Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 56 Entries. Sunday, March 1 View Page Really excited to have been a small part of the most improved site award for 2019. The top10 at the Irvine Park Railroad increased the weight by over 45% year over year. Thank you to Chris Dunn for always helping his fellow growers get better. You rock SoCal Grower.   Sunday, March 8 View Page Turned the patch over - all 432 square feet of it! We are having some nice spring rain this week and I want that water down deep   Wednesday, March 11 View Page Picked up this nice organic compost - 20 bags will add some nice OM. Have to watch this juiced mixes though. This stuff already has some kelp, chicken poop and alfalfa. They are all great but need to take them into account in my calculations.   Wednesday, March 11 View Page You say John Deere? I say Radio Flyer!   Sunday, April 5 View Page Amended the patch yesterday and gave it a good till. There’s five days of rain coming so I wanted to get what I had I’m the ground. There were a couple things I didn’t have available so I will till again in a few weeks after they arrive and I put my canopy frame up. It’s almost go time!!!!   Sunday, April 5 View Page Alfalfa Meal can be tough to find in the suburbs. I can usually find horse pellets or rabbit pellets and they cost a lot less. Reading the ingredient list, I noticed several ingredients that seemed favorable to AG’s. The cane molasses, ash and Yucca are beneficial. Anything negative on the list?   Saturday, April 11 View Page And the season begins!!! Here’s the contenders: 2152 D. Gantner 1576 LaRiviere 858.9 Karkos 1148 Wagner 689 Donahue 1 hour soak in half strength seaweed and humic.   Monday, April 13 View Page Rainy afternoon is a good time to build some walking boards. Glad for my wife’s help! Happy Easter everyone! He is Risen!!!   Monday, April 13 View Page I use an ice chest with a seed germination mat as an incubator. Cellophane over the top of the pots ensures they stay moist. I expect the first germination tomorrow at about the 72 hour mark.   Wednesday, April 15 View Page Woke to find 6 seeds breaking through. Both 1148’s, 2 858.9’s and 2 of my own 689’s. This is about 3 1/2 days from the time they were started.   Tuesday, April 28 View Page Almost ready for the patch.   Wednesday, April 29 View Page Time to plant!! The finalists are the 858.9 Karkos. It’s all about the ORANGE!!   Wednesday, April 29 View Page And finally, we are in the ground! This is much earlier than I’ve ever planted. Hoping It will lead to an earlier pollination in more favorable conditions.   Wednesday, April 29 View Page This is an overhead view of my patch from our balcony. Right about 500 square feet. You can see the park behind our house. I will train secondaries to go over the 3 foot wall and run down the slope. They can’t root in because they are on top of shrubbery but it gives me extra plant canopy.   Thursday, April 30 View Page Final till is complete, the shade canopy is installed so when it’s time to put on the shade cloth it can be done without disturbing the plant. The overhead misters have all been tested and replaced where needed.   Thursday, April 30 View Page For the first week I like to keep a little shade cloth on the plant - it can get really hot even now. It was over 100 degrees in the patch last weekend. This little cabana has 50% shade cloth on it, enough to help the plant get established.   Monday, May 4 View Page Eating tomatoes are all in the ground now. Varieties include Yellow Pear, Lemon Boy, Celebrity, Beef Steak, pink Princess and Virginia Sweets.   Monday, May 4 View Page Pepper garden was a hot mess (lol) so I took out all the plants except 1 and tilled/amended the whole bed. This year I will have Jalafuego, Carolina Reaper, Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, Caribbean, Fatali, Ancho and Sriracha peppers.   Monday, May 4 View Page It hit 94.1 degrees in the patch today. And it’s supposed to be 8 degrees hotter tomorrow. Ugh! The shade cloth is now in place. Glad I put the frame up early! This is 30% aluminet and works great.   Saturday, May 9 View Page Today is planting day at Mae Powell’s house! Mike Prager, Chris Dunn and I drove up to Pasadena to get her season off to a good start. Mae is still growing at 101 years old!!   Saturday, May 9 View Page The best part about the Giant pumpkin community is growers helping other growers. Mae was so excited we were coming!   Saturday, May 9 View Page We planted two 858.9 Karkos seedlings, a 764 Prager, and two of Mae’s seedlings. Which she doesn’t remember what seed she planted which is forgivable when you are 101 years old!   Thursday, May 21 View Page Double on the varmits!   Thursday, May 21 View Page A bonus!! 5 points extra for a gopher.   Thursday, May 21 View Page Both plants are doing great. The mains are 3 feet out now.   Thursday, May 21 View Page Forecast: 82 degrees My patch: 91 degrees and counting. Plants seem to be tolerant so that’s good. Very little flagging to speak of.   Tuesday, May 26 View Page Plants are doing great and so far are my best at this stage. The mains are at 6.5 feet on these Karkos plants. They’ve grown about 3.5 feet in the past 5 days. I did not water for about two weeks and they’ve tolerated the dry conditions very well. Very little sign of distress even in the heat - it was 94.8 degrees today. Still, it’s nearing that time when I will have to cull one.   Tuesday, May 26 View Page Planted up a few giant tomatoes 2 each 3.79 Donahue 1 each 5.11 Dunn (former CA State Record) 1 each 5.71 Dunn (CA State Record) Thanks for the seeds Chris!   Friday, May 29 View Page Culled to one plant today. Main is over 7 feet now.   Sunday, May 31 View Page Plant is looking good! No abnormalities.   Monday, June 1 View Page Hello young lady! She should settle in about 13’ out. Even this small it looks like this one will have an elongated shape.   Wednesday, June 10 View Page She’s 12 feet out and looks like 2 days from opening. It’s great she didn’t open during this heat wave! It was 98 here yesterday and will be the same today. Forecast gets a bit better and then back into the 70s by Friday.   Friday, June 12 View Page So a disappointing first female showed seeds in the blossom. I pollinated anyway. I did take off a female from a secondary that appeared normal so hoping the next one out at 15’- 16’ will be uniform.   Friday, June 19 View Page Another main vine pollination and another deformed flower. Ugh. Running out of space. This one is worse than the last! I knew it wasn’t good before it opened because half the pedals opened and half didn’t. I did have a decent 4 lobe flower on a sidevine open. We will see if it takes   Thursday, June 25 View Page Really nice bouquet of males to work with.   Sunday, July 5 View Page 10 DAP   Tuesday, July 7 View Page 12 DAP Does my pumpkin make my tractor look small?? Lol   Saturday, July 11 View Page First double digit gain   Sunday, July 12 View Page This is not good pumpkin weather. Not at all. And it was hotter yesterday!   Wednesday, July 15 View Page Not lighting the world on fire but nutrients should all be better balanced now. Hoping for a solid week of growth. It’s ahead of last year’s PB at this stage. But every growth curve is different!   Tuesday, July 21 View Page What a difference a week makes. This pumpkin has gone from a personal best pace to a weak growth curve. It gained 20.5 lbs overnight and should be in the 30’s by now. Trying everything I know to boost it.   Wednesday, July 22 View Page Rat kill #19. On my way to a personal best. I’ve only lost one tomato and this one is then culprit. The bait? Tomato pieces of course.   Friday, July 24 View Page Found this today on a tertiary shoot. Looks a whole lot like the Mosaic virus I dealt with several years back. Say it ain’t so...   Friday, July 24 View Page Day 28. Daily gains are increasing by about 1/2 pound per day. So by day 98 she will be doing about 52 lbs a day lol 98.5 cc   Friday, July 24 View Page Love the fresh produce from the garden this time of year!   Tuesday, July 28 View Page 24th rat to tie my personal best This Ratinator trap has been money.   Tuesday, July 28 View Page   Friday, July 31 View Page Day 36 Daily gains are 18-19 lbs now. Nothing to write home about but there is still a chance that I could outgrow the mother ( 858.9 Karkos) which would be a first   Friday, July 31 View Page So this volunteer came up in my garden. Does anyone recognize it? Looks Like a gourd of some kind. Maybe the seed was in the compost. Who knows?!   Thursday, September 17 View Page The pumpkin came off the vine about 10 days ago due to stem rot. Chances were high it wouldn’t make the weigh off. We came up with the idea for Mae to have her own weigh off at home. Mae was so excited she couldn’t sleep! The news was there and the folks at the Huntington Gardens donated a tractor and a driver for the day. It all went off without a hitch. It was great that Mae’s family, friends and neighbors could all be together to celebrate her special day!   Friday, September 18 View Page Day 85 and still growing some. This is the longest growing fruit I’ve had in my patch. The leaf canopy is shot. The growth that’s left is all tertiary and mosaic-infected.   Friday, October 2 View Page Lifting!!   Saturday, October 3 View Page The 2021 season has begun! Soil solarization underway...   Sunday, October 4 View Page Condensation is visible under the plastic.   Sunday, October 4 View Page Temp is at 116 degrees and rising.   Thursday, December 10 View Page Hey BP community Our dear friend and long time grower Mae Powell is sick with pneumonia. At 101 years old this is going to be a challenge to recover from. Mae is a fighter and has recovered from pneumonia previously so we are holding out hope. She has been an integral part of our Southern California giant pumpkin community since I started growing and become a dear friend over the years. Please whisper a prayer for her recovery and for her salvation. We are all very sad.