Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 30 Entries. Sunday, May 14 View Page Not waiting any longer to get the pumpkin in. Bad weather and fertilizers stuck at the border with Canadian customs have delayed planting. Really hoping for some nice weather soon.   Monday, May 15 View Page The day after the plants go in, we have a massive wind and rain storm. The pumpkin tent was in danger of collapsing so part of it was dismantled. We'll see if the plants survive through the night.   Friday, June 16 View Page Came home from work to find this despite concrete blocks being used to tie the tent down. Fierce wind gusts. Pumpkin survived but we lost a couple leaves. Awful cold weather has put us behind many weeks. Perhaps it's a good year to let the patch go fallow this year.   Sunday, June 25 View Page I've never had so many weeds in the patch. I'm working through the weeding process but with a 15 week old puppy added to the family a couple weeks ago, not much has been accomplished in the patch.   Sunday, June 25 View Page I've never had so many weeds in the patch. I'm working through the weeding process but with a 15 week old puppy added to the family a couple weeks ago, not much has been accomplished in the patch.   Wednesday, June 28 View Page I've been back and forth with Canada customs who has been holding a package from Hollands Giants hostage since the end of April. Got the word today that customs presumes it's in the backlog of packages waiting to be checked - but they admit they really don't know where it is. Now I have to see if I can find some micorrhizae locally.   Sunday, July 2 View Page The warmer weather is helping the patch but we're still 3 weeks behind schedule. I should be pollinating sometime in the next week and a half. Got all the top dressing done today.   Sunday, July 2 View Page The warmer weather is helping the patch but we're still 3 weeks behind schedule. I should be pollinating sometime in the next week and a half. Got all the top dressing done today.   Thursday, July 6 View Page Looks like I'll be pollinating in a couple days. I'll have to do the deed early in the morning as I'm leaving for an obedience trial. But I'd rather try early than not at all.   Saturday, July 8 View Page Pollinated a nice 5 lobe on the main vine, and a 4 lobe on a secondary. Still a couple weeks later than normal, but not too bad if I can keep the plant healthy over the next couple months.   Saturday, July 22 View Page 14 days old. Pollinated on July 8th. Everything else has need culled early due to our late start. And my fertilizers just arrived today after being held hostage in Canadian customs for two months. Keeping it for next season now.   Saturday, July 22 View Page 14 days old. Pollinated on July 8th. Everything else has need culled early due to our late start. And my fertilizers just arrived today after being held hostage in Canadian customs for two months. Keeping it for next season now.   Thursday, July 27 View Page With the nicer weather the pumpkin is growing well. Still too small to really measure though.   Thursday, July 27 View Page The patch is almost fully filled in and in nice shape. After two years of gummy stem (I think) I got my hands on some good fungicide. So far no hint of mildew or aphids. Fingers crossed the plant stays healthy.   Monday, July 31 View Page The pumpkin has been making decent gains for a smaller fella - it's doubled its weight in 4 days and is now measuring at 108. I'm not doing anything special with fertilizing and such this season, so we'll see how big it can get "au natural"   Thursday, August 3 View Page We hit our first 30 pound gain - sort of. I measured later in the afternoon when I normally measure around late morning. But I'm still happy with the progress. On day 26 it's measuring at 176.   Tuesday, August 8 View Page Looking back at some of the records I've kept since 2010, this pumpkin is doing better than my others. Gains are 25 - 30 pounds a day and the plant is in good shape - I have a concern about some yellow tinging on the outside edge of the older leaves - not sure if it's age or a nutrient issue.   Tuesday, August 8 View Page The yellowing on my leaves that ends up looking like the next pic.   Tuesday, August 8 View Page I know I should do a tissue test. Have arranged for a soil test.   Tuesday, August 8 View Page Over 300 now   Monday, August 14 View Page Left my youngest to tend to the pumpkin while I was away for the weekend, and he kept it growing and is still on track to be bigger than the last few years. Fingers crossed that continues. OTT 276 on day 37 - averaged 28 pounds per day over the last 4 days. Noticed some mildew starting so some leaves were culled and more fungicide applied. Still, the last two years with the gummy stem had decimated my plant by now, so I'm pretty happy with the condition of the plant so far.   Sunday, August 20 View Page Hit the 300's (302 to be exact) OTT today at 43 DAP. Up until last week I was using the old 2013 sizing chart - now I'm using the 2017 which adds a few extra pounds to my pumpkin. If it gets big enough, I may consider taking it to a weigh off mostly to get an accurate weight. If not, I have a line on a local scale that can accommodate a large kin. Last year my pumpkin was too large for the local garden center's scale - the pumpkin slipped off and cracked!   Saturday, August 26 View Page DAP 49. OTT 322. Seems like the powdery mildew is spreading so some of the worst leaves were culled and I'll do another fungicide treatment tomorrow morning when it's cooler. We're still on track to have a decent pumpkin as long as I can keep the plant fairly healthy. Growth has slowed down to about 17 pounds per day for the last couple days.   Thursday, August 31 View Page The 'kin is still averaging about 17 pounds per day, but unfortunately I'm losing the powdery mildew battle. Not sure how many more pounds we'll manage to add during September now.   Thursday, September 7 View Page The pumpkin is still putting out decent daily gains but I've definitely lost the powdery mildew battle. At this point, I'm not going to do anything other than hope for some minimal gains through the month. Theres a large dip in the pumpkin so the measurements may be misleading - wouldn't be surprised if it weighed light this year.   Sunday, September 10 View Page DAP 64 and 350 OTT. Plant is on life support and growth has slowed down especially with the cooler weather the last couple days. But it still measures 300 pounds more than last years (on this DAP) - so I can't complain. Hoping to take it to a weigh off if it grows a bit more.   Saturday, September 23 View Page Growth has slowed to just a couple pounds a day. It measures over 1000 (356.5 OTT) according to the 2017 chart but it doesn't look that big to me especially with the dip. I may take it to the local GPC weigh off but that means leaving home at 3:00 am to catch a 5:15 ferry.   Monday, October 9 View Page It just goes to show that you never know. After a season I thought would be a bust, I ended up with a personal best and a pumpkin over 1000 pounds for the first time. Official GPC weight is 1074 pounds   Monday, October 9 View Page And that's a wrap. Pumpkin patch is put to bed for the winter. Already looking forward to next year.   Sunday, October 29 View Page My brother in law Gabriel Raven carved my pumpkin. It's on display at Coastal Black Winery.