Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 7 Entries. Saturday, February 24 View Page This will be my first season of growing big pumpkins. Last year, my wife and I stood with our kids at the Irvine Railroad weigh-off and got hooked. The backyard grass comes out in a week (after a social event my wife wants to host), and I’ll mend the soil a bit before adding drip irrigation. We have a good deal of clay the deeper you go, and some heavy rains have saturated us over the last month. Looking forward to what this year brings!   Sunday, March 10 View Page Small update, the tiller I bought works great. I hadn't watered my lawn in 6 months, and it was still thriving. The constant rain kept it alive, despite my hope it would have died off long ago. I threw some grub killer out, noticed quite a few out there when I turned the soil. I need to mix in some soil amendments and compost, then begin laying out the drip watering hose with my automatic sprinkler system. My neighbor was getting rid of a 30' strip of turf. We inherited it, and it'll be the pathway to the hot tub during the growing season. No turning back now!   Monday, April 8 View Page Started seeds a day ago. Already have 2 pushing through at a little over 24 hours under my light. Soil surface temps hold at 76* with my setup on the temp gun. I am going to need to move to larger containers, I don’t know what I was thinking with these little things. Rookie mistake.   Tuesday, April 9 View Page 2023 Andrusz (brown pots) and 894 Rickard (black pots) 48 hours in. Hoping to see more movement this time tomorrow.   Friday, April 12 View Page Progress report: Growth! Looks like one dud seed, but I’m not concerned. Huge thanks to KC Kevin. Picked up a couple 1708’s from him today, they are pictured front right in the photo.   Sunday, April 14 View Page Picked up a used IBC tote locally. Time to clean it and get the irrigation system in place.   Monday, April 22 View Page Been extremely busy in non-pumpkin life. Haven’t taken many pictures as a result, but imagine the same plants as above…. Just bigger! As of today, the plants are in the ground!