Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 11 Entries. Tuesday, August 1 View Page I'm growing two giant pumpkin plants this year. The 1474 Clementz 16 and the 972 Groenewold 16. The pumpkin on the 1474 was pollinated on July 17, and the pumpkin on the 972 was pollinated on July 7. The 1474 plant has been the more vigorous of the two, from the start. It is also the bigger plant.   Tuesday, August 1 View Page Grow my pumpkins! I know you can do it. I can feel it in the marrow of my bones, in the golgi bodies of my cells.   Thursday, August 3 View Page Some of you newer growers may not realize it, but this year is the tenth anniversary of the largest pumpkin I've grown. It was 1041 lbs. It took first place at the Delano weighoff in 2007. I hope to beat that mark this year, but I've been hoping that since 2007 LOL. One thing I have going for me is that both my plants are planted in roughly the same spot as I grew my 1041. I also grew my second largest pumpkin in this general garden area. It was a damaged pumpkin that went over 1000 lbs. I'm hoping I can grow a pumpkin that is large enough, and pretty enough to delight the children and amaze the adults!   Monday, August 7 View Page The pumpkin on my 972 Groenewold plant split on the blossom end. Maybe due to the greater than usual moisture we have gotten recently? I didn't measure it for awhile, but it looked like it was growing fairly well by my standards. I think it would have been quite orange, if it would have stayed together. It wasn't my favorite shape of a pumpkin. Pear-shaped, with a wider and taller blossom end. So I'm down to just the 1474 Clementz. I like it's shape better, as it's mostly round so far. It was a later pollination though: July 17th.   Tuesday, August 8 View Page I measured the circumferences of my pumpkins today. The circ. was 102" for my pumpkin on the 972 Groenewold plant. This pumpkin is at day 32, but due to the blossom end split, I won't measure it anymore. Day 22 for the pumpkin on the 1474 Clementz plant. It's circ.= 80.5".   Thursday, August 10 View Page Day 24 for the pumpkin on my 1474 Clementz plant. It's circ.= 88". It grew an estimated 19.75 lbs/day for the past two days(using the 2005 circumference chart). I've never measured growth over 30 lbs. on any of my past pumpkins. I'm hoping this pumpkin will be the first to grow an estimated 30+ lbs. With the 2009 Wallace genetics in it's background, maybe my hopes will come to fruition. I'm not getting my hopes up to high though.   Thursday, August 10 View Page How do I lov.......er.....aaah........like you my pumpkin? Let me count the ways. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16. I count sixteen!   Thursday, September 14 View Page Grow my pumpkin! Matriculate outward and extend the boundaries of your existence.   Thursday, September 14 View Page "No" my pumpkin. That is the answer to the question you asked me yesterday. And remember, from now on "all questions must be submitted in writing."----Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory   Thursday, October 5 View Page I hope to bring my pumpkin to Gale Woods Farm this Saturday. I'll be loading her up tomorrow. Hopefully the bottom looks good. Please grow a little bit more my pumpkin. Just so we're on the same page my pumpkin, when I say grow, I mean in size/weight, as oppossed to growing in wisdom, etc. Remember our slogan for the year "Biggerness, it's a state of mind".   Thursday, November 9 View Page My pumpkin finished at 684 lbs. Good for 9th place at the Gale Woods Farm weigh off. It went 3% heavy according to the GPC page info. It was nice seeing/visiting with the growers(new and veterans) at the weigh off. If I do grow giant pumpkins next year, I would like to get earlier pollinations for one thing. My 684 was pollinated on July 17th. Also to progress, I believe I need to do better with improving soil fertility.