Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 20 Entries. Wednesday, April 17 View Page Season has started. Home patch will have only 2 AG's 2118 Jutras 17 and 528 Gadberry 12. Going to try and reintroduce the dark green gene along with maintaining size in the squash. Moving main patch to a new location away from the local infestation of bugs. Seeds pushing dirt for there are 2469 Daletas, 2416.5 Haist, 2152 Gantner, 2118 Jutras, and these half-bloods 1047 Barlow 15, 760 Cantrell 17, 256 Cantrell 17. So far no luck pushing dirt with 834 Gadberry 03 or 823 Gadberry 04.   Wednesday, April 17 View Page Melon lineup will be grown at home. Plan is to have 6 plants. Sprouted are 249 Bright, 140.5 Cantrell, 181.5 Cantrell 17 (290 Mudd x 228 Carson) 127 and 128 Cantrell 18 (both 151 Bright 84 x selfed but different plants, LONG melons). The sixth will be a Makataan or an heirloom grown competition style. Outside chance it will be a Makataan x CC seed that gets the last spot.   Friday, April 19 View Page With several growers attempting to germinate some old seeds it got me to thinking about some seeds taking up space in my freezer. Decided to attempt to germinate some old corn seeds of the Montana race. Oldest seeds are from 1980 and the youngest from 1988. Some are from Cuba and Mexico but the majority are from Columbia. Also started a few seeds from a Makataan melon and some CC x Makataan crosses. Just curious what they can do.   Monday, June 3 View Page Huge disappointment here. My 528 Gadberry is male sterile. Fruit set is 12 days old and has stopped growing. Males just started opening. Most did not develop. Pulling the plant.   Thursday, June 6 View Page First time I've used pine straw. Always went with sand in the past. Straw is much easier to work with and the job went WAY faster. All traditional plants here (6). This is the 181.5 Cantrell. All plants nearly identical in size. Have had a couple females show up already and they looked real good. Still a couple weeks out till pollination I'm guessing. Sixth spot in the patch went to another 127 in stead of a Makataan. I was really impressed with the Makataan. Way more aggressive than any of the CC plants.   Monday, June 10 View Page Growing tall corn from 6 locations in Columbia, 2 in Mexico and 1 from Cuba. Most are of the Montana race. Have never grown them all before in the same planting. All seeds collected prior to 1984. Tallest are over 5 feet. Got much needed rain and it has made a tremendous difference. Will side dress with more nitrogen before next rain.   Thursday, June 27 View Page All plants have at least one fruit that appears to be set. Of the two 2118 squash that are going this is the one I've chosen for use as a pollinator. Lighter color than it's sib, which I don't like, it has a fatter stem and heavier vine. Fruit is longer and has been fester growing out of the gate. Pollinator on this plant was one of the 760 Cantrell plants (1844.5 Holub x 2075.5 Connoly) which should add some new genes to the squash mix. 50% of the seeds from this cross should produce squash.   Thursday, June 27 View Page Piking up some old and new genes with this plant. 1047 Barlow (1159 Kline x 2036 Glasier). That 2036 produced the 2034 Barlow. Nice early dark yellow color. No idea which green variation gene it is carrying. Again 50% green producing seeds.   Thursday, June 27 View Page Next generation with new genes for the squash. 2469 Daletas here with the 2118 as a pollinator. May self this plant on a side for future use. A bunch of good features about this early fruit and vine. Darkest early color of my 2000+ pound plants. All these plants and being grown on the worst patch of ROCKY ground I've ever tried to garden. Best part is I have seen very few pests and 0 squash bugs, NOT ONE! Main goal is to get the fruit to 40 days and viable seeds.   Thursday, August 15 View Page First pumpkin harvested a while back @ 42 DAP. Estimated wt of 400, 259 ott. 760 Cantrell x selfed. All my plants are 350 sq ft or less in the weeds and crabgrass. This one somewhat less. Won't plant here in the future, just WAY too many rocks! 760 was 1844.5 Holub 16 x 2075.5 Connoly 16 so 1 in 4 should go green.   Thursday, August 15 View Page Brother Dwight Sloane lost a good one which would have been a new PB and KY state record. Weighed 1610 unofficially. Orange enthusiast may want to consider this one. Was still doing 28 pounds a day when she shut down.   Friday, August 23 View Page Managed to drive back to the genetics patch just in time. All vines are dead! This is on the 2152 Gantner. Est wt. 203. Nearly pulled this plant when the wind all but broke the main. Managed to pin it down and save it but she struggled forever. Pictures were an afterthought on this and the 2118. Color was way better than the photo. There could be some really good HD prospects out there out of the 2152 if they got normal care. Pollinator was the 2118 Jutras   Friday, August 23 View Page Was hoping to hold this 2118 till our fair but not to be. Stared getting soft and was going downhill fast Est wt   Friday, August 23 View Page Hit wrong button! Est wt 434. Pollinated by a 760 Cantrell that I lost early to deer. Pollinator was going to be much lighter in color than I hoped. Potential for 50/50 squash in the seeds.   Thursday, September 26 View Page Had a good weigh-off at the Tennessee Valley Fair with folks from KY, NC, FL and TN. Several personal bests along with at least 4 state records being set. This is the display with the fruit that remained.   Thursday, September 26 View Page I set a new PB and state record with a tall corn stalk that measured 18 ft 1.5 inches. Top broke when we tried to squeeze it in a 15 ft ceiling.   Thursday, September 26 View Page The fruit I had hoped to exhibit was bad on the bottom. Est wt was 694. Cross is 1047 Barlow x 2118 Jutras. Half the offspring should go green.   Thursday, September 26 View Page I had hoped to take my last fruit to KY but it was not to be. Heat took its toll. Est wt 444. Cross is 2469 Daletas x 2118 Jutras. Season is finished here except one more tall stalk of corn. Hopefully a new PB.   Sunday, December 29 View Page Hoping I'll be able to enjoy working in the patch without pain next year. Total replacement after 2 previous rebuilds. I guess too much baseball in my younger years. Don't look at the next post if you have a week stomach.   Sunday, December 29 View Page Knew the pathologist that did the gross description and tissue exam so I was able to look at what the surgeon removed. Not pretty. All the dark areas are bone spurs on the humerus. Also had some unknown type of bone infection developing. Hoping antibiotics do the trick.