Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 90 Entries. Saturday, January 2 View Page All eight of my original selections germinated and were moved into pots on Dec 27. By Wednesday (Dec 30) all plants broke through the dirt and headed for the light. The 1442.5 Helsel and 1272.5 Sherwood popped up first Tuesday and were followed quickly by the other plants. The only straggler seems to be the 1478.5 Holub. I don't know what to think about it's reluctance to get going.   Sunday, January 3 View Page 1442.5 Helsel 2014 (1744 Fulk x 2032 Mathison) has been my most aggressive start.   Sunday, January 3 View Page 1272.5 Sherwood 2014 (1676.5 Daletas x 2032 Mathieson) hasn't been far behind the Helsel plant. Beautiful large cotyledons. First leaf is on it's way. Still planning to wait for at least another week before I transplant into the patch.   Sunday, January 3 View Page Decided to start the 1410.5 Tobeck 2015 as an emergency back-up if the 1478.5 Holub 2014 doesn't develop. I am concerned that the Holub plant is dropping behind the other seven Christmas Eve starts. (I don't like that its long and skinny -- and has two small shrivel cotyledons. It just doesn't look right.) Too bad. The Holub was my only chance for a possible squash plant. Everything else is orange-ish.   Sunday, January 3 View Page We're being told that we're finally going to see some of El Nino this week. It's supposed to rain every day this week - but it still won't mean more than 1-inch of rain. We'll take what we can get. Phoenix had 7.05 inches of rain in 2015. January temperatures have been higher than average for a number of years. (That's what happens when towns grow the way we have for the past 50 years.) We still need to help heat the plants overnight, but the daytime temperatures will be great.   Sunday, January 3 View Page Here's the eight seeds that I started on Christmas Eve. (I'm posting it again since the original post is now part of last year's diary.)   Thursday, January 7 View Page It's been raining all this week. As a result, I have been spending a lot of time watching the pumpkins starting to develop. It's nice to turn around and see the plants; but the room is a bit warm with the lights on all day.   Thursday, January 7 View Page We had 0.7 inches of rain today. We've had 1.45 inches this week. That represents 20 percent of all the rain we received in 2015. I'm thrilled to have the rain watering the patch prior to my transplanting the pumpkins next week.   Thursday, January 7 View Page 486 Baker 2015. Not as big as the Oregon and Ohio pumpkins, but it's doing ok.   Thursday, January 7 View Page 494 Gansert 2015. Another plant that's on the small side, but it's starting to pick up steam. I'm looking forward to growing an orange pumpkin this year -- if for no other reason than Dave Smith needs some competition for the Howard Dill Award.   Thursday, January 7 View Page 1272.5 Sherwoods 2014 has been pretty impressive this week. Probably a bit top-heavy. Big leaves are putting a strain on the young plant.   Thursday, January 7 View Page 1442.5 Helsel 2014 is another plant that has had a quick start. Seems to have a thicker stem.   Thursday, January 7 View Page 1636 Daletas 2015. Nice big first leaf.   Thursday, January 7 View Page 1700.5 Werner 2014. Still nice and compact. Second and third leaf starting to develop.   Thursday, January 7 View Page The rain, and hail, have made it tough to put the plants out this week. Hopefully, tomorrow will be the last of this front. We're supposed to warm up a bit, and dry out, this next week. I need to get the plants outside and get them hardened off before they get too much bigger. I'm probably going to give a couple of plants to one of our new growers so he can get started (he's had a tough time trying to get his seeds to germinate). So, as soon as I get the first wave planted, I will be starting some more plants to fill in the patch.   Thursday, January 7 View Page 1170 Grande 2014 has two developed true leaves and a third on the way. Knowing Wizzy's weather, this pumpkin should like the move outside.   Saturday, January 9 View Page The rain has finally stopped. The sun actually is shining. Took the plants out onto the patio so they could finally feel the sunlight. I don't think they're terribly happy about the 55 degree weather. I'll bring them back in a bit later and put them under the lamp for awhile.   Saturday, January 9 View Page Gave the 1442.5 Helsel 2014 and 486 Baker 2015 to Ron Watkins to grow. He's got a new patch on the eastside of his house. I told him I'd look in on him to make sure he gets a pumpkin to the weigh-off. Guess I better start a couple of more plants to fill out my patch.   Tuesday, January 12 View Page Winds were between 15-21 mph this morning. January and February are notorious for high winds. Quickly built a 4x4 windbreak with pvc pipe and burlap to knock down the wind on the plants. Daytime temperatures are about 61 degrees. Overnight is low 40s. (Plants are still coming inside overnight)   Tuesday, January 12 View Page 1410.5 Tobeck 2015 broke through the dirt and is under the light. It will probably be another week before it goes in the ground.   Wednesday, January 13 View Page I picked up two more plots this year for my pumpkins. They are to the north of my original patch (right in the picture). Finished building the fence around the patch to keep the four legged - and two legged - varmints away from the pumpkins. I had the good sense to build a double-gate at both ends so I could back a trailer into the patch to pick up the pumpkin. Hauling the pumpkin out of the patch, on a tarp, is tough work for a bunch of old men. Last year I had to remove the end of one plots to get the pumpkin out of the garden.   Monday, January 18 View Page 494 Gansert 2015. Struggled a bit under the light. I'm hoping it was just an outside pumpkin waiting for me to figure out it needed to be outdoors. I'd really like to have an orange pumpkin this year.   Monday, January 18 View Page 1700.5 Werner 2014 is a plant that started strong and then got bored with the T5 lights. Twenty-two days in the pot was probably too long -- but the pot seems to have been big enough. Hope to see it take a deep breath and grow in our Arizona sunshine.   Monday, January 18 View Page 1170 Grande 2014 has been a steady performer. It just keeps climbing in the pecking order. It shows very little lag from the transplanting. It's the first plant in the new "north" patch.   Monday, January 18 View Page 1272.5 Sherwood 2014 got transplanted into the same section of the "south" plot as last year's Sherwood plant. I couldn't help myself. Thought I owed it to Jim to give his plant the same turf to see if he can break the Arizona record again. This was another plant that suffered from too much time under the T5 light. It's a sturdy plant. I expect it to bulk up now that it's in the patch.   Monday, January 18 View Page 1636 Daletas 2015 was the prettiest plant after three weeks in the pot. In fact, this picture is now my screensaver on my phone (Don't worry, it will change by next week - I'm sure ... maybe I'll put my grandkids back on my phone (they are lovable). The Daletas plant was also planted within about 8 feet of where last year's Daletas plant resided. It was a strong plant and if I hadn't planted him so late, maybe, it would have caught my two other pumpkins.   Monday, January 18 View Page Twenty-two days in a pot. The first 15 indoors - under T5 lights for 15 hours. Finally, 7 days outside protected by the 4x4 burlap windscreen. I was fearful of the plants possibly becoming root bound. Frankly, I was pleased. The #2 pots from Greenhouse Megastore seemed to be the right pots under the circumstances. Avoided the one week of what Arizona calls winter. Suffered a bit of leaf damage. The first leaves seem to all bleach out.   Monday, January 18 View Page I'm using the 4x4 insulated boxes for my pumpkins this week. The 2-inch insulation seems to protect the plants nicely in our mid-40 overnight temperatures. I keep two "religious" candles lit in the box to help provide a little help with the heat at night. I told the nice Italian Catholic lady who gardens near me that the candles were prayers for a good year. She seemed pleased.   Tuesday, January 19 View Page 1410.5 Tobeck 2015 has finally graduated to the cabana by the pool. She's been outside by the pool this week and I expect to transplant the plant to the patch this weekend. My late starts -- 963.6 Lyons 2014 and 1578 Holub 2014 -- are just now breaking the surface of the dirt in their pots. I expect they will finally fill my patch late next week.   Wednesday, January 20 View Page I know of five growers that have started pumpkins this month. A new grower, Ron Watkins, transplanted his two pumpkins into his patch last weekend. Dave Smith is transplanting his plants this week. Mark Maffey reports he is preparing to plant his pumpkins in Las Vegas; and another new grower, Christine Poitras Rogers, is getting ready to plant her pumpkins as well. Scott Culp is preparing to move so he had to tear up his patch and turn it into a backyard again. I'm laughing; but I know he's moving back to his family's home where he grew his PB a few years ago. He's already said he's gunning for me next year. Awesome! I'm thrilled we have more people this year. I'm also happy that we have people seriously trying to grow giant tomatoes and long gourds. It should make a great show at our May 28 weigh-off.   Sunday, March 20 View Page 1636 Daletas 2015. This plant has been my Number-1 plant since January. It started strong and has remained steady. It's still only 8-feet in length due to our strange winter/spring. It has overcome the weather - and some bad decisions on my part - and continues to impress. I did have to terminate a female on the main this week, but with temperatures around 90 degrees, that can be expected. The plant is on the south side of the Southeast quadrant. It's growing south-to-north. It will eventually be competing with my 1700.5 Werner plant - which has really taken off. I hope I can find a way to keep them both.   Sunday, March 20 View Page 1700.5 Werner 2014. This one started out rough, but once it settled into the patch it has just been awesome. Thick stem. Nice looking leaves (it started with wrinkled leaves while in the pot). The side vines have become aggressive and I suspect it's going to quite the plant. Sadly, it's in the same quadrant with the 1636 Daletas. The Werner is growing north-to-south. I hope to figure out a way to move the plants around each other so I can keep them both - and not sacrifice a state record. (We have to get to 500 lbs this year).   Sunday, March 20 View Page Weather has been unusually warm this year. However, overnight lows continued to be 40 or below. Last season I kept the plants warm by keeping them inside the Rtech boxes (R-rating 5.7) along with 2 religious-type candles. The boxes were inside a large hoop house covered in 6-mil plastic. This year I thought I would just use the boxes until the weather warmed enough for a hoop house. Bad decision. The Rtech boxes did help keep the air around the plant at about 60 degrees. However, once I removed the box during the day, the temperature dropped to whatever we had on hand. Unfortunately, that meant morning temperatures were between 35-40. Daytime highs were 60. Two weeks after I transplanted my pumpkins I erected my 6x8 hoop houses covered by 6-mil plastic.   Sunday, March 20 View Page The hoop house did help my daytime temperatures around the plant, but I lost all my heat as soon as the sun went down. Right after I switched to the hoop house Scottsdale got a cold front. Daytime highs in the mid-50s; overnight lows in the low 30s... which meant high 20s in the patch. We're located in an agricultural area on the Indian Reservation and our lows are typically 4-5 degrees less than the official temperatures. Immediately after the cold spell the heat was on. We hit 90 degrees on Feb 17. There were 20 days in February with a temperature of 80 or higher. We set 7 new record highs during the month. And, we had no rain. We have had 1.7 inches of rain this year. The last measurable rain was Jan 31. Anyway, the hoop houses were great during the day, but I couldn't keep the plants warm overnight. We don't have access to electricity. So we have to use blankets and candles. Next year I will once again wrestle with the idea of buying a propane heater. That isn't cheap when you're growing 8 pumpkins.   Sunday, March 20 View Page The alternative is to go back to the Big House ... or at least a medium size house. I can use the Rtech boxes at night to keep the plants warm; then, during the day the larger plastic house will warm up the plants. I will have to plan for better ventilation than I had last year. The lack of circulation worked against me last season. This years plants are certainly healthier.   Sunday, March 20 View Page We went straight from winter to summer. The last half of February was warm. All of March has been even hotter. And, still no rain. We tied our record high temps the first four days of the month. Since then we have been unusually warm. The plastic covers on the hoop houses gave way to 22-percent shade cloth in late February. It was in the high-90s inside the hoop houses for a few days - even with the ends vented wide open. The plants have finally figured out it's warm outside and have been growing. I'm happy to finally see some secondaries and hope to be ready to pollinate some pumpkins in another week of so. It's late, but there isn't anything I can do about it. I need to water daily. I water each quadrant with about 60 gallons of water each day. Then the next day I come in and it's all dry. The meter registered a "4"   Sunday, March 20 View Page 1170 Grande 2014. I have a new patch, which I am calling the "North" patch. The Grande plant is in the Northeast quadrant growing north-to-south. The Grande plant was a quick starter, but ran into trouble in February and developed a flat vine. So many times I went to the patch intending to pull the plant - but I didn't. Finally, I slammed it with some nitrogen and a main vine revealed itself to me. Late last week I finally got the courage to cut off the flat vine. That made a big difference. It has grown nicely since. It's at about 8-feet and the sides are starting to develop.   Sunday, March 20 View Page The flat vine looked to be three different vines. It curled itself back around toward the stem - then quit. I had a bunch of leaves and tendrils and no positive growth for about 3-weeks. Glad that worked itself out.   Sunday, March 20 View Page 1410.5 Tobeck 2015. This was a replacement plant that was transplanted a couple of weeks behind the others. It's in the Northeast quadrant growing south-to-north toward the Grande plant. Both plants are peaking out from beneath the hoop houses and I'm steering them away from each other so I don't have to make a decision regarding a "keeper". This is a solid plant and is developing some good secondary vines. Nice thick main.   Sunday, March 20 View Page 1272.5 Sherwood 2014 started out as my Number-2 plant, but has slowed down after a great start. It is a bit slow in developing secondaries and has slowly crept out to 7-feet. It's planted in the Southwest quadrant and is growing south-to-north. I am wondering if the neighboring garden's shade cloth is casting too much of a shadow on the plant. It certainly isn't as much shade as what last year's Sherwood plant (486 Baker 2015 - AZ State Record) had to tend with. Still, I'm trying to figure out what is different. The plant was started 5-feet from where last year's winner was planted. The Sherwood plant is growing across from the 494 Gansert - which has been a big surprise for me.   Sunday, March 20 View Page 494 Gansert 2015 is growing in the Southwest quadrant (north-to-south). I planted the Gansert so I would have an orange pumpkin. Dave Smith has had his way with orange pumpkins and I thought I would grow some competition for him. :-) It was a shabby looking plant during January and February; but it has certainly liked the last few weeks. It has grown out the end of its hoop house and I'm having to work to keep the sides from running away from me. It's a "purty" plant, which I am sure will grow a great orange pumpkin. Still haven't figured out what I'm going to cross it with.   Wednesday, March 23 View Page 963.6 Lyons 2014 This year I'm hoping to grow a giant squash. Arizona doesn't have an established record for giant squash. So, I've planted two candidates in the Southwest quadrant of my patch. The Lyons looked awfully strong under the lights, but has been a bit slow in the ground. Part of the problem may be this in a new patch to me and I haven't really had a chance to work the soil. It's growing north-to-south toward my Holub squash.   Wednesday, March 23 View Page 1578 Holub 2014. I had started another Holub plant, which failed early. Then, Scott came to the rescue and gave me one of his World Record Squash seeds. He was kind enough to tell me the other plant was most likely going to throw orange -- but he was pretty sure the 1578 was going to be a greenie. (I can confirm the first female that I saw on this plant was green. Yeah!) Anyway, the plant was started later than my other plants and was transplanted into the Southwest quadrant two weeks after the other plants. It is growing south-to-north and is moving nicely toward the end of the tunnel. I hope it will hurry so I can get a squash pollinated - and still have plenty of time to let it grow big prior to our weigh-off. More importantly, it needs to get big before we start getting a steady diet of our 100 degree days. Plants seem to shut down soon after that.   Saturday, April 9 View Page I finally had to cull the 1636 Daletas from the SE quadrant. The 1700 Werner has been aggressively taking over the area and the Daletas was slow in developing its side vines. Nor had it presented a female for pollination. It's now compost.   Sunday, April 10 View Page We finally got some rain! Not a big deal for most people - but for us, it is. After 68 days without rain we received .23 inches on Friday and another .13 today. They say we might get some more rain tomorrow. Still, its not enough to grow pumpkins.   Sunday, April 10 View Page April should be a great time for our plants. Our temps should range from the mid-80s to the low 90s. Overnight lows should be in the 60s. Great weather! My pumpkins all are a couple of weeks behind schedule due to our cooler evenings this year (and a bad decision by me regarding my early season structure). The plants look great and I hope that good health will translate to good growth this month.   Sunday, April 10 View Page I can't blame everything on the weather. I got my soil report back for the two patches and am despondent about my sodium levels. At this time last year my sodium level was 4 and my nitrates were 20. This year my sodium level is 15 and my nitrates are above 200. Crap! I haven't added any manure for more than one year. Heck, the only thing I added this fall was peat. The thought is that the stuff I put in the ground last year is breaking down and spiking my numbers. I'm taking the labs suggestion and leaching the soil the best I can. Going to flood the ground around the pumpkins in hopes of driving the salt and nitrates down. The other numbers look pretty close to last year.   Sunday, April 10 View Page 494 Gansert has been developing nicely. Pollinated the first female on 04/01. There weren't a bunch of flowers available that morning. Ended up selfing the plant with one flower at 9 feet. There's a second female developing at 12 feet. We'll see about pollinating it this week.   Sunday, April 10 View Page 494 Gansert - five lobe - pollinated 4/1 (selfed)   Sunday, April 10 View Page I threatened to pull the 1170 Grande a number of times during the past three months. Didn't do it - and I am glad. After overcoming the flat vine, the plant has picked up speed and is one of my strongest plants. I like that it has developed a number of side vines to help it - now that I've finally got a pumpkin pollinated.   Sunday, April 10 View Page Pollinated the Grande with 4 flowers from the 1700 Werner. The first 'kin is at 9 feet. There is a second female at about 12 feet that should be ready early this week.   Sunday, April 10 View Page 1272 Sherwood looks like it finally is waking up from it's nap. The sides are finally filling in; and I finally pollinated a pumpkin at 8.5 feet. The plant is sharing the SW quadrant with the Gansert plant. I'm hoping I can find a way to keep both plants. I've turned the mains away from each other and am planning to adopt a "flag" for the vines nearer the tip.   Sunday, April 10 View Page Forgot to add the picture of the Grande pumpkin#1   Sunday, April 10 View Page 1272 Sherwood pumpkin#1 was pollinated on 04/03 using 3 flowers from the Werner plant. (if you look at the earlier post of the Gansert plant, you can see the Sherwood kin behind the Gansert kin -- to give you an idea of how close they are.)   Sunday, April 10 View Page The 1410 Tobeck was started later than the other pumpkins, but has done a good job of catching up. It shares the NE quadrant with the Grande plant. This is another situation that I want to see if I can turn the mains away from each other and use a "flag" pattern nearer the pumpkin.   Sunday, April 10 View Page The Tobeck was pollinated on 04/06 with four flowers from the Werner plant.   Sunday, April 10 View Page It looks like a greenie! I started the squash later than I did the giant pumpkins. Fortunately, Scott gave me a 1578 Holub to make sure I could grow a giant squash -- and establish an Arizona record for the green monsters. It looks like I will be up at the crack-of-dawn to make sure I am able to get the squash plant pollinated. The Holub hasn't been very accommodating with male flowers. I hope it cooperates tomorrow. (If not, the 963 Lyon seems capable of providing me some pollinators.)   Sunday, April 10 View Page The 1578 Holub is in the NW quadrant (across from the 963 Lyons). The North patch is new to me and suffers from the same high sodium and high nitrate problem that's affecting the South patch. I believe that has adversely affected the plant development; but I hope that I can leach enough of the salts out to get the plant to produce a big enough plant to take to the weigh-off on May 28.   Sunday, April 10 View Page The 963 Lyons hasn't done a lot since it was transplanted into the patch. However, it is producing flowers and I will probably use them to pollinate the Holub.   Sunday, April 10 View Page The 1700 Werner has turned out to be my best plant (so far) this season. It had a rough start and wrinkled leaves, but it has adapted well to the SE quadrant. The older leaves, near the stump, look pretty bad; but rest of the plant remains strong. The first 'kin was pollinated on 04/04 using two flowers from the 1636 Daletas.   Sunday, April 10 View Page The first 'kin on the Werner plant is a week old. I was hoping it would be bigger, but like the other pumpkins, I think my soil has hampered this years efforts. The first pollination was at 10 feet. There is another 'kin waiting to be pollinated - probably tomorrow.   Sunday, April 10 View Page I'm hoping this second pumpkin, on the Werner, will be a better choice for this season. It's 13 feet away from the stump.   Tuesday, April 12 View Page The squash looks like it's *finally* going to be ready tomorrow. 56 days until the weigh-off. The 1578 Holub has me scratching my head. There isn't a male flower to be found on the plant. I mean, there aren't any flowers -- and no, I didn't cut them all off. Hopefully, I will be able to get a flower off the 963 Lyons plant. If not, it will get crossed with the 1700 Werner.   Tuesday, April 12 View Page First squash bug of the season. It appeared on the windbreak behind the 1170 Grande. Yes, I squished it right after the picture. I also squashed one more bug about 10 feet away (also on the windbreak). Tomorrow I go to war on the bugs. I may not get them all, but I want to slow them down. I only need to beat them for a little while longer.   Wednesday, July 13 View Page Planted sudan-grass as summer cover crop in early June. This week it was over 3 feet tall -- and doing quite well. Cut the grass Friday and hauled out the cuttings today. I'm trying to get some of the N,P,K out of the ground. My patch has way too much and the lab guys think my plants will do better if I bring the numbers down. So, I've added nothing to the soil; and I'm carrying off the cuttings because I don't want to put anything back in the ground this summer. We'll test again in mid-September after the third cut. (Patch is covered by 50% aluminet shade for the summer. It's the only way I can work in the patch for the next couple of months. It's been 110 for the past week and will be again this week.)   Saturday, September 24 View Page How I spent my summer ... not that anybody was asking. While my patch is covered in sudan grass for the summer, I took time to go to Denver to see Jared's Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off. I wanted to be there to see if Olin Zmarley could break his New Mexico record. Here is his beast waiting to be weighed. Just looking at it I knew Olin had a new record.   Saturday, September 24 View Page A new New Mexico record! Olin's pumpkin weighed 988 pounds -- a whole lot better than his old record of 532. Of course he's now put pressure on the rest of us Southwestern growers to step-up our game. Guess I better get busy planning for January.   Friday, September 30 View Page This summer meant a lot of travel for me and my wife. It's the agreement we have. We stay home for 5 months while I grow pumpkins, then we travel for 7 months. This year it was Western Canada, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and finally a two-week trip to New England. We did see Big Papi get his last hit at Fenway. AND, we got to attend the Topsfield Fair. How great to see so many friends. Peggy finally got to see true giant pumpkins. Here she is with Norm Gansert's beautiful Howard Dill winner. It just makes you want to go and grow something orange.   Saturday, October 8 View Page We finished our New England trip by attending the weigh-off at Frerich Farms. How Cool! I got to be there to see Pap Wallace set a new North American record (2261.5 lbs). I couldn't resist getting my picture taken with a true champion pumpkin.   Saturday, October 29 View Page I got three cuts out of my sudan grass this summer. The first two when the plants were about 6 feet tall, the last one was late (because we were back East) and it grew to about 8 feet. Used a scythe to cut the grass down and then hauled it out of the patch. Then I used a tractor to till what was left into the soil.   Tuesday, November 1 View Page This big truck showed up this morning and backed into my patch to drop 50 yards of compost. I'll have to use a tractor to spread it, but I'm excited to get it mixed in and start prepping for next season. The dirt is certainly looking better than in the past and the compost should help.   Tuesday, November 1 View Page This is what 50 yards of compost looks like. I got enough to give me 6-inches of compost over all of the patch. I'll start spreading it tomorrow.   Friday, November 4 View Page If you're going to add 50 yards of compost to your dirt; then, you might want to test it. Got the results back from IAS Labs (the local lab in Phoenix). Numbers weren't too bad - except I was suprised the Nitrate number was lower than expected.   Friday, November 4 View Page I guess for reference I should post my most recent soil report. The South patch is my original site. This is where I have grown for the past two seasons -- and where the Arizona record was grown. The sudan grass did a good job of taking a lot of the excess out of the soil. However, my micros are way low.   Friday, November 4 View Page The North patch was new to me last season. Added some peat to the soil last year, but didn't really do much else to it. Started four pumpkins on the site and they all died before the weigh-off. I threw some sudan grass into the patch for the summer and the numbers came back similar to the South patch. I think I will be able to finally stop getting separate reports for each patch.   Monday, November 7 View Page Based on the lab reports I gathered my pre-season fertilizers. Trying to get the micro nutrients back up to an acceptable level. Added the Alfalfa pellets to get some OM and nitrogen back into the ground.   Monday, November 7 View Page Got all the ferts spread. I tried to follow the recommendations given to me by John Taberna at Western Labs. His recommendations didn't factor in my compost; but I don't believe I did anything too awful. I'll wait until December and have him look at my soil again.   Monday, November 7 View Page Spread some rye on both the South and North sides of the patch. This is the South patch. I'm wanting to let the rye grass grow for a couple of months and then till it in to the soil.   Monday, November 7 View Page This is the north part of the patch. My N:S ratio has always been low. I'm hoping that I can improve those numbers this year. I must admit that after turning the compost into existing soil, the ground looks awfully good. Time to start getting my temporary greenhouse structures built.   Tuesday, December 6 View Page Rye grass has come in nicely. I'll have to start mowing it under in another week when the tunnels get built.   Tuesday, December 6 View Page Bought two 275-gallon water tanks. (That Ron Wallace guy sure has some good ideas.) I finally get to mix my ferts in big batches. No more teaspoon doses in a water bucket. I also had to buy a generator and pump so I can get the water and ferts into the garden. Each tank should be able to handle two plants. Looking forward to trying the new system out in the next couple of days.   Saturday, December 24 View Page It's Christmas Eve and that means its time to dream about giant pumpkins. Setup my new 4-bulb Quantum T5 system this afternoon. I'll be prepping my seeds later tonight -- after dinner and all the gifts have been unwrapped. The new lights heated up my office in no time. Can't believe the season is hear already.   Saturday, December 24 View Page Too many seeds, and not enough patch. I am hoping to set a better Arizona record this year. I have two 1975 Wallace 2015 seeds that I am going to start in separate tunnels. I'm going to put the 1666 Holland 2013 facing one of the seeds in Tunnel #1; and the 1894 Mathison 2013 facing the second Wallace seed in tunnel #2. I'll put the two 1549 Rose 2015 facing each other in tunnel #3; and finally, the 1421.5 Jutras 2014 Squash facing the 748 Raymond 2015 Squash in tunnel #4. By the time the plants start reaching 10 feet, I will know which one is the keeper. It would be nice to not only reset the Arizona giant pumpkin record; but we also need an Arizona squash record. Hoping the weather cooperates.   Sunday, December 25 View Page Well, I changed my mind between Christmas Eve dinner and this morning. To lazy to start, like I intended, last night ... so, I germinated my seeds today --- with a couple of changes. Scott Holub had sent me some extra 1844.5 Holub Squash - so I chose one for this season. I also pulled one of the Rose seeds and replaced it with the 1700.5 Werner. It's a hardy seed and grew in spite of me last year -- and I owe it a better effort on my part. Anyway, the seeds are filed and started.   Sunday, December 25 View Page All tucked into the damp paper towel and secured in the bag. Sitting on the heat mat; covered by a cloth towel.   Tuesday, December 27 View Page Awesome! Received my packet of Willemijns seeds today. Thank You, Mathias, for donating the seeds to the Arizona Giant Pumpkin Growers (AZGPG) auction -- to be held in January.   Wednesday, December 28 View Page Six of the eight starts germinated within 72 hours. 1549 Rose 15; both 1197 Wallace 15; 1894 Mathison 13; 1700.5 Werner 14; and the 1421.5 Jutras 14 Squash. Moved the seeds from the baggies and into 2-gallon pots with potting soil. Plants are now under T5 lights.   Wednesday, December 28 View Page 1421 Jutras 2014 Squash. Hoping to finally get a greenie this year. I also have an 1844.5 Holub 2015 that hasn't germinated yet. Hopefully tomorrow. (There's also the 1666 Holland 2013 that needs to germinate as well).   Thursday, December 29 View Page Started three backup seeds. 1666 Holland 2013, 748 Raymond SQ 2015, 1844.5 Holub SQ 2016. I'm determined to fill my tunnels, then be able to help the guys who couldn't get their own starts to grow. The more plants in the ground, the better our chances to have one break the Arizona record.   Friday, December 30 View Page Last two of the original starts (1844.5 Holub, and 1666 Holland) germinated today. Moved them into 2-gallon pots. Now I need to figure out what to do with the backups I started yesterday. Nice problem to have. There must be a new grower looking for a head start out there.