Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 280 Entries. Sunday, February 19 View Page Here we go... it's been warm and I might have to walk in mud if I don't put the shacks in now. North patch   Sunday, February 19 View Page The south patch. Didn't quite get finished painting. Started to rain weighoff day and didn't quit until November. Then it was just snow. It's very wet under our minimal snow cover.   Sunday, February 19 View Page Turned on the fan in the big greenhouse. Temp was 7° F less coming out the tubes than going in. That heat is added to the soil. The 5000 cfm fan is turning on at 50° right now. Soil temp is about 25° 10" down. That's real good for this time of year.   Sunday, February 26 View Page Not much happening. Sunny -16°C for the high. Overnight still -20°C. Not quite melting in the shacks.   Sunday, March 5 View Page It will save some ink to just put it here. Started some peppers, cabbages, rutabagas and some watermelons. I might try some grafting on the melons. Apparently I should have started the cabbage a month ago. I think It will be fine for the purpose.   Wednesday, March 8 View Page There was 6 or so pop up yesterday and about 3 more this morning. Rutabagas seem slightly faster than cabbages.   Thursday, March 9 View Page -20°c outside but inside +10°c. Eventually spring will defeat winter.   Thursday, March 9 View Page Cabbages and rutabagas are up. I'll thin these down to the best 3 each.   Friday, March 10 View Page Some of the watermelons are popping up. These are from a 100 lb fruit I grew on the same plant as my 184. The cross is 285 Edwards x self. Years ago I started planting the seeds laying down. Most of the plants will come up without the seed casings. That was a real problem I had with watermelons. I'm using jiffy pellets for tomatoes. Much bigger, than the regular size,about 60 mm diameter.   Wednesday, March 15 View Page 255 melon is up. 10 year old seed popped up in 4 days. I repotted it into an even bigger pot. It's going to be a month before it gets to see the outside world. I have a 156 Thrower and a 100 Crews at similar age and size.   Thursday, March 16 View Page It's starting to melt inside the shacks. Finally.   Thursday, March 16 View Page Mutant Hunt rutabaga.   Thursday, March 16 View Page Trying some melon grafting. I have zero experience. No matter what, I'm going to learn something.   Friday, March 17 View Page I was still having some problems with plants getting leggy on my 2' lights. It was noticeable how stocky my plants were under my overdriven 4' lights. The 2' were overdriven some but I figured I could go more. I bought an extra 4 light ballast and ran one to each bulb.   Friday, March 17 View Page While I was at it I decided to add a sunblaster t-5ho I had laying around. Trust me, it's not anywhere close to as bright as overdriven t-8s.   Thursday, March 23 View Page Well, out of 6 I have 2 left. I'm mildly optimistic. I think I'll try hole insertion next instead of splicing. The pumpkin grows a little too fast compared to the watermelon. The graft kind of gets outgrown. I understand why they need to be kept in the dark.   Friday, March 31 View Page Well. I give up. Snow won't melt. The soil is only thawed out 2" deep inside and that's being optimistic. By now the shacks should have settled into the soil and sealed themselves off. I scraped some of the soil around the edges to seal it up. Next I'll get the heaters out. Maybe I can melt it enough to get my heat cables in.   Friday, March 31 View Page I think the graft took.   Friday, March 31 View Page Just when all looks lost the sun comes out and kicks some ass. The snow all but disappeared and the soil is thawed down 8" + in the shacks. I'm sure the heaters helped a bit.   Monday, April 3 View Page Hey! I managed to get a heat cable in the melon patch. The other 2 outside patches are too wet yet. The greenhouse is too dry lol. 5 days ago I thought it was hopeless. Bring the spring.   Wednesday, April 5 View Page 4 days after planting. 2145 McMullen and the 2230.5 Wallace are up. The light is bright enough to shine right through the tape label. My 1684 is a few hours behind. I err on the side of dryness for soil moisture. It doesn't take much more than damp soil to rot a seed. It does take a bit longer to germinate if the soil is a little dry.   Wednesday, April 5 View Page I have 2 watermelons, one of which is grafted, a couple of peppers,a carrot, and 3 giant cabbages. It's going to be a while before I can put any of these in the ground. Going to be interesting.   Thursday, April 6 View Page 1684 Crews is up   Thursday, April 6 View Page 1684 is under the lights.   Thursday, April 6 View Page This is the north patch. If you pretend that you can read the thermometer you will see that it says 75°F. That's a little better than last Thursday. Still very wet.   Thursday, April 6 View Page The melon shack had warm soil as well. My 255 Mitchell plant was in need of transplanting...last week. I might add another less ancient plant beside it and pull the loser. My grafted plants are slated to go outside, one day...   Thursday, April 6 View Page Weeds in the shop patch. This was frozen solid a week ago. It's still very wet but I had to put the heat cable in. I have plants warming up in the bullpen.   Friday, April 7 View Page Decided to plant the 100 Crews melon I grafted. I'll pull the slowest grower. The grafted plant looks really healthy.   Friday, April 7 View Page That guy Murphy... I checked ever cable for proper operation before placing. I was in a hurry and had the dirt placed already when I realized I hadn't checked it. Turns out that was the only one I've had fail in years. Dug it out and replaced it but the replacement might have thermostat that runs too cool. After all that I find my stash of new cables. If I have to dig it out again I'll need a lot more beer.a lot.   Saturday, April 8 View Page Breakfast BBQ is being rethought...   Saturday, April 8 View Page Here are the babies. I moved the light up and turned the heat up a bit. The 2230 had a strange curled leaf that was growing upside down. Unfortunately my efforts at modifying that behaviour were futile. I just manually moved it this morning. It'll be out of the way of the true leaves now.   Saturday, April 8 View Page The other grafted melon. Both are great looking plants and better than the other melons.   Monday, April 10 View Page ?Snowing outside ?? Level of frustration rising. ?Pumpkins need transplanting soon. Researching giant Dome. Need to upscale by factor of 100.   Monday, April 10 View Page This is the south patch. I put the 1684 Est Dmg Crews in it. Soil is only 65°. As I feared, this cable may run on the cool side. It's only been a few days of warming though. I wanted all my plants a little bigger than this at transplanting but there is more snow forecast so I had to take advantage of a +5°C day.   Monday, April 10 View Page 2145 McMullen in the big greenhouse. My soil was all pulled out and replaced. It could use a bit more peat. There's a cold frame inside the big greenhouse. It's a little easier to keep the soil warm that way. Hopefully it warms up outside.   Monday, April 10 View Page 2145 McMullen in the big greenhouse. My soil was all pulled out and replaced. It could use a bit more peat. There's a cold frame inside the big greenhouse. It's a little easier to keep the soil warm that way. Hopefully it warms up outside.   Monday, April 10 View Page 2230.5 Wallace is in the north greenhouse patch.   Tuesday, April 11 View Page Nice! Soil temp is 70°F in the south patch today. All transplants are doing good.   Friday, April 14 View Page Ah. Yes. Winter storm warning. This is the coolest, wettest year yet. The second year I grew an ag, I planted outside without a cold frame, April 14 and we didn't have even a light frost until September. I learned a lot since then. This year is challenging..   Friday, April 14 View Page I'll start my once a week pic series today. I'll usually do it on a Sunday but due to weather concerns I'll start now, just in case these are the last ones.   Friday, April 14 View Page 2230.5 Wallace   Friday, April 14 View Page Watermelon . I'm not sure what I did to the 255. It isn't looking good. Grafted 100 Crews does. It's a selfed 285 Edwards that was grown on the same plant as my 184 Crews. The 184 is my best melon so far and has grown very well for me. The 100 is just more of the same.   Friday, April 14 View Page 2145 McMullen Had to start moving it over. I have a bunch of rutabagas in here in pots waiting.   Friday, April 14 View Page 1684 Crews Est Dmg   Friday, April 14 View Page 1684 Crews patch Not sure when the patches will be tillable. Probably June.   Sunday, April 16 View Page Snowstorm over. It's -4°C but I'm in my t-shirt. The sun is warm. All plants survive.   Tuesday, April 18 View Page Snow seemed really wet. Put some in a pail to melt. Kind of shocked... it was about 2" above the top but still...Getting a bad feeling about this season.   Friday, April 21 View Page Snow almost gone. But, well, we will find out soon enough.   Saturday, April 22 View Page 100 Crews watermelon is vining out. 255 Mitchell is recovering. Going to have to make a decision soon. Want the 255 but it's small compared to the 100. Ignore the weeds. Their days are numbered.   Saturday, April 22 View Page 1684 Crews. This one looks the best of all.   Saturday, April 22 View Page 2230.5 Wallace is looking a little strange. I'm not worried. It looks like it's growing out of it.   Saturday, April 22 View Page 2145 McMullen is sort of flopping over. Its definitely ahead of the rest.   Sunday, April 23 View Page So this is happening again. Think I'll put off the weeding for a while. At least it not the 15 cm that was originally forecast.   Wednesday, April 26 View Page Patch pics look the same as February so I'll leave a pic of the BBQ from this morning. Anyone remember the last time there was a sunny day? I think last Wednesday it was visible briefly in the afternoon... before that I think there were a couple of days but I can't remember for sure. Plants are behind but that's ok,there's nowhere for them to grow yet.   Saturday, April 29 View Page 2145 McMullen. Not flopping because the 2nd true leaf is a kickstand. Going to bend the kickstand. Watered a bit in preparation for the stem to bend into the moist soil.   Saturday, April 29 View Page 1684 Crews This is the only plant that looks normal to me.   Saturday, April 29 View Page 2230.5 Wallace is growing straight up like the 2145. It's got to be caused by a lack of sunshine.   Saturday, April 29 View Page It pains me to do this but... I pulled the 255. I'll take a chance and grow the 100 Crews grafted. See what happens I suppose. I had a different plan for the grafted plants but let's see. Put some gypsum blocks under the cornstarch mulch so I can monitor soil moisture.   Saturday, April 29 View Page The snow has almost melted. Forecast is for rain now. One somewhat sunny day in 2 or 3 weeks. ?? that's a thumbs up.   Sunday, April 30 View Page 2145 McMullen is down gently. Took me 2 days.   Tuesday, May 2 View Page Trying to germinate some seeds from some somewhat immature pumpkins. I was having problems getting them to germinate so I just dropped a few on a small pot of seed starter mix in the chamber. I just turned them over once. This one received enough moisture to pop just sitting on top.   Tuesday, May 2 View Page Milestone for the 1684 Crews. The flop over is happening. Amazing what a little sunshine will do.   Saturday, May 6 View Page 2145 McMullen is off and running. Shows some double vine characteristics.   Saturday, May 6 View Page 1684 Crews is going. Not completely down yet.   Saturday, May 6 View Page 2230.5 Wallace is picking up some.   Saturday, May 6 View Page 100 Crews grafted watermelon seems fine.   Saturday, May 13 View Page 2230.5 Wallace There has been some warm temps for a week now, a little too warm actually. The plants got a little hot in their houses, but it helped growth some. Now it's going to be wet and cool for a week. There's a good chance I may have to go zero till this year. The greenhouses need put up. It is too wet to touch the soil with equipment. That also means I wont get the micro nutrients in. I've worked harder this year than any other just to get here. Now I see 20 mm rain forecast tonight. Keep on keeping on.   Sunday, May 14 View Page 100 Crews grafted melon. It's going to need the greenhouse too. Huge big green leaves. Growing very well.   Sunday, May 14 View Page 1684 Crews is off and running. The coming long weekend better be nice, I have a lot of work to do.   Sunday, May 14 View Page 2145 McMullen has outgrown its hut. I haven't got the heater running yet, just relying on my subterranean heating and cooling system. Hope I have enough heat stored in the soil to keep frost off. I'll hook up a backup heater tomorrow. My propane tank sank into the wet soil on an angle and I need to get that fixed up before filling.   Thursday, May 18 View Page Here's the main vine of the watermelon. It outgrew the shack and bent up at the end. It was really growing fast too. This grafting thing is like strapping a rocket to your back. Sure will be fast and fun for a few moments then ...   Friday, May 19 View Page Here we go.   Friday, May 19 View Page Mostly done. Luckily it didn't rain. For those of you that weren't here with me in the rain that was sarcasm.   Saturday, May 20 View Page Got the micronutrients tilled in. Little wet. Probably cut some roots off. Long day. Good thing it's light to 10:00.   Sunday, May 21 View Page 1684 Crews in its bigger shack.   Sunday, May 21 View Page 2145 McMullen I'm getting a little behind on vine burying.   Sunday, May 21 View Page 100 Crews watermelon. Have quite bit of work to do yet. Drip hoses and mulch.   Monday, May 22 View Page Now the 2230.5 Wallace has a bigger house. That's all I can do today. Back at it tomorrow. Good news, it's dried up enough that farmers are on the fields and we should get a garden on!   Tuesday, May 23 View Page You can't always get what you want But if you try sometime you find You get what you need Thanks for a good weekend Mother Nature!   Wednesday, May 24 View Page 100 Crews watermelon looks better with some of the mulch down. It looks like it grew a lot since Friday. Too bad the main vine is gone.   Thursday, May 25 View Page If I thought I was behind an vine burying before, well, I was almost losing the war by today. Got it done though! 2145 McMullen   Thursday, May 25 View Page Field pumpkins are ready. Didn't germinate anything too special because I wasn't sure if was going to be able to plant considering the crappy weather we have had. For instance earlier today we were under a wind warning (100kph) a rain warning (75mm) a thunderstorm warning and something else about a special weather statement. Now it's just heavy rain again for a day or two. So far so good. This is from one of just a few from the small side of the twin 189. Have a couple from the big side too. Now If the rain will stop...   Friday, May 26 View Page This is why I have greenhouses. It's more for wind than anything. We easily can have 75 -100 kph wind in a typical storm.   Friday, May 26 View Page Planted the field pumpkins. This is the 189 Crews small side seed. I think there were less than 10 seeds. It was leaning the wrong way so rather than just let it run the same direction as the first leaf I forced it to go the right way. Ya, I know. Maybe I'll learn something.   Friday, May 26 View Page The other 189 Crews.   Saturday, May 27 View Page Trying to grow some rutabagas. Something keeps eating them. Those aren't weeds, that's a special cover crop nature developed for this area.   Saturday, May 27 View Page Giant cabbage something ate. I'm thinking rabbits. Once it dries up I'll cut the cover crop.   Saturday, May 27 View Page Giant beer   Saturday, May 27 View Page Giant beet. I think auto correct is trying to tell me something.   Saturday, May 27 View Page 100 Crews watermelon   Saturday, May 27 View Page 2145 McMullen   Saturday, May 27 View Page 1684 Crews   Saturday, May 27 View Page 2230.5 Wallace   Sunday, May 28 View Page Hmmm. Watermelon is going to make me crazy. Every thing is breaking off including young fruit before blooming. Plant is growing very fast. Not sure how this experiment is going to conclude.   Tuesday, May 30 View Page Should I? It seems early but I have 13 secondaries before it. Hmmm   Friday, June 2 View Page Oh oh. One of the vines died on the watermelon. Gave it a tug. It came of easy and left this behind, red,oozy,thick something.   Saturday, June 3 View Page 100 Crews watermelon. So far no more dead vines and the rest grew a couple of inches over night.   Saturday, June 3 View Page 2230.5 Wallace. Some leaf flagging this morning. Dry? Seems impossible. I think I'll plant some gypsum blocks later.   Saturday, June 3 View Page 2145 McMullen. Some leaf flagging here too. Water isn't a problem, soil is wet. Temp is about 78 thanks to my soil tubes and vent fans. Perhaps plant is outgrowing the roots.   Saturday, June 3 View Page 1684 Crews is getting pretty close to the end. One of the next 2 females has to be pollinated. I did one this morning but it's not quite far enough. Next one is perfect, the one after that slightly too far to fit in.   Saturday, June 3 View Page 1684 x 2145 June 3   Saturday, June 3 View Page 189 Crews small side.   Saturday, June 3 View Page 189 large side   Monday, June 5 View Page 2145 McMullen x 1684 Crews No male flowers on the 2230 but the 1684 looks the best of all anyway.   Monday, June 5 View Page 1684 Crews x 2145 McMullen This is the chosen one. Cool and rainy this morning. Good for greenhouse pollinations because the temp will be perfect. Convenient that both were ready at the same time too.   Friday, June 9 View Page Last good positioned fruit on the 1684 1684 x 2145   Saturday, June 10 View Page 2230.5 Wallace Weeds pop up quick after running the sprinkler for cooling. I'm going to get this plant a little bigger before pollinating. Probably a week away. Plant is starting to pick up quite a bit.   Saturday, June 10 View Page 2145 McMullen Young fruit on the main vine. Missing a few vines now.   Saturday, June 10 View Page 1684 Crews Cut a softball size fruit off from June 3. It was growing quickly but was not far enough down the vine. The one I left will be much easier to manage. Decisions have to be made with haste. The next fruit will abort if I wait to long. If it doesn't work out it'll be one less plant to look after,lol.   Saturday, June 10 View Page 189 Crews field pumpkin. Left the lid open to catch some rain.   Saturday, June 10 View Page 189 Crews field pumpkin small side   Saturday, June 10 View Page 100 Crews watermelon Still growing. Pumpkin foaming crown treatment seems to have worked.   Saturday, June 10 View Page 100 Crews has a few pollinations like this one. Fingers crossed.   Saturday, June 10 View Page 156 Thrower I was hoping to use as a pollinator.   Saturday, June 10 View Page Hunt rutabaga that keep getting eaten. Broke down the chicken wire to get it. I'm thinking a Night of the Lepus type incident. Going to watch behind me in the garden.   Saturday, June 10 View Page Butler cabbage that also got eaten. They don't like hot days but these cold +10 days perk up the cabbage and rutabagas.   Tuesday, June 13 View Page Spent some time setting up the fruit to grow. The 2145 decided to end the main vine growth so this is it right here. I'm not sure what happened. It wasn't hot, the tip was shaded and it was well watered. I've had this happen a couple of times when the fruit was a real strong sink...   Tuesday, June 13 View Page Here is the 1684 Crews. I cut off a fruit that was a real strong grower. I hope this one grows as fast.   Thursday, June 15 View Page 2230.5 Wallace x 2145 McMullen Nice 5 lobe fruit. All my plants have perfect fruit this year.   Thursday, June 15 View Page 2145 McMullen 10 days   Friday, June 16 View Page 1684 Crews 10 days hmmm... Also caught my first mouse right beside it.   Friday, June 16 View Page Grrrr. There's a learning experience.   Friday, June 16 View Page I'm going to consider the main vine of the 1684 terminated. It was long and growing along the front of the shack. A quick right turn and it would have been outside. Made the right turn. Lol   Saturday, June 17 View Page 100 Crews watermelon. Yesterday it was very wilted. Had to emergency irrigate. Never saw a melon plant do that. It's part of the grafted root learning curve. Melon roots are ridiculously good at extracting moisture. Field pumpkins, not so. Probably why the plant was blowing up under the previous high moisture content. I need to keep soil moisture to the high side but not too high.   Saturday, June 17 View Page 2230.5 Wallace has picked up the pace considerably.   Saturday, June 17 View Page 2145 McMullen. These will be the last of plant pics. Hopefully it will be fruit pics from now on.   Saturday, June 17 View Page 1684 Crews has vines out the sides. One day the shop will have facia and be painted. But not till the season is over. Priorities.   Saturday, June 17 View Page 189 Crews   Saturday, June 17 View Page 189 Crews small side.   Friday, June 23 View Page A risk of what? What the...   Friday, June 23 View Page And then there was one. Culled the other ones. This one is on the vine the leaves wilted the least. Pollinated around the 15th.   Sunday, June 25 View Page 10 DAP 2230.5 Wallace Nothing too special but the plant has really kicked in.   Sunday, June 25 View Page 20 DAP 1684 Crews It's a whole 43"cir. It's misshapen and small. I shouldn't have cut the first one off. That's the second big mistake this season. It might be time to take a year off and recharge,lol   Sunday, June 25 View Page 20 DAP 2145 McMullen 59" cir that's not too bad.   Sunday, June 25 View Page 100 Crews Watermelon On closer examination probably pollinated on the 11th. I wish the plant was as healthy as it was a couple of weeks ago.   Sunday, June 25 View Page Field pumpkins took a beating in the wind storm last week. Broken leaves and vines. Brutal 189 Crews   Sunday, June 25 View Page 189 Crews small side fruit   Sunday, June 25 View Page Here's a couple of a genetics cross from last year. A1213 Crews pollinated by a squash. This is what plants look like if grown without heat cables and a cold frame. Just won't grow until July.   Friday, June 30 View Page 1684 Crews 25 DAP 67" cir Obviously have a poor pollination. I'm sure this one won't make it long. Still kicking myself for cutting the wrong one. Big strong plant.   Friday, June 30 View Page 2230.5 Wallace 15 DAP Coming along nicely considering the cold nights we have had. Everything in the garden is suffering from the cold. It's going to be a survival year. I'm trying to do this without burning a fortune in fuel.   Friday, June 30 View Page 2145 Wallace 25 DAP 87" cir Again, no heater, just the soil tubes. Need some nights with double digit lows. I'd take 10°C. With tubes I could get the temp inside up to 15.   Friday, June 30 View Page 100 Crews watermelon, I think it's only 19 DAP.   Friday, June 30 View Page Tomato   Friday, June 30 View Page Giant beet   Friday, June 30 View Page Rutabaga, I have a few that are much bigger. They like it wet and cold apparently. We have had some hot daytime temperatures that have almost killed the cabbages,but the rutabaga seem to tolerate that some.   Friday, June 30 View Page Field pumpkins. Really beat up from the wind. 80k gusts will do that even when sheltered. Without the trees around the yard there wouldn't be a garden this year. Cold nights, hot days, not much sunshine and rain just about every day.   Saturday, July 1 View Page Crawled in to take out some stray melons and to see what's causing the wilting during the day. Found the crown and the graft junction. Doesn't look quite right. Rethinking my rootstock. Absolutely huge finger vines, but only one of them isn't wilting.   Sunday, July 2 View Page Yard pano   Wednesday, July 5 View Page 1684 Crews 30 DAP 91" cir This one has one nice side and one ugly side. Going to push this until something happens.   Wednesday, July 5 View Page 2230.5 Wallace 20 DAP 61" cir   Wednesday, July 5 View Page 100 Crews watermelon 25 days ish 47" cir Plant struggles in the direct sun.   Wednesday, July 5 View Page 2145 McMullen 30 DAP 105"   Wednesday, July 5 View Page Put my peppers on the fan manifold. The vibration pollinates them. I don't have to do a thing. So far.   Friday, July 7 View Page Almost 10:00 pm. A good time to bury vines on a warm day. Good news...soil is finally drying out. Bad news...soil is drying out. Should be good for a few days.   Saturday, July 8 View Page Interesting.   Saturday, July 8 View Page Pruned it back to just this one. At least I know the trait passed down. I think it needs some moisture stress to manifest though.   Sunday, July 9 View Page It's amazing what a week of nice weather will do. Weeds pop up. Luckily so do my pumpkins. There's hope yet! I really should have known there were weather problems when weeds weren't growing.   Sunday, July 9 View Page The 230's (1213Crews x 963* Lyons ) have laid down. Maybe I can get the offspring to throw green one day.   Sunday, July 9 View Page All the Brassicas have done this. It's been warm for a week or so. Had to pull quite a few. Cauliflower, Cabbage, Broccoli etc. This one may survive. Oops. Not all. Rutabaga is doing well.   Sunday, July 9 View Page Cabbage photo. There. I think it worked. Anyways all the brassicas other than the rutabagas have shrivelled in the warmth. Plenty moist.   Sunday, July 9 View Page Hmmm. This one scares a blossom. On the main vine...   Sunday, July 9 View Page Shares. A. Blossom.   Monday, July 10 View Page 1684 Crews 35 DAP 108" cir a little smaller than I'd hoped. Poorly shaped. I pollinated one on a secondary vine just to see what the proper shape is. It's doing fine.   Monday, July 10 View Page 100 Crews watermelon 53" cir I think I pollinated this on June 11. Was expecting awesomeness then the plant started to struggle. Just doing ok.   Monday, July 10 View Page 2230.5 Wallace 25 DAP 87" cir Doing good considering my melon has a larger vine. Plant is looking strong now.   Monday, July 10 View Page 2145 McMullen 35 DAP 123" cir very tall pumpkins in the patch this year. Not my best numbers but pretty good.   Monday, July 10 View Page Tomato. If nothing else it'll be tasty on a burger.   Wednesday, July 12 View Page After a week or two of dryness this,for the first time this year, was needed.   Saturday, July 15 View Page #2230twitterclub 30 DAP 103" cir really pale.   Saturday, July 15 View Page 100 Crews melon. 34 DAP. Plant looks better but fruit isn't very fast.   Saturday, July 15 View Page 2145 McMullen 40 DAP 140" ish cir. It's hard to measure.   Saturday, July 15 View Page 1684 Crews 129" cir   Saturday, July 15 View Page 1684 Crews on the secondary vine just to see what the proper shape would be. Looks like a round fruit like it's Father. That means the 2145 cross will be good.   Saturday, July 15 View Page I did an ott on the 2145. I'm not telling.   Sunday, July 16 View Page How many lobes does this have? #pumpkinmegablossom   Sunday, July 16 View Page The side of #pumpkinmegablossom   Tuesday, July 18 View Page Hmmm. 1684 fruit is growing sideways. I think it's a good sign that I have to widen my base. Now if the other side had to be as well, then I'd be happy.   Thursday, July 20 View Page Beet. Obviously I knew nothing about this but I'm learning. Probably need a deep raised soil box. Once it hits the clay it pushes up like a zombie from the graveyard.   Thursday, July 20 View Page My lips are purple. Not sure why.   Thursday, July 20 View Page I'm going to try and keep the soil in the field pumpkin patch more moist than I have had in previous years.   Thursday, July 20 View Page Mega on the 189 plant 1. Getting some splits. Probably the moist soil. I may be pushing it.   Thursday, July 20 View Page Here is a secondary fruit on 189 plant 1. Planning on only one fruit per plant but I'll wait for a bit.   Thursday, July 20 View Page 189 plant 2. I have 2 fruit. One is on the secondary vine and is bigger but is splitting slightly. Ya. I know. But to beat my personal best I'm going to have to take some risks.   Thursday, July 20 View Page 189 plant 2 the mv fruit.   Thursday, July 20 View Page 100 Crews melon. Growing slowly. Oh well. I promise I won't screw it up next time.   Thursday, July 20 View Page #2230twitterclub 35 DAP 118"   Thursday, July 20 View Page 1684 Crews. 45 DAP 141" cir Slippery like all fruit from my 1081 line. Definitely takes after the 1213 that was the pollinator. Going to have to take pics from a different angle now too.   Thursday, July 20 View Page 2145 McMullen 45 DAP. I don't want to say measurements because it can't be right. It has gotten bigger though.   Thursday, July 20 View Page Rutabaga!   Friday, July 21 View Page 9:26 pm. This just opened. It was dark,cloudy and smokey for most of the day but still this is odd. Not the first time I've had this happen. It's just on a secondary on the 1684 and will be culled anyway but I thought I'd make a note of it.   Wednesday, July 26 View Page 100 Crews 44 DAP 60" cir. Putting on weight again after I got enough water on it. Little too late. Plant is really growing.   Wednesday, July 26 View Page 2230.5 Wallace 40 DAP 127" cir. Just isn't putting the push on that I was expecting.   Wednesday, July 26 View Page 189 Crews mega. 9 DAP not sure about the growth. Looks like it isn't even. I think I'll ride it for a while but it forces me to have 2 fruit.   Wednesday, July 26 View Page 189 Crews sec vine fruit 10 DAP   Wednesday, July 26 View Page 189 Crews from the small side. Secondary vine fruit 10 DAP   Wednesday, July 26 View Page 1684 Crews 50 DAP 152" cir growing well. Trying to push it.   Wednesday, July 26 View Page 2145 McMullen 50 DAP It's a gnats weight away from 4 digits. Getting a big wrinkle. I don't like the look of that.   Sunday, July 30 View Page Well, doesn't look like megablossom makes it. It started to go then just stopped.   Sunday, July 30 View Page I pollinated the next one on the main vine as soon as I suspected the end of mega. This one was Friday morning. May have to go my secondary vine fruit if this one doesn't take. The timing on this one is a bit late but the secondary vine fruit is a little early. It could be an off year for my field pumpkins. That poor spring weather we had set everything back.   Sunday, July 30 View Page Look at the craziness in this pic. The other 189 (small side) started throwing twins at the end of the mainvine which then started to curve back oddly and all but stop. The only fruit that looks set started to split after the rain we had early this week. Secondary fruit is ok.   Monday, July 31 View Page The 100 Crews melon is chugging along. Couple of inches of circumference every 5 days. Maybe It'll make it to 100. Trying to set another one for a few weeks now but no luck so far. Now that the plant is growing again, maybe a new one will grow like it should.   Monday, July 31 View Page Secondary vine fruit on 189 Crews plant 1   Monday, July 31 View Page Secondary vine fruit on 189 Crews plant 2 (from the small side of the twin)   Monday, July 31 View Page 2230.5 Wallace. 45 DAP 139" cir It has long ways to go. Making a good push now.   Monday, July 31 View Page 1684 Crews 55 DAP and making a tremendous push. It's starting to grow out of its ugliness. I can't back up any further, sorry about the pic.   Monday, July 31 View Page 2145 McMullen 55 DAP. Didn't measure but it's obvious that it's putting on weight at a good clip. I'm going to be sad if this doesn't make it. If it does I might go all Joe Thornton.   Tuesday, August 1 View Page I cut the secondary fruit off the 189 plant 2. One day makes a big difference. It had a sag line all around it and I know from experience that they never make it. It's best just to start with another one. I have one further down this secondary but it is just a few days old. The main vine fruit isn't perfect either.   Tuesday, August 1 View Page The inside of the 189 fruit showing the reason for its demise.   Tuesday, August 1 View Page 1684 Crews just did it again. A night opener.   Friday, August 4 View Page Ok, all field pumpkins I've grown so far have leaves with these flecks. Until now.   Friday, August 4 View Page Suddenly I have this leaf type on my 182 that I grew from my 140. I'm scouring pics but all the others I've seen so far have those flecks. I'm wondering what variety is showing it's heritage.   Friday, August 4 View Page It's raining again. Perfectly timed showers all July and Aug so far. Really made up for May and June. Here are a row of beets, rutabagas and a tomato.   Friday, August 4 View Page Beet   Friday, August 4 View Page Rutabaga   Friday, August 4 View Page Kind of gave up on the cabbages. They were doing great in June. Then the sun came out. I'll need to shade them more. I thought since these were in the shade of some trees on the south that they would be saved. Wrong again Don.   Friday, August 4 View Page Remaining main vine fruit on the 189 plant 2. Starting to hit its stride at 15 days.   Friday, August 4 View Page Secondary pollination on 189 plant 2.   Friday, August 4 View Page Secondary vine fruit on 189 plant 1. Starting to look different every day.   Friday, August 4 View Page Main vine fruit on 189 plant 1   Friday, August 4 View Page 2230.5 Wallace about 338" Ott. It's a little slow but is very nice shaped.   Friday, August 4 View Page 1684 Crews 60 DAP about 160" cir.   Friday, August 4 View Page 2145 McMullen 60 DAP close to 400" Ott. Looks like it was doing 30 a day for the past 10. Really looks like the end is near with the huge bend it's getting.   Sunday, August 6 View Page Almost forgot about the 156 Thrower melon buried underneath the 2145 plant. Decided to pick it before bad things happened. About 20 lbs. Did really well for 8' vine and a 5' secondary that didn't see any light for quite some time.   Sunday, August 6 View Page Yay! I got a tomato. 26.1 oz. small but it's my first so it's special.   Thursday, August 10 View Page Main vine 189 Crews plant 2 20 DAP 48" cir. Nothing special but with field pumpkins you can never tell.   Thursday, August 10 View Page Secondary vine 189 Crews plant 1 25 DAP 58" cir. Look at those sag lines. I think it's doomed.   Thursday, August 10 View Page 1684 Crews plant. That blob inside is the fruit. It's still growing well at 65 DAP. It rained another 1.5" over the weekend and most of the plant is outside, I'm hoping there's no disaster coming up.   Thursday, August 10 View Page Peppers. Bhut jolokia   Thursday, August 10 View Page I managed to get a couple of pollinations to set on the 230. It was a 1213 Crews x 963*Lyons. I have 3 plants pollinated. They all look identical. They start off green and are keeping green stripes. From our knowledge of squash crossing this first generation should be pumpkins but the next because of the sib and self crosses should throw a large percentage of greenies.   Friday, August 11 View Page Cut the secondary fruit free from the 189 Crews plant 1. It's still has one good secondary feeding it. Too bad, it already had good size.   Monday, August 14 View Page Here comes autumn. When the leaves start to turn we have maybe 4 weeks left. That's why I pollinate in early June. I'm hitting 70 days now, growth curve matches sunlight decline. It's rare to mow a lawn in Sept.   Monday, August 14 View Page 2230.5 Wallace 60 DAP. should make it to 1000   Monday, August 14 View Page 1684 Crews 70 DAP this fruit has a ways to go to get the 400 inches but might make it.   Monday, August 14 View Page 2145 McMullen 70 DAP this one is starting to scare me. It is impossible to measure. It looks large.   Tuesday, August 15 View Page Fps. At least I didn't water before it rained 1 3/4". Oh. Wait... I did. Now I'm waiting for a BES.   Saturday, August 19 View Page Mv fruit on the 189 Crews plant 2. Not quite 30 DAP and turning colour already. 3 digits on anything in the patch looks unlikely.   Saturday, August 19 View Page 2230.5 Wallace Oh. Hmmm. Fuddle Duddle*. I don't like the looks of this. Could still be ok. Ya. Ok. *words replaced with those of non threatening nature.   Saturday, August 19 View Page 2145 McMullen has the covers off because I'd like to dry the stem area out some. I see the beginning of something I don't like but it's not too worrisome.   Thursday, August 24 View Page 189 Crews small 35 DAP   Thursday, August 24 View Page I managed to get one of my 182 seeds to germinate. Planted in the back minimum care patch. Wished I'd put it on my main patch.   Thursday, August 24 View Page 189 Crews secondary vine fruit. Game over.   Thursday, August 24 View Page 189 Crews main vine fruit. Not good. Not good at all.   Thursday, August 24 View Page 2145 McMullen still growing. High humidity in the greenhouse is causing some vine rotting. Tons of tertiary vines taking over.   Thursday, August 24 View Page 2230.5 Wallace still growing. Bit of a blossom crack but not getting worse.   Thursday, August 24 View Page The wife is beating me at tomato growing. I think she wins.   Sunday, August 27 View Page So. When the weather turns cooler there becomes a lot of condensation on greenhouse plastic. It rains down. Watermelons hate that. I usually keep moisture levels low and run the fan more. This plant required a high level of moisture to live. Anyway, rotted off the vine that the melon was on. Now I have to figure out how to keep it for a weighoff. There's a few volunteer melons left inside to face a similar fate.   Sunday, August 27 View Page Cut this field pumpkin off the 189. This plant was throwing long ones. This one isn't. I only have 10 days left and no sizable fruit left on it. I betting on a weather miracle! I have some open pollinations at about 10 days to push.   Wednesday, August 30 View Page 189 Crews plant 2 main vine fruit at 40 DAP. Slowing down now. Going to be a good looker but small. Next year may be different.   Wednesday, August 30 View Page 189 Crews plant 2 secondary vine. Probably ends up the same as the main vine fruit.   Wednesday, August 30 View Page 2230.5 Wallace 75 DAP. Still having some blossom end issues but seems ok for now. Some discolouration from bleach used on the rotted blossom nub.   Wednesday, August 30 View Page 1684 Crews 85 DAP still growing. Would have been coloured a nice orange but this genetic line goes green where it's covered.   Wednesday, August 30 View Page 2230.5 Wallace is at 75 DAP. Though it will still look like this at 80.   Monday, September 4 View Page 189 Crews plant 2 46 DAP still could grow for a while but...   Monday, September 4 View Page Let's see how this goes. First frost warning right on schedule.   Wednesday, September 6 View Page Something's burning   Saturday, September 9 View Page This is the first day since spring that the greatest snowfall stat gets used. Time is almost up.   Saturday, September 9 View Page 2145 has grown 1/2" closer to brick over the last week.   Saturday, September 9 View Page 1684 Crews has grown 1/2" closer to brick over last week. Getting gnarly looking. Some small stem problems. Time to book the harvest schedule.   Saturday, September 9 View Page 2230.5 Wallace has almost stopped growing. Looks healthy and I don't smell anything. Nothing much grows in September not even grass.   Saturday, September 9 View Page Touch of frost a couple of days ago.   Sunday, September 10 View Page Little late in the season for pollinating sunflowers but who knows.   Sunday, September 10 View Page Pulled the main vine fruit off of 189 Crews plant 2. Not very big but at least I have something. This is usually the week we have a killing frost and even though it has been over +30°C for some days the nights are cool. Big cool down forecast for mid week so it will happen. After I cut it, the vines after it immediately wilted. Strange I thought. Pulled the vines around and there was no secondary rooting even though I had buried them. Not sure what I did wrong but I don't want to do it again. Search and research.   Wednesday, September 13 View Page Cold wet. This is one of those "it's going to be winter soon days" 189 Crews sec fruit is still mostly green. It is probably not going to have a plant to drive it after the next few days.   Friday, September 15 View Page That should be it then. I sometimes get some life from the FPs at 0. The problem is that enviro Canada has it's thermometer beside a bathroom fan vent and it's actually 2° colder.   Saturday, September 16 View Page Frost got us last night. It's not too bad in this part of the garden. See that black nightshade weed? That's spread throughout the garden. It is one of the few weeds that will out compete my pumpkins. This year it was a night mare. It has to be dealt with somehow.   Saturday, September 16 View Page The other garden didn't fair that well.   Sunday, September 17 View Page Hmmm. The tiny 2230.5 Wallace is Est at over 1200 lbs. I'm going to be awful frustrated if one of the other ones doesn't make it.   Sunday, September 17 View Page I decided to pull the 2230.5 Wallace. The season is winding up and it is the smallest fruit. It's part of time management. Unfortunately when I lifted it a soft area was able to be seen. It hadn't been there very long and it wasn't very deep but it was over an area about 8" x 3" . It was right on the edge where the 2 styrofoam boards met and where ants were coming out by the hundreds. I cleaned it up but I wouldn't think it would be eligible for a weighoff. According to my scale, it was a little heavy to the 2013 chart.   Monday, September 18 View Page The secondary fruit on the 189 shows up with a crack. It's caused either by a TARDIS explosion or by my removing the covers yesterday and letting the front warm up more than the back.   Wednesday, September 20 View Page Pulled some seeds out of the split fruit on the 189. There wasn’t much cavity.   Wednesday, September 20 View Page Another pic   Thursday, September 21 View Page 189 Crews. Measured it. 166 OTT 94.5 Lbs Est. Weighed it. 57 kg. 125.4 lbs. yup. rock.   Saturday, September 23 View Page It was time to pull the 1684 Crews fruit. It is a solid healthy fruit. I’m happy to have one good one to take. It’s not small. I think the other one is bigger though. It’s that nervous time of year.   Sunday, October 8 View Page Last weekend we pulled the 2145 McMullen. It was about 430 Ott but wasn’t quite as heavy as the fruit off the 1684 Crews.   Sunday, October 8 View Page Loaded the 1684 fruit and waited till this weekend.   Sunday, October 8 View Page Smoky lake first place! New record. 1652 Crews ‘17 1684 Crews Est,Dmg x 2145 McMullen   Sunday, October 8 View Page Most important lesson from 2017 season,   Saturday, November 4 View Page Time to finish the patch work for next year. Oh. I suppose this means that next season may be a one patch year. I may cut back considerably anyway. Think of it as investment in the ‘19 season.   Saturday, November 4 View Page My rutabaga weighed 48 lbs on my scale. It was growing until last Sunday. Went through 3 snowstorms and a bunch of - 8. These are tough plants.   Sunday, November 12 View Page Just in case anyone wondered what happened to the 2145 McMullen fruit here it is in the shop still waiting for seed removal . It weighed 1598 on my scale. 431” Ott so it was a little light to chart. Crossed it with the 1684 that threw my 1652.