Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 85 Entries. Wednesday, January 1 View Page ! ! ! ! ! Happy new year ! ! ! ! ! Ismaël removing seeds from the 106 Daho 2013. Heavy fieldpumpkin, the top of the bump was the thickest part with 13cm ( over 5")   Friday, January 31 View Page Our thoughts are with you Sohan on your birthday, we miss you a lot   Tuesday, February 4 View Page Really like my birthday cake !   Tuesday, February 4 View Page Strike ! we all enjoyed that great family time.   Thursday, April 10 View Page En ce 11 avril 2014, cela fait deja 2 ans que tu es parti Sohan On t'aime Soso   Monday, May 12 View Page After spending the whole winter to work, I went fishing to enjoy and relax to my favorite 125 acres lake. Wake up at 4:30 AM to be ready for the first light of the day.   Monday, May 12 View Page Trap is set, just waiting for a bite...cheeky monkey's are ready to jump !   Monday, May 12 View Page First fish of the year out ! what a great start   Monday, May 12 View Page Then I hooked this pure beauty, almost a fully scaled, that's the prettiest carp I have ever caught on that water.   Monday, May 12 View Page Other side is superb too. Scaly fish are always lovely.   Monday, May 12 View Page I landed a couple of new fish at the end of the day, that one broke my lake'PB holding for 19 years !   Monday, May 12 View Page But the very last fish was really special. After exactly 19 long years of quest, I finally meet one of the 3 forty+ carp of the lake. At 41lb, that fish was the one I was dreaming about and is the biggest one caught this year so far.   Monday, May 12 View Page Other side. That specimen has a perfect shape, a nice brown color, a huge tail and gave up after 45mn of fight ! Even days later, I still can't believe it...I m over the moon!   Monday, May 12 View Page After that success, I decided to have another go to the same peg. I had a few nice fish including that nice mirror.   Monday, May 12 View Page The following week, I changed swim to the far end of the lake, wind was blowing madin that direction, so maybe some carp would be around...within 10mn, single toner, Biiiiiiiiiiip !   Monday, May 12 View Page Come on ! a beautiful linear met my mat.   Monday, May 12 View Page Gorgeous scaly mirror, Get in !   Monday, May 12 View Page During that day, the other 11 carp anglers around the lake had 6 carp together while I had 16 !   Monday, May 12 View Page Ismaël wanted to fish too. Probably dad genetics LOL   Monday, May 12 View Page According to the fishing community, that monster tench is the heaviest alive known specimen in the world ! It's a female measuring 68cm actually empty weighing 13lb3oz but full of spawn she goes up to 15lb3oz ! I love tench   Monday, May 12 View Page Back to vegts, 2013 WR long gourd doing well.   Monday, May 12 View Page Check out the size of these tomato roots! 5.11 Daho 2013   Sunday, June 1 View Page Did another casting test for a new rod, 202 yards with 3.5oz lead.   Sunday, June 1 View Page Caught a few more good carp   Sunday, June 1 View Page nice one.   Sunday, June 1 View Page scaly one   Sunday, June 1 View Page Hooked than big one with 6 yards distance at extrem snags limit. Awesome fight !   Sunday, June 1 View Page Where's my ladder ? lol   Thursday, June 19 View Page April 28, just transplanted tomatoes in the final patch.   Thursday, June 19 View Page May 28, tomatoes are growing well. I've got 16 X 6.83 Boudyo and 16 X 5.11 Daho.   Thursday, June 19 View Page June 16, plants reach 3 to 4' high, flowers showing !   Thursday, June 19 View Page I found a dozen of megablooms.   Thursday, June 19 View Page Some megablooms has been pollinated with success and fruits are forming.   Thursday, June 19 View Page April 17, giant onions and leeks are in their new house. I built this structure this winter. I fully filled it up with a showel, 28 tonnes of topsoil.   Thursday, June 19 View Page May 29, good growth now.   Thursday, June 19 View Page May 30, white plastic placed. Let's go for the race now.   Thursday, June 19 View Page Onions are beautifull   Thursday, June 19 View Page 275 Kent is superb.   Thursday, June 19 View Page 21 may, another Kent plant.   Thursday, June 19 View Page Plenty of roots !   Wednesday, June 25 View Page Megablooms time ! 5.11 Daho 2013   Wednesday, June 25 View Page 5.11 Daho 2013   Wednesday, June 25 View Page 5.11 Daho 2013 That one looks like her mum   Wednesday, June 25 View Page 6.83 Boudyo 2013   Wednesday, June 25 View Page I really love that one ! 5.11 Daho 2013   Saturday, July 5 View Page 2009 Wallace plant   Saturday, July 5 View Page Under the leafcanopy   Saturday, July 5 View Page A great 5.11 multiblooms   Monday, July 7 View Page 2009 Wallace leafcanopy   Monday, July 7 View Page Check that fat mainvine... Joking, It's a lateral !   Monday, July 7 View Page Both 2009 Wallace together.   Friday, July 11 View Page Here a few 5.11 Daho Megablooms   Friday, July 11 View Page .   Friday, July 11 View Page Triple   Friday, July 11 View Page Another one, looking strictly the same as her 5.11 mum   Friday, July 11 View Page Another one, looking strictly the same as her 5.11 mum   Friday, July 11 View Page A nice 6.83 Boudyo   Friday, July 11 View Page Onions growing ok despite the very hot weather   Wednesday, August 6 View Page More and more leaves are falling down. The leaves are healthy and green with no problem but the jonction between the stem and the vine rot. What's that problem ?   Tuesday, August 12 View Page Here my first official tomato for 2014. 4.44lb   Tuesday, August 12 View Page 4,44 Daho 2014 ( Big Zac) It's off my own 5.11 Daho 2013 ( Big Zac)   Tuesday, August 12 View Page I'm glad to hit 2kg again. Dimensions are : Classic CC: 56cm CC lenght: 55cm CC width : 45cm   Thursday, August 14 View Page Be scared Fabrice....very SCARED ! ! ! LOL 5.11 Daho 2013 ( Big Zac)   Friday, August 15 View Page Got a problem on a watermelon plant. Here the top leaf.   Friday, August 15 View Page And here the other side. There are more and more leaves like that. What's the disease ? any way to cure it ?   Sunday, August 17 View Page What a good day !!! I picked up the big one and had a good feeling...   Sunday, August 17 View Page A new Pb for me ! at 2,4kg which is 5.29lb As my previous 4.44lb, it's off my own 5.11 Daho 2013(Big zac)   Sunday, August 17 View Page Léane is very pleased too   Sunday, August 17 View Page Judging by the 3 dimensions, that tomato is probably " over the chart" LOL Dimensions are : Classic CC: 62cm CC lenght: 57.5cm CC width : 42.5cm Yesss Wow ! I'm so glad !   Tuesday, August 19 View Page That 5.29lb was about 1m high on the plant. When I transplanted the tomato seedlings, I placed a stone to the best rooting plants. For the moment, 2 of 3 plants has produced my best : 4.44lb, 5.29lb. Go figure ! Here the list of the products I used this season to grow them : 2 watering with Osyril ( a natural rooting stuff)in the pots and then 0 fertilizer, 0 fongicid, 0 insecticid, 0 myco , nothing during the whole season except pond water. Not bad , very economic and organic !   Wednesday, August 20 View Page Onion still growing slowly, this one is over 27.5" Cc. National record is 23" Cc. Fingers crossed. Weather is grey, humid, cold, almost no sun everyday, max temp 17°C and cold and wet nights at 6°C, ideal for growing small cucurbit...   Tuesday, September 2 View Page As the previous year, The tip of the Lgs are looking like that. Calcium is ok in soil. What can I do to save it ? or prevent that in the futur ? Phil Hunt, you had the same Wrinkley tip last year, did you manage to save it ? Thank you !   Wednesday, October 22 View Page New French record fieldpumpkin : 149.70 Daho 2014 Cross is 150.5 Razo X Self Still think FP's are my favorite looking vegts. You will never believe me if I explain how I grow it...   Wednesday, October 22 View Page New French record fieldpumpkin : 149.70 Daho 2014 Cross is 150.5 Razo X Self Still think FP's are my favorite looking vegts. You will never believe me if I explain how I grow it...   Thursday, October 23 View Page New French record Squash : 1024 Daho 2014 996 Haist X Self 2% heavy Very nice plant to grow, very easy to look after, no huge leaves, no high foliage. I placed the blossom end higher than the stem when it was small to release the pression and prevent any possible splits. The other advantage is the mainvine doesnt come up off the soil so you save more tap roots. That was a good test.   Thursday, October 23 View Page First place pumpkin : 1338 Daho 2014 2% Heavy Cross is 1649 Lancaster X 2009 Wallace As the Squash, great plant, no problem at all. Thanks Woody !   Thursday, October 23 View Page New French record Watermelon : 139.6 Daho 2014 Cross : 274 Kent X Self I finally grow a decent one ( to my standard lol) That was my main target of the season. That's the most difficult giant vegetable to grow here, I always struggle to get a big plant early enough, so Fruit is set too late in the season to reach a big size. It was still growing when I picked it up. North of France is way cooler than South and unfortunately, I m living in the North LOL Thank you very much to Bill, Chris, Sue , Frank... for all tips during the season. Much appreciated !   Thursday, October 23 View Page Had plenty of good tomatoes on the same 5.11 plant that produced my 5.29 earlier this year. I picked up that 4.44 that was growing at 7 feet high on the same plant.   Thursday, October 23 View Page Ismaël holding the second 4.44.   Thursday, October 23 View Page New French record onion : 4.7kg (10.36lb) Extremely glad to hit my 10lb target. I grew 8 onions, smallest one was 3.3kg, and best 3 were 3.7kg, 4.650kg and 4.7kg all weighed at the GPC National Weigh off. Onions are very special, they take a long time to grow and need so much effort to reach big size. To get WR size, you need constant growing light, heat in the winter, air conditioned in the summer, fans ... and during 11 month ! I don't apply all those cares, too expensive. They just grew on a raised bed protected by an insect mesh. Fans were just turned on only during the hottest weeks (still 45°C inside instead of 18°C) of the season that's all...far away of the ideal conditions. I built the wooden raised bed last winter and filled it up with perlite/soil/sand/compost (28 tonnes all by hand perfect to keep you warm when it's minus 5°C) mixed up with a little bit of bird and bat guano, blood meal and seaweed. I just watered regularly , that's all, no fertilizers or any others products and again 100% organic as the rest.   Thursday, October 23 View Page New French record leek : 4.4kg (9.70lb) They grew inside the same raised bed and strictly the same conditions as the onions. Onions were done when picked up but leeks were going really strong. They need more time to reach max size. Could have been 11/12lb probably. Still very glad !   Sunday, October 26 View Page Giant onions : 10.36lb and 10.25lb   Sunday, November 2 View Page Last remaining watermelon of the season. As I said earlier, Late pollination, young fruit not fully grown at all. Short and very fat shape off the 275.9 Kent ( X Selfed it) Plant was the best ever I've ever had. With another month and warm/sunny weather, could have been much bigger. 182cm 113cm 120cm : 163" OTT : est 125lb , real weight 122lb.   Thursday, November 6 View Page Check the size of that maivine, bigger than a 18cm hand ! Unreal !   Wednesday, November 12 View Page Going Orange next year ?!? Why not ? Not sur yet...