Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 78 Entries. Friday, January 1 View Page Happy New Year! � Friday, January 1 View Page Sure, moar fireworks will help 2021! lol � Friday, January 1 View Page Happy 2021, Everyone! � Friday, January 1 View Page Happy New Year, Gritty-Above-Ground-Kins! Ya made it! � Friday, January 1 View Page /waves at Iowegian!!! � Friday, January 1 View Page Hope you're having fun on New Years too, Hayden and Big Moon! � Friday, January 1 View Page As Brett kicks the kids off the Xbox, and Jim too, lol! � Saturday, January 2 View Page Oh no, not ZombieFest! 2021 learned quickly. � Thursday, January 7 View Page Brain Bleach Fest!!!!! Here, have some more!!! lol � Friday, January 8 View Page Looks like Gritty Kins and Henry tied for the most Diary entries for last year! Henry has the most photos, so I guess he wins again? Congrats!!! Woot!!!! Super-exciting stuff on another Covid-Avoiding Friday Night, lol! Party on Friends!!!! � Tuesday, January 12 View Page Looking forward to the BHGPG Seed Auction! � Friday, January 15 View Page Yay! Sure is great to be back online after some 70 mph winds came through and deposited the neighborhood internet connection into someone's front yard (not mine, thankfully!) I didn't realize how much time I actually spend on the Internet, yikes! It's really great to be back! Looks like I mostly missed rural billboard ads, urban trashings, logs impersonating burned weiners (ouch!), shy piles of fertilizers, a Zoom seminar announcement, big thanks for the fun at the BHGPG seed raffle, and further review of high school Civics. It's content like this that I have grown to depend on as a distraction from all the other stuff I'm trying to distract myself from. Thanks, bp! It's totally boring without you!!!!! � Friday, January 15 View Page OK, where was I? /shrugs � Wednesday, February 3 View Page In this case, the trophy is the real prize, Orange You Glad! The stars make it cool! lol � Monday, May 10 View Page Happy Birthday, Twins! � Tuesday, May 11 View Page I'm really looking forward to growing A.G.'s next year! I'm focusing on less-complex items this season, like sunflowers. They really are beautiful and I love the heliotropic aspect of them. Sunflowers need most or all of the summer to ripen fully in the Pacific NW. Photos are from 2014. Hope you had a great birthday, Twins! Have a great season everyone!!!!!! Way to go Jody, and you guys have an amazing line-up of pumpkins in the works! Can't wait to see your pumpkins!!!! � Tuesday, May 25 View Page This season is turning up mostly maters so far! I hope things turn out well since it's my first season attempting to grow giant tomatoes. I grew tomato starts from Lowe's in the past and had good luck with them, so we'll see how these turn out. � Tuesday, May 25 View Page Delbrut Duke-Out! Only one will win! Thanks Reed! � Tuesday, May 25 View Page I'm glad this Butler sunflower came up. I've never germinated a sunflower using the paper towel method before, so I'm glad it worked out. Goal-wise, I'm just hoping to 'get on the board' this year. I discovered that I was attempting to germinate some seeds that were crushed on one side only after going through the high-speed mail sorters. My season has improved greatly since ditching those. I'm still in a long gourd slump, lol! I've only successfully germinated one out of like 15. I'll try some of the Yohe lg seeds for next season. � Tuesday, May 25 View Page This place needs moar cucumber! lol Have a great season everyone!!!! � Friday, May 28 View Page You're Team Lawn Raider, for sure, JohnnyB! Yay! � Friday, June 4 View Page Couldn't have Lakewood's Largest Pumpkin without Toni! Thank you! � Wednesday, June 9 View Page Enjoying Marv!'s Giant Tomato growing e-book, great for first-year tomato growers, and includes people from here! /waves virtually to Marv! � Monday, June 28 View Page It's only 108F, and climbing, lol! Good luck everyone! � Wednesday, June 30 View Page OMG Henry!!!!! TAKE CARE and get well soon!!!!!! Is anyone looking out for your pumpkin plants? It's a bit of a commute from here, LOL! � Wednesday, June 30 View Page Sorry, LJ. She was epic. � Thursday, July 1 View Page This weather is just bizarre, two days ago it was hotter than ever and now it's sprinkling out there, what the heck? lol Have a nice day everyone! � Saturday, July 3 View Page Fighter Shadow Patch, Thank You USAF!!!! � Tuesday, July 6 View Page Get well soon Henry! It's too quiet here without ya!!! � Saturday, July 10 View Page 6.5 feet of Butler, woot!!!! � Tuesday, July 20 View Page Butler sunflower at about 9'. Growing so fast that the photo I took three hours ago is outdated, yay! Yesterday evening, people started stopping by to check out the sunflower, lol! "Tourism Season" is here, ready or not! Oh right, smile and wave! lol � Monday, July 26 View Page Oh my, Austin14! Sorry to hear of your pumpkin troubles! A photo of the problem leaves would be helpful. � Wednesday, July 28 View Page Still growing, yay! � Thursday, July 29 View Page I've really been sand bagging lately with my Barratt Heavy Cucumbers, lol! This one is due to be culled tomorrow and is about 18 inches long. It's growing at a bad angle near the center of the plant. � Thursday, July 29 View Page I've named this one "Bin Buster" because it's growing out of the bin at about 21 inches long. Sand bagger!!!!!! lol � Thursday, July 29 View Page Sorry Team Lawn Raiders, my maters are nothing to write home about. I'm not sand bagging on this, really! � Saturday, August 7 View Page Butler sunflower has grown since yesterday. An amazing plant, I'm super-happy with it! The wind started to howl a minute ago and it's still standing, yay! Sorry Gritty! I just have beginner's luck on this one. � Saturday, August 7 View Page Barratt Heavy Cucumber, Bin Buster, is also doing really well! More beginner's luck, lots of fertilizers, and some helpful input along the way. I hope everyone has a great season too! � Saturday, August 7 View Page 5-gallon maters are starting to bloom, and I have one small mater on one of the LaRues. Wish it was more for Team Lawn Raiders! First year at growing giant maters. I've certainly learned a lot this season! � Friday, August 13 View Page I probably have the Washington State records for Tall Sunflowers and Heavy Cucumbers. I never thought this was possible! O-M-G!!!!!! Thank you to all that have assisted me, I sincerely appreciate it! You know who you are!!!! Looking forward to the weigh-offs!!!! I'm not crying, you are! LOL! � Saturday, August 14 View Page Bin Buster the cucumber is H-U-G-E!!!! Like, OMG! � Saturday, August 14 View Page It's been a while since I last measured. I like the suspense sometimes. � Tuesday, August 24 View Page My neighbor stopped by to tell me that I have successfully completed the "Alien Landscape" Achievement! Thank you, thank you very much! lol Bin Buster is now at 31" long with a 16.5" cc. The Pacific Northwest had some cooler and cloudier days so growth has slowed. Got back up into the 80's today in the patch, so hopefully Bin Buster has some more growing to do before the weigh-offs! � Tuesday, August 24 View Page Butler sunflower is an amazing plant that I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to grow. It was a bit heart-stopping when the wind kicked up to like 30 m.p.h here the other day! It's a trooper and made it through just fine. How did you get your sunflower to the weigh-off, VTJohn? Good luck out there! � Monday, September 13 View Page Go Henry Go! Never Give Up! Keep on Fighting To Be The Best You Can Be! Cheering you on from Washington State! � Friday, September 17 View Page OK Friends, grab your popcorn because it's Weigh-Off Photo Time! The fun began bright and early on Thursday morning with a crown from the dentist. They are really nice there and we joked about Ghostbusters (who ya gonna call?) and the dental assistant's self-professed addiction to interior decorating. It was all good! They cheered me on to potential weigh-off victory as well! Friday morning rolls around and I pick up my reserved rental truck at the local truck rental place. I get in the cab and noticed there is spilled and dried-on espresso beverage all over the center console, an old ketchup pack under the passenger seat, and dried-on mud all over the floor. This should have been My Sign that this truck was not well-cared for, but, I went with it anyway, lol! So, every time I accelerated from a stop light or stop sign it would spudder, spudder, spudder, and then randomly take off like a bat outta heck. I got close to home and I noticed the 'Check Engine' light came on! I pulled over and shut the engine off. There wasn't enough room to get the truck off the road there, and I was almost home, so I restarted the engine and no more 'check engine' light. I continued down the road and as soon as I gave it some gas to go up a small hill, the 'check engine' came back on! I said some swear words at it but continued on since I was only a couple of blocks away from the house. There was NO WAY that I'm driving that thing anywhere, so I contacted the truck rental people. After lots of phone calls, I ended up talking to a maintenance supervisor who was looking at the records for this rig, and it had the catalytic converter stolen once and a whole laundry list of other problems. I explained how badly it ran, so he called a tow truck. Eventually, Jack the Tow Truck Driver showed up and he was really nice and was impressed with my sunflower and my huge cucumber. He had an epic undercut haircut that I admired. So, Jack hauled the rental truck to Des Moines, and I'm sure the rental place had a large towing bill on their hands. The truck was repaired and rented out to someone who was driving to Texas with it!!!! Good luck, I hope they made it! I wonder if the ketchup packet is still in the truck, lol! � Friday, September 17 View Page I'm still laughing about my last post, that is all too much! So, it was about 4 in the afternoon by the time Jack hauled off the rental truck, and I still hadn't done any harvesting yet, and the wind started blowing in a big way. It must be time to harvest my sunflower! I noticed after adding Fox Farms Big Bloom Booster the other day that the new growth on the stem wasn't doing that great of a job at holding the heavy bloom up, like you can somewhat see in the photo. � Friday, September 17 View Page I dug up the sunflower and got it on the ground. It looks so sad and dead in this photo! � Friday, September 17 View Page Houston, we have a problem! The sunflower head was barely hanging on! OMG! The upper stem was cracked and not eligible for a Washington State Record. It did seem a bit too good to be true. Plus, I didn't have a truck to haul it to the weigh-off! I guess it all worked out, lol! "Please check the number and try again next year!" lol � Friday, September 17 View Page Even though my sunflower was damaged, I measured it anyway. About 14 feet, 5.5 inches. � Friday, September 17 View Page Looks like about 1 foot, 4 inches across, not that it really matters at this point. So, major note to self: Do Not Add Fox Farms Big Bloom Booster on a sunflower when it has a sunflower!!! lol � Friday, September 17 View Page The sunflower head is now being used a living room decoration while it dries. Not that I really use my living room as a living room. It's mostly a storage area for my growing supplies, lol! � Friday, September 17 View Page The roots on the sunflower were so densely grown together that they formed like a mat. I wasn't able to see the tap root, I gather that it's in there somewhere? lol That's WOW myco for ya. � Friday, September 17 View Page That was much more excitement than I anticipated, I am so shurrree! lol So, moving right along to my Heavy Cucumber named Bin Buster, from a Gerald Barratt '19. � Friday, September 17 View Page Bin Buster, such a happy cucumber, growing outside the bin! � Friday, September 17 View Page You're really going places now! � Friday, September 17 View Page You're going have to make due in the Subaru, no truck ride for you! It has a better stereo anyway. � Friday, September 17 View Page With Bin Buster on Board, it was Harvest Time for my teeny tiny 5-gallon bucket mater grown from a 3.95 Brinkley. � Friday, September 17 View Page The brown wood-like bits on the underside of this mater really made me nervous, so I packed it up for the weigh-off. � Friday, September 17 View Page Just about the time I thought I had a nice handle on things again, I walk out to the garden and see one of my 3.87 La Rues laying on the ground!!!! It wasn't like this a few minutes ago!!!! The wind blew the whole tomato cage over!!! O-M-G!!!!!! Wellll, guess who's going to the weigh-off now!!!! lol � Friday, September 17 View Page Fortunately, the tomato is undamaged in there, yay! � Saturday, September 18 View Page Skagit Valley Weigh-Off, so great to see everyone! � Saturday, September 18 View Page Friday evening, the winds kicked up to over 50 mph, thank goodness I took the sunflower down when I did. Saturday was a much better day with the easiest commute through Seattle I've ever experienced. Such a relief to make it to the weigh-off! Christianson's Nursery and the Skagit Valley are so beautiful! � Saturday, September 18 View Page Bin Buster making some new friends! � Saturday, September 18 View Page Cindy's massive marrow! A new Washington and U.S. Record!!!! Way to grow Cindy! � Saturday, September 18 View Page Team Gadberry's winning pumpkin! So great to meet you two! � Saturday, September 18 View Page Bin Buster on the scale, looking like a giant slug, lol! Cindy thinks that I should decorate it like a slug, sounds like a fun project for tomorrow! lol The display was not working at the moment, but it came out to an even 17 pounds! I'm claiming it as a Washington State record since no one has any info to the contrary. � Saturday, September 18 View Page 1.53 pounds from the blown-over, in-ground La Rue was enough to win 1st place at the weigh-off! I received a nice ribbon for my trouble, yay! It also helped that no one else entered any tomatoes, lol! � Saturday, September 18 View Page Teeny-Tiny 5-gallon bucket Brinkley mater came in at .19 in this photo, so that Team Lawn Raiders are able to get on the board. I will forward a photo to Zeke. I had lots of fun at the weigh-off and the lavender waffles looked delicious but I tend to have no appetite at the weigh-offs. Thank you to everyone to who made the day so special! Thank you for the photo of my 1.53 mater, Amy Turnbull! � Monday, September 20 View Page Way to grow Framac with all the rain! I still have my heart-shaped 5-gallon mater on the grow for Team Lawn Raiders! It's dark outside so no current photo at the moment, and I've hogged enough bandwidth for one day here, sorry Ken! Have a great evening, everyone! � Thursday, October 7 View Page Really, lol!!!!! � Monday, October 11 View Page Spaziani still on the grow for Team Lawn Raiders. Never give up! � Tuesday, October 12 View Page Wow Kerry, Congratulations! Great job!!!! � Wednesday, October 27 View Page My Spaziani was still growing nicely through Rocktober, so I kept it going. � Wednesday, October 27 View Page Whoo-hoo!! About 19.5 inches, or approximately 2.75 pounds! Mater wanted to grow more, but the rainy season was well underway at this point. I'm really happy with this, especially for my first season growing giant maters with plenty of grower error along the way. Holding the tape in place while taking clear photos is also a challenge, lol! � Wednesday, October 27 View Page Party on the Patio turned into the Heartbreak Hotel after I harvested my mater and discovered the smaller lobe suffered a massive blow-out, probably some time ago, and turned into a mega-mold factory on the underside where I couldn't see it! Grody to the Max! lol I'm really happy with my mater anyways and next year I will certainly use a mirror to check the underside. Incredible fruit had growth splits on the topside, mold on the bottom, lol! This season was full of learning experiences, and I'm really looking forward to improving my growing techniques for next season! Look out, 5-gallon bucket mater contest! Thank you so much to everyone who helped make my season most excellent! Couldn't have done it without you, Team Lawn Raiders, Jack La Rue, Porkchop, Rick, Big Moon, Ken, Lowe's Home Improvement, Kelp 4 Less, PNWGPG, PGVG, GPC, and WOW. Great job with the contest, Zeke! Much appreciation to Gerald S. for the heavy cucumber input, and to Gerald Barratt for the amazing seeds! Thank you to Henry and Hayden for the sunflower inspiration, and to John Butler for sharing his North American Record sunflower seeds on the seed exchange. Also thank you to the growers here who take the time and effort to create informative diaries, such as Cindy and Materdoc. Much appreciated! Grow 'em big in 2022, everyone!!! � Sunday, October 31 View Page Happy Halloween! � Saturday, December 25 View Page Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! �