Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 124 Entries. Tuesday, March 16 View Page I've been waiting a long time for an upgrade but maybe 2021 is the year I finally get it back?   Wednesday, March 17 View Page Three targets to aim for this year, + 200.6 for a PB + 203 for Vengeance ;) + 206.5 to become 'King of the marrows!' Simple as that.   Friday, March 19 View Page So my main priority again will be the marrows this year, provisional line up. 165 Baggs 17 x 4 220 Baggs 18 x 4 198.8 Baggs 19 x 2 217 Baggs 19 x 2 198.4 Baggs 20 x 2 200.6 Baggs 20 x 2 16 plants total.   Friday, March 19 View Page I'll also be growing 4 field pumpkin plants, I'll likely grow a seed from each of my three crosses from last year and am undecided on the fourth as yet.   Friday, March 19 View Page And just for fun I'll be growing a couple of AG's, Two plants in my 20x42 ft tunnel so a little over 400 sq ft per plant. Not sure of line up yet but it's of little concern as I'm only growing them for amusement. I'm considering trying my own 917 (2255xself) from 2019 if I get a good plant. No time for cucumbers this year.   Sunday, April 11 View Page I started pumpkin seeds this evening. 12 seeds went in to 3 litre pots and are in the propagators at room temperature. I've never felt so relaxed about growing a pumpkin, I didn't even bother to sand seeds :D. The plan is to start one plant off at each end and they'll meet in the middle, but I'll still have the option of thinning to one larger plant if one of the plants looks to be a runt. A picture of the tunnel taken last weekend before the frost touched the potato plants, which will be taken out before the pumpkins require the space if they're ready or not. I've now got side doors (one each side) in the middle of the tunnel which will enable me to get around the plants easier.   Sunday, April 11 View Page Nothings happening in the marrow patch yet, I did spray a little glyphosate around at the weekend just to keep the weeds in check but I don't want to disturb the soil too much until planting time or it'll only encourage more weeds to grow!   Tuesday, April 20 View Page Well germination of pumpkins wasn't bad 9 out of 12 germinated but some are better than others. The good news is I only need 2 plants.   Tuesday, April 20 View Page I'm sure glad I can give the plants a little heat as it's still quite cold at night, had several frosts over the last few days.   Saturday, April 24 View Page Pumpkin plant planting out day. Quite some difference between plants, I'm going with the best looking plants   Saturday, April 24 View Page Line up 1341 De wever - back up 1752 Williams 265 Hochestelter - back up 353 Hochestelter   Saturday, April 24 View Page Job done!   Saturday, May 1 View Page 6am this morning and yet another frost!!   Saturday, May 1 View Page The potatoes are coming along inside the tunnel dispite the cold nights, only one night the frost touched them in here.   Saturday, May 1 View Page 1341 plant is coming along nicely.   Saturday, May 1 View Page The Hochestelter plants are neck and neck, will have to decide which one to cull soon   Saturday, May 8 View Page Plants are making steady progress. Here is the 1341 plant.   Saturday, May 8 View Page And the 265.   Monday, May 10 View Page Started digging the new potatoes yesterday, variety rocket   Monday, May 10 View Page We also took a stroll down to durdle door.   Saturday, May 15 View Page Both pumpkin plants are making steady progress and developing what look to be normal vines so far which is good to see. Here is the 1341   Saturday, May 15 View Page And the 265 plant also looking good, not much else to report this week. Looking forward to getting the marrows going.   Saturday, May 15 View Page I've just realised that Google must have updated their mapping and I found an aerial view of last year's patch. You can clearly see the mildew starting up at the south end of the patch and it eventually spreads right through the whole patch. Why it starts up at that end I don't know but it's done that the last two years, i probably sound a little incompetent when I say I don't really spray for it but try keeping up with vine burying/weeding 20 plants (there's only so many hours in a day). The field pumpkins always get the worst end of the patch (I've got my priorities right!)   Saturday, May 22 View Page Both plants are growing well considering the weather this past week, both have outgrown their mini tunnels now so last night was their last night with heat. Here is the 1341   Saturday, May 22 View Page And the 265. Both plants around 4ft long. Let's hope we see some more of the sun soon!   Saturday, May 22 View Page Mini tunnels gone.   Saturday, May 22 View Page Really pleased with my new side access, will be able to maximise the use of the space I have and still be able to get around the plant I hope.   Thursday, June 3 View Page A lot warmer here now and the plants ate doing OK . The 1341 plant has been throwing up a few double leaf nodes on the main so I've been doing a little surgery but otherwise its looking OK.   Thursday, June 3 View Page And the 265 is also growing well. Main vines on both plants roughly 9-10 feet long   Thursday, June 3 View Page Marrows and field pumpkin seeds went in on Tuesday, all my own seeds. They are just sitting in our porch at room temperature, hopefully I'll have better germination rates than last year (I think I cooked them) but I've planted 60 seeds looking for 20 strong plants just to be sure.   Monday, June 7 View Page Time to rota ate the marrow patch!   Monday, June 7 View Page I did the whole patch with the BCS rotavator this year, didn't use the tractor like I have done   Monday, June 7 View Page Went over it in two passes, once across the patch and once lengthways   Monday, June 7 View Page Job done!   Sunday, June 13 View Page Well germination wasn't great again but we're away first time, however my planned line up has changed as I decided to go with the best plants I had. Here's the line up for this year Marrows, 220 - x 3 217 - x 1 200.6 - x 7 198.4 - x 2 198.8 - x 3 Field pumpkins, 168 - x 2 168 DMG - x 1 153 - x 1   Sunday, June 13 View Page Some of the not so strong plants which will do for back ups   Sunday, June 13 View Page Out in the patch   Sunday, June 13 View Page All planted out in the patch on 11/6.   Sunday, June 13 View Page Plan of the patch, when I do my pollenations ill write in the crosses I make along with the dates also. Those 200.6 plants better be good, they are the best plants over all so far that's why I've so many going.   Saturday, June 19 View Page Pumpkin plants are coming along OK. This is the de wever plant.   Saturday, June 19 View Page First set on de wever plant at about the 11ft mark, set on 14/6 so day 5 today. Flower set on one of the hottest days we've seen this year so not sure if it'll hold or not yet but I'm hoping so.   Saturday, June 19 View Page The hochesteter plant is looking to be the better of the two plants now.   Saturday, June 19 View Page Pollination day today at about 14 ft, much cooler here today so I have higher hopes for this one. Both are open pollinated.   Saturday, June 19 View Page I didn't get enough water going earlier in the week and picked up a little scorch.   Sunday, June 20 View Page Pollenated a second flower on the de wever plant today, again x open.   Sunday, June 20 View Page The marrows are making good progress, we've had a few days of unsettled weather and rain so I've not needed to do any watering for the last few days. Need a bit of sun now. This is one of the 200.6's   Sunday, June 20 View Page And one of the 168.7 field pumpkin plants   Sunday, July 4 View Page Dad managed to roll the matbro last week   Sunday, July 4 View Page Luckily he didn't get hurt, pivot steer not the best on a hill side   Sunday, July 4 View Page Luke fell over and put his hand in something he shudnt have, the look on his face   Sunday, July 4 View Page Things have been a bit slow in the patch but I've got one pumpkin that looks good albeit a bit slow. This is the wever plant   Sunday, July 4 View Page And the pumpkin, I think it's at day 19 today. It's slow but its a good shape so it'll do!   Sunday, July 4 View Page Unfortunately the pumpkin on the hochesteter plant isn't such a nice shape and also growing slow.   Sunday, July 4 View Page There's a back up that was pollenated right on the end of the main yesterday, late but we will see   Sunday, July 4 View Page The plant looks good   Sunday, July 4 View Page The marrows have been growing OK, the weather hasn't been the best but we're on course still I think. Have been suffering a bit of bird damage on some of the plants this year (corvids I think) frustrating as they seem to be just pecking out of boredom as what they peck of hasn't been eaten.   Sunday, July 4 View Page Marrow plants   Sunday, July 4 View Page Field pumpkin plants   Wednesday, July 14 View Page Pumpkin plants have now filled the tunnel and from here everything looks good   Wednesday, July 14 View Page But things aren't good lol. The pumpkin on the wever plant has lost its nice shape and seems to have stopped growing, the back up got to the size of a cricket ball and aborted. I purposely left the flowers open after I pollenated them cause I thought it might increase my odds of getting a fruit set. I guess not.   Wednesday, July 14 View Page It's also developed a crack in the stem, this one is done   Wednesday, July 14 View Page Things aren't looking any better on the Hochestelter plant either, first one aborted, this one has practically blown itself off its stem. No pumpkins for me this year, but on a positive I'll have more time to tend to the marrows now.   Wednesday, July 14 View Page The weather has been pretty poor just lately but considering the plants are looking OK. Here are some of the marrows   Wednesday, July 14 View Page One of the field pumpkins   Wednesday, July 14 View Page The only problem with the marrows right now is this plant, I'm not sure but I think this is some sort of virus, maybe mosaic. If it doesn't pick up soon I'll cull it.   Tuesday, July 20 View Page Well I pulled the marrow plant which I suspected having mosaic virus and a day or two later my 153 FP plant started to look sick.   Tuesday, July 20 View Page I left it and it does look to be growing out of the problem now so I'm hoping it stays that way   Tuesday, July 20 View Page 19 plants starting to take off, for now at least things are looking good.   Wednesday, August 4 View Page We took a walk up to the old Harry rocks last weekend, I've lived here all my life but never been on the top before   Wednesday, August 4 View Page Dont get too close to the edge   Wednesday, August 4 View Page That's as close I dared to get at arms length. It's funny how you lose your nerve as you get older!   Wednesday, August 4 View Page I pulled out the 153 FP plant as it weren't looking like it was going to grow anything.   Wednesday, August 4 View Page One of three of my FP plants, all look similar.   Wednesday, August 4 View Page One of 15 of my marrow plants, I've 10 plants that are looking great and the other 5 are looking a little average. That being said I'm sure all 15 have the potential to grow +150 lbs No pollenating done yet, hoping to get most of them done within the next week   Friday, August 13 View Page All pollenations done, did the first one on the 7th and the last one this morning.   Saturday, August 14 View Page Last year's 168.7 DMG FP plant.   Saturday, August 14 View Page And one of 2 of the 168.7 FP plants I have going   Saturday, August 14 View Page One of the 168.7's not sure what DAP without looking in my book (cba) I'd say its 4-5 days   Saturday, August 14 View Page First marrow I set is at 7 DAP today   Saturday, August 14 View Page And the plant, its a 200.6 I think   Saturday, August 14 View Page Patch overview   Saturday, August 14 View Page Me after a couple hour vine burying session, I don't normally get in the photo but the patch is looking bang on right now so I thought why not.   Friday, August 20 View Page A look at this year's FP's. This is the 168 b (undamaged) plant. Both of the 168 a and b plants have a little extra space than originally intended since I lost the 153 plant so I'm guessing these plants are both 300+ sq ft per plant   Friday, August 20 View Page 168.7 DMG FP DAP 9 a nice round shape   Friday, August 20 View Page 168.7 A FP DAP 13 Both the A and B FP's I've got growing really are like two peas out of a pod with big stems.   Friday, August 20 View Page 168.7 B FP DAP 12   Friday, August 20 View Page A look up along one of the mains, all FP'S around 16-17 feet out.   Sunday, August 22 View Page A look at the marrows. This is my one and only 217 plant for this year, again this plant has benifitted from the culling of the neighbouring plant that I lost some time ago and is 300 sq ft at least. I'd say this is my personal favorite and I hope it does well for the sake of this year's crosses (it's pollenated 6 marrows)   Sunday, August 22 View Page 217 marrow DAP 13   Sunday, August 22 View Page Vine burying job is all but done, it's been a lot of work again but it'll be worth it to watch these grow over the next few weeks   Sunday, August 22 View Page Not sure about this one, too long and thin. I try to breed for meat over length and you kind of get a bit of an idea by looking at the female flowers whether they're gonna be meaty or lengthy. I haven't used this one to pollenated anything thankfully but we'll try our best to get this one big.   Sunday, August 22 View Page A marrow on a plant, a nice looking marrow (220) and the only open pollinated one in the patch (birds destroyed the flower petals)   Sunday, August 22 View Page In case anyone's interested here are all my crosses/pollenation dates for this year. I was wrong, I said in an earlier entry that they were all done between the 7th - 13th but my book says they were done between the 6th - 13th It's tough to wait it out so long and risky as I'll be relying on most of my growth during September when the weather might not be as good but I know from experience that if I grow them for the most part in August then the higher temps will more likely split them and I'll be too early for the October weigh offs. A good sunny week forecast for next week so we'll see how we go. Let's beat that foreskin guy!! ;)   Wednesday, August 25 View Page Started shading the fruits for the first time today, the summer seems to have returned with 10 days of good weather forecast!   Friday, August 27 View Page 168.7 A DAP 20 127 inches OTT.   Saturday, August 28 View Page 168.7 B is also 127 inches at 20 DAP I regret not posting numbers at this stage last year as I can't track how these compare but just by looking back at last year's photos I think we're a bit slower this year but the plants are slightly bigger and definitely in better shape so we will see if we can catch 168.7   Saturday, August 28 View Page 168.7 B plant   Saturday, August 28 View Page My 217 marrow is still my favorite but I have one or two others of a similar mark and also some thin waisted ones. Never really measure growth rates for these. One because I grow so many and they split so frequently, the other reason is because the shapes can be so irregular that I question the accuracy of measurements. I don't normally get excited enough to put a tape around them until they're approaching 200 lbs   Saturday, August 28 View Page My first set marrow (200.6 G) at DAP 22   Saturday, August 28 View Page Patch overview. All vine tips now terminated so time to see what these plants have got in them!   Tuesday, August 31 View Page 169.7 DMG FP DAP 20 100 inches OTT   Tuesday, August 31 View Page But I've got my doubts as to whether it will last or not as it keeps oozing slime out of its arse end.   Wednesday, September 1 View Page 168.7 A @ 25 DAP 155 Inches OTT   Thursday, September 2 View Page 168.7 B @ DAP 25 is 158 OTT. Three inches bigger than her sister at the same age but I prefer the shape of the other one as this one tapers off towards the arse end. So far so good with these two.   Thursday, September 2 View Page 217 at DAP 24. Despite seeing little sun and lots of cool overcast days the marrows are making good gains. This is the 217, I'm sure glad I used this plant as a main pollinator as this marrow is going to be a beast whether it splits or not. Hold on Brad, we're going on a ride again ;)   Monday, September 6 View Page 168.7 A FP @ DAP 30 174 inches OTT.   Tuesday, September 7 View Page 168.7 B @ DAP 30 178 inches OTT. I'm liking the shape of this one a little more now, both FP's just starting to show the first signs of ripening around the stem (minimal) but I'm hoping to get a bit more growth out of both of them yet.   Tuesday, September 7 View Page Both FP plants are in better shape than they were this time last year so I'm still hopeful of a pb.   Tuesday, September 7 View Page Lost a marrow today, this one on a 198.4 which has gone to a stem split. The mercury is rising and we're getting the weather we should have had last month. It's good for growth, but we'll probably lose a few over the next couple of weeks   Saturday, September 11 View Page 168.7 A FP @ DAP 35 187 inches OTT Growth slowing down now and ripening starting to look more evident which was expected but I'm happy with both FP's.   Saturday, September 11 View Page A look at three of the best marrows 217 at DAP 33 looks to be ripening earlier than I'd like but it's a decent size.   Saturday, September 11 View Page 198.8 C marrow at DAP 33 also, the skin on this one looks more youthful but there's a suspect weak looking area in the middle so might split   Saturday, September 11 View Page 200.6 A at DAP 34 All three are about 45 inches long and probably in the 150 - 170 weight range but it's hard to say.   Sunday, September 12 View Page 168.7 B @ DAP 35 189 inches OTT. Orange is becoming more apparent on both FP's now as they start ripening. Last years 168.7 FP final OTT was 199, if I can get this one or the other one to 200 and get one of them to the scale safe then I'll be more than happy but we will see.   Tuesday, September 14 View Page I'm living on a knife edge in the patch now, three marrows with stem splits (some may not be terminal yet) and now this one on the 200.6 A has gone down to a mighty big death crack. Its all good fun though!   Thursday, September 16 View Page 168.7 A @ DAP 40 194 Inches OTT   Friday, September 17 View Page 168.7 B @ DAP 40 195 Inches OTT She's ripening fast now.   Saturday, September 18 View Page Luke came to have a look around the garden this afternoon, it proved to be impossible to get him to look at the camera but we did our best. Here he is with the 168.7 B FP.   Saturday, September 18 View Page And from the back, you wouldn't believe it was the same pumpkin from this photo as less ripening going on towards the back. She's filled out nicely and is going to be lovely looking FP when she's ripe   Saturday, September 18 View Page With the 168.7 A FP, I'm not sure what he's trying to do here!   Saturday, September 18 View Page After a difficult week losing one of what I think we're my three biggest the other two still seem to be sound for now. Here's the 217 marrow, starting to ripen off well. I'm not convinced she'll break the 200 lb barrier but she'll take some beating.   Saturday, September 18 View Page The 198 A marrow is still in the game, the dill rings are getting more prominent but she's still sound for the time being. I think this one will be the heaviest for the year but I may be wrong. The good news is the weigh ins are upon us so whether she splits or not i should be able to get an official weight for her somewhere. Malvern next weekend and unless tragedy strikes ill be taking one of the (slightly) smaller ones. Hoping I'm not underestimating the competition LOL.   Sunday, September 19 View Page Darn it, the biggest and I think only marrow that would have had a chance of going over 200 lbs this year has gone and it wasn't even the weak area that went. It's been a funny old season here weather wise but every season is challenging growing these things. Several beasts left to weigh but I think I'm going to have to do it all over again next year lol.   Tuesday, September 21 View Page 168.7 A DAP 45 198 inches OTT. I'm amazed both FP's are still growing albeit slowly, just one inch short of mums final OTT now.