OTT of 377 and estimated weight 1165. We weighed it before the big show and it was light at 965, but would have still been an Alberta record.   Saturday, October 1 View Page I still like the way it looks, even if it split and was light. Eddy took it for a drop next week in Calgary. He put a strap around it to close up the split   Saturday, October 1 View Page Alex and his entry. 226 pounds. 7th place. Mine is in the back on the right   Saturday, October 1 View Page My long gourd. 2nd at 96.25 inches   Saturday, October 1 View Page My pumpkin off the 1221 Barber was light at 496 pounds but did win the Howard Dill award. It was an estimated 541. Not a great year at the farm patch. Good enough for 12th place. This one is going out front at home on the 31st.   Saturday, October 1 View Page Oops to attach the picture for the gourd   Sunday, October 30 View Page After all the ups and downs of this year, here comes the real reason I grow. Halloween. It was a beautiful day to carve. Alex had a great time working on his squash.   Monday, October 31 View Page Alex's final creation.   Monday, October 31 View Page Here's what we had in front of the house. About 100 kids showed up for some goodies. Fall soil prep is all done at home and in the big patch at the farm. I still have to do the greenhouse soil, but I still have at least a few weeks to get that taken care of. The compost bins were emptied just before Halloween and are now stuffed again. Looks like the pumpkin season is pretty much finished here in Taber. Time for a rest.