Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 45 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!