Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 239 Entries. Saturday, February 9 View Page 832 Derouin (907 Young x self)   Saturday, March 23 View Page Patch prep is almost done!   Saturday, March 23 View Page Sure is pretty. Pretty snowy and pretty cold!   Monday, April 29 View Page Pumpkin time is finally here and we are excited to get the season started. We are a bit delayed as we just got back from Jamaica and are just starting seeds. This will be our 21st year growing and have lost a bit of our competitiveness but still enjoy playing in the dirt.   Monday, April 29 View Page The patch is finally snow free and will be rolled up this weekend. The hoops will go out and the soil heaters dug in. We have very cold soil which means the seed corn maggots haven’t hatched yet. The heat from the cables help to encourage the hatch. We will also use an insecticide on our transplants to help out.   Monday, April 29 View Page Here we have our pumpkins, long gourds and tomatoes. I will disclose the seeds as they germinate but are hope is 5 plants this year including another shot at 150 square feet.   Monday, April 29 View Page Here are a couple more long gourds and a bunch of giant sunflowers. Thanks to a Porkchop I now have fresh giant cucumber seeds and will get those going in a couple of weeks.   Sunday, May 5 View Page Saturday Kerry and I tried to move our 16 foot trellis by ourselves. This is the outcome after we dug it up, tried to lift it out of the 20” deep holes and watched it tip over nearly killing us! LOL We set boards under it and dragged it 25 feet to its new hopeful location. We quit for the night with very sore backs and decided to call in help for Sunday.   Sunday, May 5 View Page Here it is standing in its new spot. We just needed one more person and it didn’t hurt that he was young and strong.   Sunday, May 5 View Page Here is the new “old patch”. We will have a pumpkin around 500 square feet between the two trellises and will grow our giant tomatoes in the greenhouse.   Sunday, May 5 View Page Here is the “new” patch. We will grow 3 plants at 600 square feet and one at 150 square feet. No hoop for 150 plant but the others have soil heating cables and 250 watt infrared heat bulbs. We will let the heat cables do their work and plant late next week.   Sunday, May 12 View Page Tomatoes are coming along. I have re-seeded a couple of spots but the 10 plants I am growing are up!   Sunday, May 12 View Page Long gourds are germinated. Five plants for 2 spots just in case.   Sunday, May 12 View Page Giant sunflowers are starting to pop.   Sunday, May 12 View Page Applied weed block today. This saves us hours in the early season and no round up need.   Sunday, May 12 View Page New patch with weed block.   Sunday, May 12 View Page 1044 Gansert. Small but mighty!   Sunday, May 12 View Page Pair of 1576 LaRiviere. We are about 2 weeks late this year so who knows what we will even get. Should make some rock star crosses though.   Sunday, May 12 View Page Here are a couple of 1297.5 Young’s. Momma of the 1576.   Sunday, May 12 View Page Lastly is the 1501 Vanderwielen. We will plant the 150 plant in late May or early June. As of now the 150 plant will be the 1912 Carter if I can keep it alive until planting time.   Sunday, May 12 View Page The next two entries are for Scott Marley.........   Sunday, May 12 View Page He loves our watering brigade.   Sunday, May 12 View Page And thinks we need more shovels and hoes. LOL   Sunday, May 19 View Page We are still waiting for warm weather to come but are not holding our breath. The plants are still alive which is a win and we are excited about our future crosses. Even though this picture of the old patch shows nothing different from last week, it forces us to stirrup hoe each week.   Sunday, May 19 View Page New patch is slowly drying out. We will probably have the 150 plant in the right hand corner by next diary pics after Memorial Day weekend.   Sunday, May 19 View Page Here are our tomato and long gourd babies basking in the overcast skies. We like to harden both for a couple of days before plant out and cloudy days sometimes work best.   Sunday, May 19 View Page Here are the two 1044 Gansert twins. All plants have had a tough week but these look to be surviving. Let’s make Norm proud!   Sunday, May 19 View Page 1576 LaRiviere is a little slow out of the gate. We are excited to give it a shot though and have a nice cross in mind for it.   Sunday, May 19 View Page Twin 1297 Young’s. Both plants seem to be growing strong.   Sunday, May 19 View Page 1501 Vanderwielen is starting to take hold. We are not too optimistic on growing 1k pumpkins this year due to our late start and cold cloudy May. But we are excited about all of the cool crosses we have planned as well as some pretty lawn pumpkins.   Sunday, May 26 View Page We did a road trip today and had a great breakfast with Norm and Cathy. Here is a nice pic of the Bates Hotel.   Sunday, May 26 View Page Norm’s plants look nice and healthy! Thanks for the tour.   Monday, May 27 View Page We had a great visit with our sons down in R.I. and it appears the plants have survived. We came near a frost one night while we were gone and also got 1.3 inches of rain. Here are two 1044 Gansert plants.   Monday, May 27 View Page We left R.I. at 10am and I’d was already over 70 degrees and when we got home we have a high of 59 degrees. It is amazing the temperature differences within a 4 hour ride. Here are twin 1576 LaRiviere ‘s.   Monday, May 27 View Page Here are two 1297 Young’s.   Monday, May 27 View Page Here is the 1501 Vanderwielen which seems to be liking our cold soil so far.   Sunday, June 2 View Page In 22 years growing giants in northern VT, this spring unfortunately goes in the top 5 worst weather wise. With that being said we have not had tornados or devastating flooding, so pretty hard to complain. It is finally warming up to the point that weeds are starting to show up and pumpkin growth should kick in soon.   Sunday, June 2 View Page The new patch is a bit drier then the old but plants are still better to stay in hoops. We have planted giant sunflowers around the perimeter as well as tomatoes and long gourds.   Sunday, June 2 View Page Tomatoes are tiny but planted. We have 11 giants in the greenhouse. One 8.22 Porkchop, three 4.94 Porkchop, three 5.71 Porkchop, one 5.29 Porkchop, two 5.44 Young and last but not least a 7.19 Larue. So if our season sucks it is obvious who is to blame! Larue of course. LOL   Sunday, June 2 View Page Still have two 1044 Ganserts growing. We will choose the winner in a week or so but currently it seems like an easy choice.   Sunday, June 2 View Page Here is our tiny 132 Young long gourd. Transplanted our yesterday. A bit wimpy but still green.   Sunday, June 2 View Page 141 Kline long gourd. Transplanted yesterday as well.   Sunday, June 2 View Page Here are our two robust plants for the 150 contest. 1912 Carter on the left and 512 Young (777 Young x self) on the right. I was surprised the 1912 germed and now have a tough decision to make!   Sunday, June 2 View Page Here are twin 1576 LaRiviere’s. Both growing a bit slow but appear healthy.   Sunday, June 2 View Page Twin 1297 Young’s. Both are starting to run nicely now.   Sunday, June 2 View Page 1501 Vanderwielen is slowly starting to land and is moving along quicker now.   Monday, June 3 View Page Chance for frost tonight. Tough year so far.   Monday, June 17 View Page Our pumpkin year has been less then underwhelming and we had planned to take it easy after losing 4 out of 5 pumpkins last year. So we met our kids in Maine and went surf casting for striped bass. This was my biggest at just over 30 inches.   Monday, June 17 View Page This is our son Parker with his new pet best striper at 44 inches. It was quite a battle with 3-4 foot waves. Both fish were released successfully so they can grow and give another fisherman some fun.   Monday, June 17 View Page Old patch with new set up is looking good albeit a couple of weeks behind.   Monday, June 17 View Page All 11 tomatoes in hut are alive and growing well. The greenhouse helps a ton this cold wet spring.   Monday, June 17 View Page Here are two 132 Young long gourds. Starting to green up and producing tendrils which means they are starting to run.   Monday, June 17 View Page 1044 Gansert looking good and is just shy of 4 feet.   Monday, June 17 View Page 141 Kline versus 137 Ansem. Both doing well and climbing.   Monday, June 17 View Page Here are the 1912 Carter versus 512 Young for the 150 square foot contest.   Monday, June 17 View Page 1576 LaRiviere is not the happiest but we want to see what it will produce. Around 3 feet.   Monday, June 17 View Page Patch leader so far is our 1297 which is around 5 1/2 feet long.   Monday, June 17 View Page Last but not least is the 1501 Vanderwielen which is around 4 feet. Although we are way behind last year we are still hopeful for some nice lawn pumpkins.   Monday, June 17 View Page We also are growing long beans and heavy cucumbers which will be fun to watch!   Sunday, June 23 View Page We had a stay at home weekend which was a good chance to catch up on house and patch chores. Nothing like getting your hands dirty. Seems to take a lot of stress out of your life. Here is the new patch.   Sunday, June 23 View Page Old patch is looking good and a bit smaller then the past. Less dirt equals less weeds!   Sunday, June 23 View Page Tomato hut is looking good with all 11 tomatoes growing well. A few blossoms are starting to show but I want bigger plants.   Sunday, June 23 View Page Two 132 Young’s are still battling it out. One looks like it has a toe hold on the trellis though. Tune in next week to see who wins.   Sunday, June 23 View Page 141 Kline is reaching for the stars. Let’s see if we can beat the 141 inches. She is around 3 feet tall so far.   Sunday, June 23 View Page Long beans and Porkchop’s giant cucumbers are growing well around the pyramid of power. Ha!   Sunday, June 23 View Page 1044 Gansert seems happy in Vermont. Currently at 6 feet and secondaries are starting to grow.   Sunday, June 23 View Page Here is the mighty 512 Young (777 x self) in the 150 patch. Watch out FlatNorm she is 21” long today.   Sunday, June 23 View Page Here is the only early problem in the patch. I had a choice between two 1576 LaRiviere ‘s and I think I picked the wrong one. The plant is reluctant to throw secondaries and is very slow to go. I transplanted the 1912 Carter from the 150 patch next to it and it will probably be the keeper but only at 20 inches currently. Will it fill the 600 square feet allotted for it?   Sunday, June 23 View Page The 1501 Vanderwielen is starting to move along and throw secondaries. It is at 6 feet tonight.   Sunday, June 23 View Page The queen of the patch currently is our own 1297. She is the same age as the others but is at 8 1/2 feet tonight. Overall this has been a slow start after a late start due to a wonderful vacation. But we are always happy to be growing these wonderful plants and love the act of gardening. There is much more to enjoy if you take the time to take it all in.   Sunday, June 30 View Page Happy end of June. It appears summer is finally here in northern Vermont. Here is what the old patch is looking like.   Sunday, June 30 View Page Here is the right side of the new patch with 1501 in foreground and 512 in background with 150 square feet marked out.   Sunday, June 30 View Page Left side of new patch with 1297 foreground and 1912 background.   Sunday, June 30 View Page Tomato cave is looking good. We are a week or two away from first pollinations but overall looking good.   Sunday, June 30 View Page 132 Young long gourds have been pared down to one plant and it is at 3 feet today. Starting to grow well.   Sunday, June 30 View Page 141 Kline long gourd moving along quickly and is a little over 5 feet long this evening.   Sunday, June 30 View Page 1044 Gansert is starting to take off and is at 9.5 feet long today. The sides were slow to come but growing well now.   Sunday, June 30 View Page Here is the 512 Young in the 150 square foot patch. Plant is starting to run well and is 4.5 feet long.   Sunday, June 30 View Page Here is our backup now prime 1912 Carter at 3.5 feet. It will be interesting to see if we can get a mature pumpkin off her this year.   Sunday, June 30 View Page 1297 Young is leading the patch at close to 12 feet long. There will be a female opening tomorrow but will let the bees have it as it will only be at 8.5 feet.   Sunday, June 30 View Page 1501 Vanderwielen is slow to throw secondaries but overall is growing fine. She is 9 feet long tonight.   Sunday, June 30 View Page Long beans and giant cucumbers will be climbing the tower soon!   Sunday, July 7 View Page Summer weather continues here in northern Vermont although a good share of our mornings have been in the low 50’s.   Sunday, July 7 View Page The new patch seems to be drying out a bit quicker then the old which I have to attribute to the work I did with the subsoiler.   Sunday, July 7 View Page Other side of new patch. Finally starting to look like a pumpkin patch. The divider board is at 20 feet wide and has a space to grow 30 feet long.   Sunday, July 7 View Page Tomato hut is on fire. Plants are finally growing fast. I have done a bit of pre pollination pruning.   Sunday, July 7 View Page Here is a nice mega bloom off the 5.71 Porkchop.   Sunday, July 7 View Page Here is another off a different 5.71 Porkchop.   Sunday, July 7 View Page 132 Young long gourd is starting to climb quickly and is 7 feet up the 14.5 foot trellis.   Sunday, July 7 View Page 141 Kline is growing very well and is at 9.5 feet tonight.   Sunday, July 7 View Page 1044 Gansert is continuing to throw more secondaries and is 14 feet long tonight. It has a baby under the styrofoam that should open towards the end of the week.   Sunday, July 7 View Page 512 Young starting to throw more secondaries and is 9 feet long. Hopefully we will get a pumpkin to pollinate in the next few feet.   Sunday, July 7 View Page Our very late 1912 Carter is picking up the pace and is 7 feet long tonight. We may have an early August pollination here. As long as we can get 50 days of pumpkin growth all will be good.   Sunday, July 7 View Page Looks here. The 1297 Young has a “she shed” set up. This plant has been far more aggressive then any of the others.   Sunday, July 7 View Page Here is our 2 day old little girl. 1297.5 Young x self at 12 feet. She was a nice symmetrical 5 lober.   Sunday, July 7 View Page The 1501 Vanderwielen is chugging right along at 13 feet in length and has a baby at 12.5 feet that should open by the end of the week.   Sunday, July 14 View Page The weather has turned favorable in our back yard and the plants are responding nicely. We are still way behind on most of the pumpkin plants but overall life is good.   Sunday, July 14 View Page New patch side with 1501 and 512.   Sunday, July 14 View Page Left side of new patch with 1297 Young and 1912 Carter.   Sunday, July 14 View Page Tomatoes seem to like the warm spell.   Sunday, July 14 View Page Nice mega on 5.71 Porkchop. Hopefully we can get it to pollinate.   Sunday, July 14 View Page Hard to get a good picture of the 132 Young long gourd. It is growing well and is about 11 feet long.   Sunday, July 14 View Page 141 Kline is just inches from the top of our 14.5 foot trellis!   Sunday, July 14 View Page Giant cucumbers and long beans are starting to climb.   Sunday, July 14 View Page 1044 Gansert is growing quickly now and we pollinated our hopeful keeper this morning with the 1297 Young.   Sunday, July 14 View Page 512 Young in the 150 spot is a little spindly but we see the pumpkin we want to pollinate by late week.   Sunday, July 14 View Page The transplanted 1912 Carter is starting to wake up and is around 10 feet long tonight.   Sunday, July 14 View Page Here is our pumpkin Dorothy (Golden Girls theme this year) off the 1297 Young at 12 feet. She is 9 days old today with a cc of 23 inches.   Sunday, July 14 View Page Here is Rose (again Golden Girls theme) off of the 1501 Vanderwielen at 12 feet on the main. She is 2 days old today and will hopefully keep growing so we don’t have to move the “she shed” to the next female down the line.   Sunday, July 21 View Page We just spent a very warm weekend in Saratoga Springs NY to see the thoroughbreds run. They canceled the races on Saturday as the temp was near 100 degrees with a high humidity. We had no patch baby sitter so were very pleased to see everything is still green after 3 days with no watering.   Sunday, July 21 View Page We have been growing since 1996 and said that we were not going to be held hostage by the pumpkins this summer and put less pressure on results. So far I think the pumpkins are winning but we still have getaways planned.   Sunday, July 21 View Page As the patch fills up we feel we have a bit less work and we also have pumpkins to measure. We are different then most growers as we measure every day and I am a big proponent of doing it as well. Pumpkins will separate themselves in growth patterns that are easy to chart. If a pumpkin is averaging your 2nd highest growth out of 5 pumpkins and it starts to drop in rank there could be an underlying cause that we would not typically pick up on if we were not charting growth.   Sunday, July 21 View Page This year Kerry is theming the garden to the tv show the Golden Girls. Here is Blanch (bad girl) which is the 1044 Gansert x 1297 Young. She is 7 days old today with an ott of 47 inches.   Sunday, July 21 View Page Here is Rose 1501 Vanderwielen x 1297 Young. She is 9 days old with an ott of 64 inches.   Sunday, July 21 View Page The current queen of the patch is Dorothy 1297 Young x self. She is 16 days old today with an ott of 148 inches.   Wednesday, July 24 View Page Just wanted to show root structure on our 150 plant. We don’t use clonex or myco on our plants but work hard on improving our soil each year. Root mass has a center piece that looks like a ribbon almost 3/4 of an inch wide and 7 inches long. I am not suggesting to not use these products but good soil can do magical things.   Thursday, July 25 View Page We had our second raccoon attack in two years. Last year we thought it was due to a drought but this year has been plenty of rain. So it seems like a pattern from a rogue raccoon. We are now not just behind on 2 plants but way behind! This is the 1044 Gansert and was 11 days old today. But now we have......   Thursday, July 25 View Page Our new Blanch (1044 Gansert) She is 3 days old today.   Thursday, July 25 View Page Here is the 1912 Carter. Potentially can be saved but there will be a female to pollinate by weekend that we may go with.   Saturday, July 27 View Page It’s berry season in Vermont. Life is good!   Sunday, July 28 View Page Hard to believe this our last July diary update as our patch isn’t quite ready for August. We believe there are keeper pumpkins on 4 of 5 plants and one that was just pollinated on Saturday after we lost the keeper from the raccoon attack.   Sunday, July 28 View Page The new patch is now fully electrified so should be critter proof. These photos were taken this morning as we had a couple of big storms go through this afternoon. So far everything is drenched but sound.   Sunday, July 28 View Page It is nice to see a pumpkin rising above the canopy.   Sunday, July 28 View Page The tomato cave looks great. Now we are just waiting for tomatoes. Might have a couple pollinated but too early to tell today.   Sunday, July 28 View Page The 132 Young long gourd is around 23 feet today. We will soon be looking for females in the 20-25 foot zone.   Sunday, July 28 View Page Here is the new Blanch off the 1044 Gansert. She is 6 days old today with an ott of 34 inches. New electric fence coming Tuesday. Let’s hope we can keep her safe until then.   Sunday, July 28 View Page The 141 Kline long gourd is growing well and around 28 feet. Hopefully some females ready this week.   Sunday, July 28 View Page The cucumber and long bean pyramid is filling in nicely. Hopefully some fruit has been pollinated and waiting to be found.   Sunday, July 28 View Page Here is Betty from the 512 Young and our 150 patch contestant. She is 8 days old today and has an ott of 44 inches. Not big but I believe we may finally get our first 150 square foot pumpkin.   Sunday, July 28 View Page This is Sophia off of the 1912 Carter and pollinated by the 1297.5 Young. She is 1 day old today.   Sunday, July 28 View Page Here is Rose off the 1501 Vanderwielen. She is 16 days old today and has an ott of 146 inches.   Sunday, July 28 View Page Here is Dorothy from the 1297.5 Young and she continues to be a strong grower. She is 23 days old today and has an ott of 223 inches. She isn’t too hard on the eyes either!   Sunday, July 28 View Page My wife Kerry made patch signs today as well. Our neighbors love to see the signs.   Sunday, July 28 View Page It is also lily season.   Sunday, July 28 View Page We saved this lily from our local supermarket last fall for 99 cents. What a pleasant surprise!   Sunday, August 4 View Page Everyone enjoyed the Vermont growers patch tour and barbecue yesterday and the weather cooperated very nicely. Here we are at Wendy Paterson’s patch seeing one of her pretty ones.   Sunday, August 4 View Page We stopped at 5 patches and all were well planned and well kept from beginner to veteran!   Sunday, August 4 View Page I have had an old rivalry at our local fair over long beans and this year the grower stated she wasn’t growing them this year. Buttttttt I got this picture from her family patch during the tour. Game on Zoey!   Sunday, August 4 View Page Our starting and bbq location was the home of Jenna Baird in Chittenden Vermont. Jenna and Jacob were gracious hosts and the whole tour group was impressed with how beautiful their property was.   Sunday, August 4 View Page Today we picked these blueberries and took the bird netting down to give back to Mother Nature. Our berry harvest has been outstanding this year.   Sunday, August 4 View Page The patch has held itself together for one more week with the fences keeping away bad critters. We still have 2 plants way behind but hopefully we can still get lawn pumpkins from them. Here is the old patch.   Sunday, August 4 View Page Here is the right side of the new patch. Doesn’t feel good when you can start to see a pumpkin when you look out!   Sunday, August 4 View Page Left side of new patch. Would like to see less dirt but the pumpkin is currently taking everything from the plant.   Sunday, August 4 View Page Tomatoes are starting to show. Here is a decent one on the 5.71 Porkchop. About 9.5 cc tonight.   Sunday, August 4 View Page Another nice start off a different 5.71 Porkchop.   Sunday, August 4 View Page Here is Blanch off the 1044 Gansert. Blanch is 13 days old today with an ott of 102 inches. Great color already!   Sunday, August 4 View Page Here is Betty off of our 512 Young seed in the 150 patch. Betty is 15 days old today with an ott of 103 inches.   Sunday, August 4 View Page Here is little Sophia off of the troubled 1912 Carter. Sophia is 8 days old today with an ott of 49 inches.   Sunday, August 4 View Page This is Rose off the 1501 Vanderwielen and she is 23 days old today with an ott of 222 inches.   Sunday, August 4 View Page Last but not least is Dorothy from our 1297.5. Dorothy hit 30 days old today and has an ott of 278 inches.   Wednesday, August 7 View Page Must be August in New England. Even our Creeme stands are giving away zucchini squash!   Sunday, August 11 View Page We planted some teddy bear sunflowers this year and they are starting to bloom. Between 2-3 feet tall and throw multiple heads.   Sunday, August 11 View Page Our year is progressing well this second but a few pumpkins are real late from plant issues and raccoon attacks. Now we are dealing with a vigorous leaf fungal issue on 2 plants. Wouldn’t be fun if it was easy!   Sunday, August 11 View Page New patch seems to be doing the best so far but we still have some small pumpkins on 2 plants.   Sunday, August 11 View Page Other side of new patch. We did our final weed deep into the plants for this year. Leaves are starting to get brittle and the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.   Sunday, August 11 View Page Tomato house has a bunch of pollinations but all are growing slow currently. Our largest cc is 15 inches but tomato looks real young.   Sunday, August 11 View Page Here is Blanch off the 1044 Gansert. She is 20 days old today and has an ott of 171 inches. She may be a looker if we can get her to the finish line.   Sunday, August 11 View Page Here is Betty our 150 competition pumpkin off the 512 Young. She is 22 days old today and has an ott of 161 inches.   Sunday, August 11 View Page Here is Sophia off the 1912 Carter. Late start but we are hoping to get her to maturity. She is 15 days old today and has an ott of 116 inches today.   Sunday, August 11 View Page Here is Rose off the 1501 Vanderwielen. She has small shoulders but a big butt! Rose is 30 days old today and has an ott of 275 inches.   Sunday, August 11 View Page And last but not least is Dorothy from the 1297.5 Young. Dorothy is a very tall pumpkin and is 37 days old today with an ott of 313 inches.   Sunday, August 18 View Page Kerry and I escaped for the week to Saratoga NY to take in some world class thoroughbred racing. We met Thoff for a day and talked horses, pumpkins and life. Good day for all.   Sunday, August 18 View Page Happy to report that all of our pumpkins are still alive which is a win this time of year. Tomatoes look good but fruit not growing fast. Largest cc to date is 18.5 inches.   Sunday, August 18 View Page 132 Young long gourds have a couple of nice skinny ones going. Let’s hope we got them pollinated early enough for them to mature. All are crossed with the 141 Kline.   Sunday, August 18 View Page 141 Kline long gourd has a couple started as well. Longest is about 70 inches so far.   Sunday, August 18 View Page First up is the very white 1912 Carter. Goes to show that even great seeds can be unpredictable. Still happy growing this pumpkin and a big white on the lawn for Halloween will be cool. Sophia is 22 days old today with an ott of 179 inches.   Sunday, August 18 View Page Here is a new pb for us. Biggest we have ever grown in 150 contest. Ha! Not as easy as it sounds though. This is Betty off the 512 Young and she is 29 days old today with an ott of 201 inches.   Sunday, August 18 View Page Here is Blanch from the 1044 Gansert who is another late start after raccoon damaged early fruit. Blanch is 27 days old today and has an ott of 222 inches.   Sunday, August 18 View Page Here is Rose off the 1501 Vanderwielen. She is not as pretty as we hoped but is our most aggressive grower currently. Rose is 37 days old today and has an ott of 312 inches.   Sunday, August 18 View Page Side view of Rose off the 1501 Vanderwielen. She is low and wide with a cc of 140 inches.   Sunday, August 18 View Page Last is Dorothy off our 1297.5 Young. She is getting more ridges but holding it all together so far. Dorothy is 44 days old today with an ott of 332.5 inches.   Sunday, August 18 View Page Side view of Dorothy. She is a tall pumpkin.   Sunday, August 18 View Page Stem end view. She is slowing down a bit in growth but if we hold her together she could be 1k plus.   Sunday, August 25 View Page I will start this weeks diary starting with the pumpkin display at the Champlain Valley Fair. Kevin Companion won with 1146.50, second Wilbur Horton at 1052, 3rd for Mike Cole 773.50, 4th for Steve Minor 762.50 and 5th for Ashley and Steven Bernard-Lawrence. Congrats to all growers.   Sunday, August 25 View Page Another view of the pumpkin paddock.   Sunday, August 25 View Page Wilbur Horton also tied the State record with a 54 pound rutabaga.   Sunday, August 25 View Page We had a great time at the New England patch tour. We always learn a couple of things and enjoy the conversation and food. Thanks to everyone who helped organize the event!   Sunday, August 25 View Page After the patch tour we headed up to York Beach Maine where our son met us. Great to be able to double up on a weekend.   Sunday, August 25 View Page Ok enough about that. Time to show our patch. Overall we are doing ok but fear we will fall short on time. Here is the old patch. Here we have a few fungal issues but leaves are holding on.   Sunday, August 25 View Page Right side of new patch is holding on but unfortunately we are leaving some dirt instead of vine this year.   Sunday, August 25 View Page Left side of new patch. Again I wished the plants would have covered the whole space.   Sunday, August 25 View Page Biggest tomato so far is just shy of 21 inches and is growing slow but is still green. Our long gourds are pollinated but real slow growth. Longest is mid 90 inches.   Sunday, August 25 View Page Here is Blanch (1044 Gansert). She is 34 days old today and has an ott of 254 inches.   Sunday, August 25 View Page Here is Betty off the 512 Young. She is 36 days old today and has an ott of 227 inches.   Sunday, August 25 View Page Here is Sophia off of the 1912 Carter. She will be a cool white carver and is 29 days old today with an ott of 225 inches.   Sunday, August 25 View Page Here is Rose off the 1501 Vanderwielen. She is 44 days old today and has an ott of 336 inches.   Sunday, August 25 View Page And last I’d Dorothy from our 1297.5. Dorothy is 51 days old today and has an ott of 348 inches.   Sunday, September 1 View Page It appears that early fall is upon us as the last 3 mornings have been in the 40’s and unfortunately that’s the trend or colder for the next 10 days. Plants are still alive although I would give Matt Debacco a migraine trying to figure out how many different leaf fungal issues we have!   Sunday, September 1 View Page Here is one side of the new patch and it still didn’t completely fill in for us this year. We will try to figure out a better plan for green growth next year and a new fungicide program.   Sunday, September 1 View Page The struggle this time of year for us is to keep pumpkins alive and moving with the short hours of sun and cool temps. We are looking at a bunch of days with highs in the mid 60’s. Blankets and mousetraps are ready to be deployed.   Sunday, September 1 View Page Tomato hut is still plugging along. Our biggest so far off a 5.71 Porkchop has a cc just over 22 inches and is still green. We have a few others between 18 and 20 inches.   Sunday, September 1 View Page Our 132 Young long gourd is coming along. We have 4 long gourds on her between 74 and 102 inches. We unfortunately have a sour tip on our 141 Kline long gourd that hit 109 inches today.   Sunday, September 1 View Page Here is pretty Blanch off the 1044 Gansert. She is 41 days old today with an ott of 274 inches.   Sunday, September 1 View Page This is Betty our 150 square foot pumpkin at 43 days with an ott of 243 inches.   Sunday, September 1 View Page Sophia off the 1912 Carter has a cool cream color look and has an ott of 253 inches at 36 days.   Sunday, September 1 View Page Big butted Rose from the 1501 Vanderwielen is 51 days old today with an ott of 352 inches.   Sunday, September 1 View Page Side view of big butt Rose.   Sunday, September 1 View Page Here is crazy ribs Dorothy off our 1297.5 Young. She is 58 days old today and has an ott of 360 inches. She is getting hard to measure as she continues to puff out ribs.   Sunday, September 1 View Page Side view of crazy rib Dorothy. She is a tall wide wheel and is 40 inches tall. Going to be sticking out of our truck if we can keep her sound for weigh off.   Saturday, September 7 View Page Down goes Betty! Yet another failure for us with the 150 contest. Stem split just happened today and went straight through to cavity. Bummer scale of a 6 as she was the smallest in the patch but was planned to go to my father’s assisted living facility.   Sunday, September 8 View Page We decided to give Betty a weight even though she split on us. The pumpkin was very solid as she literally split yesterday but there was some browning of the flesh which you could see went through to the cavity.   Sunday, September 8 View Page Our crane scale is not official but was within a pound to the certified scale at our weigh off. Her weight was 359 pounds. The OTT was 250.5 which estimated at 364.5 on 2017 GPC chart and 352 on Team Pumpkin chart. So being in the middle, I would say we are right on chart.   Sunday, September 8 View Page We picked pie pumpkins and a couple of giant cucumbers. Received the seeds from Porkchop this spring and the biggest so far is 7 pounds 5 ounces. Fun to grow!   Sunday, September 8 View Page Tomatoes are still green and we have 5 that are over 20 inch cc. This is the leader of the pack off the 5.71 Lambchop and has a cc of 23.5 inches. Second place is our own 5.44 Young at 21.75 inches.   Sunday, September 8 View Page Pumpkins are really slowing down with our cold nights. Here is Blanch off the 1044 Gansert and she has an ott of 285 inches at day 47. Great color and happy we crossed the 1297 into it.   Sunday, September 8 View Page Here is pale skinned Sophia off of the 1912 Carter. She is getting a hint of color but will not be orange. Sophia is 43 days old today and has an ott of 274 inches.   Sunday, September 8 View Page Big butted Rose is still plugging along and has an ott of 364 inches at 58 days old.   Sunday, September 8 View Page Stem end of Rose. She is quite wide.   Sunday, September 8 View Page Crazy rib Dorothy keeps growing over her blossom and if is pinching her button a bit. Today she is 65 days old and has an ott of 369 inches.   Sunday, September 8 View Page Side view of crazy rib Dorothy.   Sunday, September 8 View Page Stem end of Dorothy. Kind of looks like the pumpkin in the BigPumpkins.com logo!   Sunday, September 8 View Page 132 Young long gourds are doing well. First time we ever kept 4 on same plant which could be a mistake. So far they are all growing and all over 100 inches.   Sunday, September 8 View Page We also measured the 1297.5 Young’s height which is 40 1/8 inches. We have never grown a pumpkin this tall before.   Saturday, September 14 View Page High winds over night have raised havoc on two of our shelters. Crazy ribbed Dorothy has a dent from a grade stake that broke off. Overall both are sound still.   Sunday, September 15 View Page One of our last Sunday updates of 2019 as weigh off season will start for us next Saturday. Here is a different view of CRD (crazy ribbed Dorothy) as she continues to puff out her ribs. Hopefully they aren’t filled with air! She is 72 days old today and has an OTT of 375 inches (110 side 105 front back and 160 cc)   Sunday, September 15 View Page Front view of CRD at 72 days old. Tiki god looks pleased as he sits high up on her.   Sunday, September 15 View Page Big butted Rose is trying to get some color but is just cantalouping instead. She is 65 days old today and has an OTT of 373 inches (102 side 98.5 front back and 173 cc)   Sunday, September 15 View Page Here BBR (big butted Rose) gives us a nice view of her “money maker” at 65 days.   Sunday, September 15 View Page Pretty Blanch is coloring up very nicely and is 54 days old today with an OTT of 292 inches. She is going to look gorgeous on the lawn this fall!   Sunday, September 15 View Page Another view of pretty Blanch.   Sunday, September 15 View Page Sophia is showing her originality and proving orange pumpkin’s can produce whitish offspring. She seems to be the “white sheep” of the family. Sophia is 50 days old today and has an OTT of 287 inches.   Sunday, September 15 View Page Long gourds are proving to be troublesome and more are showing sour tips. We hopefully have 3 currently that are sound. Who knows after a week or two if they will still be sound?   Sunday, September 15 View Page Picked this baby off the 132 Young today as tip was getting wrinkles. Measured in at 117.25 inches.   Sunday, September 15 View Page The 5.71 Lambchop is starting to flash. We will probably pick it Wednesday to put in the fridge for Saturday’s VT weigh off. It currently has a cc of 24 inches. Probably won’t get much bigger but we will keep her plugged in fo a few more days.   Sunday, September 15 View Page Second biggest of our own 5.44 seed is still green with a cc of 23 1/8 inches currently.   Sunday, September 15 View Page Today we helped Dick and Ann Squires harvest some of their field pumpkins which are huge this year. So far we have 250 in this barn. They do a display every Halloween with 500 pumpkins.   Sunday, September 22 View Page We had a fun day at the Vermont weigh off yesterday and came in 7th with big butted Rose weighing in at 1080 pounds. We also had to long gourds from our 132 Young measured which were 132.38 and 129.75. Here is the start of our display with Rose (1080 Young 19) on the right and Sophia (512 Young 19) on the left.   Sunday, September 22 View Page Here is a different view of crazy ribbed Dorothy who is 79 days old today with an OTT of 380 inches.   Sunday, September 22 View Page Cute Blanch is getting darker orange and is 61 days old today with an OTT of 296 inches.   Sunday, September 22 View Page We have one more long gourd and it is planned for Saratoga.   Sunday, September 22 View Page Here is a nice mater off of our own 5.44 Young. Maybe our best shot of breaking 5 pound barrier this year. This will go to Saratoga as well.   Thursday, September 26 View Page Dorothy (1297 Young) is loaded up fo Saratoga this weekend. Makes the truck squat a bit.   Thursday, September 26 View Page Last long gourd added. Looking forward to seeing everyone this weekend!   Saturday, September 28 View Page Made it to Saratoga. Dorothy is relaxing in the sun with harness racing carts behind her.   Sunday, September 29 View Page Dorothy (1297.5 Young x self) is now the 1215 Young 2019. We had a great time at the Saratoga weigh off and would like to thank all of the volunteers that made this possible. Dorothy was also fortunate to win the Howard Dill award.   Sunday, September 29 View Page Porkchop and Lambchop also were kind enough to bring their WR tomato. This is my very poor attempt at doing the Heisman pose. I think my wife was thinking I was trying to steal the tomato and was running away!   Saturday, October 5 View Page Front lawn display is complete. Overall we had a great year and 4 solid pumpkins on the front lawn for our neighbors to see.   Saturday, October 5 View Page Blanch now 532 UOW Young 2019 (1044 Gansert x 1297.5 Young) is going to miss her trip to RI as she is quite happy in the display. She was a very late pollination due to the raccoon attacks of her sisters but is a very dark orange and pretty!   Tuesday, October 22 View Page Seeds are harvested and pumpkins are carved and lit. Happy Halloween everyone!