Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 85 Entries. Saturday, April 1 View Page Time to kick off a new diary to start the new 2017 season . last winter was typical of years past, cold with a lot of snow . it amazes me at how much weight 6 mil poly can actually hold up   Saturday, April 1 View Page I got most of the snowed moved around the patch, as it is germination I'm really hoping things start to warm up ..fast   Saturday, April 1 View Page a look inside , the main reason I keep the poly roof up over our long winter , is for a chance at a decent start.. only had to do roof snow removal 12 times ..temp snow load posts come out   Saturday, April 1 View Page potential line up , still on the fence with a few   Saturday, April 1 View Page some of my giant cabbage starts..really hoping to improve on last year 43 lb effort   Friday, April 7 View Page Nice to see all my starts are up and ready to rock .. these first went into the germ chamber 7 days ago.. so been out of the soil for 3 1/2 days now..   Saturday, April 8 View Page The star of the show is the 2145 McMullen (thanks Gene) and the 2230 Wallace..with my own 1469 as backups ...(2145 x 1317) I dropped the paper towel method this year and just used 6" pots seemed to work out well..they will sit under my T5 8 bulb light for little while longer as I wait for the weather to improve   Saturday, April 8 View Page break up is finally starting as the temps are hitting mid 40's during the day and high 20's low 30's at night   Saturday, April 8 View Page my early season cabbage starts are moving along nicely.. a big shout out to my buddy john butler for some cornish giant seeds .. I also will be planting his long gourd seeds as well..also planting some os cross giant cabbage seeds   Wednesday, April 12 View Page If you ever have some one take your picture with a infra-red app on his I-phone with a $250 plug in from apple store you probably look like this..lol..pretty cool   Friday, April 14 View Page pumpkin starts at about day 10.. waiting for things to start warming up .. been hi 40's during the day and mid 20's at night .. hard to get excited   Friday, April 14 View Page the start of my soil warming process.. polys 's down, soil moisture trapped, solar warming has begun   Friday, April 14 View Page soil temp at 6 inches down (frozen ground) after that..so serious soil warming will start soon as I need to put the plants in the ground in the next 7 days or so..to keep on schedule   Friday, April 14 View Page os giant cabbage start   Friday, April 14 View Page Cornish giant start   Monday, April 24 View Page concrete blankets and such laid down and radiant heat is turned on to maximize soil warming , since the nights were still dipping into the high 20's at nite   Monday, April 24 View Page now all warmed up , amendments added and tilled in   Monday, April 24 View Page pic for last post   Monday, April 24 View Page trans plants at Day 20 above ground...2230 showing early indications of a double vine..crap..we will see   Monday, April 24 View Page 2145 ready to hit dirt at day 20 above ground   Monday, April 24 View Page greenhouse within a greenhouse for the next 10 days or so ,as we wait for the temps to climb into the 40's at night 2145 is in at the left and my 1469 is on the right in a back up role   Tuesday, May 9 View Page the 2145 at day 35 .. the main is down now and at the 6 ft mark... pretty aggressive plant   Tuesday, May 9 View Page closer look at the 2145...trying a new approach at weed control this year with the landscape fabric...the plan is to pull more away as the plant grows   Tuesday, May 9 View Page the 1 st female is showing on the 2145..not sure what to think about it ...if showing to pollinating takes 10 days .. that would make it around the 18th or so .. still pretty early ..umm   Tuesday, May 9 View Page 2230 still has double vine issues..day 35   Tuesday, May 9 View Page vine tip of the 2230   Tuesday, May 9 View Page 1469 Marshall ..backup to 2230   Tuesday, May 9 View Page back up to back up ..if 2230 gets yanked   Wednesday, May 24 View Page time to update the season so far , this is the 2145 McMullen Day 50 above ground, this plant is cruising right along , but not without a few quirks   Wednesday, May 24 View Page the 1st female slash side vine all fused together, the secondary broke on its on ..weird #2 is showing and should be ready for a early june pollination   Wednesday, May 24 View Page side view of the 2145   Wednesday, May 24 View Page the 1469 marshall as backup to the 2145, this plant will be kept growing , until the 2145 proves itself   Wednesday, May 24 View Page this is the main plant in the other GH as of now , its another 1469 (2145x1317) as the2230 was pulled because of genetic problems   Wednesday, May 24 View Page last look at the 2230 main..yikes   Wednesday, May 24 View Page pollinated the 1469 today with the only 2 males I had off the 2145, there are 5 secondary's on each side behind it , so what the heck , the 2nd female is 10 days out , so a early pollination will give me 90 days or so till weigh -off, its a nice 4 lober   Wednesday, May 31 View Page pollinated another 1469 female today with a couple 2145 males , hard to tell from pic but it is a nice 6 lober, probably wont be a keeper ,but you never know   Saturday, June 10 View Page 1st pollination off the 1469 A plant..not in a great spot, ,but its staying for now ,dap 17   Saturday, June 10 View Page the pic   Saturday, June 10 View Page 1st pollination of the 2145 in background (2145x 2145) I plan on selfing the 2145 this year,   Saturday, June 10 View Page flower on the 2nd pollination on the 2145, opened on the 9th, finally a real nice symmetrical 5 lober   Saturday, June 10 View Page east gh with 2145 , and 1469 back up   Saturday, June 10 View Page 1469 A plant in west gh   Thursday, June 22 View Page over all patch shot , plants doing good plenty of leaf growth, now hoping the pollinations kick it in gear   Thursday, June 22 View Page potentials off the 2145 x 2145, weather has been cool and cloudy , so hoping one of them gets going   Thursday, June 22 View Page so far my best kin is off the 1469 (2145x1317)it is not in a great spot along the vine , but with a early weigh -off its hard to cull your biggest pumpkin..for me anyway   Thursday, June 22 View Page side view of the 1469 hopeful...also would like to give a big shout-out to Clint Nash, from the Utah giant pumpkin club for paying me a patch visit on his trip to Alaska , thanks buddy it was a good time , I definitely need to work on my long gourd trellis , after seeing pics of his..lol   Tuesday, July 4 View Page overall patch shot ,as you can see plant growth is about done ,pretty much done pruning , now waiting on some sun so pumpkin growth can be attempted   Tuesday, July 4 View Page so far my best hope at a new PB is off the 1469 A plant,its actually the only one who wants to grow, bummer it doesn't have much plant behind it   Tuesday, July 4 View Page and here it is .. I hate when I do that   Tuesday, July 4 View Page all in on this kin off the 2145x self .. but honestly nothing to get excited about.. so far.. but with only 2 days above 70 degrees here so far its been tough sledding   Tuesday, July 4 View Page 1469 B kin   Tuesday, July 4 View Page new wood shed..you know you are having a slow season when you post stuff like this ..lol   Tuesday, July 4 View Page water wheel ..what the heck   Saturday, August 5 View Page this is the pumpkin off the 1469B plant , a backup kin ,as the 2145 fruit had some issues.. then split big time.. it was a huge plant and a great grower, really aggressive   Saturday, August 5 View Page another look at the 1469B pumpkin , this plant wasn't even suppose to last this long , the plan was to prune it way back as the 2145 took off, another reason why I cram 2 plants in each gh , so if there problems with the chosen one , I still have something for the fair   Saturday, August 5 View Page my 2145 kin , looking kinda of iffy   Saturday, August 5 View Page my pumpkin off the 1469A plant , the weigh-off is only 24 days away , and this will probably be my biggest entry this year I hope to be taking 3 different 1469 kins off 3 different plants to the fair this year , since its the only weigh-off around and all 3 look differen tfrom each other   Saturday, August 5 View Page the 1469C kin, this plant has a 30 ft main ,with just a few secondaries as it was pruned way back into insurance mode   Saturday, August 5 View Page a look at the kins off the C and A 1469 plants, the C kin has some nice orange to it and shape   Saturday, August 5 View Page end of the greenhouse glance at the 2 kins, off the 1469   Saturday, August 5 View Page my only LG entry this year   Saturday, August 5 View Page and here's a pic for all the people in the 100 degree heat , taking on the way to kenai   Saturday, August 5 View Page sunrise   Wednesday, August 30 View Page harvest time ,as today is weigh-off day at the ak state fair   Wednesday, August 30 View Page contestant # 1 off the 1469 B plant   Wednesday, August 30 View Page and onto the trailer   Wednesday, August 30 View Page and the 1469 C is airborne   Wednesday, August 30 View Page lifting crew ( son and son in law) along with ch 11 news as it heads for a landing   Wednesday, August 30 View Page 2 down one to go   Wednesday, August 30 View Page ch 11 wondering why I have to take a sawsall to the greenhouse   Wednesday, August 30 View Page some times that's the only way to get them out..as 1469 A emerges   Wednesday, August 30 View Page please don't drop that on my truck.. but a new one would be nice..   Wednesday, August 30 View Page and touchdown everyboby can relax now.. no drama this year lol   Wednesday, August 30 View Page my buddy Bruce once again did a great job on the lifts,it would almost be impossible to grow up here without acess to a boom truck, it can be done but its a pain   Wednesday, August 30 View Page well, its off to the fair and see how we make out   Wednesday, August 30 View Page also I big congrats to my daughter Kayla who just graduated from UAA with a BS in nursing and patch dog Sitka who didn't I might have to put here in charge of the fert program..   Friday, September 1 View Page this is a look at the weigh off entries , in the forefront is the 1231 Iles, next is the 594 marshall (orange ) then the 839 marshall and far right is the 1172 marshall..all 3 are 1469 x 2145 cross   Friday, September 1 View Page a better look, the 1231 has a lot of squash in it a nice pale green color, the other 3 are all from my 1469 cross but all of them look different, the 594 was grown on a super small plant , the 839 on about 1/2 plant as it was pruned way back to allow the 2145 to grow, and the the 1172 was set at 7 ft out (probably a mistake ) and was left to grow, as it was the only kin growing at any pace at the time.. in our short season I feel you need to capture as many growing days as possible, the bonus part was all the plants looked really healthy, so that was a positive   Friday, September 1 View Page In case your wondering , are weigh off is really small never more than 2 or 3 entries usually, sometimes only one so they allow us to weigh as many as you want but you can enter only one . This allows the audience to have a longer weigh off experience and lets a 30 lb pumpkin to finish 3rd and win 250 bucks a win win situation   Tuesday, December 26 View Page my new project,I was thinking about moving my long gourds to a new location with a higher trellis, unfortunately in my local I need to build a high tunnel for it, so this is my first attempt   Tuesday, December 26 View Page It will also give me a better chance at other options ,giant tomatoes or cucumbers ..ect..plus I,ll never have to remove the snow from it ..bonus   Tuesday, December 26 View Page The 5 bows were hand bent out of schd 40 1" galv pipe , they slid into 1 1/4 galv pipe posts, pounded 3 to 4 ft into ground . the rest is 1" fencing material..   Tuesday, December 26 View Page my post pounder , drove 5 ft lengths in super fast, worked great   Tuesday, December 26 View Page now just got add some baseboard ,a couple doors and some louvered openings for ventilation , then wiggle wire and gh film   Tuesday, December 26 View Page seed line-up for 2018 is pretty much set , staying on the west coast with seed selections this year..thx cindy