Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 36 Entries. Sunday, March 11 View Page Welcome 2018. Turned the compost/ manure pile today. Since last fall I have added two loads of manure, a winter supply of kitchen compost and chicken poop and a bag of dolomite lime. This is the second Greenhouse I put up as the first one collapsed under the weight of the snow. Only a few weeks ago I was shoveling the snow off of this one. Major snowfall at the end of February in Vancouver ??????   Saturday, March 31 View Page Sunny Easter Saturday. Soil depth around 2'.   Wednesday, May 2 View Page And there she be. 2 feet of soil in there. Justst removed the greenhouse cover and these two plants are Off to the Races. Still have a few weeks of smaller plants that will go in on a weekly basis. The weather has turned and I'm so excited for this year.   Friday, May 25 View Page It's running now. I just got back from Ontario and all is good. I do have fear my chickens getting out an ending the season real quickly. Pinched the first tertiary vines. Got a few back ups in th foreground that are getting covered by the secondaries. This is the 1339 chan.   Friday, May 25 View Page And out in the front yard my two girls are growing one each. The 629 and 1167. Thanks to Jeff for the seed. My youngest is determined to walk away with the Howard dill prize, out a she calls it "the prettiest one, decorated with flowers".   Friday, June 1 View Page The first female appeared. 10 ft out....... Noticed some powdery mildew forming on one leaf Under The Canopy. And my first spray for aphids 4 days ago. Let the spraying and pollination begin.   Friday, June 1 View Page The first female appeared. 10 ft out....... Noticed some powdery mildew forming on one leaf Under The Canopy. And my first spray for aphids 4 days ago. Let the spraying and pollination begin.   Saturday, June 2 View Page The main is about 10', 7' secondaries. It's running.   Monday, June 11 View Page I broke the main!!!! Moved it too much, getting geady. Oh the simple but heart breaking lessons.   Friday, June 15 View Page Father's Day came early this year. My two little girls pollinated this 5 lober......fingers crossed. Fortunately the main vine break was after this one.   Monday, June 18 View Page really going for it now. In starting to terminate secondaries. Hand pollinating some females on the secondaries for backups. The new lead is finally starting to take off. This warm weather should help. I've been dowsing aphids about every 4 days. Set up a camera to take stop motion photography. Let's hope it doesn't get stolen and the female takes......   Wednesday, June 27 View Page I am fully appreciating how much set back there is with a broken main Vine. Running the last two secondaries to see what they will produce. This plant has a pile of females. Never seen anything like it.   Wednesday, July 4 View Page Self pollination today with a four lober. This is on the second "secondary". There is one more secondary ahead of this. Will see what takes. And becomes the new main??   Saturday, July 7 View Page Pollinated 1167 with the 1339 male. 1167 is 8 ft out with no secondaries. Backup. Also self-pollinated 1339 on the secondary which is now the main. It is wet and I have never had success pollinating in the rain.......... But the bees are out. Also the leaves are turning a bit yellow, judgment is that I'm over-watering.   Wednesday, July 11 View Page Open pollinated the first female on Raylynn's plant. And open-pollinated the second female The Back-up plant. Leaving for Ontario today, I hope I come back to some well-established beauties. cut back the water and it seems as if the yellow on the edges of the leaf are receding   Tuesday, July 17 View Page This tendril has decided to grow a vine!!! I will leave it for a bit to see what happens. Culled a 36lber   Wednesday, July 18 View Page Culled this guy today. It was at the edge of the box growing around the pole.....   Tuesday, July 31 View Page Here she is. 167ott, 109lbs 24 dap. Terminated all vines today. I have been struggling with the powdery mildew. It seems like I can't stay on it, even though I'm spraying every 4 to 5 days. Did 30 lb in the last 24 hours!!! Personal best. But I am deeply concerned about the PM   Thursday, August 2 View Page My little ray spraying the new mix of baking soda, oil and soap for powdery mildew. Her plant, her pumpkin, 136ott which makes it heavier than her!   Saturday, August 4 View Page I have uneasy feeling in my belly about this season. I just cut back about 20% of salad because of powdery mildew got the better half of it. Switched to the baking soda, oil, detergent solution and it seems to be working. About 170 lb lighter than last year this time. I see the cup as half full cuz there is smokeless Skies so far and my daily average gain is around 21lbs. Much better than last year. Fingers crossed......   Friday, August 10 View Page This is Manny. Her belly a exceeds her waistline and will soon touch the ground (similar to cousin Manny:-{. I need a mirror (or a hoist) to inspect the blossom. I hope she holds. 34 DAP 232 Ott, circa 282lbs. 19lb/day average so far in August. Which proves a new patch growth rate. I'm letting some tertiary Vines come up as I cut off the old initial dead ones. I set up a camera when it was vining to take stop motion photography of the growth. It was completely random where I set the camera up and had my fingers crossed. The flower and pumpkin initially started on the left hand side of the screen. Manny has decided to "fold to the ground' and grow mostly to the right. Now she is almost damn near Center!!! It's like she's taking shape for center camera, and has her own unique beauty. And yes, the stem and blossom at one point were equidistance. I couldn't keep up with the rotation   Sunday, August 12 View Page My two girls celebrating my birthday. Rays pumpkin taped 160 Ott and darias is 174 Ott. Ray, "i am okay with not being the biggest, cause mines the prettiest".   Thursday, August 16 View Page Cleaned up the patch. Trimmed a compost bin of dying cabbage off. Ray cut the "back up" off. Glad to see that stagnant fellow retire. Also happy I left some tertiaries run, cuz they will fill the voids nicely. Started to bury them. It will Have some nice green heading into the home stretch. 40 DAP, 259ott, circa 389. Still averaging about 20 lb a day. 121" circumference, which seems really large.   Friday, August 31 View Page Just returned from a 10 holiday. The pumpkin is doing well but lots of powdery mildew. Definitely need to spend a few hours in the patch. DAP 55, 295 Ott about 565lbs   Tuesday, September 4 View Page Cut back all the salad to contain it to the greenhouse. Installed the header beam with lights. Next is the fan and heater. This is in preparation for next year. Averaged 9.5 lb a day when I was away.   Friday, September 7 View Page 300 Ott, 62 DAP, 594. 3ln/day the past seven cool night days. Finally got the heater and fan hooked up to an inkbird temperature controller. Set at 23 degrees plus or minus 3 degrees. May need a bigger heater as a small one appears not to be cutting it. 111 more lbs will get my past last year, fingers crossed.   Wednesday, September 12 View Page 307 Ott, 67 DAP, 635lbs. Average 8 pounds per day since the heat has been applied!!!! I am really excited about this, especially considering the first few days I kept blowing fuses and figuring out the electrical and upgrading the heater. (And switching to anolog light controller). The system has been functioning for 3 days without issue. And the weather has been cloudy and rainy and cool for that duration. 150 sqft challenge - here I come   Sunday, September 16 View Page here's a pic of my two girls and their pumpkins. Raylynn up front still think she's going to win the prettiest. 'it will be so pretty, only the judges can look at it with special glasses....."" Had to get rid of the digital heater as it wouldn't kick on automatically. Now there's two analog.... Seems to be working.   Thursday, October 4 View Page Today is the day. The Bobcat is on its way. I'm excited to see what is underneath this   Thursday, October 4 View Page 149 in circumference. 318 Ott.   Friday, October 5 View Page by far the best part of the day was watching Scott give the prizes to my two daughters for the "youth" category. Darias weight at 215 and Raylynn tipped the scales at 145. Not bad for the first year ever. Daria was so proud and still talks about it. This is what it is all about   Saturday, October 6 View Page 754 lbs! New personal best. What an amazing day and an amazing year. I really enjoyed having this pumpkin sit out in front of my house for a month after the weigh-in, and watching the neighborhood flock and take pictures.   Saturday, October 6 View Page Krause Berry Farm weigh off. what a brilliant day. Was great to see and chat with all the Growers.   Saturday, October 13 View Page Unloading this beauty from the truck. Thankfully the cherry tree had a strong enough branch.   Saturday, October 27 View Page Raylynn didn't have to be asked twice to go in. Stripped down, switch from Mom's underwear to mine, and jumped on in.   Wednesday, November 14 View Page 2018 growth rate