Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 148 Entries. Thursday, January 5 View Page Hello all, this is our second year growing the AG. Last year we grew a 333lb pumpkin outside on our allotment here in Oxfordshire, UK. We have learned a lot since then, and this year we hope to improve somewhat. First of all, a soil analysis showed a pH of 7.6 which is way high but not unexpected given the chalky soil we have here. I'd like to remove it all and put in fresh topsoil, but that will have to wait until next year when bigger things are planned. Until then, all I can do is add some sulphur and hope that will reduce the pH once things warm up a bit.   Monday, January 9 View Page I've just built this trough container for our tomato plants this year. Hopefully the larger volume of compost will not dry out so frequently; last year the gro-bags didn't carry enough water and we ended up with blossom end rot.   Tuesday, January 10 View Page Today I added a ton of new topsoil to the patch and mixed it in with some chicken manure and vermiculite. I will add more topsoil later. It's only for where the pumpkin starts off, though ideally it would cover the whole patch. I'll get a soil test done on this new soil, which I bought as 'vegetable growing topsoil' to see exactly what pH it is and what it requires etc.   Wednesday, January 11 View Page When adding the soil, I partly-submerged some upside-down plastic milk crates into the patch. This is so I can use them like stepping stones, preventing soil compaction. I'll also use planks and boards, but these will be more permanent, take up less space and I won't have to make the effort of heaving them around everywhere. I've not tried this before, but I hope the gaps and spaces in the crates will allow soil, water & roots to pass through unhindered, while they're strong enough to allow me to 'walk on the soil surface' without disturbing anything.   Thursday, January 12 View Page Before I send the new topsoil off for analysis, I had a quick check of the EC, and it came out at a respectable 1.3 I think is a nice base level because it leaves room for specific fertiliser treatment when necessary.   Friday, January 13 View Page This is what passes for snow here in southern England!   Saturday, January 14 View Page Today we also got some tasty Brussels sprouts from our allotment. Even though the plants were nearing the end of their life and some were toppled over, we still got some good ones.   Friday, January 20 View Page OK the soil analysis came in today, all good but for potassium which is a bit on the high side, hopefully the rain will leach it out to normal levels by the time spring comes. Also the pH is a bit on the high side, so I will dig in some peat moss and/or add some sulphur to bring it down.   Saturday, January 28 View Page I like to grow cactus as well as pumpkins and veg. Certain species like Mammillaria luethyi are tricky to grow and they often dry up and die during the rest period, So I brought this one inside and put it under the growlights with a drop of water. I wasn't expecting any flowers so this is a very welcome sight during this bleak January.   Tuesday, January 31 View Page This new topsoil from another souce is a sandy loam, but it looks more sand than loam! I'll send off a sample to the lab to see exactly what's in it. The inverted milk crates are working well, I can work the land without getting all covered in mud.   Saturday, February 4 View Page Now there's a sight - 3 tons of cow manure. Great stuff. Now for the arduous job of taking it down the track to our allotment. I estimate there's about 30 wheelbarrow's worth.   Sunday, February 5 View Page 10 down, 20 to go. We probably have too much for the pumpkin patch, but there's plenty of other spots on the allotment that could do with some so nothing will go to waste.   Friday, February 17 View Page As far as gardening gadgets are concerned, these knee pads are one of the better ones. Today I spent a lot of time shifting soil and manure around using a short handled spade, which would surely have been impossible to do without them.   Friday, April 7 View Page The main plot for this season and it's 9m x 6m. I'll grow 2 pumpkins at each end. We have 2x Wallace 1975 seeds and a couple of seeds kindly donated by the Patons. After about a month the weakest ones will be removed, leaving just one growing from each end. I'll then direct the vines to opposite corners so the plants won't clash in the middle. It's dry and warm here and has been for a while, we could do with some rain to get the soil better prepared.   Thursday, April 13 View Page OK so this year we have 2 x Wallace 1975, one in each pot at the back, and some Paton 1865 in the other pots. Seeds were soaked overnight in the airing cupboard in Canna Start at pH 6.5. Today they were planted in Canna Terra Seed Mix with some Azos bacteria spores and Great White mycorhizal fungi propagules in the propagator at 28 degrees C. The pots were watered with Canna Start at pH 6.5 yesterday and left in the propagator overnight to get up to temperature before sowing today. Here's to a successful season, good luck to one and all!   Wednesday, April 19 View Page Windbreak is up, nursery area on the right. There's another one at the other end of the plot. Next thing to do is make the cloche and prepare soil for seedlings.   Saturday, April 22 View Page Soil test as of this week, I've put a lot of work in over the past 6 months so I'm very happy especially with the pH drop as it was high at 7.7. Still more work to be done though, like getting seeds to germinate! For some reason they're just not doing it :(   Saturday, April 29 View Page Today I got halfway through building the coldframe/cloche/nursery when I ran out of time. I'll finish it tomorrow. It's 2m x 2m and will house 2 plants of which I'll eventually keep just one. Also some good news, I finally had a couple of germinations today. Thanks to Ian & Stuart Paton for the seeds.   Sunday, April 30 View Page Here are the Paton seeds that germinated yesterday, I'll find out exactly which plant they came from later in the week. The temp is too high for them so they will be moved somewhere a bit cooler soon.   Monday, May 1 View Page We tried out these Root Riot germination pods this year with 100% germination out of 6 seeds. When you pull the pod out for potting up, you can see the extent to which the roots burst out of the seed case. There's no need to remove the seedling from the pod cube, it just gets absorbed into the potting mix. I'll certainly use them again next year.   Tuesday, May 2 View Page We are a couple of weeks behind everyone else but in the scheme of things it doesn't matter. Here are the seedlings under the grow lights. Soil temp 20C and air temp 22C. Watering today with humic acid and Cannastart, pH 6.8, EC 0.7 with water at room temp. The ones in the larger pots had some Great White mycorrhizae and Azos added to the rootzone.   Wednesday, May 3 View Page Here is the growing area this evening with the grow lights switched off after the daily 12 hour stint. There's additional light from the window too, and it's all reflected back into the growing area by silver foil sheeting.   Friday, May 5 View Page Less than one week after germination and here we are, looking good so far   Sunday, May 7 View Page Just 8 days after germination and we have a 4" first true leaf on a couple of plants. I'm always astonished how quick they grow. This week I will be putting them outside during the day, and bringing indoors during the night. Room temp water with Cannastart and humic acid, pH varying from 6.8-7.0 and EC 0.9-1.1.   Tuesday, May 9 View Page They seemed so happy and cosy indoors under the growlights, but they have to be hardened off at some point. Here they are outdoors in the back garden, albeit in a mini-greenhouse to get them aclimatised. It's not too cold, but overcast today. They will be brought back indoors for the night, then outside again tomorrow. I expect to plant out at the allotment somertime next week.   Thursday, May 11 View Page It's been sunny and/or mild this week, so the plants have been quite happy outside. As you can see they're outgrowing their mini greenhouse. I'll further harden them off this week in order to get them ready for the plot next week.   Saturday, May 13 View Page They're bursting out of the mini greenhouse and are desperate to be planted out, roots growing outside of the pots now. Tonight will be their first night outside, albeit in a sheltered coldframe. Night temps are expected to be about 9C tonight (48F). Watering with the same as before.   Sunday, May 14 View Page This is the water butt which holds 1000l with a head of 6 ft. It took well over an hour to fill from the hosepipe. I don't really want to use tapwater because it's chlorinated but I don't have much choice. A water filter will be considered next year. We don't have any electricity at the allotment so I am hoping there will be enough pressure to irrigate the patch without using an electric pump. I have some drip tape arriving this week but I'll have to experiment to see how it works best.   Tuesday, May 16 View Page I think I have solved the problem of chlorinated tap water without having to use a filter - this stuff will turn the chloramine into NH4 and the chlorine is either bound or released into the atmosphere (not sure which), either way it's safe for plants as it's intended use is for aquariums with plants. The pH is unaffected. The reason for doing this is to keep the chlorine in tap water from killing bacteria. There's no point in using Azos etc if tap water just kills them all. If it's good enough for aquarium plants, and fish which are especially sensitive to chlorine, then it should be ok for pumpkins, but I'll do a bit of testing first before chucking it into the 1000l tank!   Friday, May 19 View Page Yesterday I wrapped the water tank with black plastic film to prevent light from entering and thus prevent algal growth. It will also warm the water somewhat though I'm not sure how much yet.   Saturday, May 20 View Page Planting out time, at last! I can't imagine a better rootball than that. This thing is dying to get out of the pot and into the wild. We used Paton seed, either the 2157 or 1949, not sure which, I'm not really that bothered TBH they're both good. We'll grow two side by side and see which one does best before removing the weaker one.   Saturday, May 20 View Page We planted both into Canna Terra Pro with some extra vermiculite added, pre-warmed to 17C (64F). The rootballs were dusted with Azos and Great White myco, and everything was watered in with Canna Rhizotonic, humic acid, yukka extract (surfactant) and pH adjusted to 7.0 with EC 1.1. Last night the temp went down to 8C (36F) and during the day gets into the mid 20s (80F) which I'm happy with though I wouldn't want it to get too much colder than that at night. At the other end of the allotment we also planted some plants from our own 333 which we grew last year, our first attempt at growing the Atlantic Giant, and with way less knowledge than we have now! Ironically the 333 plants look to more vigorous than the Paton plants, but it's a long summer, let's see what happens.   Wednesday, May 24 View Page Here are the two 333s growing side by side in the smaller of the two grow houses at the other end of the allotment. Somehow I think we may have mixed the seeds up with the Paton ones because they are way ahead in development and looking much stronger. But time will tell. It's been quite hot today, plain water refreshment pH6.5 with yucca extract.   Tuesday, May 30 View Page The weather has been good for growing this week, warm with a mixture of sunshine and showers. The pumpkins are still in their houses, this is one of the Patons and it's showing the classic star ship Enterprise shape as it's about to touch down.   Tuesday, May 30 View Page This is one of our own 333s, it's outperformed its brother which was culled today. It's also progressing much better than the Patons also. I'm not using fancy compost with this, just ericaceous multipurpose, but it still gets the Azos, Rhizotonic etc etc as the others do.   Friday, June 2 View Page Here is one of the Paton plants, things are doing OK but it does look like the vine is wanting to go 45 degrees in the wrong direction, so it will have to be coaxed back on track with canes. This plant is now about 4 weeks since germination. The weather has been warm and dry for a while now, I have been taking the roof off the cloche during the day and replacing it at night. Night temps inside with the roof on are about 12C (54F). Day temps are 20-25C (70-80F) which is great. Watering every morning with a variety of things as before, sometimes with a pinch of Mg salt or Ca nitrate, keeping pH less than 7 and EC max 1.2. I also used Canna Terra Vega this week for the first time.   Tuesday, June 6 View Page OK so I go away for 3 days and during my absence there's a storm and nobody to batten down the hatches. As such many leaves on both plants are looking battered & bruised with a few stems broken. Worse than that is this 4" stem split on the Paton, right near the stump. I don't have experience of this before, so I have no idea if it's no big deal or if this plant is now good only for the compost heap. As it happens, I only have 2 plants now, so I'll dust it down with sulphur and see what happens. I might even plant some more seeds, even at this late stage.   Wednesday, June 7 View Page This is the 333 and as you can see it's almost outgrown the 1 metre square cloche. The fact that it was small and tight, and surrounded by mesh fencing, meant the winds didn't affect it so much, so the only damage in the storm was just one bent stem. I hope the weather improves so I can remove the cloche completely.   Thursday, June 8 View Page This is the growing end of the Paton plant, you can see some of the damaged leaves from the storm. The main vine looks to be quite broad, I'm not sure if this is a ribbon vine, or if it's actually normal. If it is the former, then is that a problem? I'm sure I've read somewhere that ribbon vines can be problematic, though I'm not sure how/why. Other than that, the plant appears healthy and is growing well.   Saturday, June 10 View Page This may not look like much but it's the happy result of something that I have been sweating about since last year and that I've tested today for the first time. The irrigation salesman said 'oh it'll never work' but the 1000l water tank feeding 10m lengths of irrigation hose 50cm apart covering about 600 m sq - using just gravity, no pumps - appears to be working fine :) Let's see if it will last the season.   Sunday, June 11 View Page This is the 333 which is about 5 feet long now. I'm continuing to protect the growing tip by moving the cloche forward as it grows. The cloche is 3 sided and protects the delicate growing tip from the wind which can not only dessicate but also physically damage the young leaves.   Tuesday, June 13 View Page Here is the 333 with a lot of wind protection. Ideally I'd like to grow pumpkins in a polytunnel but that will have to wait until next year. Untill then I will just have to deal as best I can with bent leaves, broken stems and stressed roots due to wind which occurs even at low speeds. I'm moving the cloche forward about 6" every day as the vine lengthens. Some good news is that the soil pH is down from 7.6 last year to a very comfortable 6.8, no doubt due to the sulphur that I added all those months ago!   Wednesday, June 14 View Page It's been quite warm recently and the temp of the water in the 1000l tank has got up to 26C (82F) which is way up from the ideal of 18C (66F) where dissolved oxygen peaks. If it gets that hot at this time of year I can only imagine how it will be in July & August. So I wrapped it in white to reflect the heat from the sun. The black is still underneath to block light and algal growth.   Thursday, June 15 View Page Snapshot of my son Oliver, 9, about to strike the fatal blow to the ribboning Paton plant. I'd already cut the ribbon vine with a view to growing a secondary instead, but it just didn't look salvageable, with vines and flowers etc appearing all over the place. At least it will make good compost. Anyway we're very lucky in that Oliver's grandad Ron has generously provided us with a backup plant to replace it. So we will dig this one out and transplant the new one in. I've learned a lesson and next year I will make sure I have plenty of backup plants of my own in place.   Friday, June 16 View Page OK so the ribbon plant has been replaced by a back up of unspecified origin. The rootball was kept intact throughout. I made that sound straightforward, but it wasn't a easy! It was watered in with Canna Rhizotonic, Azos, Humic Acid and White Widow mychorhizae. Here it is 24 hours after transplant, looking suprisingly flush. It's a few weeks behind the 333 but I am confident it will catch up soon with the right treatment.   Monday, June 19 View Page Here's the 333 at dusk on Sunday, secondaries are beginning to assert themselves, and several fledgling female flowers are appearing. I'll pinch them out when large enough to do so. There is plenty of air movement despite the close guard wind protection. It's been quite hot recently, with more heat & sun to come. Water every morning & evening.   Monday, June 19 View Page Here's my son Oliver, 9, about to take a 333 seedling to school today. It's obviously late in the season to be planting out a week-old seedling like this, but they'll have a lot of fun growing it in the school veggie plot. Who knows how it will turn out...?!   Monday, June 19 View Page Here is the new pumpkin plant just a few days after transplant and it seems very happy so far. No secondaries to speak of yet but that will soon change I am sure. One leaf suffered from scorch today but I expected more seeing as we're having a heatwave at the moment with solar radiation being reported as being on a par with what you'd get as far south as Cyprus. I did some damping down on this and the 333 in the early afternoon. I've also started to store the Azos, nutrients, supplements etc in a cool bag because they were getting too hot in the shed.   Tuesday, June 20 View Page First male flower of the season today on the 333, a bit of a fluke I think as the others are nowhere near ready yet. It's been hot and sunny all week. Growth of the main vine continues at about 6-8 inches per day. All is well!   Tuesday, June 20 View Page We're using the Paton method of vine burial where pots filled with wet compost, Azos & fungi are used to cover the nodes. One of the nodes has produced a root that's sneaked out the side exit.   Friday, June 23 View Page This is the 333 showing the polycarbonate screens that are in place for wind protection. They're easily movable and staked out with fencing pins. I move them every day so they always end up being about 1ft from the end of the vines. Development continues to be rapid on all fronts with 6-8" growth per day and female flowers developing on the secondaries, which I pinch off as well as tertiaries. Burying nodes takes a lot of time and it's only going to get worse! I'm still feeding with N but also some extra Ca and P as we're nearing the pollination stage which I expect to occur in the first week of July.   Sunday, June 25 View Page Yes there is a female bud at the end of the main vine if you look closely, and it's probably the first flower upon which we will attempt pollination which will hopefully be in 1-2 weeks from now. It's on the 333 and about 12ft from the stump. The plant looks healthy, growing well with well-behaved secondaries. Feeding has been varied this past couple of weeks; among other things we use Azos, NPK RAW Grow, NPK RAW Phosphorus, Canna Terra Vega, Canna Rhizotonic, Calcium nitrate, Mg SO4 etc with a pH varying from 6.0 to 7.0 and an EC from 1.4 to 2.0. Next week will probably be the last of the main growing phase and we will direct nutrition more towards a bloom phase.   Monday, June 26 View Page A view from under the 333 canopy. We have sun at the moment but rain is forecast later today and tomorrow. We haven't had any rain for about 2 weeks.   Monday, June 26 View Page The 333 again, there is wind and rain forecast tomorrow so I hope there is enough protection here. The other plant is doing well as far as sheer growth is concerned but the secondaries are proving to be a struggle, they seem to go off in any direction other than perpendicular to the main. But it seems vigorous enough so I hope it will come good with a bit of stern training.   Tuesday, June 27 View Page This is the transplanted pumpin which as you can see has greatly increased in size since transplant about 10 days ago. The leaves are big but a bit tatty due to wind damage and sun scorch. Side vines yet to grow properly but I am doing my best at training them. Feed is still firmly geared towards vegetative growth.   Thursday, June 29 View Page Here's Oliver in the greenhouse, tomatoes on the left and canteloupe/cucamelons on the right. Right now they're flowering and beginning to fruit. I can't believe they have grown so much in just a couple of months. Perhaps it's because I've looked after them and treated them with some pumpkin goodies etc Azos, White Widow, Rhizotonic etc? I'm not counting on anything just yet, unless the fruit comes good it's all for nothing..!   Thursday, June 29 View Page This is the 333 and after a couple of days of rain, which will have washed the soil somewhat, now is a good time to get started on feed for the flowering phase. I'll reduce the N and start to raise the P and K. We also have a mole that's making an appearance here and there, probably the same one as last year, I hope it doesn't want to make the pumpkin patch its permanent home!   Monday, July 3 View Page At 13 feet out on the 333 main vine this likely looking female is the main contender. Feed is now based around BioBloom, Canna Terra Flores, Cannaboost, Canna Rhizotonic, NPK RAW Phosphorus & NPK RAW Bloom Microbes as well as the usual humic, yukka etc. Weather continues to be classic English summer - warm with a mixture of sunshine, cloud and showers.   Wednesday, July 5 View Page I wasn't expecting the flower on the 333 to open for a few more days but there it is this morning ready and receptive. It's not opened particularly well and doesn't look very pretty, but the stigma is fully visible and so I self-pollinated it today with 3 male flowers as none are yet available on the other plant. If it doesn't take, there's another one a couple of feet further along on the main vine, and more on some of the side vines should it come to it.   Wednesday, July 5 View Page The first female on the back up plant appeared this morning, it's about 10ft out on the main vine. With this one we're about 2 weeks behind in development compared to the 333.   Wednesday, July 5 View Page 333 pollinated, tied and ready to go. Now the fun really starts (I hope)   Wednesday, July 5 View Page View of the 333 at dusk. We had some strong sun today which burned a few young leaves, but I managed to sneak out of work at 4pm so I could cool everything down with some spray. No major damage done, I hope. It is a concern for the days during the summer for when I won't be there, family holidays for instance.   Friday, July 7 View Page Closeup of the 333 just a couple of days after pollination. It's still too early to see if it's worked, but the signs are promising. There are plenty of other options available for back ups, nearly all the side vines have female flowers now. The problem is deciding which ones to select, and how many. Soil pH today was 7.1 and EC 1.4 which is good, but could be better.   Monday, July 10 View Page Sun damage on the 333. Not enough water, too much sun. About 30% of the new leaves are affected. I'll cut the worst of them off and if possible allow some tertiary vines to take their place.   Monday, July 10 View Page It looks like the 333 has taken, now to train it away from the vine! It started out in a promising position but now it wants to grow along the same path as the vine. Getting it on track will require some patient and gentle coaxing over the next week or two.   Tuesday, July 11 View Page The 333 on the main vine 5 DAP. It's beginning to move away from the vine, slowly but surely. It also has a long stem, which will help now and in the future.   Tuesday, July 11 View Page Ariel view of the plot showing the transplanted plant. I really must think of a proper name for it soon. As you can see, some of the leaves are very large, but there are a lot of gaps. At the far right, just out of picture, I pollinated a promising looking female about 10 feet out using pollen from the 333.   Wednesday, July 12 View Page View of the 333 which is now starting to get too big for the plot so I've terminated some of the side vines. The pumpkin is doing ok and increasing in size steadily, it's hiding under the plastic chair. We had 20l rain per sq m over the past 24 hours, which was well overdue as it hasn't otherwise rained here for about 3 weeks or so.   Wednesday, July 12 View Page Here is a lovely looking 333 flower about 10 feet out on a side vine which I pollinated today using transplant pollen. This will be a backup in case the pumpkin on the main vine fails.   Wednesday, July 12 View Page Side vine pollination on the transplant just 2 DAP. The main vine has yet to grow a female at the right distance, but I think that will change in the next day or two.   Friday, July 14 View Page Here is the transplant patch today, it's starting to fill out a bit more, so I'm reasonably happy given the circumstances. The leaves are larger than the 333. The female at the end of the main vine won't be ready to pollinate for about a week yet, but there's one on a side vine top right of the picture.   Friday, July 14 View Page And here it is 3DAP. Hopefully it's taken but it's too early to be sure.   Friday, July 14 View Page Here's an example of what you can expect when you use the Paton method of vine burying!   Friday, July 14 View Page The 333 at 9 DAP. A bit lopsided perhaps but I'm not too bothered.   Saturday, July 15 View Page The 333 at 10DAP. I managed to nick it with a fingernail so that's some sulphur powder you can see on top. Underneath is cat litter, the non-clumping expanded clay type. Many of us cactus growers use it in cactus compost, it acts as drainage and it absorbs water. We use it instead sand because it's lighter, doesn't clump, it's non abrasive, pH neutral and drains more freely. I think it will work well under the pumpkin for the same reasons. Recent weather has been cloudy with light showers and the forecast looks the same.   Monday, July 17 View Page 333 at 12 DAP. Weather forecast is sunny today and favourable for the rest of the week. I'll send off for a soil test today so I can check on the P and the K, I don't want to overdo the K as last year we had a lack of Mg.   Monday, July 17 View Page Backup on the 333 at 5 DAP looks like it's taken.   Monday, July 17 View Page This is the first pollination on the transplant at 5DAP. It's a side vine coming from the stump. We've did another pollination on another side vine yesterday, the female on the main vine that's about 12 feet out should possibly open tomorrow.   Tuesday, July 18 View Page Pumpkin patch this morning. The 333 is at the top of the picture and the transplant at the bottom. Both plants are starting to interfere with each other now so I'm terminating the vines before it becomes a tangled mess. Next year I will only grow one plant on this patch, it's just not big enough for two.   Tuesday, July 18 View Page 333 at 13DAP. Note the slug at the top right, dehydrated and debilitated due to the cat litter. Another cat litter bonus I hadn't thought of :)   Tuesday, July 18 View Page Transplant side vine pumpkin at 10DAP. This morning I pollinated the female 12 feet out on the main vine with the 333, that will hopefully be the last pollination this season, better late than never.   Tuesday, July 18 View Page A simple solution to the problem of getting water & feed into the middle of the plant area, without treading on soil & vines!   Wednesday, July 19 View Page 333 at 14DAP - although it's sat under a chair, the cat litter was useful soaking up some of the rain last night. We had thunderstorms bringing 2l per sq m.   Wednesday, July 19 View Page 333 side vine back up at 7 DAP   Wednesday, July 19 View Page Transplant first pollination at 9 DAP   Thursday, July 20 View Page 333 at 15DAP, we had 3l per sq m rain last night, quite cold too but forecast to clear up today. I need to get this set on a permanent base soon before it gets too cumbersome.   Thursday, July 20 View Page 333 at 15 DAP - new base required asap   Thursday, July 20 View Page Soil analysis came in today, lots of everything in there, now we just need some sun, warmth & water to provide the means to take it all up. Water isn't a problem but sun and warmth are out of our control.   Friday, July 21 View Page 333 patch this morning, sun and clouds forecast today though it's a bit too windy for my liking. Most of the growing has now finished with (nearly all) tertiary vines removed and secondaries terminated. Total growing area is almost 400 sq feet. Next year I'll just have just one plant growing in this patch rather than two so I can make full use of the 600 sq feet available.   Saturday, July 22 View Page Here's the 333 in its new home. Once it was thought through, it wasn't a difficult operation for Ron to carefully lift the pumpkin and vine while I slid a pallet underneath. The pallet has a board with a perforated rubber mat on top, and on that is a 1" layer of cat litter. I'm hoping that by growing the pumpkin on a pallet it'll make it a lot easier to shift it when the time comes. Weather has been rainy again, last night there was 15l per sq metre. There's no point in feeding when it's wet like this. Some sunshine would be good but I can't see any on the forecast.   Saturday, July 22 View Page The spare on the 333 at 10DAP   Saturday, July 22 View Page 12 DAP for the transplant   Monday, July 24 View Page 333 at 19DAP, weighing in at about 15kg (34lb)   Monday, July 24 View Page 333 side vine at 12DAP   Monday, July 24 View Page Transplant side vine by the greenhouse at 18 DAP   Wednesday, July 26 View Page 333 at 21 DAP roughly 21kg. Weather has been rainy with cloud and not much sun.   Wednesday, July 26 View Page Transplant by greenhouse at 16 DAP. Nice and yellow and round. This is due for measuring in a couple of days.   Wednesday, July 26 View Page 333 backup at 14DAP   Friday, July 28 View Page A view of the patch today and you can see it's pretty much full. The 333 is at the top, transplant below.   Friday, July 28 View Page We had this same problem last year, older leaves showing necrosis between the veins. I could be wrong, but I think it may be too much K in the soil inhibiting Mg uptake, so the plant is taking existing Mg from the older leaves and transporting it elsewhere.   Friday, July 28 View Page The 333 growing slowly but steadily now at 23DAP and 22kg. We need more sun!   Friday, July 28 View Page 333 side vine at 16DAP. Nice and round and shiny, looking quite healthy.   Friday, July 28 View Page Transplant pumpkin by greenhouse at 18DAP and 6kg, by comparison the 333 was 12kg at the 18DAP stage!   Saturday, July 29 View Page This morning I added some Mg in the form of Epsom salts 20g/l foliar with humic acid and Rhizotonic at pH 7.0 to the whole 333 plant. With a bit of luck it won't rain today, as it has done all week, and wash it all off. Growth overnight hasn't been anything to speak of which isn't a good sign. We're off on holiday to Wales today but I'll pop back midweek to check up on things.   Saturday, July 29 View Page The 333 backup which is looking pretty but not the size of the one on the main vine at this stage.   Saturday, July 29 View Page An overnight increase of 2kg for the backup pumpkin by the greenhouse.   Saturday, August 5 View Page OK so we're back after a rainy week away in Wales and the first thing noticed on the patch was that the 333 hadn't gained in size at all and there were some tell-tale white patches around the blossom end. After little or no growth for over a week it's pretty obvious that this one's destined only for the compost heap, so Oliver hacked it off and away it went. I can't say I was that surprised because it was an awkward shape from the very beginning, including the flower that it came from. I'm not disappointed either because the other 333 pumpkin on the sidevine is doing so much better.   Saturday, August 5 View Page And here is the 333 side vine looking good for 31kg (68lb) at 24 DAP. A nice round shape, and a deep yellow colour. The position on the vine is decent too and it's about 12 feet from the main. This is the only pumpkin on the 333 now. It's had a lot of rain all week and not much sun. This evening I did another foliar feed with Epsom salts.   Saturday, August 5 View Page Doing well but not quite as well as the 333, the transplant pumpkin is now 25kg (55lb) at 27 DAP. I'm very happy with it and it looks the part. This plant doesn't have the Mg problem that the 333 has. It also has a late pumpkin at the end of the main vine, and another on a side vine, but I think that one's days are numbered.   Saturday, August 5 View Page This is the soil analysis for a neighbouring plot on the allotment which we've taken on for next year. We'll build a polytunnel on it and it's next to the tap too which will help. The previous gardener let us have it because he said the soil was no good and wanted to move elsewhere. So I was pleasantly surprised to see these results, as you can see the only thing required is a bit of N which is easily done. The pH needs to be lowered too which I've managed to do on our current plot with elemental sulphur so that shouldn't be a problem either. I'll start work on it soon to make it ready for winter.   Sunday, August 6 View Page The 333 side vine now DAP25 and 36.5kg (80.5lb) which is much more like how things should be. Today was sunny but rain & cloud is forecast later this week.   Sunday, August 6 View Page The greenhouse pumpkin ie side vine from the transplant that's growing near the greenhouse is up 5kg since yesterday to 29.6kg (65lb). Happy with this one too.   Sunday, August 6 View Page We've had the new plot covered in black sheeting for several months now to weaken all the weeds underneath. As you can see everything is dead apart from loads of etiolated bindweed. This stuff is very difficult to eradicate and the plot is covered in it. I'll let the weed seeds germinate and allow the bindweed to recover for a few weeks... and then nuke it all with glyphosate. After that I'll start conditioning the soil for winter.   Tuesday, August 8 View Page The 333 is now 101lb at 27DAP. Growth has slowed right down, no doubt due to the cold & rainy weather we've had recently - 25l/sq m rain in the past 48 hours.   Tuesday, August 8 View Page Main vine 20lb at 21 DAP. Definately a backup. If anything this is a sink. The positioning in relation to the vine couldn't be worse!   Tuesday, August 8 View Page The side vine by the greenhouse is the winner on the transplant at the moment. This is 86lb at DAP 30. The other side vine pumpkin by the shed will probably be chopped off tomorrow. Growth is still hampered by cold, cloud and rain.   Thursday, August 10 View Page The transplant DAP 32 at 43kg(95lb). Finally a day of sun today. We've had 40l rain per sq m in the past 3 days and temps as low as 10C (50F). However this and the 333 are growing steadily, though not spectacularly. Just this one and the 'sink' at the end of the main vine are left on this plant now. It's leaves are looking in better health than the 333. Perhaps it's the one to watch?   Thursday, August 10 View Page Here's Oliver with the 333 at DAP29 and taping 51kg (112lb). Another foliar feed of MgSO4 this evening, tomorrow evening will be a preventative fungal systemic spray, I can sense powdery mildew will be with us soon.   Tuesday, August 15 View Page Oliver removing the transplant pumpkin at the end of the main vine. It's always as shame to do this, it was a good looker, but it was way behind the other one and so it has to be done. Now we just have one pumpkin on this plant.   Tuesday, August 15 View Page And this is the one that's left, taping 141lb (64kg) at 37DAP. Good round shape, nice yellow colour, smooth.   Tuesday, August 15 View Page Meanwhile the 333 is taping 79kg (173lb) at 34DAP. If growth continues at this rate we should beat our PB, though there is a lot of time ahead of us yet for things to go wrong (or right). I've certainly noticed significant increases in the growth rate when we've had sunny days recently. Sunshine and warmth makes all the difference. As such I've increased the watering and feeding, the patch has just got through 1000l in 5 days, and I am feeding both morning and evening. Next week we're off on a family holiday again for a week, and Ron has kindly agreed to pop down to the allotment and hang around for the 2 hours it takes to fill the tank!   Wednesday, August 16 View Page Nicola and I were very honoured to visit Ian & Stuart Paton this morning with Oliver and Eleanor. We went to check out their giant pumpkin glasshouse near Lymington and get some growing tips. Here are the kids with Ian, they're hugging a real beauty that's already taping 2000+lb. I doubt we'll ever be able to produce anything quite like this, I'm happy to just keep learning and to try and grow a bigger pumpkin year on year. Big thanks to Ian and Stuart for taking the time to show us round and give us some friendly advice. Oliver was thrilled to meet his heroes, and they even gave us some seeds and a few plants from their nursery :)   Wednesday, August 16 View Page Transplant 71kg (156lb) at 38DAP.   Wednesday, August 16 View Page Oliver with the 333 at 35DAP taping 87kg (192lb). I've increased the watering this week due to the sun and warmth so it's no surprise to see the rate of growth increase too. The leaves are starting to get a bit tatty due to wind/age, though despite that I think the Mg foliar is doing its job.   Wednesday, August 16 View Page Oops try this pic for the previous entry   Saturday, August 19 View Page I'm very happy with the colour and shape of the transplant pumpkin. It's not the biggest but still doing ok as a backup to the 333, this is now DAP 41 and we have 85.4kg (188lb)   Saturday, August 19 View Page The 333 at DAP39, now taping 105kg (230lb). We're off on holiday again tomorrow (Sunday) for a week camping in Cumbria so I won't be around to do any feeding etc. The 1000l water tank takes 4 days to empty, so I have filled it to the top with NPK All-In-One bloom feed at pH 6.4. Ron has kindly agreed to pop round on Thursday to fill it up again. It takes about 2 hours to fill from the tap so I hope he doesn't get too bored. If you're reading this Ron, there's always weeding to do :)   Sunday, August 27 View Page We're back from our family holiday, camping in Cumbria - which was fabulous - and as you can imagine the first thing we do is rush down to the pumpkin patch to see how things are progressing. When we get there we encounter both good news, and bad. First the good - the 333 taped 151.4kg (333.8lb) which is a personal best! And with 4-5 weeks left to grow! The bad news however is that there is a soft patch of rot at the blossom end... see next diary entry...   Sunday, August 27 View Page This is how it looks to start, soft to touch and certainly some rot in there.   Sunday, August 27 View Page And here it is after I dug the rot out and applied some sulphur. The soft, rotten tissue went in about a 1/2 inch. I dug it all out - and a thin layer of firm tissue as well - before liberally applying sulphur powder all over. I hope it's enough. I'd like to get a fan on it but we don't have any electricity at the allotment. I'll look into getting a battery/solar powered fan. Fingers crossed it's not too late.   Sunday, August 27 View Page Meanwhile the transplant continues to look good and grow at the same rate as the 333. Today it taped 130kg (286lb) at 53DAP. It's turning out to be a good plant and it wants to grow well. It's such a shame that it went in the ground so late.   Tuesday, August 29 View Page The transplant DAP 55 is now 142kg (313lb) and growing at a marginally faster rate than the 333. Given the problems with the 333 I wouldn't be surprised if it overtakes it, but we might run out of time.   Tuesday, August 29 View Page The 333 at DAP 53 showing 154kg (339lb). There was a bit more soft rot at the blossom end under the layer of sulphur powder today which I did my best to remove. There is also a large split at the stem end too.   Tuesday, August 29 View Page If it wasn't for the internet I wouldn't have been able to order this rechargeable battery-powered fan last night and have it delivered today. A couple of hours charge and here it is at work drying out the blossom end of the 333. It says it will run for 18 hours straight so I will run it overnight, recharge for 2 hours, then get it out there again. I hope it does ok because we have rain forecast for tonight and tomorrow. Both it and the pumpkin are under a tarpaulin rain canopy.   Friday, September 1 View Page Oliver on the transplant, it's been a good week for growing and our PB from last year has been broken again - DAP 57 comes in at 158kg (348lb). Hopefully we can add even more weight in the next few weeks.   Friday, September 1 View Page Despite our best efforts the blossom end rot on the 333 has gone deep inside and having dug out the soft tissue for about 6" I can see the inner cavity has been breached. So by the looks of things this one is destined for the compost heap when it stops growing though I'm not sure when that will be, maybe a few days, maybe more. Shame as we will never know how much it weighed, but at the moment it's taping 172kg (379lb). Oh well there's always next year, and we do have the transplant pumpkin as a backup.   Saturday, September 9 View Page The transplant now 419lb (190kg) at DAP 66, growth is slowing due to a week of cool, damp weather. The plant is looking well, I expected the leaves to be deteriorating more than they have by now. Some sunshine & warmth would be good, as always, but I can't see it happening. All things considered, even if everything stopped growing now I couldn't complain.   Wednesday, September 13 View Page After a cold wet and windy week, with hail today, our transplant pumpkin has continued to grow slowly, the taped weight has now gone up to just over 200kg (about 440lb). Despite easily breaking our PB, I'm really looking forward to a polytunnel for next years effort. That and better seeds will make all the difference.   Tuesday, September 19 View Page A quick look ahead to next year where the polytunnel will be. The sheeting has come off and the bindweed etc has been doused with glyphosate. At the moment there's just one of Oliver's gourd plants growing there. When that's come up in a few weeks I'll give the whole area a dig over.   Tuesday, September 19 View Page DAP 75 and we have 212kg (467lb) on the transplant. Still growing, but slowly. The leaves on the plant are still in good shape, probably because of all the rain and not too much wind.   Sunday, September 24 View Page Here's Oliver with the transplant which is getting very close to 500lb. I'll be well chuffed if we get over 500lb this year. What's concerning is that a fault with the watering system caused 750l of water to be dumped through the drip lines overnight. I'm hoping the plant doesn't take it all up and cause a split. I've been advised to harvest the pumpkin now and take what we have, but I'll take the chance and carry on - there's still another couple of weeks growth to be had. I hope I don't regret that decision.   Saturday, September 30 View Page Harvest day for the transplant, that's me, Oliver and Eleanor pictured. Final measurement comes it at 516lb (234kg) although if we go by the 2017 measurement chart, which I've only just discovered, it's more like 560lb! Either way it looks like we've got over 500lb which was the aim for this year so we're all happy. We'll find out the exact weight on Monday when it goes to the RHS Show in London.   Saturday, September 30 View Page Nicola has been very supportive this year, I hope she will be next year when I have bigger things planned! As you can see, the pumpkin isn't sitting well on the board that it grew on, so we'll have to have a think of how to get it onto a pallet, and then onto our trailer. There's no room for fork lift trucks or tractors where we are, so tomorrow morning we've got a bunch of people coming down to help out with poles, levers, ropes etc. Sheer force of numbers might just do the trick!   Sunday, October 1 View Page With a little help from our friends we managed to successfully transfer the pumpkin onto our trailer this morning. There were a few problems but between us nothing we couldn't work out. Now for the RHS show in London tomorrow! Here is a short video of this morning's efforts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDvbTFxxg6w&feature=youtu.be   Wednesday, October 18 View Page Here we are at the weigh-in at the Victoria Country Park in Southampton this past weekend where we achieved 475lb and 8th place overall. This is a pb for us, and we're very pleased with a Top 10 finish! It was a great day out as usual, and the Patons got a new UK record, as usual :)   Wednesday, October 18 View Page Oliver and Eleanor with the Schafer-Short 475 on the trailer and ready to go back home where we'll have some fun carving it up for Halloween. With a bit of luck we won't be needing this trailer next year, it'll be too small - we have big plans!   Wednesday, October 18 View Page Here's the plot where the 475 was grown, and Oliver has decided that he wants to grow a pumpkin all by himself next year. So I've helped him clear the vines away and we've dug it over, hopefully it's not too late to plant some green manure for over winter.   Saturday, October 28 View Page Perhaps the last post of this year, here we have 3 tons of cow manure, spread generously across the new plot to bed in for the winter. Apparently there hasn't been any manure on this plot for years, so I laid it on thick. I'll finish off tomorrow, then wait until the spring when we start all over again, but this time with a polytunnel and a lot more improvements.