Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 54 Entries. Sunday, April 2 View Page Finally, a day to work in the patch! Winter rye mixture coming in nicely considering the cold harsh winter we had this year. Good luck to all for a great 2017 season!   Sunday, April 2 View Page Growing well...   Sunday, April 2 View Page Growing well...   Sunday, April 9 View Page My new seed germinating tent is set up and ready to go. Will be doing test germinations this week. Really hoping for a change in the weather sometime soon. We just finished our wettest March on record and now that trend has continued into April. Warmth and sun can't come soon enough.   Sunday, April 9 View Page My new seed germinating tent is set up and ready to go. Will be doing test germinations this week. Really hoping for a change in the weather sometime soon. We just finished our wettest March on record and now that trend has continued into April. Warmth and sun can't come soon enough.   Saturday, April 15 View Page Increased the size of the giant pumpkin patch this year. Hoping for great things!   Saturday, April 15 View Page Test germination successful...and only took 3 days. Getting exciting! Just need mother nature to cooperate, aside from sun today, we've been solidly in cool damp weather.   Wednesday, April 19 View Page And we're off! Babies done soaking and now onto the germination tent! Lineup this year includes 1018 Pelletier 2015 (Fridwulfa seeds), 1374 Engel 2014 (huge and ORANGE), 1143 Engel 2015 (another BIG and ORANGE pumpkin), 457 Pelletier 2016 (Sasquash seeds) and several top squash seeds from Don Langevin. Fingers crossed!   Sunday, April 23 View Page And we're up! Looking to get these in the ground around the 29th.   Tuesday, May 2 View Page Alien experiments? Nope... Giant jellyfish? Nope.. Just the pumpkins all nestled is their tents at night with a light to provide some heat for these cool spring nights.   Sunday, May 14 View Page 1018 Pelletier 2015 has been in the ground for about 2 weeks and the growth has been phenomenal considering the cold wet weather. Looks like we're going into a sunny warm stretch so will be eagerly anticipating some incredible growth the next few days. It's already to the point that the main is almost ready to start running. Had a bit of a setback with the 1374 Engel 2014 as I discovered after I pulled the plant that the main root apparently hadn't broken the seed casing free from the plant and it stopped growing. So, I replaced it with the 1143 Engel 2015 and it's growing very well! Also had a nice visit from Steve (Playful orangutan) as his seeds didn't germinate. So I let him have his choice of my other seedlings that didn't make it to the patch. Felt great about supporting a fellow grower in need!   Thursday, May 18 View Page Pelletier 1018 is still the strongest contender. Nice stretch of warm sunny days coming. Really hope to get it to lay down flat and start running! Shooting tendrils already.   Sunday, May 21 View Page Grawp (1018 Pelletier 2015) growing like crazy! Almost ready to bust its hoop house! Biggest leaves near 2ft across! This good weather came at just the right time!   Thursday, May 25 View Page Grawp (aka 1018 Pelletier 2015) is bursting out of the hoop house this morning with a week plus of warm sunny weather! Fingers crossed!   Sunday, May 28 View Page 1018 Pelletier 2015 is out in the open now. About 6ft and running.   Monday, May 29 View Page Well giant pumpkin fans...season may be over before it begins. Had a squirrel attack this morning even with the fencing surrounding the plant. There were several wounds, this being the largest. I've sulphured the wounds and will keep my fingers crossed. #ihatesquirrels   Wednesday, May 31 View Page And the squirrel carnage continues... This time on my giant squash (Hulk) vine. Completely severed the main vine. Will have to rip it out and start all over. Not impressed...   Wednesday, May 31 View Page I simply cannot express enough thanks to fellow pumpkin grower and reigning Howard Dill Award (prettiest pumpkin) winner Kate Mumford! She saw my current pumpkin /squirrel blight and out of the goodness of her heart offered me two excellent seedlings she had left over from this year's planting. We may still have a season folks!   Monday, June 5 View Page Was very excited with the 1018 Pelletier 2015 progress yesterday. Seemingly doing fine after multiple injuries to the main vine from squirrel attacks. New growth continues and the vine is at around 9ft now with a female blossom already appearing! However, went out to check on the garden before bed last night....and found yet another chewed section of the main that I hadn't been able to trench because it wasn't laying flat. It can happen that fast...Still not a catastrophic injury...but how much can this continue!?!?! Squirrel count this morning - not 1, not 2...SIX! 6! SIX!!! The only other good news is that the seedlings that went in the ground last week are doing fine and, as yet, untouched.   Tuesday, June 6 View Page This is the reason I'm trying so hard to keep Grawp healthy and growing...leaves now 25" across and continue to grow. Vine at 9ft and amazingly, has bounced back from the last squirrel attack. All squirrel deterrents now in place (owl decoys, double fencing, pepper sprinkle around plants, critter ridder spray applied and squirrel trap loaded). #ihatesquirrels   Friday, June 9 View Page Grawp (1018 Pelletier 2015) vine putting on some heft!   Sunday, June 11 View Page Grawp (1018 Pelletier 2015) looking especially healthy this evening! This vine is a survivor ?? #gardenlove #greenthumb #garden #giant #pumpkin #giantpumpkin #ihatesquirrels   Wednesday, June 14 View Page On a different subject... We have a long gourd! Very tricky to germinate (have 3 that have germinated!), but thanks to Glenn Dixon and Brad Wursten for the tips and seeds! Apparently these are very cool to see grow...so very much looking forward to watching these.   Thursday, June 15 View Page Wahoo! OMG OMG OMG! Success! So excited to be relocating this little terrorizer! #ihatesquirrels Thanks to Glenn Dixon for the tips!   Saturday, June 24 View Page A baby Grawp! (1018 Pelletier 2015) Fingers crossed in the next week... We may have a pumpkin!   Saturday, June 24 View Page A baby Grawp! (1018 Pelletier 2015) Fingers crossed in the next week... We may have a pumpkin!   Thursday, June 29 View Page Here we go! Pollinated a very nice looking female out around 12ft on the main this morning. This is a few days earlier than in previous years. Baby Grawp soon to come!   Thursday, July 6 View Page This is the difference between yesterday and today on the 1018 Pelletier 2015 I self pollinated earlier. It's about 12ft out. There's another good looking female at about 16ft that I'll pollinate this weekend and then choose between the two. So far so good!   Wednesday, July 12 View Page Have great hopes for this one. It's on the 1018 Pelletier 2015 at 16ft on the main vine and perfect position with a nice long stem. Fingers crossed!   Wednesday, July 12 View Page Meanwhile, pollination #1 on the 1018 Pelletier 2015 is growing very well! Day 11   Wednesday, July 12 View Page Here's my size reference point for this year. He's 8.5 inches tall and can't wait for him to be dwarfed in size by the pumpkin!   Wednesday, July 12 View Page The 1018 Pelletier 2015 is growing well! Did some major vine reorganization last night because the second flower I went to pollinate was less than ideal (deformed 4 lobes). So, this may be the contender!   Sunday, July 16 View Page Steady gains on the 1018 Pelletier 2015. Hoping for some slightly warmer weather here (but hoping for rain in the interior...bad wildfires in BC this year).   Saturday, July 22 View Page Grawp (1018 Pelletier 2015) is growing well! Over 100lbs now.   Wednesday, July 26 View Page Well, this is the earliest I have been over 200lbs in a season. Fingers crossed it keeps going and stays healthy!   Tuesday, August 1 View Page So, my goal was to get to 200lbs by August 1st. Here is Grawp (1018 Pelletier 2015) sitting at 364 lbs and averaging 30+lbs a day now. Fingers crossed things keep chugging along!   Friday, August 4 View Page We're having a heatwave here in BC and it's really helping the pumpkin pack it on. Currently averaging around 37 lbs a day. Near 450lbs now. It's a long way to October, so not letting myself get too excited yet!   Tuesday, August 8 View Page Day 40 and looking very nice. Doing everything I can to keep it growing strong and healthy.   Friday, August 11 View Page Day 43: 1018 Pelletier 2015 OTT 313.   Tuesday, August 15 View Page 1018 Pelletier 2015 still chugging along and looking good!   Thursday, August 17 View Page Had to completely disassemble and reassemble the shade structure today because it was too small. However, it gave me a chance to fully check out how the 1018 Pelletier 2015 was doing and get a nice pic of it fully uncovered. Looking good!   Thursday, August 17 View Page And with the new shade structure built. Got lots of room to grow now and ready for the eventual return of wet weather. Grow baby grow!   Wednesday, August 23 View Page Here's Grawp (1018 Pelletier 2015) at day 55. OTT 348 and still putting on about 15lbs per day. Long way to the competition, so focus is on keeping it healthy and slowly packing on more weight!   Monday, August 28 View Page Day 60 for the 1018 Pelletier 2015 - OTT 357. Having some great weather, so hoping to keep the gains going.   Thursday, September 7 View Page Day 70 for the 1018 Pelletier 2015. Growing slow but sure. OTT 367   Thursday, September 7 View Page Meanwhile, my backup pumpkin (1221 Barber 2015) which was planted a month later is at day 37 and OTT 268. Isn't it perrrrrty!?!   Sunday, September 10 View Page Day 73 and OTT right around 369. Looking good and still growing! 27 days and counting to the competition.   Thursday, September 21 View Page Giant pumpkin update: Here's some fun irony for you... Pumpkin #1 is Grawp (1018 Pelletier 2015), still growing strong and just around what I hope will be a whopping 1,200 lbs. I was trying to get it to go more orange, but it seems determined to turn a bit green in places. Still a great looking pumpkin.   Thursday, September 21 View Page Pumpkin #2 is Hulk which was supposed to be a bright green squash and ended up going a beautiful orange. It's about 550 lbs. Looking forward to our competition on Saturday, Oct. 7th.   Thursday, September 21 View Page And lastly, Sserpo (1221 Barber 2015) is sooooooo pretty! Sitting at 600lbs and just over a week until this one goes to compete in Washington at the Skagit Valley Giant Pumpkin Competition.   Saturday, September 30 View Page Skagit Valley Pumpkin Festival today. Took home 8th place at 629lbs and a coveted Howard Dill Award! Thrilled! And was fantastic to meet the local growers!   Wednesday, October 4 View Page Apparently my pumpkin made the front page of the Vancouver Sun! Hope it generates lots of interest in our weigh off this weekend. Also hope it brings some smiles to people's faces in the midst of some pretty awful news stories lately.   Saturday, October 7 View Page Super thrilled with how our BC weigh off event went! I had fun emceeing and meeting all of the returning and new growers. Scott Carley of Langley (Spambie) broke the long standing BC record of 1,536.5 lbs with his amazing 1,543 lb HEAVY monster. It went 20% heavy! I came in second place with Grawp weighing in at 1,176 lbs. A new PB for me and now the largest pumpkin ever grown in North Vancouver. My field pumpkin also tied the BC record at 56lbs. I'm super stoked for next season!   Sunday, October 8 View Page I don't mess around - patches cleared, amendments added and tilled in and cover crop of red clover, fall and winter rye and nitrogen fixing legumes planted. Bring on 2018!!!