Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 164 Entries. Saturday, January 9 View Page As Ron had a photo of his cover crop I thought I would post ours.   Saturday, January 23 View Page The onions are coming on quite nicely and I think I will have to get them potted up into their final pots in the next couple of weeks. At the moment I'm thinking of doing four plants, two in natural light conditions and two in a totally different lighting regime . All the pots will be able to be moved around which is a little radicle but I will be able to slide them into the packing area which is nice and cool on those very hot days.   Tuesday, January 26 View Page We had a very special guest today.   Tuesday, January 26 View Page Well that's a pain in the butt. That said if this beautiful Tawny Owl can turn her/his round I'm sure you can do the same.   Friday, February 5 View Page I'm only growing four onions this year and I picked out what I considered the best and planted them up today. I've had them bigger at this time of year but I'm quite happy with their progress so far. They won't be getting any more supplementary lights from now as I want to treat them all the same and don't have enough lights. I don't actually think it matters how big they get this year as I just want to see some results of my lighting trial   Friday, February 5 View Page The wood's ready for the Big show Hogg roast.   Tuesday, February 23 View Page Wizzy caught a nice little pike today.   Sunday, February 28 View Page Well what an amazing weekend. Wizzy got to tinkle the ivories. It was a real surprise for all of us watching. That boy has got talent, real talent.   Sunday, February 28 View Page The pig went down real well and was perfect after around 12 hours on the spit.   Sunday, February 28 View Page Stuart and I have dreamt about having the Big show here for two years. It would be our chance to put something back into our sport and give our European friends a chance of meeting our other friends from across the pond. It was truly heart warming to see the friendships forming and the amazing camaraderie of the top growers and newbies helping each other.   Sunday, February 28 View Page I can't hold back on this one. When Steve picked up his HOF jacket there were tears in my eyes as I watched a truly great friends photos appear on the screen. The man is a humble example of life at its best and I'm honoured to be a friend.   Sunday, February 28 View Page Jos and I had a little photo opportunity while watching the lamb. Sarah thinks Nick in the background is adorable but that's ok because so do I.   Sunday, February 28 View Page Oh Wizzy, Wizzy, Whizzy you and Mario are a scream.   Sunday, February 28 View Page Now there is one outstanding grower right there   Sunday, February 28 View Page Words fail me for how proud I am of my brother, my family and friends for putting this together.   Tuesday, March 1 View Page Thank you very much for all your generous tips and we even had a $100 metric note. If you weren't at the show you won't get the metric thing. Thank you all again and Stuart and I will take all of our helpers out for a nice meal.   Tuesday, March 1 View Page We had a good chat with Clive and we are starting a full on programme of friendly stuff this week.   Tuesday, March 1 View Page Now that the show is over I've had time to finish the onions   Monday, March 7 View Page I went fishing with my buddy Steve and now that the water has cleared it's fishing well again. We had twenty pike between us and Steve got the biggest with this gorgeous 21lb fish.   Friday, March 11 View Page Were just keeping the general good stuff in the patch working away for us at the moment and toping it up each time we water.   Friday, March 11 View Page The patch smells and looks lush after a good watering. We could get the grass to grow a lot faster and greener if we put some Nitrogen on but we want low salt levels so we will feed that to the plants later on   Friday, March 11 View Page The onions look just fine at the moment and although they look about three weeks behind the ones Peter put in his diary I'm still happy with them.   Saturday, March 26 View Page It's all a bit boring in the patch right now which compared to this time last year is rather nice. In the next couple of weeks when the soil samples are back we will dig the patch "Paton style". I know that the onions are short of Nitrogen so they got a calcium nitrate a couple of days ago while I'm waiting for the first soil sample to come back. Next week I will split these up to one per trolley. As this year is all about trying to control the plants bulbing phase and when it starts, four individual plants will give me more idea of what's going on.   Tuesday, April 5 View Page Still got it. 28lbs of pure beauty.   Tuesday, April 5 View Page Only the best will do for our patch.   Wednesday, April 6 View Page Were very happy with our soil sample for the start of the season. The pH is where we like it but a little higher won't hurt as it tends to drift down over the season. We will add the Phosphate when we dig the patch as it can be a bit of a bugger putting through the irrigation system. Potassium will be feed each week when watering as and when. We would like the Calcium up around 4000 plus so a little ground chalk will sort that and raise the pH. The Nitrogen, well what there is, will mainly go in with liquid feed but as our Sulphur can be a pain in the butt later in the season we will mix some ammonium sulphate into the patch. Boron will be liquid feed through the season. Manganese, well just got to get the old head around that one. The onions Nitrogen was the same but they now have some more and look better for it.   Thursday, April 7 View Page Oh dear it was deeper than I thought   Friday, April 8 View Page Just seven days till we sow and here is a selection of seeds to go in. I think our final choice of plants would ideally be. 2 x 2096 2 x 1585 2 x 1781   Friday, April 8 View Page And this is the Magic box or not so Magic box as the case may be for two of the onions   Friday, April 15 View Page Stuart soaked the seeds yesterday and they were nice and plump today for sowing.   Friday, April 15 View Page Like everyone else it's so good to be on our way for another year in the patch. For me we have to be over 2000lbs this year, well over.   Wednesday, April 20 View Page All of our seeds germinated very well and I potted them from 1.5l to 3l pots. You could really feel the heat in the compost and they all had a good general feed at the same time. They are now in the main glass house at 15C.   Wednesday, April 20 View Page This is digging the patch Paton style. The patch is divided into 18 40sqM lots and amendments put on times two, this is because the soil is so deep. For those interested were putting on 2kgs Ammonium sulphate 2kgs Sulphate of potash 2kgs Superphosphate 2ks Ground chalk. The phosphate is to give the roots a good kick start. The Sulphate is because we sometimes have issues later in the year with a lack off. Chalk is there only for calcium but it will raise the pH. Anything else will get used during the year.   Wednesday, April 20 View Page This is the soil from one lot.   Thursday, April 21 View Page We are double digging the whole patch every year from now on as our rotavator only goes half the depth we would like. I'm seeing a lot of pits dug for starting plants in the hoop house. I'm personally not a big fan off digging a pit for two reasons. First, if you have a clay base you can end up with the perfect mini pond. And secondly, if we think that a small plant needs that extra root space why don't we treat the whole patch the same way.   Saturday, April 30 View Page I got the week off last week so Stuart finished the soil and planted our six plants with backups. To be honest they look a little weird in such a big area but that will all change soon.   Friday, May 6 View Page We sowed the long gourds yesterday, all top seeds and plenty of them as I know they can be a pig to germinate   Sunday, May 8 View Page Now that's one stunning 26.5lb common carp. Told you I've still got it.   Tuesday, May 10 View Page The plants are doing fine and we have a new method for improving the roots. I'm not sure if you can see but this white polythene is covered in small holes and we used white instead of black to reflect the light. We what to keep the moisture in the top few inches of the soil to encourage those lovely roots that we all find under our walk boards. It's mega important that we have the holes to allow gas exchange.   Friday, May 13 View Page We ended up with three 139 Ansems instead off a 137 as I planted the wrong seeds but they all look great.   Friday, May 20 View Page This is the day we don't like in the pumpkin year as we have growers watching to see if their seeds make it in our patch and as usual I apologize for throwing out some amazing seeds. So we start with the 1975 Wallace and the 2096 Meier. The Wallace was looking by far the better plant so we had to go with the Wallace.   Friday, May 20 View Page And here's the photo   Friday, May 20 View Page Our next dilemma was 1781 Zywiec and a more vigorous 1648 Wallace. As we have issues with our other Zywick we pulled the Wallace.   Friday, May 20 View Page Here we have a 2096 Meier and a 1998 Jutras. The Jutras was miles more vigorous than the Meier and Joe's 1998 is our selection   Friday, May 20 View Page This was easy, two identical 1585 Werners   Friday, May 20 View Page Here we have a nice vigourous 1585 Werner a smaller Martin and our other Zywick which you will see in the next photo. The Werner was the best remaining plant so that's the one we kept.   Friday, May 20 View Page This split stem is the reason for not keeping the Zywiec.   Friday, May 20 View Page Finaly we have a 2096 Meier and a 1338 Martin. Even though the 2096 has some shot holes it was our only one left in the patch so sorry Glen and Margret we had to go with the 2096.   Friday, May 20 View Page The six plants are ready to rock   Wednesday, May 25 View Page We now have our new moister measuring equipment that has 12 sensors and will go on one of the plants in the patch. Thanks for all the help Steve.   Wednesday, May 25 View Page The plants are looking fine and the roots are more than fine but you will have to take my word on that.   Monday, May 30 View Page We had to change our idea with the white polythene because the weeds had enough light to grow and were pushing it up. If there was enough light for weeds there would be to much light for roots so we need to find another cheap material. We have loads of materials that would do the job but they are expensive for the amount we need and it will only have one years life after we cut holes for vive roots.   Monday, May 30 View Page The garden is looking great   Monday, May 30 View Page This time next year the oak on the summer house will be a nice silver grey.   Saturday, June 4 View Page Were putting in 12 soil moisture sensors on one of the plants to give us a better idea of the watering situation. This idea came from Steve Daletas who is not growing this year and relying on our patch to kindle his needs. Looks like our patch will be run by the Three Musketeers. Works for me.   Saturday, June 4 View Page The long gourds are growing well and hopefully the netting for them to climb up will arrive soon.   Saturday, June 4 View Page The pumpkins are all fine and this is the 1988 Jutras.   Saturday, June 4 View Page If anyone wants to see how we bury our vines with the pots you can find a video on BP that Stuart and I did last week. I need to fire up the smoker in the next few weeks.   Tuesday, June 7 View Page The plants are without doubt the best we've ever had. This is one of the Werners.   Tuesday, June 7 View Page After the mist lines have been on we get rid of around 4C. We can put them on a programme but as were there most of the time just run them when we think right. Also we are being really tight with the water to encourage strong healthy plants at the moment.   Tuesday, June 7 View Page We were digging a few inspection holes to see where we are with watering and found this root 10inches deep well away from the plant.   Saturday, June 11 View Page The pots for covering the vines is working well and eventually once the root has found it's way to the soil the compost in the pot will dry out. This works for us as the stem has very little moisture round it and much less chance of rotting latter in the season.   Saturday, June 11 View Page Watering all the time with the drip tubes in our opinion is not good enough at this time of year. We feel we need to be encouraging the roots to the surface and drip tubes (even close together)leave large areas of dry soil So we are hand watering at least one a week.   Saturday, June 11 View Page This white flowering Cornus looks fantastic with the blue Iris.   Friday, June 17 View Page All the plants look awesome and in the last 5 days Stuart has pollinated one pumpkin on all of them. So this is it, as far as I'm concerned Stuart and I are maxed out on the skill of how to improve our patch. With that in mind we will have to start again trying to find ways of improving. This is the Jutras.   Friday, June 17 View Page It's not a great photo but these three look fine.   Friday, June 17 View Page The long gourds are on the way up and like the song goes "You got to get up to get down" Just in case anyone doesn't know we do have a video diary running on our patch. This is just to share and help other growers so it shows how we do things in our patch.   Wednesday, June 22 View Page Were pretty sure we have pumpkins set on all six plants but we will still pollinate a few more just in case. I cant remember all the crosses but they are all good. This is one of the Werners.   Saturday, June 25 View Page Through a concrete splattered window the plants still look great   Saturday, June 25 View Page Also the rooting is exceptional.   Saturday, June 25 View Page This is the Zywiec at around ten days old and crossed with the Meier. What's not to like   Wednesday, June 29 View Page Just a quick update on a patch is just about to take off. First is the corner Werner x Meier 15DAP   Wednesday, June 29 View Page Next on the most aggressive plant in the patch. Jutras X Meier 13DAP   Wednesday, June 29 View Page Stuart and I both like this one. The Zywiec x Meier at 14DAP   Wednesday, June 29 View Page Both the Werner plants are like peas in a pod and that goes for the pumpkins as well. Werner x Zywiec 16DAP   Wednesday, June 29 View Page The Meier x Zywiec 12DAP   Wednesday, June 29 View Page Finally and a slightly odd shape is the Wallace x Zwyeic at 14DAP   Friday, July 1 View Page The long gourds are over the top and we will soon be able to think about pollinating.   Friday, July 1 View Page I've got next week off and on my way out took a photo of some absolutely awesome looking plants. They all have great vigour, colour and that "look" about them , you just know when plants look right. Some of the roots appearing from under the pots are just enormous so lets hope this all reflects in the size of our pumpkins this year. Time will tell with the pumpkins but   Saturday, July 2 View Page The onions are doing well but the magic box trial has not given me enough information. That said although this one of 18inchs cir will not be anything close to other growers I'm happy with the shape and colour of the leaves.   Saturday, July 2 View Page Many of our nodes have produced two roots which has to be exciting.   Sunday, July 10 View Page Were trying to hold back on pollinating the LG's but the plants are getting fairly large.   Sunday, July 10 View Page While I've been on holiday Stuart has been spending over three hour every day in the patch and a big chunk of that has been very carful watering.   Sunday, July 10 View Page We will tape all the pumpkins for the first time tomorrow and at the moment have no idea of weights but they do look good. This is the Zywiec which gets uncovered every morning for a photo shoot with the time lapse.   Monday, July 11 View Page So at last here we go with the fun bit. Here's the 2096 Meier x 1781 Zywiec and on day 24 tapes 161lbs   Monday, July 11 View Page The 1975 Wallace x 1781 Zywiec on day 25 tapes 203lbs Not the greatest of shapes but it isn't a beauty contest.   Monday, July 11 View Page Both of the Werner plants and pumpkins are very similar so they are now the twins of the patch. So the 1585 Werner x 1781 Zywiec on day 28 tapes 239lbs   Monday, July 11 View Page We wish we had two of the Zywiec plants left in the patch. It's our fastest growing pumpkin in the patch and I'm sure this seed will be the best performing seed world wide this year. On day 26 the 1781 Zywiec x 2096 Meier is 239lbs   Monday, July 11 View Page Here's the other twin, same shape just a little more ribbing. On day 27 the 1585 Werner x 2096 Meier is 227lbs   Monday, July 11 View Page Last up is the best plant by far and a very nice shaped Jutras. On day 25 the 1998 Jutras x 1585 Werner is 171lbs. The patch will start to rock next week with most of these due to double in size.   Saturday, July 16 View Page We don't normally tape the pumpkins mid week but as I made a small mistake I thought I would. We lowered the venting temps to 12C at night to keep the plants nice and compact during vegetative growth but I meant to increase the temps too 18C when the pumpkins were set. Now they are warmer I just wanted to see if it had made a difference and the Zywiec has now averaged 47lbs for the last three days. Happy days   Saturday, July 16 View Page Were no looking for a long gourd to pollinate at the end of next week ish.   Saturday, July 16 View Page The 1998 could be very orange and the plant is really outstanding and I mean outstanding. I couldn't possibly show you the pumpkin until Monday.   Monday, July 18 View Page Here we go with this weeks update. DAP 31 the Meier is 409lbs up 248lbs for the week   Monday, July 18 View Page DAP 32 the Wallace is 427lbs up 224lbs this week   Monday, July 18 View Page The Werner in the middle has changed shape and looking a little like a pear. DAP 35 she's 447lbs up 208 this week and our slowest in the patch.   Monday, July 18 View Page The Star of the week is the Zywiec and she's averaged 47lbs a day for the last seven. DAP 33 she's 570lbs up 331lbs this week   Monday, July 18 View Page The other Werner is very nice and DAP 34 is 452lbs up 225 lbs this week.   Monday, July 18 View Page The Jutras will possibly be the nicest looking pumpkin we have ever grown. DAP 32 she's 404lbs up 233lbs this week   Friday, July 22 View Page What a shame. She would have been beautiful and very big. Unfortunately you just have to pick yourself up, dust yourself down, man or lady up and get on with it.   Friday, July 22 View Page One last look. We normally get over losing pumpkins fairly well but there is always the odd one over the years that you wish had made it to the scales, the Shape Shifter a couple of years ago springs to mind. I don't know what it is but some pumpkins have just got it.   Friday, July 22 View Page I decided to give the long gourds a good hair cut because I couldn't work out what to pollinate. Fortunately for me Stuart didn't mind. We did treat ourselves to sneaky tape of the Zywiec to lift the spirits and in the last four days she has averaged 58lbs a day which is just NUTS for us.   Monday, July 25 View Page Here we go with this weeks update and on the whole were fairly happy. The Meier DAP 38 is 700lbs up 291lbs and averaging 41lbs a day. She has some netting and although she is unlikely to break any records we will give her 100% till the end because you never know what you will end up with in the patch, she might save our bacon.   Monday, July 25 View Page The Wallace is looking more and more comfortable by the day and DAP 39 is 781lbs up 354lbs for the week and averaging 50lbs a day which is a record for us.   Monday, July 25 View Page On DAP 42 the Werner in the middle is 693lbs up 246lbs and averaging 35lbs a day. Still need to look after her.   Monday, July 25 View Page It would be nice to have another star for the week in the patch but what can one say. The Zywiec DAP 40 is 948lbs up a colossal 378lbs and averaging 54lbs a day for the last week. Numbers speak louder than words   Monday, July 25 View Page The Werner in the corner is a wicked looking pumpkin and DAP 41 is 767lbs up 315lbs for the week and averaging 45lbs a day   Monday, July 25 View Page Were pollinating loads of long gourds at the moment and cross pollinating them all so they will all be sibling's.   Sunday, July 31 View Page Low and slow baby, low and slow.   Sunday, July 31 View Page I got up at 5 this morning to fire up the smoker.   Sunday, July 31 View Page 14 hours cooking is fursty work.   Monday, August 1 View Page Lets just get the iffy news out of the way first. This has happened to the smaller Werner in just two days. We don't remember seeing anything like it before and it's not watering.   Monday, August 1 View Page The Meier is toddling along in it's own time and DAP45 is 903lbs up 203lbs for the week and 29lbs a day.   Monday, August 1 View Page The Wallace is getting longer by the day and DAP 46 is 1033lbs up 252lbs for the week and 36lbs a day.   Monday, August 1 View Page I would like to give the "Star of the week" to this Werner, but I can't because of the Zywiec. So all I can say is that she is a great looking pumpkin and on DAP 48 is 1010lbs up 243lbs and 34lbs a day.   Monday, August 1 View Page So that leaves me with our "Star of the week" the Zywiec. It has been cooler this week and in particular the nights but she has grown very well. DAP just 47 she is 1245lbs up 297lbs and averaging 42lbs a day. She has a small crack on the stem but looks ok at the moment. We are now thinking about improvements for next year as there is little do in the patch apart from dream. Fortunately for us we are finding some big improvements but I won't bore you with them at the moment.   Wednesday, August 3 View Page I haven't measured this onion for a while but I'm very happy with the fresh looking growth for this time of year which will be down to the right amount of shade.   Wednesday, August 3 View Page This is about the size of all of our main stems.   Wednesday, August 3 View Page Not a great photo form the jungle that is the long gourds but the best I would say we have at the moment on day 11 is 28inches.   Thursday, August 4 View Page Oh dear victim number three in the patch. We were a little surprised to see the Werner split and we were thinking it would be our best chance of getting a pb this year. As it's not watering we are thinking that possibly the night temps fluctuating could be part of the problem. Next year we will heat the patch at night.   Thursday, August 4 View Page Not much wrong with the roots. We are left with two iffy big pumpkins and one smaller one in the patch.   Friday, August 5 View Page One last look at a very nice Werner.   Friday, August 5 View Page This is a graph of our temps from yesterday and last night and you can see it drops down too 13.2C. On a warm night it will be over 18C and it's the only reason we can think of for blowing the pumpkins.   Sunday, August 7 View Page Here is a perfect example of the temp difference we are getting at night. So from 13C a few days ago to nearly 19C last night. We all know how twitchy these beasts can be and I'm sure a pumpkin can be forgiven for thinking that autumn is coming with a few nights of 13C. Hardly surprising it gets a little confused with 19C   Monday, August 8 View Page Well what a week. The Meier on paper has grown a lot more than it should but we think we taped it in the wrong place last week. So this week DAP52 she is 1220lbs up 317lbs and averaging 45lbs a day.   Monday, August 8 View Page The Wallace DAP53 is 1229lbs up 246lbs and averaging 35lbs a day.   Monday, August 8 View Page And here the star of the week yet again. Even I was shocked when we taped her this morning in fact so much so we taped her twice. DAP54 the Zywiec is 1528lbs up a whacking great 283lbs and averaged 42lbs a day for the week.   Monday, August 8 View Page This is our crack on the back stem which appears to have stabilised and although the crack goes right through the stem the fan is keeping it nice and dry. The good thing for our fellow growers watching is that I will carry on putting diary updates so you can all enjoy, good or bad. (I don't like it when diaries go quite just because they have a beast)   Wednesday, August 10 View Page The long gourds we selected looked like they were growing and then just fizzled out. Luckily our last plant with a gourd on DAP18 is 64inches. I'm not sure if that's good or bad but it did have a couple of twists and they are now looking straighter so happy with that.   Monday, August 15 View Page So another good week in the patch and thing are running nice and steady. DAP59 the 2096 is 1389lbs up 169lbs and 24lbs a day   Monday, August 15 View Page The 1975 is going to be a bit of a beast and DAP60 is 1476lbs up 247lbs and averaging 35lbs   Monday, August 15 View Page The star of the week is the 1781 and on DAP 61 is 1719lbs up 191lbs and averaging 27lbs a day. This is tapping 50lbs ish past our pb and quite incredible.   Monday, August 22 View Page Now were rocking. We've had a wicked week in the patch and DAP 66 the Meier is 1554lbs up 165lbs and averaging 23lbs a day.   Monday, August 22 View Page The Wallace on DAP 67 is 1623lbs up 147lbs and averaging 21lbs a day   Monday, August 22 View Page I'll show you the Zywiec in a minuet but first I thought I would show you some of the fabulous plant. In fact all the plants look this good and we continue to walk round them daily.   Monday, August 22 View Page First of all it was a great honour to have Peter Seabrook MBE in our patch today. He grew up learning his trade with our father. The MBE tells you what a legend he is but he's more than that:- he's a wonderful person. DAP 68 the Zywiec is 1890lbs Hang on, let me just say that again DAP 68 the Zywiec is 1890lbs up 171lbs and averaging 24lbs a day. Guess who's the star in the patch?   Monday, August 29 View Page Not such a good week in the patch this week as we think we are about to lose the Zywiec. We taped her last Friday as I hoped to put on the diary yesterday that she had hit 2000 which obviously a milestone in anyone's patch. DAP 75 she's only 1916lbs up just 26lbs this week. The plant still looks great so probably a problem under the pumpkin that we cant see.   Monday, August 29 View Page The Meier is doing fine and DAP 73 is 1641lbs up 87lbs this week   Monday, August 29 View Page The Wallace DAP 74 is also up 87lbs and is now 1710lbs. At least these two could break our pb and UK record.   Monday, September 5 View Page We think we have found the problem with the Zywiec which remains taping 1916lbs. Underneath the main vine we found some rotting which to be fair would be hard to see no matter how many time you walk round the plant. The Wallace DAP 81 is 1762lbs up 52lbs this week. The Meier DAP 80 is 1745lbs up 104lbs this week. I've been dying to call the Meier the Star of the week and at last she is.   Monday, September 12 View Page I finally got to meet up with Mehdi, Caroline and his wonderful children last week while on a work trip.I had a fantastic time and would like to thank them for looking after me so well. The Star of the week is going to the Wallace because on DAP 88 she is 1805lbs up 43lbs for the week. On DAP 87 the Meier is 1779lbs up 34lbs for the week. With the other still ok at 1916lbs we now have three taping better than ever before. The diary is going to go quiet until a few days before our weigh off as I'm away on holiday so don't panic all will be fine. Oh and I sowed the onions today   Thursday, October 6 View Page Sarah and I had a great holiday in Mauritius and I got a day fishing with the high light being this 30lbs King Fish on my little red rod. The final tape measurements for the pumpkins are 1789 Zywiec 1916lbs (realistically we lost well over 200lbs) 1975 Wallace 1865lbs 2096 Meier 1848lbs They will all be weighed on Saturday. Fingers crossed one makes the 2000lb club   Wednesday, October 12 View Page Cameras everywhere.   Wednesday, October 12 View Page We had an amazing weigh off with loads of PB's. Our Wallace became the 2252.3 Paton 21% heavy Our Meier became the 2157 Paton 17% heavy And our Zywiec became the 1949.5 Paton 2% heavy which was exceptional considering she stopped growing all those weeks ago. Thank you all for your kind comments on BP and I hope you all enjoyed our pumpkin year with us.   Monday, October 24 View Page Our 2252 was transported safely to New York. So for Southern freight, John Vincent, Andy Wolf and the many others whom helped behind the scenes thank you very much.   Monday, October 24 View Page New York Botanical Gardens were stunning   Monday, October 24 View Page The Kelly show was a scream.   Monday, October 24 View Page Now that's a long way up.   Monday, October 24 View Page The Great man himself with the third biggest pumpkin in history. What a swansong.   Monday, October 24 View Page And off course a huge thank you to Karen and her team at the Botanical gardens. We were made so welcome and didn't have to worry about anything as it was all organised like clockwork.   Thursday, October 27 View Page The onion pad is all fired up and as of today the light is going to be on for 12 hours a day. I've been trying to select the strongest four plants for a few weeks and it's not easy. Anyway these four were planted into 3l pots today with 60% coir and 40% perlite.   Tuesday, November 15 View Page At last the top pond got its 21 carp and they were stunners. This is Viv from VS fisheries and a 14lber.   Tuesday, November 15 View Page As it looks like I might be potting up the onions into their final pots in the next few weeks I sacrificed this one to see what is going on in the soil. All I can say is I'm happy with what I see.   Monday, November 28 View Page The red weeds are going well.   Monday, November 28 View Page I'm growing the onions in these 90l air pots this year.   Monday, November 28 View Page The roots are looking great.   Monday, November 28 View Page All potted up.   Saturday, December 3 View Page Not a great photo but I now have a bank of lights on each side of the onions. The compost is extremely free draining and I will have to watch that they don't dry out. My only real concern is if any of them go double as I only have two but it does give me something to do over winter.   Saturday, December 17 View Page The onions haven't been particularly happy bunnies since I potted them up. They basically ran out of feed and doubling up the lights just added to the problem. Over the last couple of weeks I've been watering with a general feed with an ec off 2.4. I now have a reading of .95 at the bottom of the pot and 1.4 at the top which I think should be somewhere on the money.   Saturday, December 17 View Page Fortunately the compost is well drained because watering so much feed has resulted in getting them wetter than I would like. It was good the see the first root pop out of the side of the pot.   Wednesday, December 28 View Page I've been working on my man cave and Sarah popped in to see if she approves.   Wednesday, December 28 View Page I got a day fishing with my buddy Steve yesterday. On the whole it fished ok but we did have to annoy them with lures to get bites.   Wednesday, December 28 View Page Steve had the best croc of the day with this beautiful 17lber taken on a white spinner bait. We always put a stinger hook on these because you are going to be disappointed if you don't.   Saturday, December 31 View Page Check these bad boys out. They are going to look great hung up in my shed until the day they hook into a huge GT. It's on my bucket list and has to be done.