Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 38 Entries. Saturday, January 28 View Page I love growing giant pumpkins & giant squash because I like being exposed to exceptional things. Growing these cucurbits creates opportunity for this. I believe in curses. And in karma. I've seen curses come and go; karma is often involved. This is a picture of the 995 Pugh*-2016. What follows as the first part of my 2017 diary is what I'm calling the "Big Green Miracle."   Saturday, January 28 View Page The 995 Pugh*-2016 was a Greenie. It is a 1362.5 Pugh*-2014 x self. The 1362.5* is a 996 Haist* x self. The 996 Haist*, in my opinion, is the greatest DARK green producer of all time. The fruit pictured here is the 1362.5 Pugh*-2014. It was a nice one.   Saturday, January 28 View Page This is a picture of the Green Miracle which occurred over the course of several months this past fall & winter in front of my house in Santa Rosa, Califonia. The fruit is the 995 Pugh* and the human is "Roman the Scooter Kid." They both began haunting my neighborhood in early October of 2016. I live at the top of a long and steep hill, where the 995* was perched. This location also became the launching pad for "Roman the Scooter Kid" and his famous downhill scooter run.   Saturday, January 28 View Page This is the Green Monster. The left field fence/wall at Fenway Park in Boston. Fenway Park is the home of the "curse of the Bambino", which was lifted a decade or so ago when the Rex Sox won the World Series for the first time since they traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees.   Saturday, January 28 View Page This is the Green Mile, not to be confused with any part of the "Green Miracle." The Green Mile was one of the best movies I have ever seen. It was also one of the longest.   Saturday, January 28 View Page Many months and holidays have passed since the 995* found its new home in front of my house. The first being Columbus Day, followed by Halloween. I really love the night sky in this Peanuts illustration.   Saturday, January 28 View Page Then came Thanksgiving.   Saturday, January 28 View Page And Christmas. Then New Years.   Saturday, January 28 View Page Football season progressed, and gave way to basketball. Meanwhile the 995* and "Roman the Scooter Kid" kept things going strong (and surprisingly healthy) on the hill where I live.   Saturday, January 28 View Page The Presidential inauguration came and went after a month of constant rain in Santa Rosa. The Green Miracle began to show signs of change.   Saturday, January 28 View Page Our president, Donald Trumpkin, turned out to be a different color than we were expecting. Along about that same time it quit raining in Santa Rosa too. That was when I noticed the Green Miracle.   Saturday, January 28 View Page The 995 Pugh* had turned orange after months of residing in the forefront of my humble residence. And "Roman the Scooter Kid" kept returning to do what he seems to do best; ride the Green Miracle.   Saturday, January 28 View Page As I cut open the 995* on Thursday evening, January 26th, I was amazed to find the inside to be nearly perfect--except for the one corner where the slugs had eaten through its bottom. That was a miracle itself for a pumpkin that was cut back on October 1st, 117 days earlier. Just a few days longer than it grew on the vine.   Saturday, January 28 View Page I heard "Roman the Scooter Kid" scream as he road out of sight (down the hill), "It's the Green Miracle." Yes it was. And it is.   Saturday, January 28 View Page Yes, it was a slug that lead to the demise of the 995 Pugh*-2016. After all that time. We seen changes of seasons, changes of long term weather patterns, and rises and falls of political regimes. And all it took was a slug to bring down the giant trumpkin.   Saturday, January 28 View Page The moral of the story, as was just pointed out by my son, Owen: in the long run the slug always wins.   Saturday, January 28 View Page Many of the images in the previous story were taken from the internet. They were located by conducting a google search. All rights reserved to the owners.   Tuesday, March 7 View Page As a California Pumpkin Grower, I pledge to do my best job of walking the tight rope separating great success and complete failure with grace, composure, and good humor. I promise to enjoy the journey and help others along the way. I will responsibly grow, never forgetting my real life responsibilities, but will always keep my giant pumpkin growing dreams alive. By the way, this is a pic of my patch last week. I've been working on my new, bigger screen house!   Tuesday, March 7 View Page This is the pic from the previous post. By the way, I made up the pledge!   Friday, March 17 View Page While everyone else is in Niagra for the conference, I'm at home attempting to take advantage of some dry weather.   Friday, March 17 View Page After tilling I started putting the top on my new screen house.   Friday, March 17 View Page I'm proud to say that I was able to do it all by myself!   Saturday, March 18 View Page Today I am at the Dublin Distance Fiesta with the Maria Carrillo track team. Good thing I got a lot of patch work done yesterday. It is supposed to start raining again tonight.   Sunday, March 19 View Page I got home tonight and went inside to warm up some corned beef & discovered that I have a GREEN THUMB. My niece says I do not. She probably hopes I have green boogers on my thumb for her evening snack.   Monday, September 18 View Page This year I am growing a 1844.5 Holub which started out as this little starfish of a greenie.   Monday, September 18 View Page It grew very quickly, but retained it's unique, 5-lobe shape.   Monday, September 18 View Page As it grew it's blossom end turned up, and it's stem rotated downward. It started out about 30 inches feet from this post.   Monday, September 18 View Page Yep, the post had to go to give it room for its shoulders to continue to expand.   Monday, September 18 View Page This morning it had a 219" circumference and is closing in on 440 OTT. I think that there will be a 2000 pound greenie this year grown from the 1844.5 Holub...   Monday, September 18 View Page ...but it won't be mine, 'cause it isn't going to be green enough to be a greenie.   Monday, September 18 View Page But I bet it will be big enough to win a contest in the next few weeks! I've heard rumors of one over 450" being grown somewhere with crappy weather this season. I wish this grower the best of luck in getting what I hope will be the first ever 2000 greenie to hit the scales. It is really green, unlike mine.   Monday, September 18 View Page The 1844.5 has been memorable and fun to grow. There is nothing quite like taking a chainsaw to a post which is supporting your screenhouse and is less than an inch away from your rapidly growing green jacket candidate. Very memorable.   Monday, September 18 View Page On the other side of the screenhouse my big ones are growing. My son has been calling it "murder's row."   Monday, September 18 View Page First up on "the row" is my 1944.5 Pugh fruit. It is big & ugly & already bigger than my 1944.5 was last year.   Monday, September 18 View Page It is still growing well. Today was day 78 in it's life. Last year after day 78 my 1944 grew another 17 inches. I hope this one does too. It has another 17 nights to grow. I like its chances. The 1944.5 was 17% heavy and won at Elk Grove last year.   Monday, September 18 View Page This is the 1810 Werner which is doing its time at the other end of the row. It is a definite Howard Dill Award candidate, but is only about 1500 lbs. currently.   Monday, September 18 View Page I am coaching cross country at Maria Carrillo High School this year. This is my son, Owen with Edward Cheserek, at a meet this past weekend. King Edward just finished up his collegiate running career last spring with his record 17th individual NCAA title. He must have rubbed off on Owen a little bit, as he PR'ed with a 16:00.04 three mile later that day.   Monday, September 18 View Page King Edward is quite a bit smaller than Owen, but we like to grow 'em big here in Nor Cal! By the way, the other two residents of Murder's Row are 2145's. They tend to go quite heavy. Here I am wearing the shirt that Professor Miller left behind at my patch when he was in town for the Heirloom Festival. I've been wearing it for good luck!