Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 73 Entries. Tuesday, January 1 View Page FOr the Old Seed and the 150 SQFT contests I need a Diary, so just going to do a copy and paste from Facebook... Here is our 2019 as it rolls from beginning to end. On the first day of the new year we look to making changes, starting things anew, or beginning something we have not done before. For me, this year I am looking to do something, but in a way its in reverse of the typical, I am looking to do less. Have fewer irons in the fire, but give each iron that remains more attention. In the photo today is one iron that is going away, the winter window tomato experiment. The variety was a Sweet Million and we grew it from a cutting of a plant I had forgotten about in some weeds, to a ripe tomato in the house that Megan ate. It can be done.   Wednesday, January 2 View Page This photo pretty much sums up my reason for cutting back on what all I have my mind on and my hands in. Doing too many different things, for me at least, has led to all those things being treated like fast food. Quick results, enough to fill the tummy, but nothing special. This year it is time to get away from the fast food and cook like a chef. Take my time and do fewer things better.   Thursday, January 3 View Page A rare Knucklehead Pine tree we found in Yellowstone a few years back. As the children get older, as I get older, I am starting to wonder which would be more important on the long clock, Holiday Gifts or Holiday Memories. I see so many gifts that end up in the closet in a bedroom, and a year later, two years?, they have never been opened and end up at the local thrift shop. Then I see the makeshift obnoxious hat made of the wrapping paper the gifts were wrapped in sitting in the front on a display shelf. Perhaps its time to rethink all these 'filler' gifts if a hat made of the throwaways is more memorable than the gift it concealed. Move those funds to something more memorable like a getaway somewhere, or fun local event together. That 5th remote control car, or 14th lego set will long be forgotten...in January, but a one off trip or event, makes a memory forever. Ah the ramblings of an old fuddy-duddy...   Wednesday, January 9 View Page Last night Megan noticed that Jo, the outdoor stray cat we have adopted, was wearing a mask and playing on the cat tree. Needless to say, it was a family huddle near the sliding door, three kids, two parents and three very interested indoor cats... they just couldn't figure out how Jo did that.   Friday, February 1 View Page Okay you two, which one of you knocked the plant off the shelf???   Friday, February 1 View Page I grew a couple plants of these gourds back when I lived on Good Lane in say 1998 or 99 and finally, after dragging them around for 20 years have the means, the workshop, and the time to actually complete the project and others like this. Sometimes it is amazing how something so trivial can give such a boost. Now to get them out the door, Ebay and Etsy here I come and yes that is even glittery back paint for eyes.   Saturday, February 2 View Page Here is the bird feeder proto-type. I think this pattern will work good. Now make a few and 'trick them out' a bit   Thursday, February 7 View Page It's that time of year when the rain and wet snow and ice and dark and .... I just can't wait until spring and get those giants growing again. Here is a pic from back in 2007 and what grew to be my 1400 pounder. Big for back then, but just a runt by today's standards. We have come a long way   Thursday, February 7 View Page Well now there is something you don't see everyday... Paul Bunyon, Low hanging.. er um...fruit, and a giant pumpkin stem. Who knows just what you will see when you take the pumpkin sightseeing. I should make a calendar..   Friday, February 8 View Page Snow on the way, so I though I would brighten our spirits with a nice pumpkin pic. Going to be growing a few plants from seeds from this beauty that we grew in 2017. It tested out well last year maintaining the color and shape. Hopefully quite a few seeds from it will see soil in other patches this year. This is the 920 Cooper 2017 for those playing along at home.   Tuesday, February 12 View Page Sooo, you know its not going to be an easy commute when a new lake has formed on the road. No, the Infiniti didn't leave the driveway today, it was a truck day... and no the car in front of me did not make it through.   Wednesday, February 20 View Page Getting started on the remaining old pumpkin pics now. Lets start it off with a little bit of.... What not to do. Should we tie it down Brett?... Na it will be fine.   Thursday, February 21 View Page One of those times when ya just have to stop and take a pic.   Tuesday, February 26 View Page There will be a lot of changes from last year in the patch, even the general layout is going to be different as I try and create a more streamlined and accessible patch. If there is anything I have learned in the past few years, it is that I can no longer keep up with as many plants as I did when I was 25, so instead of cramming in as many plants as possible, I have redesigned the patch for quality over quantity. There will be a lot of mistakes made, a lot of learning, experimenting, and work, but will make for an interesting ride this year. Get on that gardening hat and lets get after it.   Wednesday, February 27 View Page It's snowing again today, but all that does is give me more time to plot and scheme. I like to have a nice clean layout to the garden and pumpkin patch. This pic shows the pumpkin patch and surrounding area with the new layout I have switched to. Each cash site is 20 x 20 feet (can be halved again to double the plants) Competition sites 2 thru 9 are 30 x 35 feet and the 2 "Hot" Competition sites, #1 and #10, are 30 x 40 feet. This layout allows me access to each site at any time of the growing season with the tractor, give the plants a little breathing room if problems arise, and access for any pest control or foliar feeding that needs done. I will only be running half of those sites this year and growing a couple rounds of cover crop on the ones I am resting. As for the rest of the area, I'll have more on that as the season goes on   Thursday, February 28 View Page Throwback Thursday it is. Here is a great old pic of a couple hall of famers before there was a hall of fame. Joel Holland (videotaping) and Kirk Mombert, in Kirk's pumpkin patch. As always, Kirk's patch was perfect, his plants were perfect and pumpkins were all orange and beautiful. Best part of that day was while Joel was busy filming with Kirk, I was raiding Kirk's compost pile for seeds from one of his giants that had split. Nothing like digging through a stinky compost pile, and for those who know the smell of a rotting giant pumpkin, you know what i am talking about. If you don't, well, let's just say it is 'epic' level nasty. It has been 20 years now and I still get razzed about that and will probably never lose the 'hashtag' of being a scrounge. Waste not want not, right?, says Brett with bulging wet pockets full of smelly seeds   Friday, March 1 View Page Well now its March, and its Friday, a nice way to start the biggest prep month of the year for the garden, so I couldn't think of a better way to kick off the month than talking about soil PH. I am no expert, so I am including a link at the bottom from people that know far more than I do. The attached picture shows the availability of the main nutrients your plants love in relation to your soil PH. Essentially, if you are too high on either end of the chart, chances are your plants will not love you back. For giant pumpkins, I like to start the season slightly above neutral at around 7.2, that puts me at neutral during the heat of battle when the plants are really growing in mid summer, and then by fall I have ended up slightly acidic. Now then, each state, each micro-climate, and for that matter each garden, can vary greatly in base PH. Here in Oregon we have very acidic soils, whereas other places, even in the region, can see neutral or even sweet soils. I recommend springing for a quick soil PH test to see where you are at and adjust from there. A little tweaking of your soil can really help your plants enjoy their day in the sun. Here is a link to a nice little article on soil PH for your Friday light reading. https://www.cropnutrition.com/efu-soil-ph   Monday, March 4 View Page Had a nice change in the weather over the weekend, although there was a strong wind that was bone chilling. Got some good pics of the the projects to do and a nice one of the the pumpkin patch and the regular garden (attached). The cover crop looks good (mustard) and the new grass pathways look good as well. The new sites are all measured and flagged. The inconsistency in the health of the cover crop is a little concerning and will need to take a couple soil samples to see what is going on. All in all, winter was fairly kind to us this year, but now needs to go away. It is time to think about starting some seeds. Some crops that need an early start and some trial runs of the Atlantic Giants.   Tuesday, March 5 View Page Over the course of my giant vegetable growing I have been asked a lot of questions. Some come up a lot, like "How do you lift that thing?" (see picture)   Wednesday, March 6 View Page One of the questions I received yesterday was.. do I use manure. Well you might say...very much so. In fact, one year for Christmas, all I had on my wish list was manure, so what did everyone get me... let's just say I all I got was a bunch of crap for Christmas, but I was happy as could be. My poop of choice is horse manure. Yes it has a lot of weed seeds, and a lower nutrient content than others, but I love the way that over the course of time, it turns your soil into a soft spongy love factory for roots and the good little guys that call your ground home. On a 30 x 40 foot site, I will not hesitate to put on 15 to 20 cubic yards of horse manure per year in the fall/winter. Keep in mind that this is for Giant pumpkins, so it may be a bit much for those normal vegetables. There are many other benefits for the soil that come from using manure, but that can get rather wordy. I have included a pic of the poop piles in the patch   Thursday, March 7 View Page Throwback Thursday only takes me back a couple years this time. Although the two oldest view gardening as a chore now, there is still rare occasions where even they fall victim to the fun it can be. They may not realize it now, but many of the memories where is a little work mixed in with a lot of fun seem to stick around. The project starts, the hard work getting it done, and the sense of accomplishment when its done. Combine that with some laughs and Brett being a dork, you end up with a day we all don't forget. So my advise... make those teenage computer gamers get off their bums every once in a while. You never know the memories a day may bring   Friday, March 8 View Page Another question i received the other day was how much space does it take to grow a giant pumpkin? The answer varies considerably. In the pic, a great goofy shot of me and the one runner wonder in a raised bed at a rental house under a tree. Just a stump and about 5 feet of vine and a 175 pounder was grown. Bump that square footage up to 150 SQFT and you can get into the 900 pound range. Tack on a little more and you see the numbers really start jumping. Many of the world class growers, depending upon location and climate, are running plants between 900 and 1200 square feet. Yes that is 1200 square feet of power pushing one single giant pumpkin. What is fun is the unbelievable numbers there plants can put up. You can see runners growing about a foot a day and the pumpkins growing over 50 pounds a day   Monday, March 11 View Page Not the most exciting pic I have ever posted, but one that had a couple projects that were knocked off the Honeydoo list. The first nice spring day we were able to get the roses pruned that we were keeping and the ones removed that only the rootstock of the plant still alive. Here is a nice little generic article on rose pruning. https://www.gardendesign.com/roses/pruning.html My biggest recommendation is a very sharp pair of pruners and thick gloves and clothing, if not... there will be blood. The other project mixed in here was the annual pruning and thinning of the Peanut Butter Bush. What is that you ask??? here check out this link. https://garden.org/plants/view/75944/Peanut-Butter-Shrub-Clerodendrum-trichotomum/ I love this plant because if you even brush up against the leaves, they emit a smell that is just like, you guessed it, peanut butter. All I know is, it was nice to finally get outside and start getting my hands dirty although the next looming project is not going to be an easy one   Wednesday, March 13 View Page I was looking back at some of my old pics and these two caught my eye. Only one year apart, they serve a good reminder that in growing giant pumpkins, gardening, or life in general, failures happen. It is what we do with those failures that determines the outcome in the future. This one the Failure...   Wednesday, March 13 View Page This one the Success...   Thursday, March 14 View Page This Thursday Throwback takes me back to my first 1000 pound pumpkin back in 2001. Time is just flying by now as this was 18 years ago. Too bad there is no way to slow things down a bit. By today's standards, it is but a little one, but back then it was big. and was actually the new Oregon record... for about 30 minutes until Steve Daletas beat the record again later in the competition   Friday, March 15 View Page This project was one of those I have been dreading since we moved in. Pruning the large multi-variety Apple tree. It was a battle royale with cheese (for those Pulp Fiction fans). There was blood, four-letter words strung together in not so meaningful combinations, and many small branches slapping me in the face, but in the end, I came out alive and victorious. I'll attach an article on how to prune fruit trees, although I disagree with a few of the principles it talks about. I prefer my fruit trees to only bear fruit where I can reach it on foot or a small ladder in sort of a Single-Tier-Omnidirectional-Brett-Modified-Espalier look. Yes that is a scientific term. Now its time to cut up the piles of branches, keep some nice ones for crafts, and enjoy some roasted weiners and marshmellows as we burn the leftovers in the fire pit. S'mores anyone??? The Before Pic...   Friday, March 15 View Page And after...   Monday, March 18 View Page One of my favorite pics of the patch in Cornelius so far was this one back in 2015, not too long after we had moved in. A nice row of giant pumpkins tucked in their blankies. After a weekend of solid work around the house finishing off burning the apple tree prunings and the old wood from the woodpile, I needed a nice Monday pick me up photo. I did get the soil sample sent away for testing and made a few good seed trades, so some Pumpkin Patch work was done, but right now the Honeydoo list still takes top priority. Where the apple tree prune was daunting, this next one is going to be a back-breaker as I attack the rock and cement water feature.   Friday, March 22 View Page Been wrestling all week with the fountain that is turning into a nice rock garden/water feature, so it been quiet on the homefront. Almost have it done but was sidetracked last night by the two big piles of shi.. er um fertilizer for the garden and pumpkin patch. The weather is forecasted to turn ugly, so while the ground was still dry managed to get all this spread out on the regular garden for my wifey and on 2 sites for the giants. Now to finish the rock garden and deal with these horrible soil test results in the patch.   Monday, April 1 View Page Okay vacation is over and back at it. Here are some pics of the pumpkin patch from yesterday. We are expecting some rain this week so have covered the competition sites so as to not lose that nice drying we have received the past couple weeks. First pic is an overview of the entire patch. Cover crop is growing nicely in the sites I am resting this year. Second Pic is Competition Site #1, a 30' x 40' site, threw in a little more composted horse poop in this one to polish it off. The sites behind the Comp. site will be where we have our 150 SQFT contest plant, Old Seed contest plant and some orange ones for selling purposes. Pic 3 shows Competition sites 6 thru 9 (35 x 30) all tucked in for the rain. Soils in these sites have been worked the most years at this patch and are fairly well dialed in. The last pic is Comp. Site 10 (30 x 40) with more resting sites behind it. I wanted to see what the cover crop would do for a site I use this year. All in all, the patch looks pretty good as we approach germination time. Not expecting any miracles this year but still think we can give my personal record a push in the right direction. Pic #1   Monday, April 1 View Page Okay vacation is over and back at it. Here are some pics of the pumpkin patch from yesterday. We are expecting some rain this week so have covered the competition sites so as to not lose that nice drying we have received the past couple weeks. First pic is an overview of the entire patch. Cover crop is growing nicely in the sites I am resting this year. Second Pic is Competition Site #1, a 30' x 40' site, threw in a little more composted horse poop in this one to polish it off. The sites behind the Comp. site will be where we have our 150 SQFT contest plant, Old Seed contest plant and some orange ones for selling purposes. Pic 3 shows Competition sites 6 thru 9 (35 x 30) all tucked in for the rain. Soils in these sites have been worked the most years at this patch and are fairly well dialed in. The last pic is Comp. Site 10 (30 x 40) with more resting sites behind it. I wanted to see what the cover crop would do for a site I use this year. All in all, the patch looks pretty good as we approach germination time. Not expecting any miracles this year but still think we can give my personal record a push in the right direction. Pic #2...   Monday, April 1 View Page Okay vacation is over and back at it. Here are some pics of the pumpkin patch from yesterday. We are expecting some rain this week so have covered the competition sites so as to not lose that nice drying we have received the past couple weeks. First pic is an overview of the entire patch. Cover crop is growing nicely in the sites I am resting this year. Second Pic is Competition Site #1, a 30' x 40' site, threw in a little more composted horse poop in this one to polish it off. The sites behind the Comp. site will be where we have our 150 SQFT contest plant, Old Seed contest plant and some orange ones for selling purposes. Pic 3 shows Competition sites 6 thru 9 (35 x 30) all tucked in for the rain. Soils in these sites have been worked the most years at this patch and are fairly well dialed in. The last pic is Comp. Site 10 (30 x 40) with more resting sites behind it. I wanted to see what the cover crop would do for a site I use this year. All in all, the patch looks pretty good as we approach germination time. Not expecting any miracles this year but still think we can give my personal record a push in the right direction. Pic #3...   Monday, April 1 View Page Okay vacation is over and back at it. Here are some pics of the pumpkin patch from yesterday. We are expecting some rain this week so have covered the competition sites so as to not lose that nice drying we have received the past couple weeks. First pic is an overview of the entire patch. Cover crop is growing nicely in the sites I am resting this year. Second Pic is Competition Site #1, a 30' x 40' site, threw in a little more composted horse poop in this one to polish it off. The sites behind the Comp. site will be where we have our 150 SQFT contest plant, Old Seed contest plant and some orange ones for selling purposes. Pic 3 shows Competition sites 6 thru 9 (35 x 30) all tucked in for the rain. Soils in these sites have been worked the most years at this patch and are fairly well dialed in. The last pic is Comp. Site 10 (30 x 40) with more resting sites behind it. I wanted to see what the cover crop would do for a site I use this year. All in all, the patch looks pretty good as we approach germination time. Not expecting any miracles this year but still think we can give my personal record a push in the right direction. Pic #4....   Tuesday, April 2 View Page Another round of the new style raised beds is nearing completion now. For this round we are putting in 3 more in the back for Strawberries bringing the total to 6 and in the front garden we have cleared and (sort of) leveled the area for 8 of them. These will be for various regular and competition veggies. Probably not deep enough to giant carrots or beets, but kohlrabi, peppers and the like, should be just right. The soil pans that go on top will be 12" deep for the strawberries and 16" deep for the other 8. Pic #1...   Tuesday, April 2 View Page Another round of the new style raised beds is nearing completion now. For this round we are putting in 3 more in the back for Strawberries bringing the total to 6 and in the front garden we have cleared and (sort of) leveled the area for 8 of them. These will be for various regular and competition veggies. Probably not deep enough to giant carrots or beets, but kohlrabi, peppers and the like, should be just right. The soil pans that go on top will be 12" deep for the strawberries and 16" deep for the other 8. Pic #2...   Tuesday, April 9 View Page Well well, here we go, long entry ahead... Germination time begins. I have some new ideas I am rolling out this year, especially in competing in the 'Old Seed' Contest. Those older seeds can be stubborn. So without further ado, these is the steps in trial one, 'The Olds 1'. First I mixed up my starting soil media (pic 1) I use the Light Warrior soil for my base, add the Pumpkin pro and the Azos (probably overkill) then in the water I use to moisten the soil media, the rooting hormone, calcarb and hydroguard. I removed the Captan from this mix this year. Just didn't see it being helpful and probably was hurting some of the beneficials I was trying to add to the mix. I am still treating the seed, but not the soil now.   Tuesday, April 9 View Page So now then Pic #2, the lineup of the first run. Not going to run through them all, but they are all from 2000 except a couple I threw in at the last minute. The genetics are very heavy on the orange in this batch, but the coolest seed here to me is the 699 Krogh, the fruit was the coolest looking thing, instead of the light orange 'starbursts' on darker orange base, it had green 'starbursts' on a bleach white base.   Tuesday, April 9 View Page Pic #3 shows the seed soaking part. This year the seeds are being treated/soaked in a antibacterial soap and daconil fungicide. I also bumped my soak time to 4 hours. Thoughts behind the Dawn soap addition are, well, to kill the bacteria since that and fungus are what you race against with old seeds, and it also seems to help permeate the seed coat to get things moving faster. Again, this is an experiment here, so we shall see.   Tuesday, April 9 View Page I mooched the idea of putting the seeds to soak in little spit cups (Pic 4) from Cindy Tobeck, it solves a couple problems in this process very easily and also gave me a couple ideas.   Tuesday, April 9 View Page This last pic shows the cups all lined out in the incubator. I will try a few things in this run, all after soaking. Some will get put in soil with the water mix poured into the soil with the seed and the cup put over where the seed is, high moisture. Some without the cup on top. Some without the water mix poured in but with cup on top, some of those no cup. Some will stay in damp paper towels sealed in the cup, and even a few will stay in the water soak, super saturated. I will have a control group as well with spanking new seeds in a proven mix so I know when to start looking for results.   Monday, April 22 View Page After a nice weekend with decent weather, its nice to get a pumpkin update in. Here are the competition seedlings from a couple days ago. The pecking order since then has not changed, although the plants are a little bigger now. All 12 seeds started, came up, so that was good news, and have plenty to fill my competition sites. Right now, the power rankings look like this... My 920 is leading the charge followed close by my 833, then my 1581. Then the 2230 Ron Wallace, 2469 Daletas, the 1826 Wolf and rounding out the top 6 (the amount of competition sites I am running this year) is the 1937 Leonardo Ureņa. My 1450's are not as aggressive this year, so that is disappointing, and a couple others are not as crazy fast as I had hoped, but its still early. My plan was to go with a couple of my own, a couple new seeds and a couple proven winners. Have a few more days to decide who goes where. Round one of old seed starting was a sad zero out of 50. Round 2 is in the incubator now and already seem to have better luck going on but won't get excited until I see leaves.   Wednesday, April 24 View Page This pic really shows how the cover crop has taken off in the past couple weeks. Almost time to mow it down and till it in. Then start another round. May go with something different this next time around while the giants are growing. Some interesting root crops that may go in to help loosen any potential hard pan that may be starting.   Wednesday, April 24 View Page Patch Overview, the cover crop is going nuckin futz, love it. Going to look very different here shortly.   Wednesday, April 24 View Page This is Competition Site#1 and the cash crop row for this year. I will also have the 150 SQFT contest plant here as well as my old seed contest plant.   Wednesday, April 24 View Page Competition Sites 6 thru 9, this has been my best row since we moved to Cornelius, so pushing my luck here another year before resting it. Looking to see what some well adjusted soil can do in these sites this year. These will hold a couple of my seeds, and a couple of new ones if all goes according to plans.   Wednesday, April 24 View Page Campetition site #10. Not sure what to expect from this site this year. its has had a cover crop, tons of manure and then adjusted from the soil test. This site and site #1 will have my two best proven seed stock. Which two is yet to be determined as all the seedlings are looking good now, well at least of the competition seeds.   Wednesday, April 24 View Page Ah yes and the babies. The main competition ones have all sort of evened out now and look good. My 833 and 920 are still leading the pack, but that 2230 of Ron's is looking crazy good too. My 1582 and Steve's 2469 is up in there too. I start my seeds in clear containers so I can see when those roots need to be cut loose and let to grow. Plant me baby!!!   Wednesday, April 24 View Page Well it looks like i am in game. This is my Old Seed Contest entry. Started 104 seeds from 2003 and earlier and ended up with 2 that sprouted, and either oddly, or logically, depending on how you look at it, both of the two that sprouted were the same stock, 1075 Daletas from 2001. Didn't get my 582 or my last 1104 to go. There may be a couple more that have a chance yet at moving soil, but for the most part, the rest all rotted before germination.   Tuesday, April 30 View Page This is the 'Overview' of the 150 SQFT growing area with the cloche in it. Trying to think outside the box here, so we will see what happens.   Tuesday, April 30 View Page And here is my baby for the contest. I went with the 1586 Sherwood and threw in a back-up 1581 of mine just in case, as the 1586 had a rough time getting the seed coat off and pretty much lost a cotyledon leaf. The first true leaf looks good, so will probably be yanking the 1581 sooner than later. I may try and repot it and give it away if anyone nearby wants it. Jim's 1586 tends to go heavy and not be too bad looking, so once its weighed, it should make a good display pumpkin.   Wednesday, May 1 View Page Starting to look more and more like a pumpkin patch now. Babies are all snuggled in now and all looking pretty good. I ended up sticking to the game plan of 2 proven, 2 new and 2 of my own. I managed to resist the urge to go with all proven seeds. I need to mix things up, and get out of my seed selection rut, but oh man, there were some seed just burning a hole in my seed storage bins. The orange crop is in the incubator now and should have everything in the ground right on time.   Sunday, May 12 View Page Here is my entry into the 'Old Seed' Contest as of May 12th. Just look at that monster!!! LOL 1075 Daletas 2001 and the only other one that germinated is a second 1075   Sunday, May 12 View Page my other oddball contest, the 150 SQFT contest entry as of May 12. The back-up has been transplanted and this shall be the keeper. 1586 Jim Sherwood. Like the rest of the plants, the excessive heat did not help the cause and we have fallen behind last year now across the board. Plant health is not up to par either.   Sunday, May 12 View Page Apparently the pic of the "old Seed" didn't post, so here it is.   Sunday, May 19 View Page Old Seed entry - The 1075 is still growing at a, well, let's call it a slow and steady pace. The second one is about ready to just be culled at this point, just is not doing much. If the weather looks cool for another week I think I am going to go invest is some type of small cloche of some kind. May do it for all the cash crop plants. Already lost one to a critter and almost lost the rest to a decent thunderstorm's winds on Saturday. Just hope this baby keeps growing.   Sunday, May 19 View Page 150 SQFT Contest Entry - The 1586 Sherwood has decided it was time to start growing. Oh what a difference a week makes. Need to do a little work around the baby plant and give the soil a massage. Nothing overly exciting, just some better growth. Probably going to get laughed at when the reveal happens as to my plant design.   Thursday, May 23 View Page Thought the patch was looking good this morning so I snapped a pic. Mustard mowed down again, grass driveways all mowed, now then let's get those pumpkins growing...   Monday, May 27 View Page Old Seed Contest - 1075 Daletas - Well its growing, growing faster than the other 1075. I am looking at the potential for this one, not the current state, otherwise I would feel my 20 bucks slipping away into someone else's pocket.   Monday, May 27 View Page 150 SQFT Contest - 1586 Sherwood - Now this is more like it. This baby is growing well now, only problem with it so far is the main runner has decided to grow almost exactly the wrong direction. Going to be a fun turn on this one. Nice heat tolerant plant and growing right along in pace with the big guns in the competition sites. This one may be used as a pollinator in addition to being my 150 SQFT entry. I am excited to get this plant out of the cloche so it can start running and begin to really put my theory on the shape of my 150 SQFT to the test.   Monday, May 27 View Page Helps if you attach the picture.   Tuesday, June 4 View Page 150 SQFT entry - The Sherwood is starting to roll now. No real issues at this point except for what looks like a bit of a boron deficiency. At least I am hoping it is just that and not some damnedable disease setting in. I have 3 plants with the same look to them in the same basic area, but not on all, so not sure what to make of it.   Tuesday, June 4 View Page Old Seed entry - The 1075 is remembering how to grow finally. The new foliage looks like it should, just had some issues stretching its legs I guess. Happens when you are older than dirt. At any rate, I shouldn't complain as it is still alive.   Monday, June 24 View Page Here is my 150 Square Foot contest entry. Probably getting obvious now that my shape of plant is different than most. I am going with a 5 foot wide x 30 feet long site. Enough room to cram 4 runners in each direction with the base of the plant in the middle. In the pic, the main runner is running away from where I am standing and has my first pollination of the year that I would keep, 1586 Jim Sherwood X 2469 Daletas.   Monday, June 24 View Page The one in front is my 'Old Seed' contest entry in the 1075 Scotty Daletas. It has remembered how to grow now and is enjoying life outside the seed storage closet. Looking to pollinate around the 4th of July on this one. Its been a battle but most of the plants are starting to roll now.   Monday, July 8 View Page Old Seed Contest entry as of July 8th. Still growing and had a couple pumpkins on it pollinated a day apart. We'll see if they take or not, but I have hopes of one level or another. Plant is healthy and growing at a decent clip at this point after being a little slow out of the gate.   Monday, July 8 View Page And here is my 150 Square Foot Contest entry as of July 8. Plant is nice and robust and nearing the point where I will need to get really creative with the runners as I am running out of room even with the odd shape to the plant. I have two pumpkins on it as I am not overly happy with the shape of the older one of the two. I know the competition is fierce with this little contest, so we'll see.   Monday, July 8 View Page Well the pic didn't load for the 150 plant, so here it is   Tuesday, August 6 View Page 'Old Seed Contest' entry is still alive and has a cute little pumpkin on it that may serve as a nice bean bag chair come October. Getting close to the time that a lot of old seed stock would split apart, s owe will see. Much like the old seed I had growing last year, this one doesn't show much difference than the new stuff, just a little less aggressive both in plant growth and pumpkin growth.   Tuesday, August 6 View Page "150 Square Foot Contest" entry is still growing as well, or at least the pumpkin is. The plant has filled the allotted space and now just pushing the pumpkin along. I need to get in there and get a good pic of the fruit. Going to be a fun one as it is one of those low-rider shapes where the blossom tucks under about 3 days after you pollinate.   Wednesday, August 7 View Page Here is a pic of the pumpkin on my 150 Square Foot Contest entry for the record. I left a nice scar on top so the judges will know it is the one. So nice of me. And yes, no sheet on this time for the photo shoot. Naughty girl.   Tuesday, August 27 View Page 150 Square Foot Entry still growing along. Kind of a weird angle in the pic, but it sits right in the middle of a bunch of plants so not a lot of standing room. At any rate, its going to need to go heavy to hit that 1000 pounds, but at least its still in the realm of possibility.   Friday, August 30 View Page First Weighoff is in the books and first 'oddball' competition is officially entered now. This was my entry at the Washington State Fair in Puyallup. It is also my entry in the "Old Seed" contest. So final stats on this one are, Cross = 1075 Scotty Daletas 2001 x 2469 Steve Daletas 2018. Pollinated July 6. Final Weight 595.5 and surprisingly enough, good enough for 5th place at the Weighoff. Probably end up being the highest I place all season.