Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 63 Entries. Tuesday, April 2 View Page Going to start my pumpkin a bit later than last years.. because I don’t have a greenhouse this year ; I’ve been too ill to set one up. I think I’ll start mine in about 2 weeks, and place a bucket over it at night incase we get frost.   Tuesday, April 16 View Page Trying to follow my mentor Glenn (north shore boyz) and get my butt in gear. ——Soaked my 1535 Johnson seeds today and now have them in my germination box.   Monday, April 22 View Page My Johnson seeds didn’t germinate, I had them right on the germination mat and cooked them ...(lesson learned) —- I placed two folded towels on the mat and had success with 2 Wallace 1733’s   Monday, April 22 View Page 3 of my Johnson 1535 seeds that I thought were cooked sprouted a root today —- so I have 3 Johnson 1535’s — 1 1904 Steil —- and 2 Wallace 1733’s planted in pots   Saturday, April 27 View Page Usually I am further along at this point, but that’s ok   Sunday, May 5 View Page In the picture there is - 2 pumpkin plants , 2 bell peppers, 2 cherry tomatoes and 3 beef steak tomato plants. I’ll pick the fastest growing of the pumpkin plants cull the other. (1904 Steil and a 1733 Wallace). I regret not starting earlier but I was just to sick to do much of anything.   Thursday, May 9 View Page Weather has been hot for this time of year- had the use shade netting. The plants are growing at a reasonable clip   Thursday, May 23 View Page Took the temp greenhouse down. Over night lows are fine now and its hot during the day. My one and only plant (1904 Steil) is doing well, planted just forward of some tomatoes and peppers.   Friday, May 31 View Page 1904 Steil growing not bad   Monday, June 3 View Page Replacing bad soil with good soil. About 7 more yards should do it.   Thursday, June 6 View Page Put a wind fence on the south east side of the new greenhouse to try and stop the very high winds we had yesterday. The vine flopped over but today it look fine. I think I’ll put plastic on the greenhouse and use shade cloth to cover the top on the very hot days. The ends will be left open   Saturday, June 8 View Page I can see some male flower getting close to opening but no females yet. Plant’s growing pretty well though ...   Wednesday, June 12 View Page First pumpkin at about 8 1/2 feet (1904 Steil) - prob pollinate it as a spare   Saturday, June 15 View Page 1904 Steil about 9’ long   Saturday, June 15 View Page Did some vine burying with a mix of llama manure and screened garden soil. Fertilized with 15-30-15 (1904 Steil)   Wednesday, June 19 View Page Pumpkin on the bottom right will be open for pollination tomorrow morning, but won’t be pollinated because I have no male flowers yet. Pumpkin on the bottom left is the next contender, fingers crossed. This weekend I’ll bury some more vines (Plant is about 12’ long now)   Sunday, June 23 View Page Working really hard in my spare time digging out poor,rocky soil and replacing it with really good soil. About 400 square feet left to go.   Tuesday, June 25 View Page Sunset on the pumpkin patch - (1904 Steil) I think this is the healthiest plant I’ve grown so far.   Wednesday, June 26 View Page Pollination day tomorrow. Hope a have some male flowers this time   Monday, July 1 View Page Here’s a broken off leaf. Good size this year.   Wednesday, July 3 View Page A nice five lobe female opened up today and finally I had some males to pollinate with. 3 from the garden and 2 from the fridge from the day before. Temp is 19c (66f) — 1904 Steil ( on the main vine @ 14’ )   Thursday, July 4 View Page Pollinated this one 6 days ago and was doubtful it was going to work as I had no open male flowers to pollinate with. So I picked a flower that was going to open the next day and peeled back the petals and pollinated it. Seems to have worked, the little pumpkin is shiny and solid and growing each day.   Saturday, July 6 View Page Left one is day 9 ...right is day 3. My pumpkins are always slow out of the gate it seems but I have a feeling they will kick into gear as soon as it warms up some. Give them 2-3 weeks and keep the fastest and cull the other.   Tuesday, July 9 View Page Plant is about 21’ x 21’ and the healthiest plant I’ve grown so far.   Wednesday, July 10 View Page 12 dap. Can’t really see them in the picture but Pumpkin has 2 long stem splits..... hopefully it’ll be ok   Monday, July 15 View Page Frustrating time of the year when ya just want them to grow grow grow! Haha   Tuesday, July 16 View Page Some hefty stem splits on both my pumpkins   Friday, July 19 View Page Culled the bigger of the 2 pumpkins. The smaller one has more vines behind it and is more symmetrical. The one in the picture is the one I kept. Thank you Glenn for helping me make the decision.   Sunday, July 21 View Page Finally a day of mostly hot weather. Been sick for 5 days, got my wife to take this picture. It growing good and liking the sunshine   Wednesday, July 24 View Page Day 20 (1904 Steil)   Tuesday, July 30 View Page 26 dap. Not sure of the ott ...but I noticed pumpkin is starting to grow more rounded. It bulged out some overnight   Friday, August 2 View Page After all the rain we got in the past 24 hrs, I’m kinda surprised the pumpkin didn’t split. Forecast for this afternoon and this evening is possible thunderstorm with hail, hopefully that doesn’t happen. 208 ott (1904 Steil)   Sunday, August 4 View Page 22lbs a day now. (1904 Steil) about 256lbs. Hoping to beat my personal best (655lbs)   Monday, August 5 View Page Just a nice day (27c)   Tuesday, August 6 View Page Another hot day 29c. Leaves don’t seem to be bothered at all by the heat. Tapes to 303 pounds   Wednesday, August 7 View Page Gave pumpkin a feeding of 0-0-50 potash today. Only the second time this year so far. Sunny and 26c   Thursday, August 8 View Page For the last two days it’s been putting on 26.5 pounds per day. I’m happy with that number   Saturday, August 10 View Page Pumpkin measures to 401 pounds today. 37 days old   Tuesday, August 13 View Page Day 40 - tapes to about 475 pounds   Thursday, August 15 View Page Measures to 522 lbs @ 42 days old. I’m happy with that weight . Trying to top my pb which was 655 lbs.   Saturday, August 17 View Page I glued another tape on to my old one,because I ran out of room. Makes measuring so much easier.   Saturday, August 17 View Page I wasn’t measuring my pumpkin properly. Now that I know how to do it, it measures to 617 lbs   Sunday, August 18 View Page Formed a lip on the front, so I dug a hole in front to accommodate it, and keep an eye on it.   Tuesday, August 20 View Page Tapes to about 670, hoping to reach 700 by this Friday. Heavier than my PB by 15 pounds so far.   Thursday, August 22 View Page Tapes to 707 lbs today... day 50   Saturday, August 24 View Page Keeping warm and dry on those cool nights   Monday, August 26 View Page Pumpkin measures to approximately 804 lbs today. A nice surprise   Wednesday, August 28 View Page Slowed down to about 13lbs a day, but that’s ok. 1904 Steil   Sunday, September 1 View Page Tapes to over 900lbs now. Backed off on the water some and it seems to have kicked it into gear   Wednesday, September 4 View Page My wife got this OTT chart laminated for me. Should be fine to leave in the garden all season long   Thursday, September 5 View Page Plugging along at its own pace, almost 14’ in circumference. Really hoping it’ll make 1000 pounds.   Saturday, September 7 View Page Decided to apply another application of 0-0-50 potash. Try to gently nudge it to the four digit mark   Wednesday, September 11 View Page Dig a much deeper hole in front of pumpkin so I can once again see the blossom end. I got some good advise to place a fan on it 24/7, so I did. Also made a small ditch around the hole to keep rain water from entering it and causing a humid situation   Saturday, September 14 View Page My pumpkin is still growing (slowly but surely).. even though the weather has been cold and rainy. Maybe it likes the rain water   Sunday, September 15 View Page Keeping my 1904 Steil covered with a warm quilt and a good quality tarp (at night).. and on cold rainy days. Estimated- 1035lbs. No cracks found as of yet   Wednesday, September 18 View Page It finally stopped raining. My one and only is still chugging along even though it’s been cold and wet out. Leaves are bagged   Thursday, September 26 View Page 2 roots off each node?   Friday, September 27 View Page Tomorrow’s a day off so I’m going to make a lifting ring for my straps. Got down to 5c overnight   Saturday, September 28 View Page Came home and found a lot of fruit flies at one end of my pumpkin, pretty sure it’s rotting underneath. Smells a bit funny too.   Saturday, October 5 View Page I lifted the pumpkin up and looked underneath and didn’t find any rot at all :) For the life of me I don’t know why there were so many fruit flies around it.   Thursday, October 10 View Page Loaded up a week early due to construction in front of our house. So glad it went well   Friday, October 18 View Page All lashed down and ready for the weigh in tomorrow   Saturday, October 19 View Page Had the funnest day in a long time!! Came in second at the old farm market in Duncan B.C. 1130lbs!! Made it into the 1000 lb club :) Big thanks to my mentor Glenn (north shore boyz) for his great advice year after year!!