Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 48 Entries. Wednesday, March 3 View Page Going to try and grow a big pumpkin the right way this year. My first test from Western Labs, wish I had done this sooner but lets see how it goes.   Sunday, March 14 View Page Converted 1/3 of back yard for my first real AG patch. Getting excited but realize there is a lot of work ahead, no turning back now.   Sunday, March 14 View Page My new favorite toy. Thanks Big John 79 for the help deciding on this, this tiller is amazing. Near effortless turning sod into patch.   Sunday, April 11 View Page Soaked, sanded and in pots. My first choices are 2261.5 Wallace and 2095 Willemijns. If possible I will also use the 2089 Thomson. Have the 1794.5 Kaminski as a backup.   Wednesday, April 14 View Page Have my hoop Houses ready, amazing how quick they can heat up. Heating cables installed, space heater on a extra thermostat set for 75 degrees. Doing some testing of day and night temps inside, soil is at 79 degrees and inside temps near test plant ranging from 68 to 110. Opening the ends halfway around 8am and closing at dusk. Hope that is not to warm inside. Temps here mid 30s at night and high 50s during day.   Sunday, April 18 View Page All four seeds germinated and are starting first leaf. Thinking about placing outside next Sunday.   Tuesday, April 20 View Page First leaf on all four looks a little light green and tight around the edges to me should I be concerned?   Wednesday, April 21 View Page Had a rough night last night. Does not look to bad here but the snow was wet and heavy, took limbs down all over the neighborhood. Lost power at 1:00am to 5:30am. First real AGs for me and hoops are a first also, very difficult to sleep wondering how this would come out. I did add another layer of plastic as we knew temps were going down and looks like my test plant came thru just fine. Forecast looking good going forward.   Saturday, April 24 View Page Planting day, the 2089 Thompson going to the hoop will hold onto the 1794.5 Kaminski to see how things go. Repotted into pro mix a week ago and second leaf looking much better than the first. Will do some testing on the black gold mix in the near future to see if this was the cause of my leaf issue.   Saturday, April 24 View Page This pic is for the last entry, have them in the wrong order. Previous photo is the 2095.5 Willemijns and the 2261.5 Wallace getting ready to head to the hoop.   Thursday, April 29 View Page 2089 Thomson adjusting to hoop growing nicely.   Thursday, April 29 View Page 2095.5 Doing well.   Thursday, April 29 View Page 2261.5 Wallace adding some new leaves.   Saturday, May 8 View Page Main vine is taking off, so much that it bent from the weight and has a small split.   Saturday, May 8 View Page Close up of the split.   Tuesday, May 18 View Page The Wallace 2261.5 is growing well and will officially be leaving the hoops protection soon.   Wednesday, May 26 View Page Tomato Lineup includes 9.65 Marley, 6.55 Marley, 8.1 and 8.105 MacDonald, 8.83, 8.71 and 7.15 Larue, 3.0 Parenty, 7.12 Sutherland and 7.66 Hill.   Wednesday, May 26 View Page Had my tomatoes hardening off outside and someone made picked their favorite.   Wednesday, May 26 View Page Willemijns 2095.5 @ 15DAP   Sunday, June 6 View Page New LG trellis completed recently, the 155.7 Lazic on the left at about 10 feet and the 146.5 LeBlanc on the right about 8 feet.   Tuesday, June 8 View Page Pollenated first on 2089 Thomson today 16 feet out. Not sure if this is a good thing it has 5+ lobes. Will see if it takes, already have another two feet farther out.   Tuesday, June 8 View Page Shot from a friends drone of my patch filling up quickly.   Tuesday, June 8 View Page Strawberries are going crazy this year.   Thursday, June 24 View Page Have been treating a small split on the stem of my 2089 Thomson the best I know how. Added some Daconile with Dr and have a fan on it. Looks to be spreading closer to the pumpkin now though. Have a couple more on the vine but this one is a better location.   Thursday, June 24 View Page Side view of the position of stem. New split I believe may be due to kin growing and stem is higher today than yesterday. In this pic I have adjusted slightly so the stem is positioned down slightly to see if it helps with the stress on top of the stem.   Monday, June 28 View Page Have my keepers set I hope. Thomson 2089 @ 20DAP   Monday, June 28 View Page Wallace 2261.5 @ 11DAP   Monday, June 28 View Page 5 Gallon Sunflower a little behind schedule.   Monday, June 28 View Page 5 Gallon Tomatoes don't look to happy.   Monday, June 28 View Page Drone shot of the patch, almost full. I can use the break from burying vines for sure.   Monday, June 28 View Page Love the angle of this shot from the drone. On the left the 155.7 Lazic going crazy. On the right the 146.5 LeBlanc spreading out.   Monday, June 28 View Page Try this one again of the 5gal Sunflowers.   Monday, June 28 View Page And the Willemijns 2095.5 @ 15DAP.   Tuesday, July 13 View Page Found this soft spot today on the bottom of the pumpkin. The stem part has some give to it and the ring around it is a little soft. I'm betting this is not good as it looks to be going into the pumpkin with a dark color. We have had a ton of rain recently and this part of the patch sets the lowest.   Thursday, August 12 View Page Decided to do a tissue test on the 2261 Wallace. My best pumpkin by far at approx. 860lb but small compared to most. It has averaged 20lbs per day from DAP20 to DAP55 in a space of 600sq ft. Very happy with this for my first real try at AG's but wondering if I should supplement the Nitrogen and Sulfur that is showing low in to raise the daily gains this far into the growing season.   Monday, August 16 View Page Weighed a couple of my tomatoes both PB for me. Hopefully I will have a bigger one still for the team yet to come. 3.814lb   Monday, August 16 View Page 3.814   Monday, August 16 View Page 3.772lb   Monday, August 16 View Page 3.772   Wednesday, August 25 View Page 5 Gallon Tomato struggled from the start but was able to get one. Need to work on my soil for next year. 1.506lb   Wednesday, August 25 View Page 5 Gallon Tomato struggled from the start but was able to get one. Need to work on my soil for next year. 1.506lb   Wednesday, August 25 View Page Not what I expected but here is my final 5 Gallon sunflower, once again need to work on my soil mixture. 61"   Wednesday, August 25 View Page Picked a couple new contest tomatoes, this is a new PB for me. 4.488lbs   Wednesday, August 25 View Page 4.488lbs   Wednesday, August 25 View Page 3.834   Wednesday, August 25 View Page 3.834   Wednesday, August 25 View Page Harvested my biggest Parenty this year at 3.774lbs, will save the seeds and try harder next year.   Wednesday, August 25 View Page Was able to pick up my Long Gourd from the State Fair in one piece. It finished first with a new state record for Indiana at 128". This is from the Lazic 155.7 x LeBlanc 146.5. Thanks to Barry LeBlanc for helping me get these LG seeds to germinate as I went thru several test seeds before getting these to take. Also special thanks to Matthias Wuersching and the EGVGA for working very hard to get me the Lazic seed after multiple seeds were destroyed in transit.