Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 53 Entries. Tuesday, February 6 View Page I have been posting on Facebook about every day and it was ...suggested... I should post on here too since its been a while. What I will do is just copy and past be ramblings from my FB post onto here along with the photos of the season and of days gone by. So without further adieu or whatever that fancy word is... Time to get the 2018 growing season underway. This year the goal is simple, beat my personal best of 1581.5 pounds (Pictured). I am going to try and keep a daily record of what goes into growing a giant as so many want to know 'How did you grow that?'   Wednesday, February 7 View Page Patch assessment yesterday. Busted irrigation lines from freezing, weeds, garbage everywhere, tools left out all winter, its kind of an embarrassing starting photo, but its a real one. Lots of work to do. What I was looking for pumpkin wise is the types of weeds, health of the weeds (as this can tell you what is going on in your soil) signs of rodents and just an overall feeling of where I want what plants this upcoming season on rotation.   Thursday, February 8 View Page Looks like I will be needing to add roughly 100 pounds of lime per 1200 SQFT site this spring to continue fine tuning my PH level. Today's pic is a chart that shows nutrient availability in relation to soil PH. This is the reason we want to dial in that PH level to perfection. Personally I use Dolopril as it It raises soil pH, reduces excess aluminum, iron and manganese. It also increases available phosphorus and molybdenumn, adds calcium and magnesium, and improves efficiency of potassium. Lots of goodies for your soil.   Friday, February 9 View Page Took care of some seed distribution yesterday. This batch of 1000 Atlantic Giant seeds is off to Africa as part of our Seeds for Africa program. Seed giveaway and trade is a fun part of growing the giant vegetables and you can make friends all over the world and in this case if each seed produced a modest 250 pounds of pumpkin, that would be 250,000 pounds of food (or 83,333 pumpkin pies) to help out the efforts of people in need. As always, each seed is checked to make sure there is cotyledon material inside for viability, I don't see the use in sending bad seeds.   Saturday, February 10 View Page A wayback playback to 1999. I am getting questions about what manure I use and how much. Here is a great pic from the 1999 season showing the foot of manure I put on the whole patch. I use composted horse manure as my got to and just deal with the weed seed. Its not the highest in nutrient content, but I love the way is loosens up the soil after a few years of adding it, you end ups with soil that is like walking on a sponge   Sunday, February 11 View Page In some areas its getting close to strawberry planting time so I thought it a good idea to post the pic of our raised strawberry trough that worked so well last year. Its irrigated by a soaker hose that is on an automated timer that goes once a day. easy tending and easy harvest. For about $200 bucks it will save your back. If there is interest I can post the plans for it. Can be used for a wide variety of vegetables, not just strawberries.   Tuesday, February 13 View Page 2 more yards of horse manure added to Site #1 and #3 yesterday and my back is already reminding me how old I am. Don't know if I need a bigger shovel, smaller shovel..... or a new hobby... Oh hey, we are on instagram and twitter now @thepumpkinguru Just trying to keep up with the times...   Wednesday, February 14 View Page I noticed yesterday I mentioned sites #1 and #3 but didn't mention what that means exactly. I always think it is good to go into a season with a plan and a set of goals. It may be to grow 50 pounds of blueberries, not let one weed grow in the strawberries, or grow a 2000 pound pumpkin. Whatever it may be, draw things out, write them down, it helps. This is an overview of what our garden looks like. For reference, each of the 15 pumpkin sites is 1200 square feet at 30 feet x 40 feet. As this spring progresses I will reference this as we add veggies to the 'open' spaces and set what sites the giants are going in.   Thursday, February 15 View Page Yesterday I was looking at some things I have traded for this winter and decided to do a little digging around, ha I was being punny, about what it takes to grow crazy sized elephant garlic. I had Megan take a pic of the bulbs with a quarter for scale. Although it looks like I will be late getting them in the ground this year, I still want to give them a try   Friday, February 16 View Page A little break from the giants today to look at some little things... I noticed something odd about this little clover patch, and then I noticed a few more that were odd... Take a close look... and no, this clover was nowhere near the plutonium trinitrate fertilizer...lol   Sunday, February 18 View Page Been a busy weekend in the patch. Began the audit of the new 2017 stock of seeds, prepped the tractor for spring, and so far have brought in another 16 yards of horse manure. We had some great genetic crosses last year and anxious to give them a try this summer.   Monday, February 19 View Page Dreaming big for the 2018 Season, be it tomatoes, pumpkins, or whatever makes it in the garden!! I can feel it getting closer... or else I am just anxious to get my hands dirty.   Monday, February 19 View Page Tomatoes tomatoes the musical fruit, the more you eat the more you... wait wait that's not how it goes. For all the competitive tomato growers, the engines are running now on the seed incubators. Here is a pic of what I am looking to beat in 2018, our family record of 3.24 Pounds, but I can wish that 21.67 wasn't photoshopped...lol   Wednesday, February 21 View Page Well today's entry is simple. Snow? REALLY???!!! ug. Two days in a row now.   Friday, February 23 View Page After 3 frustrating days with snow, we are back. The GPC Pumpkin Convention starts today and goes through Sunday, so that will be a lot of fun, but today is about tomatoes again. Here is a pic of how to grow indeterminate tomatoes 'tree' style. I am a big fan of this as it keeps that foliage off the ground, and the plants stay healthier, not to mention a 2 story tall tomato plant by the end of the season is pretty cool.   Monday, February 26 View Page Back from the Pumpkin Conference and time to get serious. Here is a typical real life screen shot for early in the spring. The bed of the truck filled with who knows what. Combos of slow release granular fertilizer, Mt St. Helen's ash and pumice, Siberian peat moss, Mediterranean hydrated lime, Clydesdale horse poop, Greecian and Egyptian sand, calpril, dolopril, beneficial bacteria and fungus, maybe some cat hair, ex wives, weed seeds a kitchen sink or three from the street of dreams. Okay okay, the sand isn't really from Greece and such but what I see in the bed of each truck load is... Hope.   Tuesday, February 27 View Page Seeds seeds seeds, I started pairing down my pumpkin seed choices for the upcoming season and was taking a look at the seed hoard. Then my wife took a look at the seed hoard. Needless to say... if anyone has an interest in growing a giant pumpkin, shoot me a message here on Facebook, I have seeds to trade or just give away.   Tuesday, February 27 View Page Sometimes a picture happens that may not be pumpkin, but is worthy of posting... Chicken, check, bread, check, yogurt, check, sleeping little rascal, check... wait wait who put that on the grocery list???   Wednesday, February 28 View Page On a soggy nasty day in the patch, sometimes a fun pumpkin pic can help lift the spirits. This was taken back in 2003 on the way home from the Half Moon Bay Weighoff. We have had good response on the seed giveaway, so have some package stuffing to do tonight after I go spring fertilizer shopping. My wife didn't notice I snagged the check book so I am home free to load the truck with garden goodies   Thursday, March 1 View Page Another rainy day yesterday, but did manage to get my garden goodies. This one is Dolomite, and nice additive if your soil PH is too low. I switch back and forth between CalPril and Dolopril as the sodium in Dolopril can possibly become a concern over time. Adding an additional 100 pounds to the competition sites which are 1200 square feet with the expectation that this application will start benefiting me in the fall.   Friday, March 2 View Page Managed to get a little manure spread out on a couple of the competition sites yesterday. Still a long ways to go, but this was definitely progress. Spreading the northern half of each site first, then will be going back through and finishing the southern half. I run all my plants so the main runner is headed due south. Going to be running 6 competition pumpkin plants this year, each plant getting 1200 square feet. Will also be running 12 cash crop plants of 300 square feet, should be enough, along with everything else, to make for a fun summer in the patch. Now back to the couch and get this dang kidney stone to pass.... UG!   Sunday, March 4 View Page Not much in the patch yesterday, but had fun looking at some old pics of my pumpkin endeavors. This pic is of the 5 square foot wonder we grew a few years ago. Stump, 4 foot of vine, and a pumpkin. Sometimes that's all you need. Growing a giant in a small space takes a bit more micro-managing, but can be done.   Monday, March 5 View Page I talk a lot about what I put on my pumpkins. Well here is a picture of the results of something I won't be putting on ever again. Mutagens. For a couple years I experimented with mutagens, both applied to plants at seedling stage and then after they began to runner out. First they were dangerous to work with and well, the results were, um, unpredictable. There was the pictured 4 pumpkins on one main stem (got 3 of the 4 to pollinate), and another was a little over 600 pounds but was solid through and through...sadly it had no seeds... or is that sad? Fortunately none of the plants rose up and starting negotiating the terms of my surrender and assimilation   Tuesday, March 6 View Page Not a very photogenic day in the patch yesterday, so here is a 'Before' pic of the secondary garden where we grow most of our 'normal' veggies. In the patch, I spread another 4 yards of horse poop on site 8, began cleaning the pumpkin corner of the shop, and worked on seed requests. Kind of a boring entry, but they all can't be fabulous for as we all know, a lot of gardening is not flashy but it is real.   Wednesday, March 7 View Page Nice busy sunny day in the patch yesterday. Spread another 24 yards of horse manure on the 6 competition sites (sites number 5, 6, 8, 9, 11,12 and each 40 feet wide x 30 long). Been about 15 years since I felt this good about the timing and amounts of manure on the patch. Irrigation inspection looks okay, not as much damage as I thought, but still going to bury it though for care free tilling.   Thursday, March 8 View Page Good Gourd!!! Kind of forgot about these guys that were out curing behind the shop. Apple gourds from last season are almost ready for crafty use, just finishing up drying. These are all off of one plant that was grown in the secondary garden, very prolific and love the fact they bloom at night. Pollination by a moth sounds so much more friendly than pollinated by a bee. Could of went a different direction there, but trying to keep this rated PG...LOL   Friday, March 9 View Page A photo only a gardener could love... getting questions about how composted my horse manure is, so I figured a picture is worth a 1000 words. Most of what I get has been turned a few times and is about 6 months old. Every once in a while I get lucky and run into older stuff, but other times you can still see the straw in it from the bedding. In the end, its free, and when it comes to #2, I don't like spending a ton of money, especially with the crazy amounts I put on for the giant pumpkins. Beggers can't be choosers, right?   Saturday, March 10 View Page As we approach germination time for the giant pumpkins, here is an experiment from last year, and another example of what not to do. After a few trials with fresh new seeds to determine the optimum depth to plant the seeds in gel, I 'planted' this batch of old seeds. A ton of classics from days gone by, but sadly, none of them germinated. My seed gel even had a light fungicide in it and was kept at a consistent 82 Degree air temp at 80% humidity. This germination process does work, but not very well on giant pumpkins, especially old seeds.   Monday, March 12 View Page I mentioned we were putting in some Gunnera Manicata, aka Dinosaur Food, in where that Photinia was but failed to mention just what the heck it is. This is a pic of it that I snagged from a google search. Basically its a prehistoric plant that loves full sun on its leaves and bog-like condition for its roots   Tuesday, March 13 View Page On a rainy day in the patch, its answer to question time. We get asked often, what do you do with those things... Well here is probably the most fun thing we do. Carve them out, decorate them and race them in the West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta. So when all else fails, gardeners can grow their own boats, ....and even become and angel. Just wish I didn't have to wear the life vest under the robe. It was itchy...   Wednesday, March 14 View Page Before the rains hit yesterday, I was able to get a first till on the beginning areas of the 6 competition sites for this year. Then covered them with 20 x 30 tarps to keep the rain off. Just don't laugh at the epic fail on centering the tarp on the closest site in the pic, I was getting hungry for dinner and out of daylight. Excuses excuses... but hey keeping it real. I tarp them so I can get right back in an work on the soil after a rain as we get closer to planting time. It also provides a bit more heating for where the babies will be planted. Looking at about a month now from starting seeds.   Thursday, March 15 View Page Another fantastic haily and rainy afternoon in the pumpkin patch allows me to fill in with another experiment. I snagged this picture off Google, so credit to whoever took it, but this is what I did in my second germination trial last year. I used standard paper towels (think they were Bounty) and used sterilized water to moisten the paper towel. I went with a moisture level of dunking the towel in the water and then wringing out as much as I could by squeezing it. I soaked the pumpkin seeds in a 50/50 solution of store bought hydrogen peroxide and water for 1 hour at room temperature. Then folded the towel so that there were a couple layers below and above the seed and then stuffed the whole thing in a ziplock and placed it in a temperature controlled environment at 82 degrees. Results were good, and even got a very old seed to germinate using this method (940 Mombert 98), so in a pinch, it is one to consider.   Monday, March 19 View Page Was sorting through some old pics of days gone by and came across this gem from the 90's. Before I bought my incubator I would do this trick. I had a room that using heat lamps I could heat up to about 80 degrees. The seeds went in one gallon pots (cut in half and duct taped together for easier baby removal) after an hour soak in well water. I dunked them in powder captan fungicide after filing the edges and into the starting soil they went. We've come a long way baby...   Tuesday, March 20 View Page Here is a great pic of some of the different shapes, sizes and qualities, of cloches I have used in the past. This one pic kind of shows them all. I have since standardized things down a bit, but in a pinch, this is all it takes to keep those baby pumpkins warm enough to grow through the early spring. I will be posting pics of my newest versions later in the spring when I get them put up.   Wednesday, March 21 View Page Fun pic Friday. The infamous trip through the tree on the way back from Half Moon Bay. Another in the long line of things to do and not to do with your giant pumpkin. This photo was taken just before we got wedged inside the tree because the pumpkin was just about 2 inches too tall. After a rather hard stomp on the gas pedal, those two inches were no longer on the pumpkin.... Winner... the Chandelier Tree.   Thursday, March 22 View Page Yet another fantastically dreary rainy cold day in the patch, so lets liven it up with a glorious pumpkin pic, I know, I know, just what you wanted to see on a Thursday, but hey why not. Here we have a fairly good sized kitty kitty claiming a giant pumpkin and looking over at the grower, Steve Daletas, like he may become snack food. Bucket List... See giant pumpkins and cheetahs together... check.   Friday, March 23 View Page Here is a pretty good pic of what to expect from the Giant Pumpkin plants once they get growing. Big old healthy leaves and crazy runner growth. Apparently they may even spit out a little baby boy if you do not keep your pollinations in check.   Monday, April 2 View Page Back from a vacation in Vegas and the gardening juices are really flowing now that its April. This month will see the starting of the giant pumpkins and all that goes into that. With any luck, the patch will be all set with late tweaking of nutrients and we will be ready to see these baby pumpkins off to a roaring start. This is a pic of an Atlantic Giant a week after putting it in starting soil. I wish I still had a few seeds from this batch of seeds. (801.5 Stelts)   Monday, April 2 View Page Back from a vacation in Vegas and the gardening juices are really flowing now that its April. This month will see the starting of the giant pumpkins and all that goes into that. With any luck, the patch will be all set with late tweaking of nutrients and we will be ready to see these baby pumpkins off to a roaring start. This is a pic of an Atlantic Giant a week after putting it in starting soil. I wish I still had a few seeds from this batch of seeds. (801.5 Stelts)   Tuesday, April 3 View Page Looking forward to this years garden snacks while working in the giant pumpkin patch. Makes the endless hours of trimming and vine burying tolerable when you can walk over and fill up with goodies like this. Just gotta keep the 3 year old out of the strawberries as he will eat them all. This year we have added Gooseberries, Mulberries, Grapes, Kiwi, Marionberries, Cherries, A 'Fruit Salad' Tree, and Plums to the mix, so I may get fat.... okay okay, fatter.   Wednesday, April 4 View Page On this date some 43 years ago, my mentor and hero that was my Grandpa (Donald Hepler) started showing me what gardening was all about. Yes, at that time, I was more interested in the 'giant' nightcrawlers that the tiller was disrupting, but over the course of the next couple of decades, up until his passing in '97, he was able to pass along to me how to use your garden as a place to find peace. A place to plant your roots and center yourself. A place to exhale the stress of everyday life. Our gardens don't care about politics, religion, skin color, who did what to whom, what group is oppressing another, they are simple, if you love them and give them attention, they will love you and give you attention right back. I will never be the man my Grandpa was, but perhaps I can pass along to my kids the joy and peace that can be found in your garden.   Thursday, April 5 View Page This is what I start my giant and regular pumpkin and squash seeds in. They are simply food containers from any supermarket deli. I wash them out and reuse for this purpose. Some markets will just sell them to you outright for a very cheap price. I like using the clear containers so that I can watch the progress and health of the roots, and once they reach the bottom, I transplant them out into their final positions out in the garden or competition pumpkin patch. For normal pumpkins and squash, I just use a basic seed starting mix, nothing special. For the competition seeds I use a sterilized seed starting mix, add mycorrhizal fungi, root shield, bio-char, lite balanced slow released fertilizer, and a lite amount of humic acid mixed in the water used to moisten the mix. The moisture level I use for the mix is over-saturate the mix, then scoop out handfuls and squeeze out all the water I can by hand. 95% of the time I do not need to re-water as the seeds burst from the soil so quickly.   Friday, April 6 View Page Trial number 1 is underway. For those playing along at home, prepping the giant pumpkin or squash seed for planting is fairly simple. Picture 1 shows a seed that has been filed with a fingernail file down to the layer just before the cotyledon material. This allows for more rapid moisture absorption to the embryo and also allows the embryo to free itself from the seed coat easier. Next I soak the seeds (for the trials I just use tap water) in water for one hour, using a paper towel to keep the seeds submerged. Then after that, I go ahead and put the seeds in the starting containers mentioned in the post yesterday. I put them in at a 45 degree angle flat surface up/down. These seeds went in last night at 10:00 PM and were a mix of 16 year old seeds and seeds from last year. Temp in the incubator was a nice 80 degrees.   Monday, April 9 View Page The weather the past few days has been dreadful, but the seed germination test has gone well. The new seeds have had a 100% germination are are already pushing the soil up or have popped up above the soil. Makes for a boring picture though, so I though I would post a classic pic from a few years ago to keep the pumpkin blood flowing. Only about 7 days from planting the competition seeds now. The opening credits have started to roll on this season now.   Tuesday, April 10 View Page Busy day in the patch yesterday. Here is a pic of the first germination trial. The seedlings have gone from the seed package to what you see here in 4 days. You can see the roots in the containers already to the bottom. Added another 8 yards of manure to polish off Sites #2 and #3. We are expecting some bad weather the next few days, so will be starting another germination trial this evening. Funny foot note, I reused some potting soil from last year in germ trial 1 where I had tried to start some old gourd seeds. Apparently one sat dormant all year and when exposed to the incubator and some proper moisture again, it decided to germinate. Just love garden surprises.   Wednesday, April 11 View Page Got a nice early picture of Site #2 last night in between downpours. This will be my featured site this year and will support my best competitive seed. This, and my other competition sites, are 40 x 30 feet. I have the area where my Cloche will be put up covered in plastic (for the past month) until I am ready to build it. Last year this site produced my 787.5 that went to Hollywood to be on the show Modern Family, and also had a 722, a 445.5, and a few other small ones, that were set on the plant late once I knew the main pumpkin was destined for stardom. My patch lays on a slight slope facing south with all day sun. The next nice day I will be spraying out all the weeds and grass. Getting close now. EDIT: Funny, now that I look at the pic, I think I screwed up somewhere. That tarp is 20 x 30...time to get the measuring tape back out.   Thursday, April 12 View Page A Little fun pic on a nasty rainy day in the patch... Two months after she disappeared into the pumpkin patch, we found out what had happened to her. Fortunately, after a little careful carving, we were able to rescue her from the carnivorous giant pumpkin...   Saturday, April 14 View Page Okay, here is the goodies I use for starting the competition Giant Pumpkin seeds. I am going with a base of Light Warrior seed starting mix instead of a sterilized mix. Got my Pumpkin Pro Inoculant along with my Azos to boost populations of beneficials, Hydroguard for root defense, Rhizoboost and powder rooting hormone for out of control root stimulation, my calcarb for a quick spritz when the seedling emerges, and Captan to lightly powder the seeds after they soak in water and before they go into the starting mix. Remember, in giant pumpkin growing, overkill means you are just getting warmed up...   Tuesday, April 17 View Page Well the season is officially underway. The competition seeds are in he incubator and we now have the countdown weight tracker active. Right now we only have 1582 pounds to go to a new personal record (The 1581.5 is in the pic) 1998 pounds to go for a new state record and a mere 2625 pounds to go from a new world record. Things start to get interesting now...and also until the seeds come up, the first thing to worry about has started...Germination.   Friday, April 20 View Page Well the babies are up and growing. My 1581.5 was first out of the gate followed by the 1756, but it was a fairly consistent germination this year with everything coming up within hours of each other. I was a little unhappy with my 2145 as it only emerged with one seed leaf. My 1450's look strong but my 1082 this year is sluggish and still in the incubator getting a few more hours of good lovin'   Sunday, April 22 View Page Babies have greened up nice and are getting ready to go to the cloches. 2145 is getting a true leaf, so very happy about that.   Wednesday, April 25 View Page The competiton patch is in the soil now. 2145, 1989 Daletas, 1844 Holub, 1450 Cooper, 1756 H/J, 1581 Cooper, 1586 Sherwood, are the final choices this year. Couldn't toss the 1581 seeding as it is doubling up on even my second biggest seedling. Loks like I will be running 7 plants this year.   Wednesday, April 25 View Page We also started out cash crop seeds last night. The line up with some extras looks like this... 750 Hester (3), 1175 Holub, 800 Neilly, yes those are squash, and yes the 750 is what produced the meanest squash ever (pic below). Pumpkins, the 936 Ron K Barker (there it is Ron) 1374 Shannon Engel (2), 1561 Reeb, 1501 Wagner (2), 1233 Reiss, 743 Cooper (3), 588 Cooper (2), 920 Cooper (2), 823 House (2), and some oldies, 798.5 Calai, 782.5 Stucker, 560 Stucker, and a 940 Mombert. Obviously more than enough, so will pick and choose after germination.