Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 60 Entries. Saturday, January 6 View Page Tomato growth going on inside of the new grow tent. This is working out so much better than the jimmy rigged banquet table I’ve used the last few years, this was so worth the $134 investment. At this point I’m just going to be happy with anything I get, which will be better than past years when I couldn’t get a Successful pollination.   Saturday, January 6 View Page First open blossom on one of the German Pink heirloom plants.   Thursday, January 18 View Page Germination test of seeds from the Tall Corn I grew last year   Thursday, January 18 View Page Germination test of the seeds from my 2017 pumpkin. The cross is: 1392 Carlson/Petersen (1625 X 2009) 26% Heavy X 989 Tobeck (1625 X 2230) 19% Heavy Some heavy genetics here! Interested in a seed? Contact me at dboelman at Gmail.com   Monday, January 29 View Page After a few years of frustration, I'm happy to have a couple of successful tomato pollinations for the winter tomato challenge - here on one of the Gold Medal plants.   Monday, January 29 View Page And here a single on a Porkchop Domingo   Thursday, February 15 View Page In San Mateo, CA this week working at the NorCal Nursery Landscape Show. It’s always great to run into these folks!   Thursday, February 15 View Page Yes!   Friday, February 16 View Page Winter tomato challenge update. I'm down to two big zac, two domingo, and two heirloom plants. The maters on the big zac plants seem to be growing the fastest.   Friday, February 16 View Page For the domingo plants, despite dumping a lot of Nutri-Cal on these plants this winter, have some blossom end rot going on all but one of the maters. Bummer!   Sunday, March 11 View Page I’m headed out of state tomorrow to work back to back trade shows, so I thought I would go ahead and pick my tomatoes for the winter indoor tomato challenge. 2nd largest : 1.01 Pounds   Sunday, March 11 View Page Largest: 1.31 Pounds   Thursday, March 29 View Page 2018 Soil Test. This is year #3 for this backyard patch . . . OM is finally coming up, which is great! Going to have to get a little more aggressive this year in lowering pH.   Friday, April 13 View Page Starting a couple of Thirteeners for this year.   Sunday, April 15 View Page I have put in an official request for this to not happen next spring!   Monday, April 23 View Page I do this every spring - I don’t start enough seeds off the bat. 2032 didn’t germinate. Pictured 1338 the stem spontaneously split with one cot on the left, and a thin flat section connected to the other cot and the 1st true leaf. I have 3 X my 792 IA state fair winner as back ups which isn’t a bad thing!   Saturday, April 28 View Page Got patch rototilled and amendments worked in today. This will be year number three for the patch, and your number 10 for Smokey the patch cat.   Saturday, April 28 View Page Got amendments added and patch rototilled today. This is year number three for the patch, and year number 10 for Smokey the patch cat.   Sunday, April 29 View Page 3 X 758 Boelman’s. Soil temperature In garden is 60°. Soil temperature inside of mini greenhouse 75°. My plan is to put the split-stem 1338 out in the garden in about a week, and use it as a pollinator.   Friday, May 11 View Page Temperature going down to 49 degrees tonight :(   Sunday, May 27 View Page Patch tour! My 758 plant is starting to run.   Sunday, May 27 View Page 1338 Martin   Sunday, May 27 View Page First flower on WR bell pepper plant   Sunday, May 27 View Page Crammed into this corner: Hilton cabbage for eating, northern giant cabbage, and a 5.95 mater. Hard to see, but most of my tomato plants are at the stage where I’m waiting to see if the first mega blossom pollination took.   Sunday, May 27 View Page Has been in the upper 90’s the past few days. Not a fan of this early hot ass weather. Hopefully this is not an omen for the rest of the summer   Saturday, June 2 View Page Uh Oh! This is the tip of the main vine of my primary AG plant. Any idea what could cause this? None of the other leaves are affected. ALL of this plant had been shaded under a shade cloth and the tip of the main was also shaded under a lawn chair. Have not sprayed anything. It has been very hot here during the last couple of weeks. Help!   Tuesday, June 5 View Page Made of a tough decision last night to pull my plant that was affected by the heat. The tip of the main vine had not grown in a few days and was still totally fried. My 1338 Martin plant That was placed in the back corner of the garden will grow to fill in the void   Tuesday, June 5 View Page Also, With a garden Plan being rearranged, I had room to plant two hills of giant cantaloupes to take part in the WOW Wallace trial. Just so I remember the hill closer to my house got the starter packs. 44 Holloway seeds used for both hills, Will be interesting to see if these eight-year-old seed to germinate!   Tuesday, June 12 View Page First pollination, 4 Lobe, 1338 X Self   Monday, June 18 View Page Plants have suffered through another very hot stretch during the last week or so. Rain and better temps in the forecast. One 44 Holloway ‘10 lope popped up last week. Before it rained planted 55 Kent ‘11 lope seeds in the empty hill.   Wednesday, June 20 View Page 2nd pollination: 1338 Martin X self, 5 Lobe The weather is not supposed to be beastly hot today, so maybe this one has a chance!   Tuesday, June 26 View Page Pollination #2. This flower open between rainstorms today, which we’ve been getting very frequently.   Wednesday, June 27 View Page The first of a number of delays. Another one of those mornings where I wish I would have gotten up and done pumpkin care before leaving the house.   Sunday, July 1 View Page Pollination #3   Sunday, July 1 View Page My patch is a train wreck right now after being out of state for work last week - unburied vines & weeds everywhere. Then last night we had 7.3” of Rain in a few hours. Insane! Many people around Des Moines dealing with flooded houses and cars.   Sunday, July 1 View Page 1st SVB’s of the year seen today   Saturday, July 7 View Page Patch is Almost filled in, plant is around 500 ft.²   Saturday, July 7 View Page My keeper from pollination #2. Starting to grow now after I recently culled #1   Monday, July 16 View Page Day 20. She’s got a few blemishes, her skin is not perfectly smooth. We’ll call her Dottie.   Thursday, July 26 View Page Day 30. Growth has been very, very slow! This little fan of mulberries decided to leave a couple of purple deposits behind.   Thursday, August 9 View Page Soft spot all the way through. Game over.   Saturday, August 11 View Page A couple of pictures from the Iowa State Fair weigh-off yesterday   Saturday, August 11 View Page Lots of growers from SE Iowa, Who have the most challenging weather   Saturday, August 11 View Page Winner of the Iowa State Fair Tall Corn contest.   Saturday, August 11 View Page Holy smokes, 24’! Suffice it to say, this out of state grower from southern Kansas probably gets to start corn a tad bit earlier than the rest of us   Sunday, August 26 View Page Pumpkins long gone, but still have a few stalks of Tehua tall corn growing strong and . . .   Sunday, August 26 View Page lurking below those leaves is my best remain shot at a giant cantaloupe. Nice straight shaped one on 44 Holloway plant.   Friday, August 31 View Page What was my last chance at a giant lope. Boooooooo! Clearly I’ve got a mouse problem out there.   Monday, September 3 View Page Corn Slime 1   Monday, September 3 View Page Corn Slime 2   Friday, September 21 View Page Giant Pumpkin Addiction   Sunday, October 7 View Page Tallest Corn stalk this year is 18 feet 5 inches. Variety is “Tehua” . . . A very late maturing variety, but grew significantly taller than the Montana and Jala that I also grew. Last year we had a very warm fall and I actually got a couple of immature ears. This year was a different story with the weather, so I could sure use some more seeds for next year!   Tuesday, October 9 View Page Before the days of OTT   Tuesday, October 9 View Page   Sunday, November 18 View Page Seeds started today for the Winter Tomato Challenge.   Saturday, December 22 View Page Progress on the winter tomato challenge plants. Everything seemed to be going along fine but . . .   Saturday, December 22 View Page What is this funky stuff on my tomato leaves? It’s like a bulge that is centered on the middle vein of the leaf. Light yellow in color. When I pinch a leaf that has this I get a little bit of liquid leaking out. Plants are being grown in a good size grow tent. Only thing I have applied to the soil is Mycos, Azos, and RootShield. Could this be some kind of weird leaf fungus?   Wednesday, December 26 View Page Top of an affected leaf   Wednesday, December 26 View Page Bottom of the same leaf   Wednesday, December 26 View Page Plants are looking kind of droopy, and sickly. Rosie the cat says it’s time to start over!