Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 65 Entries. Wednesday, January 25 View Page Happy New Year and good luck to all !! Thanks to a generous gift from Ryan I have my first seed for this year. It's his 1803 Hoelke. Also, Ryan has gifted a bunch of his 922 seeds for the Farmers Competition weigh off. For those of you who don't know, I live in a farming area and all the farmers grow the same seed for their competition. The only thing I do is to germinate all the seeds so that the farmers start on an even footing. The 922 is perfectly round and has great genetics. There could be some Howard Dill winners in there !   Saturday, April 1 View Page Many thanks to Cindy for providing a couple of 1910's. It was great to have a patch tour to see these were actually grown.   Saturday, April 1 View Page The fall rye is growing amazingly well considering our terribly long wet and cold winter. This stuff is tough!   Saturday, April 1 View Page Another pic of the fall rye   Saturday, April 1 View Page Soil sampled on March 28th with no additions or amendments to serve as a baseline. 9 samples taken at 7 inches deep.   Friday, May 5 View Page Recommendations for the patch.   Saturday, May 6 View Page The rye was getting taller than usual because I somehow ended up with a sore back(old age lol) and couldn't lift a thing for 6 weeks. Miraculously it got better and I have decided to grow only 1 plant...a 922 Hoelke... to save my back for next year. It has also been a record poor weather winter and spring delaying doing anything in the patch until this week. This will be the latest that I have ever planted.   Saturday, May 6 View Page A bag of Perlite on the growing site.   Saturday, May 6 View Page This is showing what a great job my cultivator is doing after just 1 pass.   Monday, May 8 View Page Because the ground was so cold and wet I thought I would place all 3 heating cables to heat a larger growing spot. I'm also building a larger (15x15)hoop house than I ever have with the hope of allowing the pumpkin baby to catch up to previous years size.   Monday, May 8 View Page My posting skills are rusty. The May 9th soil analysis should be March 30yh. And, this is a picture of the 3 heating cables in place.   Tuesday, May 9 View Page This is my soil stats before adding anything.   Thursday, May 11 View Page Yesterday was a beautiful day. Today back to normal....very wet and rainy. If fact areas near us are experiencing 200 year high flood levels!! Fortunately I did get some poly on the 15 ft x 15 ft hoop house. This just might save the soil from being super wet and the growing year.   Tuesday, May 23 View Page Heating cables working nicely. Outside temp 50 F while soil temp is a nice 74 F.   Tuesday, May 23 View Page I lost my touch with germinating seeds this spring and BOMBED!....zero...nada...nothing. Thanks to Scott(Spambie) for a couple of his spare plants to save the year. Only problem he got the squash and pumpkin mixed up!!! So, Kate, watch out...maybe...lol. I'm starting 3 weeks behind my normal schedule so it will be an interesting year. I've noticed in "diaries" those growers who had terribly wet weather this spring are not far behind normal growing years. I guess the moral of the story is to just start everything on normal schedules and let everything else fall into place. For this year, I have a larger hoop house, more(3) heating cables, and a fan. Thanks again Scott.   Monday, June 12 View Page Did a second cultivation this year because the 1st one was not very good....too wet. Perlite was added at a rate of 1 bag(4 cu ft) per 200 sq ft. Soil looks great and the cultivator is working perfectly.   Monday, June 12 View Page Plants are just starting to take off....at least 3 weeks late but they are healthy. Interestingly, since this year was so cold and wet, even the weeds have are not growing as usual(much less). Insecticide sprayed last week and so far so good...no bugs.   Tuesday, June 13 View Page This is my new baby reborn after a very long year in the restoration shop. Reliving my childhood. Bought one of these brand new....V8, 4 on the floor....more than 50 years ago!!   Thursday, June 15 View Page Another inch of rain today!! We call it "Junuary". Almost 4 weeks behind a normal schedule but the plants are in high gear.   Wednesday, June 21 View Page Pumpkin growing is a fascinating hobby. My current plant is starting to lay down and vine out but its only about 4 ft long. The little insert pics are of some of my other plants in other years but on the same day....June 20th!   Thursday, June 29 View Page 6 days ago these were 1/3 the size. What a difference a day makes. Today is the 1st day that the hoop house covers have been removed and they're on their own. Tomorrow I will remove the supports. The ground is still saturated from all the rain we've had in the past so very little watering has been done with the Netafim on a timer....3 minutes per day.   Thursday, June 29 View Page A beautiful spot in our garden to dream about the "big one".   Friday, June 30 View Page And more Perlite.   Friday, June 30 View Page Perlite turned under. As you can see the soil is still very damp with absolutely no watering since the last rainfall.   Sunday, July 2 View Page Need some growth after a late start.   Monday, July 10 View Page Some very nice healthy growth with a baby on each plant. Pollination might happen on July 12th.   Thursday, July 13 View Page Pollinated a perfect flower on the north plant today.   Thursday, July 13 View Page Not perfect on the south plant.   Thursday, July 13 View Page Plants are super healthy and leaves look really good. Now the fun begins!   Friday, July 21 View Page North plant female # 1, July 13th. A beautiful flower but it didn't pollinate.   Friday, July 21 View Page North plant female #2, July 20th. Biggest best female that I have ever seen!! Let's hope it takes.   Friday, July 21 View Page This is the "natural" position of the pumpkin in relation to the 1* vine. If allow to grow in this position it would grow into the vine and cause a lot of stem stress type issues.   Friday, July 21 View Page My attempt to move the stem perpendicular to the primary vine. This was done very slowly 2 times per day over 4 days.   Thursday, July 27 View Page This a patch pic in 2013. As you can see it almost fills my 1900 sq ft.   Thursday, July 27 View Page These are my plants and patch this year. As you can see they only occupy about 40% of the area!! We were 3 weeks behind on our cultivating and we are about 3 weeks behind in our growth.   Thursday, July 27 View Page Even though we are a few weeks behind, the plants are the healthiest ever.   Thursday, July 27 View Page Last year, for the first time since I started growing, birds attacked and pecked the sh** out of both kins. This is what I built this year to guard against that. I also placed more netting around the base of the frame after I took the pic.   Thursday, July 27 View Page Can I break a 1000 pounds this year??   Wednesday, August 2 View Page South Plant DAP 20 Ott 147 Really playing catchup this year but nice looking baby ...eh??   Wednesday, August 2 View Page Patch pic. Plants are very healthy and growing well. Interesting fun facts.....the leaves have never felt rain. The only time the leaves have ever gotten wet is by the 4 hose end sprayer applications of various ferts!   Wednesday, August 2 View Page The stump of the south plant. And just a little explanation of the previous post: The province of BC has been in a record breaking dry spell. All watering has been done with a Netafim drip system set at 5 minutes 2 times per day. I increased it to 7 minutes 2 times per day yesterday. All the soil used to cover vines during burying has been hand watered in. In other words, every vine that gets buried gets watered. This technique is new to me.   Tuesday, August 8 View Page Healthiest plants I've ever grown.   Wednesday, August 9 View Page North plant   Wednesday, August 9 View Page South plant   Wednesday, August 9 View Page A beautiful picture if I do say it myself. Gotta love technology. Samsung smartphone in panorama mode.   Tuesday, August 22 View Page At least 40 tomatoes on this plant! If I can grow tomato plants like this I should try growing giants. Any good seeds would be greatly appreciated at 17220 Fedoruk Road, Richmond, BC, Canada, V6V 1C7   Tuesday, August 22 View Page Pic of patch. Secondary's before the pumpkin are still growing like crazy while those after the pumpkin are quite stunted.   Tuesday, August 22 View Page S plant. DAP40. Circ 109, Ott 257   Tuesday, August 22 View Page N plant. DAP 33. Circ 115. Ott 273. Got my money on this one. Everything on this plant is better than the S plant. Bigger vines, bigger leaves, faster growth rate, and a much better vine position. Powdery mildew is starting to show up. Applied 4 cups Companion through hose end sprayer. This year I have decided to clean up all my partial bags of ferts and amendments. I haven't bought anything this year nor will I get any soil tests or tissue analysis. so far so good!!   Saturday, August 26 View Page Around Aug 20th powdery mildew started showing up. Since this year is kind of an experimental year I decided to hit PM much harder than in previous years. Up to this point the plants have received 1 dose of Bravo and 1 dose of Cabrio with some smaller doses of Companion in between those applications. On Aug 22nd I applied 4 cups of Companion through a hose end sprayer and that seemed to stop the PM from getting worse. Today I was applying TKO phosphite and read that TKO and Bravo together are more effective than when applied alone.   Saturday, August 26 View Page My irrigation system. I usually fill the 45 gallon tank with water and mix in whatever I feel should be given the plants. Today it was 1 1/2 cups of TKO phosphite (750 ppm) and Bravo fungicide. After spraying 1/2 the tank of TKO I added 3 tbsp. of Bravo to the TKO and sprayed the rest of it over the plants.   Saturday, August 26 View Page The 1 Hp pump going through 15 spray heads will empty the 45 gallon tank in 3.5 minutes with a pretty intense spray. Maybe some kelp tomorrow. At this stage I like to spray something on the plants everyday. Also, I want to thank Gmay for his offer of giant tomato seeds. We will grow them next year.   Tuesday, August 29 View Page N plant DAP 40 Circ 129 OTT 301 Gains are slowing down. S plant is growing very slowly and not worth measuring until Dap 40.   Thursday, August 31 View Page OOPS October 31st post should have read August 31st.   Thursday, August 31 View Page The overall health of my 2 plants have been almost perfect up to this date. Usually powdery mildew would have had a strong grip on the leaves by now.   Saturday, September 2 View Page Love playing with the pumpkins as the sun rises !   Saturday, September 2 View Page Starting to get ready for the frost and rain....if it ever comes. We have broken a serious record for having the driest July and August combined. 1/4 inch of rain in 2 months and the dry spell isn't ending soon.   Saturday, September 2 View Page The beautiful baby on the north plant.   Friday, September 15 View Page Check out the inserted pic of my zucchini plant leaves. They are growing 50 ft away from the pumpkins. Zukes are white with PM and pumpkin leaves are perfect. I have always had a serious problem with PM so this year I attacked it with a vigorous proactive program. As you can see the PM is totally under control as of Sept 15th, Here's what I did: July 11 Companion drench July 14 Bravo spray July 23 Companion drench Aug 1 Companion drench Aug 7 Cabrio spray Aug 22 Companion Aug 26 Bravo Aug 28 Hand sprayed Bravo on trouble spots Sept 1 Same as above Sept 2 Companion spray Sept 3 Bravo spray.   Wednesday, September 20 View Page DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Saturday, September 23 View Page AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!We're done for the year !! 2 splits in 1 week. As Jake Van Kooten would say "it ain't over until it's over".   Tuesday, October 31 View Page Panoramic pic of the patch taken just to document growth at the end of August. Secondary's past the pumpkin are slow growing and feeble. Secondary's before the pumpkin are very vigorous and fast growing.   Wednesday, November 15 View Page Just noticed that I hadn't posted a pic of all my babies. Beautiful...eh?   Tuesday, December 5 View Page The secret soil amender for 2018 !!!   Tuesday, December 5 View Page BIOCHAR ! Recommended by pot growers every where !