Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 171 Entries. Monday, January 16 View Page Here's to 2017! Unusual to have snow on the ground for a month or more in western Washington. The hill to the left of the contraption is a new mulch pile. This is where I grew 2 plants last year with 11 fruits totaling 2400 lbs. A great first year success! The largest were 462 and 441.5. 50 lbs of potatoes also from the same hill as the pumpkins. I used the 1122 Emmons (1662 Stelts x 1610 Leiber) and the better of the two plants did produce about 1500 lbs of fruit so I think the genetics in some of the Emmons seed is as good as its parents. I did not prune tertiaries but I did prune the vine ends. The plants were about 450 and 350 sq. ft. 800 total. Why the second plant produced less lbs per sq foot I'm not sure, but it also had smaller leaves and wilted sometimes... The first plant never wilted much at all! An excellent plant!   Thursday, April 6 View Page Annakin's tomato starts... My pepper starts. Less than 50% germination so far.   Thursday, April 6 View Page Too much water / rotten roots. A dampening fungus I'm guessing perhaps also caused also by inconsistent temps. It did not freeze - just looks like it. Having the same problem in the peppers and tomatoes. But we don't need 40 tomato and pepper plants. Those which germ. will be the ones we grow. Also lost were all three of my (811 Gerhardt x self) Schweigerts. Bummer.   Thursday, April 6 View Page Wilted pumpkin is my daughters. She is taking it well we already planted a couple 334 House seeds. Her first plant is dying...but her new plants will emerge soon. It's the circle of life. I asked her if she wanted to grow a big pumpkin or an orange pumpkin. She said "Big AND orange!"... but she is gonna have to be happy with orange this year. Might have put a 1775.5 Sperry in if she had wanted big. I let her look at my collection of House seeds and she chose the 334. Thank you Mr. House!! My other daughter is a year younger and too young to grow a pumpkin... She is growing a giant radish. It's doing ok so far... Everyone is very excited and hopeful.   Friday, April 7 View Page Seed weight vs seedling size. Germinating seeds ranging from .27 to .72 grams. The difference would be more pronounced but I threw in some medium sized seeds in the last nine cells on the right so the heavy seed weight plants are still visibly standing out but those some of those farthest to the right and half of the row second farthest to the right are medium seed weight (.5 grams or so). This initial variation in size does NOT actually show which plants are superior genetically. See next post... However the smaller plants are about a week behind or so and will not catch up until six to eight weeks later. See next post!   Friday, April 7 View Page About 8 weeks later half of the seedlings in the picture in the previous post have rotted away. There is no connection between the current distribution of health and vigor and the original seed weights. The tray is reversed in this picture. There may still be slightly more plant material on the left (still) but in terms of numbers and percentages of healthy surfing seedlings from the original setup there is no anomaly which would indicate that the smaller weight seeds were genetically inferior.   Friday, April 7 View Page Another pic. They look terrible but they are actually doing surprisingly well for their circumstances. Considering they are in my care they should all be dead by now. Good genetics...   Monday, April 10 View Page 334 House looking GREAT. Will not cull one instead will leave the second as a "for her little sister" pumpkin. Growing two plants out of the same pot worked fine last year.... 2400 lbs of pumpkins!!! I don't have a dump truck load of goat manure mixed with alfalfa (then left to compost for 2-3 years) to plant into this year, though, so it will certainly be a challenge for me to be that successful again. In the ground yesterday... (2) 1775.5 Sperry (1813 Northrup x 1676.5 Daletas) 1293.5 Benson (2145 McMullen x self) 903.5 Schweigert (811 Gerhardt x 1610 Lieber) HD winner   Monday, April 10 View Page My job is to eat critters that eat pumpkins. Sometimes my name is Pumpkin, sometimes it's Kitty.   Monday, April 10 View Page Feed me now!!!   Monday, April 10 View Page I'm the one who actually catches some voles. Everyone calls me Max. If a pumpkin-monkey yells "C. Maximus!" I wag my tail and get excited... because I love pumpkins. But may I please confess to you that I don't love Pumpkin-the-Kitty.   Wednesday, April 12 View Page ...Feed me too! (no pic with previous post...)   Thursday, April 20 View Page 1775.5 Sperry rescued. One of two cracked seeds, the other rotted completely. With this one the cots started to rot so I removed the seed coat, cut the rot off, and positioned it in an "already sprouted" position with its small root in the dirt. The cots were still totally white when I did this and had not separated. A mist of water a few times a day to keep the premature cots from drying out... & now it's looking well.   Thursday, April 20 View Page 150 sq ft patch not quite ready. Four-leaf-clover layout... 3 or 4 plants will grow out from shared dirt & manure pile (to be created in the center at the location of the yellow bag). The short transit from where I will start the plants, one from each corner of the mound in the center, to the main patches, will be about three feet (an allotment of six square feet for this is seen roughly marked by the smaller boards). The main portion of each patch will each be 12x12 for the remaining 144 sq ft. I'll have up to four identically shaped patches in the end, but as of now I have not planted or fully completed any of them yet and in fairness to the "only one patch" rule I will declare now that my 150 sq ft competition entry will be grown in the only area with both lower and upper railing--in this picture it's the area in the upper right corner. This will be my competition patch. It will be easy to distinguish because it has a cherry tree growing in it and some other small shrubs too. And I don't think any of the the other patches will get the upper second railing.   Thursday, April 20 View Page A plastic cucumber container spreads granular fertilizer perfectly through the holes in the bottom. The fertilizer comes out evenly & comes out only when I shake it. Any clumps will either stay in the container or break apart. I may put up to two lbs on each patch to establish some baseline fertility. I don't want them getting too much nitrogen but oh well this was the bast value with the least nitrogen. I may add some Dolomite lime product too. Maybe some Epsom salt too. That's it for fertilizer. It's gonna be compost tea and low nitrogen chelated foliar fertilizer from now on. Hopefully that's all they're gonna want.   Thursday, April 20 View Page 150 sq ft plant & The main lineup. 1992.5 Vincent from Alaska Seed Giveaway... thanks, PatrickW. This will be my seed of choice for the 150 sq ft competition. Hopefully the fact that it was free, (other than postage), levels the playing field. Also I think if I say this is the plant I'm going with before I compare it to all the others I am growing will also help level the playing field with anyone who is growing less pumpkins. I will have about twenty different seeds and nearly 100 plants to choose from by planting time so with just the root tip out on the 1992.5 it's time for me to say I'm going with this one. I know the root is out because I planted them at an angle, upside down, and it's easy to brush away the dirt and see who is germinating and who is not. 1533.5 Kline squash 1047 Barlow pumpkin/squash 1929.5 Barlow pumpkin 993.2 Vincent/McGill 2008 1462 Gibson 2007 1653 Foss I'm not sure the older seeds will sprout. The seeds with no year listed will be emerging soon... The plant markers are from a cut up plastic container, marked with permanent marker. Not the best system maybe but it's free. These markers happen to look like tombstones. What else is in the graveyard: Some glass gem corn and some low germ. seed from a pumpkin that rotted.   Sunday, April 23 View Page Pic that was supposed to be with the previous post.   Sunday, April 23 View Page Arrgh! This seedling mix is not all good. Let me rant because it's not the only one. This is a ball of pure sand in a mix that is already too sandy. Another seedling mix I bought had sticks and wood which were also big enough to make me think, "Isnt it their job to sift this stuff?" I guess not. Like everything available at your local big box store, more than half of it is no better than garbage we just keep putting our faith in the wrong place... Except the "sand ball seedling mix" came from a local growing store. The best of the three has been the Black Gold brand. Garden & Bloome was the sandy one. The overly-peaty one which I had rot issues with was Jobe's. The price was about the same for all three. Maybe the others are normally good. I'm not comfortable endorsing any product just ranting... A good company can make a bad batch sometimes I'm sure--but with something as simple as sifting dirt--it's so basic... how do you mess that up? I guess by simply not doing their job.   Sunday, April 23 View Page Pic which goes with previous post. Ball of sand I just broke apart. Seedling mix I purchased was not sifted at all... How could there be a ball of soft, pure sand if it was sifted? Why would more than one brand sell me seedling mix that seemed to be unsifted? Maybe there is some reason--besides the very minimal cost--they don't? I just don't understand this... I guess next year I will make my own instead.   Sunday, April 23 View Page Arrgh! This seedling mix is not all good. Let me rant because it's not the only one. This is a ball of pure sand in a mix that is already too sandy. Another seedling mix I bought had sticks and wood which were also big enough to make me think, "Isnt it their job to sift this stuff?" I guess not. Like everything available at your local big box store, more than half of it is no better than garbage we just keep putting our faith in the wrong place... Except the "sand ball seedling mix" came from a local growing store. The best of the three has been the Black Gold brand. Garden & Bloome was the sandy one. The overly-peaty one which I had rot issues with was Jobe's. The price was about the same for all three. Maybe the others are normally good. I'm not comfortable endorsing any product just ranting... A good company can make a bad batch sometimes I'm sure--but with something as simple as sifting dirt--it's so basic... how do you mess that up? I guess by simply not doing their job.   Sunday, April 23 View Page Seed Bingo. Rows are by .1 grams, columns by .01 grams. If a seed weighs .69 grams it goes in row ".6" column ".09". The scale is fast and accurate. The drop test or any other method is just a guess. This really tells you what is inside the seed the only guess is how much of the weight is the seed coat itself so strip off some seed coats and weigh them. Small profile seeds can weigh just over .3 grams and still be very good seeds. I now have a .366 gram 1109 Borgers up and doing well. Seeds with large seed coats ideally are at .6 grams (or more) but there may be a lot viable seeds in the .4's and .5's.   Thursday, April 27 View Page 319.5 House Cinderella goes hydroponic... starting as one of my top five healthiest seedlings (out of twenty or so) but yesterday it suddenly started to decline rapidly like the limp seedling I posted a little while ago. I have a couple more 319.5 seeds but this one was doing great and I'm going to see if I can intervene successfully rather than watch a second plant go down... I put it in a half pint (8oz) jar with distilled water with a few drops of 32% H202. This has now restored the plants turgor, and it appears to still be growing. It appears to be healthy once again. Tomorrow I will re-pot it into new seedling mix. How tedious... but it was a good plant.   Thursday, April 27 View Page Slow start to the year. Plants pilling up on the kitchen table. Where do we eat?!? Worst winter and one of the worst springs ever here. It's bad enough that I care about growing pumpkins... it's really bad when we can't sit at the kitchen table. Cold rain for days... weeks... months. At best, spring in Washington is half nice and half not, at worst it gets down to to just a couple of nice days per month. I know it's cold elsewhere too this year...   Thursday, April 27 View Page After a bit of a rough start, 900 Gansert is coming along nicely. 900 Gansert x 800 McMullen?   Thursday, April 27 View Page 1114.5 Minor, big cots. 1462 Gibson 07, the oldest seed I have germinated--lower left--it's definitely healthy now. 811.5 Schweigert, monocot start / looking great now. ....Thanks to these growers for their seeds!!!!!   Thursday, April 27 View Page Very healthy starts from some seeds from Carl Haist. 1505.5 Haist seeds were so small and being from 2012 I figured they might not be very good... Some are very good. A couple 1415 Haist seeds looking good... Thank you, Mr. Haist! Another thanks I want to mention that I got a really fat pack of seeds from a grower in LaSalle, Michigan... some great genetics that I plan to use & thanks very much...! One more mention... To everyone who contributed indirectly to me via the seed exchange, thank you. The orange cosmos was my contribution fyi. It should like "pumpkin patch soil" so maybe with just a little effort you can grow a small spot of it. Sorry about the editing here it's probably a mess and elsewhere too my posts are so long & sometimes make errors in my posts. Sorry!   Tuesday, May 2 View Page Old rotted hay flakes set out like tiles, soon to be covered with dirt.   Tuesday, May 2 View Page 150 sq ft patch... old hay.   Tuesday, May 2 View Page Covering hay with dirt. I planted about 5 lbs of small potato sets in all the gaps between the hay bales. A few are visible in the previous picture... if you look really close!! It took three entire rotted bales to cover the 150 sq ft, and around the perimeter also.   Tuesday, May 2 View Page 150 sq ft patch. My strategy may be more oddball than winning--but we'll see--the plan is that the hay will be the perfect food for enriching the soil. I already put four or five bales in this spot last fall, and now I've added more. Other than attracting voles, I think potatoes are a good crop to mix with the pumpkins. The potatoes will enjoy the shade later in the summer... and the pumpkin will not mind growing over onto (and grabbing) the potato vines. And I will enjoy having an understory of food rather than pernicious weeds... unless the voles eat all of them. Please--email me if you know how to get rid of voles. Thanks!   Tuesday, May 2 View Page 150 sq ft patch. My strategy may be more oddball than winning--but we'll see--the plan is that the hay will be the perfect food for enriching the soil. I already put four or five bales in this spot last fall, and now I've added more. Other than attracting voles, I think potatoes are a good crop to mix with the pumpkins. The potatoes will enjoy the shade later in the summer... and the pumpkin will not mind growing over onto (and grabbing) the potato vines. And I will enjoy having an understory of food rather than pernicious weeds... unless the voles eat all of them. Please--email me if you know how to get rid of voles. Thanks!   Tuesday, May 2 View Page One of the 1221.5 Emmons x self planted at my parents about two weeks ago. No heating cables & just a small polycarbonate cover which was open at both ends. It appears to be growing a bit faster than the slugs are eating.   Tuesday, May 2 View Page Also at my parents: 334 House's are still alive but not liking the cold as much as the 1221.5 Emmons x self. Growing very slowly. Worried a rabbit or mole could kill these at any time. A happier mention--the 1992.5 Vincent will be in the ground very soon, today possibly, for the 150 sq ft competition! Next pic will be... 1992.5 Vincent in the ground. Who else will see dirt this week idk. An original 1221.5 Emmons '12 and the 811.5 Schweigert are growing the best so far, and multiple Haist plants starting to pick up speed. My gut feeling is that the 1505.5 Haist has great potential. Good luck everyone. Feel free to email me.   Sunday, May 7 View Page 150 sq ft planted today. 1992.5 Vincent. Not one of my best plants it's about average. Got rolled by the wind a little so I planted a back up in case it does it was damaged, or it doesn't do well for any other reason. Backup will be 1514 White 2014. Probably planted it a week too early cold tonight and low pressure on the way. I'm ahead of last year by a couple weeks for better or worse. A lot of work... mole repellent, slug killer, temporary wire cage and polycarbonate cover. Nothing fancy all very basic but it took a long time. Half the work was getting the measurements right for the little six sq ft extension. It measures 26" x 3 ft. Subtract the area that overlaps with the 144 sq ft area so in total the added area pictured here comes out to exactly six square feet. A lot of hassle to eke out that last sq ft. But it turned out well. The cedar boards have been easy to work with... it is easy to screw them to stakes in the ground. Now everything is in place and won't move so now for the fun part... to grow a pumpkin.   Sunday, May 7 View Page 150 sq ft backup... 1514 White 2014. Yes, overwatered. I'm getting lazy. Soil mix is my own mix never tested. And Im testing it on a good --supposedly rare--seed. I should know better.   Sunday, May 7 View Page On the other hand... all of these were germinated in ordinary garden soil AND the soil was overly wet. No fancy care at all... 53 of 72. This was random seed from the floor sweepings jar with a fancy setup and good sterile soil maybe a dozen more would have made it. I dont know the what the percentage of viable seed was but clearly yes it's possible to save money and cull out the weak ones at the same time ha ha. You can see I'm not very professional.   Tuesday, May 9 View Page Four identical patches. I might do eight 150 sq ft patches but right now I'm at four. Competition patch is upper right...1992.5 Vincent. 1514 White backup. A 1245.5 Werner backup backup. Well look what happens when I try to get fancy I get red scribbles I'm no expert at pumpkins or Apple software either. Anyhow I would not favor one plant or grower but Haist is kicking butt with good looking plants so they are in... Five of them so far... In the picture clockwise is a 1415 Haist, 1505.5 Haist double planted and 811.5 Schweigert. Also 1775.5 Sperry is growing like a mutant monster so it's in @ top of picture with some others also making the first round, 462 Clayton, 1221.5 Emmons, 1122 Emmons and another 1505.5 Haist. 38 degrees out this morning... I'll take it gladly. In pumpkin land 38 is way better than 35 or 36.   Thursday, May 11 View Page The plants are coming along well. No chickens, moles, slugs, etc. yet. I pray the 1514 White will come through. The 1992.5 looks ok so it's staying but I want the Fulk x Fulk genetics in the 1514 and I will probably plant the 1245.5 Werner also. I don't have space for twenty plants really but I have two directives this year: make as many good crosses as possible and to sell pumpkins. So extra plants is good.   Tuesday, May 16 View Page Hail damage... 1114.5 Minor   Tuesday, May 16 View Page Chicken damage. One leaf left, vine is bent... 1122 Emmons   Tuesday, May 16 View Page Slug damage?... 1109 Borgers   Tuesday, May 16 View Page Cold damage. No growth, leaves turning yelllow. Had to adjust the photo to show the true color. The iPhone was making it look more green. Good for showing off how healthy your plants are but not so good for showing how unhealthy they are...   Tuesday, May 16 View Page So cold and wet even the bindweed is dying. Do we win the worst winter award? Just kidding... It suffering from some glyphosate. But don't shed any tears... it will recover in a week or two. This is a 1505.5 Haist. Previous post was the 1415 Haist in the 150 sq ft allotment.   Tuesday, May 16 View Page 1415 Haist's patch. 3 bales of hay added. Sharing space with a beehive. In the race to the flowers the bees have a 100 ft head start. (Their house is 100 ft closer than mine). A story of pollination failure from last year: I year I had my two plants and the first had four male flowers set to open and the other had none. Since no one near me grows AGs or squash I figured I could go out of town and still get a mostly controlled cross. I thought why not let the bees do their job and set the female on the first plant? They did not! I had to wait two more weeks...until July 21st. Some bees sit on their bee-hinds and don't do any work while the boss is away. The truth is they were actually very busy working other kinds of flowers. Bees like pumpkins somewhat but pumpkins are rarely the first item on their shopping list.   Tuesday, May 16 View Page And 3 bales of hay on the 1505.5's patch. I will plant potatoes between the flakes and cover with it all with dirt. I'm not sure if this is a great way to garden or not we'll see... all I can say right now is the hay is over ten years old so additional weeds from the hay itself should be very minimal. Most everything a disaster so far this year, but I remain hopeful...   Tuesday, May 16 View Page Time for a break from pumpkins... just kidding lol. Last year me & Rosy, & 441.5 Clayton. Following two weeks of cold rain, it was nice weather @ the Country Farm and Feed weigh off, our last weigh off of the year. Not many people there but I enjoyed it a lot. Photo in photo credit: Anna Clayton   Wednesday, May 17 View Page Maybe this years theme will be "small"... I saw this and I thought, "did some random bird lay an egg in with my hens?" It's a chicken egg! I am sorry to bore you with non-pumpkin posts but this may be as close to a world record as I get this year so I beg you for your non-pumpkin mercy. Let's find out if it's a world record...   Wednesday, May 17 View Page Only twice as big as the world record. Now if I could just say that about one of my pumpkins.   Wednesday, May 17 View Page Who wants some of my own amazing line of unusually large seeds I call them: "Pumpkin Seeds as Big as a Chicken Egg" I could see my own breath at 6:36 pm today. I guess I should switch my goal and try to "grow the smallest pumpkin ever" but silly me I'm hoping to win the 150 sq ft competition. The way things are going right now 400-600 lbs is where they are gonna be. Reality check: I am not on track to win. If I want win I've really got to try harder. I've got to get this pumpkin-growing-thing in gear. Wish me the best, please. Sorry for poor editing in my previous posts!   Wednesday, May 17 View Page Charles Dowding rototiller. This one is as long as the tines on my rototiller... which I am no longer using. In the future I will probably do a rotation of corn, winter mustard, potatoes & pumpkins, and maybe some vegetables, then winter re-manure & herbicide, in rotation in the future, with no tilling. I think think the worm could have measured 10" but it didn't want to cooperate. Uh... it was cold out.   Friday, May 26 View Page The 319.5 House (white Cinderella type) is now recovered and growing normally. Previously it had suffered having all the soil removed from its roots and it was then repotted, because I was trying to save it from a fatal bacterial or fungal wilt. Seems to have worked... it's next to a comfrey-family-relative type of bush that is providing partial shade.   Saturday, May 27 View Page On third base ready to go in: left to right 1162 LaRue, 1774.5 Carter, 774 Minor, and the current star of the show: 1775.5 Brungard. But they are all healthy and look great. These were grown in these pots in garden soil... no potting mix used. Good result, a little magnesium deficiency showing though... so I should have mixed in some dolomite lime. The nice thing about starting seeds in patch soil is it will tell you if you have a problem... it's a free nutrition/pathogen test. But older or damaged seeds should probably be planted with care in a good quality sterile mix.   Saturday, May 27 View Page Potatoes coming along in one of the other 150 sq ft patches. (150 sq ft of potatoes). Im thinking as the pumpkin grows over the potatoes I will throw some sifted dirt on the pumpkin vines and it will help bury the potatoes too.   Saturday, May 27 View Page Gross factor here feel free to skip this post. Redneck fertilizer / throwing the mole in the hole under the 1929.5 Barlow which is going in the ground today. The moles do so much damage to all plant roots and then they are followed by voles. A really good fertilizer might be: roadkill buried in wood ash. The ash contains potassium lye and dissolves the corpse. N P and K all in one. Hopefully you have a different method of achieving good nutrition for your plants ;)   Saturday, May 27 View Page 1929.5 Barlow planted and marked. I like how a post hole digger makes a hole that is the same size as a one gallon pot.   Saturday, May 27 View Page But then I decided to not deal with getting the plant to lay down, so I put the plant back in at an angle. In the process unfortunately I broke off half the roots trying to lift the root ball out. My beginners luck has run out...   Saturday, May 27 View Page The entire tray of seedlings from my first seed-weight experiment. Planted way back in February these scraggly plants are looking better every day. Still though, with a density of about twenty plants in one spot I doubt I will get more than a handful of NOT huge pumpkins off these plants. If any they'll probably weigh 100 lbs at most. We'll see...   Saturday, May 27 View Page 150 sq ft 1992.5 Vincent is growing now but until last week, and despite my wishes, the cold weather stunted all the plants that went out early. In the last three weeks I've gotten only about one week of actual growth. I should have made better covers for the plants... who knew the winter weather would drag on into mid May with back to back low pressure and now we've switched directly to summer weather. Usually summer waits until mid June but it's here early... Sometimes spring seems short, but we really skipped spring this year. I'm also dealing with some nutrient issues I think my main issues appear to be overly acidic soil and magnesium deficiency. As would be expected with heavy rain all winter and mulching heavily with hay/straw. Maybe I will get soil tests done this week to see where I'm at exactly. I think I can easily get started a month earlier next year if I make better covers and grow in gallon pots indoors. I would like to try pollinating mid-June but instead it's looking like most of the pollinations will happen around mid-July this year. Last year one pollinated in mid-August got to 263.5. I am (realistically) trying for 400 to mid-800 lbs this year. I believe I am not set up to possibly hit 1,000 I'm gonna stay in T-ball one more year. It's still fun.   Saturday, May 27 View Page 150 sq ft 1992.5 Vincent is growing now but until last week, and despite my wishes, the cold weather stunted all the plants that went out early. In the last three weeks I've gotten only about one week of actual growth. I should have made better covers for the plants... who knew the winter weather would drag on into mid May with back to back low pressure and now we've switched directly to summer weather. Usually summer waits until mid June but it's here early... Sometimes spring seems short, but we really skipped spring this year. I'm also dealing with some nutrient issues I think my main issues appear to be overly acidic soil and magnesium deficiency. As would be expected with heavy rain all winter and mulching heavily with hay/straw. Maybe I will get soil tests done this week to see where I'm at exactly. I think I can easily get started a month earlier next year if I make better covers and grow in gallon pots indoors. I would like to try pollinating mid-June but instead it's looking like most of the pollinations will happen around mid-July this year. Last year one pollinated in mid-August got to 263.5. I am (realistically) trying for 400 to mid-800 lbs this year. I believe I am not set up to possibly hit 1,000 I'm gonna stay in T-ball one more year. It's still fun.   Wednesday, May 31 View Page Highly variable seed. I noticed a yellow trait with some of my own 462 seed. The green one here seems to have potential despite some deformation of the cotyledons but otherwise normal. These seeds were similar in weight and all should have been good but there is a little dud here also and another plant was dying so I pulled it out already. I was surprised by the variability. I think it's genetic. Another possibility is a pathogen or invertebrate pest.   Sunday, June 4 View Page I put some old seasoning on this nice looking 1653 Foss to keep the chickens off it. I thought the garlic in the seasoning would keep them off it but instead they treated it like taco meat   Sunday, June 4 View Page Set out a late start it was looking ok but even with slug line they got almost all of it. Seems unwise to set out small plants.   Sunday, June 4 View Page These 1505.5 Haists have gotten buried twice by scratching chickens. Its a good thing these plants are tesilient in my experience they recover well sometimes from physical damage. Not sure about the nutritional imbalance here. Not quite normal yet.   Sunday, June 4 View Page 1114.5 Minor growing well as expected. Seems like a solid cross on paper and no problems here. Easily out growing the hail damage earlier. The soil in this spot is balanced I guess because growth is normal I dont know what the difference is yet but this is more or less the same dirt pile I had very good production from last year. I added leaves and hay some ash and piled it all back up. Nothing fancy added but yet again all (four this year) plants doing well atop this dirt pile.   Monday, June 5 View Page Cut the first of many vines at a patch boundary. This is the 1415 Haist. Many plants did a 180 degree rotation from the direction they were planted. This plant did a 90 degree turn. Since the strongest secondary is pointed in the correct direction I cut the main. I might have tried to save the main if this was the competition patch but its not. I'm curious to see how the secondary will do.   Monday, June 5 View Page 150 sq ft plant (1992.5 Vincent) is looking good. I know its not anywhere near the other growers but im happy with it. I'm on track or maybe a week ahead of where I was last year. I wish I was where the other growers are at but this plant is really coming along. I have nearly 4000 lbs of genetics (1992.5 x 1992.5) and the nutrition is looking better. I want this plant to grow a gorilla that will toss all the lightweight monkeys aside! 38 degrees out this morning. The vine on this plant looks great.. its a big vine but I dont need a huge vine. I need a flower and then some daily gains above 20 lbs.   Monday, June 5 View Page Last years 365 Clayton off the same plant as the 462... and the 263.5 and four or five others... interstingly this pumpkin was not blotchy no Calai spots like the 441.5 which grown on the other plant which was this one's sibling. I'm interested in figuring out the inheritance of these traits. PS: There was actually a very small bit of frost on my truck. 38 F is the magic number where frost starts, watch out for lower temps. No damage but a bit cold for June. Last year there was no freezing or frost after mid February which is extreme also.   Sunday, June 11 View Page Turns out there was some damage from the June frost. This is the ever-misfortunate white cinderella. I hope it comes back a second time. The 1929.5 Barlow got hit a little too. Only the plants in the coldest locations suffered any damage.   Sunday, June 11 View Page These chickens have gotten far under my skin... the 1415 Haist would be starting to be a monster plant but they ate a couple days worth of growth. I clipped the wing feathers of one of the culprits but if they manage to keep this up they are going to be finding a new home... or a pot of hot water. My patience is over and I have exhausted my arsenal of deterrents.   Sunday, June 11 View Page Well it looks like i accidentally took a picture of what i wanted to post... this is a wild cucumber plant growing at the ocean in Oregon. These plants are so healthy (and some already have spikey gherkin/cucumbers) its amazing to see these squash relatives thriving in their seemingly harsh natural environment. Certainly it can be noted from these plants thriving very near the coast that the tolerance for salt must be high, and that an acidic, sandy soil high in organics might be ideal, and that a mix of bright sun and extra misty rain is no problem.   Sunday, June 11 View Page The June frost damage picture   Sunday, June 11 View Page Frost damage in June... picture.. one more try...   Sunday, June 11 View Page Huge recovery from the last post of these. The girls' 334 House pumpkins. Looking so much better, actually they looks just as good as my best plants! The smaller plant has yellow vines maybe there will be a pumpkin color variation between the two. My moms pumpkin 1221 Emmons x self (pictured in back) had its main die in for some unknown reason. It was ahead early on & its now way behind... it has made almost no progress in the past month!   Tuesday, June 13 View Page 356 Borgers. Will try to cross with 334 House for a good genetically uniform cross. Gonna take a break from posting and go smartphoneless. If i get a new one it will not be an android nor iphone. Phone today was tracking my driving in terrible traffic today and sending me notes like "stuck in traffic? Here's some tips for making your next trip better" So creapy. I didnt even have the mobile location turned on. I dot know if it is listening to my conversation or tracking me without my consent (no doubt about that) but its just creeping me out. Feel free to email me if you want to talk pumpkins or whatever.   Saturday, June 24 View Page 150 sq ft plant went double.   Saturday, June 24 View Page It turns out the yellow leaf issue is genetic. It is common in these seeds and I guess it's unrelated to any environmental cause because no other seeds have done this. Nearly half the plants from the 1122 Emmons x sib crosses I made last year have this defective trait. Some are good though. But maybe the good ones may still carry a recessive gene for this.   Saturday, June 24 View Page 150 sq ft patch. There is a lot of space yet to go for this plant. This plant should be twice as big by now but I've had some nutrient deficiencies. The plants are about six ft long. I also had an invasion of moles. The day they showed up the vine growth went from six inches per day to three. It may take me a few weeks to win this newest war against the moles. Until then growth will probably remain modest. I have three or four weeks to get the plants on track and can still hope for a good result. Last year I had no pollinations prior to July 21st. I probably missed having a good one to take to the Puyallup fair but that was my fault. 1114.5 Minor had a nice one which would have been good for the fair. Made a mistake though---I cut it off. Just like last year, I'm again culling the flowers I should be keeping.   Monday, July 3 View Page 959 Holland x self. Got a handful pollinated on 6/30 this is 3 dap... not sure if the others will take but I think this plant is going good enough I expect this one will grow. The side vines are perfectly uniform and overall it's a good plant... pollinated one on the 1254.5 Holland on the 1st of July so it's 2 dap x 1114.5 Minor but it's most likely gonna get culled. Best plant this year and the only plant ahead of last year ( by a week at most) is the 1114.5 minor. It would have a pumpkin pollinated on it about now if I hadn't cut it off. Not the plants fault... it's a really great plant...   Friday, July 7 View Page Don't know why my pics are upside now. Was never an issue before. Well I wish I could post a bunch of pics. Culled a small fruit that was bending into the main. Gonna see if it tastes good it smells good maybe they are the same as summer squash... like a yellow crookneck. Gonna use some hay bales to prop up the vine in the 150 sq ft patch. I have an ok from Norm to use a support to get the pumpkin to grow bottom down, which should be interesting. Each of the split main vines has a pumpkin. Both will be ready to pollinate in about one week. My goal is 600 lbs. The plant is the 1992.5 Vincent. It seems to be growing every bit as fast as the others but there are some splits in the vine and it has two mains now. The patch is not quite half full I'm a couple weeks behind everyone... but that's ok. Will post pics next week I hope... and hopefully right side up.   Friday, July 7 View Page And in the 150 sq ft patch the 1992.5 Vincent is not as green as the others. But I'm not worried about this... because my better plant last year was noticeably lighter green than the sib. plant grown in the same hill. This lighter green plant produced a lot more lbs of fruit. Go figure. So in my experience a lighter green plant is not a bad trait. Maybe the growth rate is what matters more than anything else. Goal: 600 lbs.   Thursday, July 13 View Page Thing 1 and Thing 2 both mains have a pumpkin. 1992.5 Vincent in the 150 sq ft patch. This photo is at least a few days old. With how the flower looks its gonna be pollinated tomorrow. Got all my main pollinations in by the 14th. Not too bad. The 1114.5 Minor is gonna open tomorrow also, and I expect it will end up my biggest pumpkin--a personal best I think.   Thursday, July 13 View Page 959 Holland 10 DAP. My only June pollination... Culled the others. Looks great, growing great. Hope to take to the Puyallup fair 50 days from now. I hope it will reach 400 to 500 lbs by then. Again photo is from 3 days ago.   Friday, July 21 View Page 959 Holland doing well. Talk about the dark horse winning the race. This horse is a kinda white horse let's call her 'Tartar'.   Friday, July 21 View Page Lock your screen folks we may be in for a bumpy ride. This one is sideways. This pumpkin is hanging down it will be grown blossom down this is 1114.5 minor x 1254.5 holland. Not sure if this will be the keeper some others may grow faster idk it's the best right now.   Friday, July 21 View Page While you are still sideways... 1462 Gibson is a healthy plant. Pure Wallace x Pukos and it was larger than the venerable 1385 Jutras. Hoping to self this one later this year have a couple nice sets on it already. Cross my fingers that it is orange...   Friday, July 21 View Page Again sideways. Well this is culled a.g. squash and potatoes straight from the garden. The atlantic giants are good eating as summer squash they are like a yellow crookneck or yellow zucchini when picked at about baseball size. Better maybe. Unless u use systemic pesticides... Not necessary for me yet to do so and not sure I would want to.   Friday, July 21 View Page 811.5 at the end of its 150 allotment. This has been a good plant overall and based on an early cull I am fairly certain it will be orange. Growing over hay to get to a blossom-down position. Hoping for a Howard dilleryoo!!   Friday, July 21 View Page K sorry gonna break your neck with this one I promise no more turned over pics I just gotta get it posted: 150 sq ft 1992.5 Vincent is an awesome plant. It started a bit slow but it's as good or dare I say better than the 1114.5 minor. Anyhow I've gotten lucky if any plant could keep me in the competition it's this one. The patch will be full soon and I expect one of the pollinations will start to grow fast. The patch is a mess and the vine is split and doubled but of 50 or so plants that I put in the ground here there and everywhere... this plant actually is the big gorilla. I will go a bit far and say I think the 1992.5 has world record potential in it. Based upon what I'm seeing I honestly believe it's possible that this lineage has not been maxed out yet. Thumbs up for Biggorilla!   Sunday, July 30 View Page Patch update. This is my 150 sq ft entry doing pretty well now. Lol... Oops, wrong picture! Sorry to scare you!! ;) This is a couple years ago my girls with an Emmons pumpkin during a much appreciated patch tour. So the good news first, the 1992.5 150 sq ft Thing 1 and Thing 2 are starting to show some color (unexpectedly). Also the 1929.5 Barlow and 1472 Terry (a good vigorous plant!) showing some color possibly. I also think the 1774.5 Carter will get some color and its a speedy grower too. The 1462 Gibson has has a lot of color and I'm very happy. I don't remember exactly what I traded for this seed... some good stuff but I'm happy with any trade that gets me a great shaped large orange Wallace x Pukos pumpkin like this one. I don't know exactly how much color some of these will have but I'll take all the color I can get. And maybe not surprisingly the most gleamingly bright is the 334 House which is an incendiary canary yellow and basically looks amazing even though its only about ten DAP. Which gets us started into the bad news... Unfortunately the cross was not controlled I think it must have gotten bee pollinated. And the bad news keeps coming. My 959 Holland had a nice shape and was on track to hit 600 lbs for the Puyallup fair. Well I hit it with my shovel and it went in over an inch. I believe its going to go downhill quickly it was just a little too deep a cut. It felt like butter these things are so soft. I will try washing with daconil and keeping it dry but like I said I think it was just too deep. And I won't have any Daconil until tomorrow if I can find any at all. Next its that the voles have eaten through the 1775.5 Sperry. All the way though the base of the plant. I think there are only a handful of voles which is good that there are not too many but how much damage can one or two voles do? Well i'm going to find out... Lastly I think I may give up on winning the 150 sq ft competition because I am unsure the split vine just will allow the allocation of resources to just one fruit. I have been measuring the growth of the fruit on both main vines and the growth of each is precisely identical to the other. Thing 1 and Thing 2 are identical. And since it turned out to be such a good plant I don't want to cull either of the crosses and I'm probably going to allow it to set one or two more fruit just so I can get a couple more good crosses. And one more which is I think is kinda funny... the chickens have been a little bit of a menace some of the vines have as many scratch marks as Frankenstein has stitches but the funny thing is that they have actually buried more vines this year than I have. They get next to the vine and start digging around and before you know it the vine is buried. It looks in some cases like it was done purposefully by a carefully doting pumpkin grower but alas its just the worm-crazed hens. Why did the chicken cross the road? To help you bury your pumpkin v   Sunday, July 30 View Page vines... Anyhow the chickens do a little damage, yes, but its far less than the damage done by this year's top three pumpkin culprits: 1) The moles, 2) the voles, and 3) myself.   Thursday, August 3 View Page 1462 Gibson vs traffic cone orange. Kids toy is about as orange as anything can be. Makes the pumpkin look yellow but I'm still impressed with the color. For a big pumpkin at twenty or twenty-five D.A.P. I don't think it gets much oranger than this. Not sure what this one measures but all of my plants are well under 20 lbs per day. Nothing is going to hit 1,000 this year...!   Thursday, August 3 View Page 1114.5 Minor also with excellent color. Growing fast it's already grown into the buckets twice in the few days since I took this picture.   Tuesday, August 8 View Page 150 sq ft "Thing 2". It's not a big gorilla yet. It's doing 10 lbs per day. It's brother is definitely not a big gorilla it's doing 4 lbs per day. These two pumpkins were pollinated each on its own main, on the same day, and were growing nearly identically until a week ago then the plant started favoring #2. It's past day 20 now and even if I cut #1 off it's looking unlikely it will ever get higher than fifteen per day or so. Not the 25 per day I wanted...   Tuesday, August 8 View Page 150 sq ft 1992.5 Vincent. This plant has mostly filled it's patch. Pumpkins are still hidden under green. The extra bit of plant to the right is a separate plant (1225.5 MacDonald). This is my mid-season picture. Soda can is visible set up on on the hacked off cherry tree. Hopefully I'm following the contest rules well enough.   Tuesday, August 8 View Page 1114.5 Minor about 25 DAP about 100 lbs. Nice orange color. Certainly not going to tip over... I don't know what to call this shape it's way beyond pear shaped... but it could make a funny face if it makes it to Halloween.   Tuesday, August 8 View Page 811.5 Schweigert. If you grow blossom down the upward growing pumpkin can kink the vine. The vine angle down to the pumpkin was very high on this one which makes it more prone to kinking later because the vine would have to be raised more to keep that high angle. The lowest angle that allows the vine to avoid the sides of the pumpkin would best? With a long stemmed pumpkin hanging down 90 degrees might work but a shorter stemmed one like this one... Well it's got to be angled down. This vine going into the pumpkin was angled down too steeply though and it kinked as the pumpkin grew up. Doing my best to deal with it... a great cross (x1462 Gibson) in the position I wanted. It's the one the plant wanted too so im trying to make it work.   Tuesday, August 8 View Page Dark line where it kinked near the stem. Done my best to straighten it a little for now.   Tuesday, August 8 View Page This one decided to climb the fence and grow blossom down all on its own. (1221.5 Emmons). 1992.5 Thing 1 or 2 seen through the fence in the background.   Tuesday, August 8 View Page I really like these orange cosmos. The color is very good and they are not so big that they will ever interfere with the pumpkins. I think they will bloom late into fall very well. Cosmos is one of the best late fall flowers in my experience. Anything that makes October less dreary... will be good for me and good for business!   Tuesday, August 8 View Page Ha ha ha. Gonna torture you with a second non-pumpkin pic. (There was a pumpkin plant partially in view in the last picture though... If you didn't notice the pumpkin plant in the cosmos picture... you are not a pumpkin addict. I'm sure you did though lol...) Half pound bell pepper. Hopefully I don't get totally obsessed with peppers or you will have to skip over my diary entirely! Much crisper than store bought. Flavor and freshness... no comparison.   Thursday, August 10 View Page 1462 Gibson glowing even after sunset. No sun on this pumpkin... where is all that brightness coming from when its dark out? Shape is still great, too. Not sure if it will weigh at all heavy. I hope so.   Thursday, August 10 View Page Sorry, another try. 1462 Gibson glowing even after sunset.   Thursday, August 10 View Page Leaves of the Gibson ... a lot of space between leaves can see the vine here because it spaces them somewhat apart.   Thursday, August 10 View Page 1723 Marshall also spacing its leaves apart...   Thursday, August 10 View Page 994 Garafano. Leaves tight like puzzle pieces. Is it strange that two of the older seeds have the wide spacing and none of the dozens of newer seeds show this wide spacing trait so much. Is perfect leaf coverage relevant to pumpkin weights? Probably so. Please email me if you will share your opinion on this. I'm curious to know if wide spaced leaves used to be more common. Thanks.   Thursday, August 17 View Page 203 EST Clayton (1462 Gibson x 1415 Haist). This was on track to hit 500 or more and it was flawless but I culled it at 32 DAP because the plant was running out of new males and females and I am going to try to set a 1462 Gibson x self. (Which likely would abort without culling this one first.) And 103 EST Clayton (811.5 Schweigert x 1992.5 Vincent) at about 27 DAP ? Hoping to send some more juice into the larger and better shaped fruit farther down the plant... The seeds will be iffy though this is not enough time. I think 45 DAP would be about right to get good seeds. I'll let it sit for a few weeks in case the seeds can continue to draw nutrients from the pumpkin, which I doubt, but I'll give it the chance... My tablet shows the Gibson as more reddy/pink than it is and the Schweigert as less yellow than it is.   Thursday, August 17 View Page 811.5 Lower top view (away from the sun...). Some pumpkins gain color (or some colors enhance) in the sun and other colors get muted by it... The top of this pumpkin was in the sun and the color and pattern got blurred and toned down on top. This picture however is where it has never been hit by direct sun, it has just been exposed to indirect light. This pumpkin was never covered. Maybe a cover that blocks only uv or certain wavelengths would result in the most color with the least muting?   Thursday, August 17 View Page Abrupt leaf wilt. No visible damage or disease but I suspect something is going on here... This is on my 1109 Borgers.   Thursday, August 17 View Page Normal flagging with intense sun by comparison. On progeny from my 1221.5 Emmons x self.   Thursday, August 17 View Page I think I figured out what this was. The affected area was mostly in the mist zone of my overhead irrigation. Half the plant was fine the half all looks like this split the plant right down the middle and the younger leaves got it just as much as the older leaves. Anyhow it seems to be related to the cold misty spray from the sprinkler which has such low output I ran it all day probably eight or ten hours. Fortunately the outer areas where sprinkler hits were unaffected just the area in the constant cold mist at the base of the sprinkler. The period of water application was too long or the temp. was too cold for too long? Well, one or the other.   Thursday, August 17 View Page Previous was 1505.5 Haist in the middle of the garden. This is 124 Chandler I think it was fine then I think it got hit by a mole. It hasn't wilted but the growth has nearly ceased and it's obviously having a major nutritional issue now. I tried Epsom, micronutrients, and lime so far no change. I think maybe it's short on roots or basic NPK. It hasn't wilted but some plants will show nutritional deficiencies because of root damage prior to showing any water deficiency. Have a great day folks!   Sunday, August 20 View Page 150 sq ft patch... I'm out of the competition too. Here is Big Gorilla who stopped growing over a period of three or four days. After three more days of no growth, let's see what went wrong?   Sunday, August 20 View Page I don't know how the plant knows to stop growing at this point but it does.   Sunday, August 20 View Page Out of the patch   Sunday, August 20 View Page Minus the ratchet... 126 lbs or so. I'm sure that sounds big if yours weighs 98 lbs or less ha ha... Laughing at myself no offense if anyone's is actually smaller!   Sunday, August 20 View Page 150 sq ft plant already wants to try again. But this one is clearly out of the boundary...   Sunday, August 20 View Page 150 sq ft Thing 1 or Mamma Monkey is still growing. And actually did pick up a few pounds when Thing 2 (the not-so Big Gorilla) stopped growing. This one looks almost identical so I wonder if the bottom will split on it also. Also I wonder what the shape difference will be with the baby growing on its side whereas the "parents" we're both grown bottom down and actually were hanging down unsupported until they were 10 pounds or so. So I'm not totally out but Thing 1 Momma Monkey is not gonna hit more than 200 so I'm basically out :( that's ok though it was my first try and some things were beyond my control. I think the plant had a lot more potential than I got out of it although the B.E.S. has made me question my enthusiasm.   Sunday, August 20 View Page 1992.5 Vincent left, 1462 Gibson right, 811.5 Schweigert lower sun bleached and not photoing very well. I'll keep the 150 patch going but for my competitive outlook this year... the book is closed.   Sunday, August 27 View Page 811.5 Schweigert the keeper. Bottom is solid still... 3 of 4 bottom-downers are still going one has split so far.   Sunday, August 27 View Page 1114.5 Minor still growing too. This one has a nice plain orange color at this point no ugly cracking...   Sunday, August 27 View Page 150 sq ft Thing 1 (Momma monkey) is still going. Same pic again... sorry. She passed Thing 2 (Big gorilla) rather quickly now measuring bigger than him. Wide and growing butt on this lovely lady. Maybe my cumulative pounds will suggest whether I'm close to any of the top growers but even cumulatively I don't think I'm above fifteen pounds per day (I may only be at ten or so...) so probably I need to rethink my fertilizing or watering or something. I want to be like Mike.   Sunday, August 27 View Page This isn't how your main is supposed to look. Unless you are dividing your plant in half because you can't decide which cross you don't want and you think doing this will keep one of the sets from aborting...   Sunday, August 27 View Page ...Which is what I'm doing. 1103 Zaychowsky x 811.5 Schweigert on one half and 1103 x 1462 Gibson on the other. Only lost half a dozen leaves so far I guess the plumbing wasn't right to get water to these leaves anymore but most leaves survived a hot sunny day today so it seems to be working pretty well so far. It's so late in the year and the plant is cramped for space, it's one of my best plants though so I want the crosses off it even though the pumpkins will only be in the two hundred pound range I love the colors and genetics and I am interested in growing my best plants again!   Sunday, August 27 View Page These both were open on the same day. Same cross 1505.5 Haist x 1462 Gibson. Plant is favoring the pumpkin closer in the one farther out is aborting... I figured I would let the plant choose since it didn't matter to me.   Monday, August 28 View Page These jack be little types went in the ground mid-July. Most have their first fruit on them. Unlike elsewhere, here I calculated the nutrients needed and I did good fertilized a little heavy on one end of the row a little light in some spots but overall got close. The ph or something appears to be wrong though because some of the plants are not as happy as they should be. Drip irrigation here.   Monday, August 28 View Page More culls piling up 1929 Barlow in back, 705 House on the right. 397.5 House mid-left, a Cinderella type. The 1462 Gibson in the middle has unique color (which is why I've used it to make so many crosses with everything else... to the point of being sick of it.) But even though I'm sick of "everything x 1462" can you see why? It's more orange and it turned orange fast only 32 dap when I picked it and this its two weeks later now but it's still looking ok. Anyhow the others here are about the same age but taking their time turning orange mostly all still yellowish. Out of fifty different pumpkins I grew (and some that are supposed to be very orange or red orange) so far the Gibson is unique. It might get possibly get surpassed eventually by the 774 Minor, but for now 1462 is the King of the Patch and totally unique in how fast it became orange, the evenly shaped fruit, and the great plant it was on is still going strong...   Monday, August 28 View Page Here is the 1462 Gibson x self. I had to cull a nice 1462 x 1929 to give two nodes up the vine to give this one a chance. Last female crossed with the last two males. I don't care if its an ugly fifty pound pumpkin... I just want them selfy seedies.   Monday, August 28 View Page Here is the 1462 Gibson x self. I had to cull a nice 1462 x 1929 two nodes up the vine to give this one a chance. Last female crossed with the last two males. I don't care if its an ugly fifty pound pumpkin... I just want them selfied seedies. I think you can see why too. Sorry about the editing and repost.   Monday, August 28 View Page Missing picture for previous post about the culls. Oops...!!!   Monday, August 28 View Page 41 DAP seeds from the 103 EST Clayton appear to be good, broke a couple open to check. I think leaving them in the pumpkin after cutting off the pumpkin did help them mature. Is it silly to save these? Well I won't be able to grow seeds from every cross I've made but I like having a lot of choices. I like having the choice to grow whatever I want. But yeah I might save the seeds from twenty pumpkins (all different crosses) this year and it's likely that just two will ever see dirt again. Box fan is working great, pulp is halfway dry in four hours. I think all the skins will be flaking off in 48 hours.   Thursday, August 31 View Page 959 Holland measured 130" today. Might hit 500.... Barring any mishaps it's going to the fair tomorrow. Since Anna helped with this one and it was one of her seeds it's going to be her entry. Congrats Anna! She stole my beginners luck.   Tuesday, September 5 View Page Carved by Russ Leno   Tuesday, September 5 View Page Carved by Russ Leno   Tuesday, September 5 View Page 3rd and 4th place at the fair (junior division). Cinderella types 319.5 and 397.5 House.   Tuesday, September 5 View Page I am ready to call it a season. I just want to be done and get started on next year. Still have a couple nice ones in the patch though but ready for it to be over. At least one mole is still digging around. I'm ready to get out of town, drop a nuke, and start over.   Thursday, September 7 View Page Hi from Puyallup! Fyi... the 167.5 Treece here is now sitting proudly atop its own podium. (Deservedly so! It's huuuge!)   Wednesday, September 13 View Page Potatoes. The 811.5 did grow over the potato vines and the potatoes were not a huge problem. They did not compete for light, and possibly they suppressed other weeds but overall there was not as much compatibility as I was hoping for. A small farm could do well to make a later planting of field pumpkins or ornamental gourds in late June or July and these could grow out over nearby rows of potatoes if an October harvest was acceptable for both this might work well. For competitive AG's started early... it just won't work there was too much overlap in the growing season, too much mutual competition. Maybe a short cover crop plant like white clover would be worth a try mostly just to reduce other weeds and provide benefits to the soil...?   Wednesday, September 13 View Page Chickens and potatoes... No.   Wednesday, September 13 View Page 1223.5 Gansert. Hard to see on a screen but in real life please just take my word for it... shiny skin & nice color... Not sure about the shape though and not the biggest plant or pumpkin... Stem length is very good on this one though and it's been an easy, healthy plant.   Wednesday, September 13 View Page 1462 Gibson x self aborted. Mole went under plant a week ago and it hasn't grown since. Not the first abort caused by the moles, hopefully the last though. This one hurts... The plant has some other females now but I don't think the season is going to be long enough to get good seeds. I guess I should have left the 203 Est. on it would probably be 350 now.   Wednesday, September 13 View Page Last photo of 1462 Gibson (middle). 1929.5 Barlow turned on some nice color in the end (left) yay! 705 House still rather good on right...   Wednesday, September 13 View Page Happy with the walls of 1462 Gibson. Was thinking it would be very thin... but it's got a lot of meat for a 32 DAP pumpkin.   Wednesday, September 13 View Page No worries about the blossom end. Very even all around. Is it just me or does it smell better than most pumpkins too? It's a shame it is going to the compost heap I cut it off early and didn't give it a chance for a Howard dill award :( Best pumpkin I've ever grown.   Wednesday, September 13 View Page Seed drying flats they fit on a standard box fan. Will bring a couple extras to Elysian... Bring a $2 donation to cover the materials please? :)   Wednesday, September 13 View Page Seeds from the 1929.5 Barlow x 1775.5 Sperry. Sperry was white... a good plant... But it was hit by moles then killed by Mr. Vole.   Wednesday, September 13 View Page 1462 Gibson x 1415 Haist. The Haist started white and is pink/yellow now. Most if not all of these seeds are duds. Only about 30 appear to contain much. Huge seeds not much in most of them. 32 DAP was very early to remove but it was still a good solid pumpkin for three weeks afterward.   Wednesday, September 13 View Page 150 sq ft patch. I am amazed by the the transformation of Thing 1 "Momma Monkey" from a shriveled pear into a respectable looking pumpkin. I would have never guessed this was possible... But it appears to me be around 300 lbs now. Fungicide and Castor oil to hopefully help it get to the finish line! About 60 DAP now.   Wednesday, September 13 View Page Baby Monkey and Baby Baby. RIP.   Wednesday, September 13 View Page ...So that's another fifty pounds of culls. 180 lbs of culls total out of the 150 sq ft patch so far. So maybe Momma Monkey could have been 500-600 lb. Once again, I'm very happy with this plant! (1992.5 Vincent)   Wednesday, September 13 View Page WTP? What the pumpkin is going on here?!   Wednesday, September 13 View Page And here?! Well I got hit by frost already. I wanted the season to be over and I guess I got my wish. June 5th last frost. September 13th first frost. Just 100 days of frost free weather up here at 800 ft. Watch out Colorado:)   Saturday, September 23 View Page Clockwise from top left: a pale one from one of my 1122 Emmons progeny. 1114.5 Minor (now the 387 Clayton) still attached to its vine. 1223.5 (x 811.5 Schweigert) Gansert very good color (121.5 Est. Clayton) A remnant of the 1462 Gibson. 705 House color is about the same as the Gansert both traffic cone orange color got more orange after sitting a couple weeks. Volcano carved into a pretty little 462 Clayton x 1775.5 Sperry (46.5 Est. Clayton). Lastly in the middle 229 Boyd (22 Est. Clayton)   Saturday, September 23 View Page 387 Clayton (1114.5 Minor x 1254.5 Holland). Crowd really liked I guess for its quaint squat charm lol Anna liked it too. I was hoping for a bigger one off this plant but I feel very honored to get a Howard Dill for it... Not gonna save the seeds out of this one but I made another cross with it. The 154.5 Est. Clayton (1505.5 Haist (orange) x 1114.5 Minor) which I think will have good genetics for size and color!   Saturday, September 23 View Page So the bottom on this one was in very good condition even though it was grown on dirt. Also broke the blossom button thing off early about 10 DAP and this formed a clean scar. No rot and no splits... Maybe I got lucky. Two more bottom downers coming up soon... I have a real nice one coming up.   Thursday, September 28 View Page My biggest this year. Taping about 480... I expect it will go heavy though.   Thursday, September 28 View Page I think the key to growing BIG is big seeds! The problem with these big-seeded pumpkins though is that I only get one or two seeds out of each pumpkin.   Thursday, September 28 View Page It's thumping heavy. Cross is 1254.5 Holland x 1245.5 Werner. ...Now I just need to get it loaded.   Friday, September 29 View Page Oh no it went 2,000 lbs light! Looks like I get the prize for biggest airbag this year....   Friday, September 29 View Page I've had a problem with pachycephalosauruses this year. I set out traps but... Oh well... Maybe next year. I didn't set a new Washington state record this year and I'm getting eaten by a dinosaur... I've still got a smile on my face though.   Tuesday, October 24 View Page 150 Sq Ft... didn’t make it to the last weigh off. Bummer. Taping 266 OTT hopefully carve it this weekend and maybe weigh the pieces after Halloween.   Tuesday, October 24 View Page Will the bottom be good? It’s sitting where it grew—directly on dirt heavily amended with straw/hay...   Tuesday, October 24 View Page It’s good! No rot at all!   Tuesday, October 24 View Page 1992.5 Vincent... Successfully grown blossom end-down.   Tuesday, October 24 View Page Overview. 3 of 4 grown blossom down were good this year. Learned a lot this year. This pumpkin was crossed with the most orange of the 1505.5 Haist plants so I will save these seeds... I’m only a hobby level grower but I’m happy with the cross I think it’s probably one of the top ten crosses I made this year.   Saturday, October 28 View Page Nicest fall weather I can ever remember. Wish it could be like this every year.   Tuesday, October 31 View Page 1415 Haist x 1992.5 Vincent Started white then went pink/green.   Tuesday, October 31 View Page 774 Minor x 1774.5 Carter The orange faded a bit now been off the vine for over a month. The Carter was white. A little thin on the end.   Tuesday, October 31 View Page Waldo is hiding somewhere this diary. Where’s Waldo???   Saturday, December 30 View Page Thank you Cindy! Looks like a microwave... It's actually a big germination box. It's steady at 76-78 right now that's not really warm but I can tell it's much warmer than all my starts were last year. At the start of this year nearly every tomato and pepper died. Most of the pumpkins did ok but overall it was probably too cold. All the plants were on my kitchen table by the window. I like this new setup. Insulated box with a heat pad and thermal control. ...Maybe it will work well?   Sunday, December 31 View Page goals for 2018... Three 800 lb orange kins in 150 ft patches... one squash... one field kin for size and try giant tomatoes... And a real garden too... If any one thing doesnt happen it will be the squash :(   Sunday, December 31 View Page gem corn tested 154/160 so each pack should have 150 good seeds in it. They like to send up multiple stalks if space allows. For just a few plants pick out one kernel of each of the most intererting colors. And may God bless!