Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 45 Entries. Tuesday, April 3 View Page Ripped and disked 3 locations. Added some ammendments. Covered w/plastic.   Sunday, April 15 View Page Line up: Holland 500 Dill 892 Fry 116.5 Fatso 165 Soak seeds over night   Monday, April 16 View Page Subsoiled down 2 ft. Planted seeds.   Thursday, April 19 View Page two Holland 500 came up, 1 fatso   Friday, April 20 View Page 2 more fatso's came up, 3 fry116.5 came up. Here is a picture of a Holland500 that came up yesterday   Sunday, April 22 View Page Dill892 germinated yesterday and today. I had a 71% germination rate over all. Fry116.5, Holland500, and fatso165 have all outgrown their 4" pots in 2 days.   Monday, April 23 View Page Tilled and ammended 4 locations, constructed green house patch 4   Monday, April 23 View Page patch 4   Tuesday, April 24 View Page installed rafter in 1,2 & 3 and Planted as follows: Patch 1............Fatso165 germ 4-19 Patch 2............Holland500 germ 4-19 Patch 3............Fry116.5 germ 4-20 Patch 4............Holland500 germ 4-19 It was 90 degrees F today   Wednesday, April 25 View Page Dug up Holland in patch 2 and replaced w/ Dill892. Erected and covered greenhouses 2 & 3, erected greenhouse 1. It was 80 degrees F today.   Thursday, April 26 View Page installed doors and covered ends 1,2&3 Fog in the morning and afternoon. Cool and sunny midday, 63 degrees f.   Friday, April 27 View Page Installed doors and covered ends location 4. Gave away the Holland I dug up on the 25th which seems to be the most vigorous grower of them all. Ok, I'm caught up. C-ya   Sunday, April 29 View Page Watered and fertilized today Seaweed 2tsp per gal Romeo 15-30-15 1 tblspn per gal   Monday, April 30 View Page Sprayed w/pepper wax   Tuesday, May 1 View Page location 1: fatso165 germinated 4-19   Tuesday, May 1 View Page here it is   Tuesday, May 1 View Page location 1: fatso165 germ 4-19   Tuesday, May 1 View Page location 2: dill892 germ 4-21   Tuesday, May 1 View Page location 3: fry116.5 germ 4-20   Tuesday, May 1 View Page location 4: holland500 germ 4-19   Wednesday, May 2 View Page very windy today. spent all day working to keep my green houses together. gusts to 40 mph   Thursday, May 3 View Page Savage winds the last two days, and hot. the battle continues. some of the greenhouses suffered minor damage, but the plants are great and growing fast. I understand the wind was blowing all over the country. I hope everyone made it allright. I will put in the sprinklers tomorrow. good luck!   Saturday, May 5 View Page got in the sprinklers today and ran them for about an hour. I used the raindrip full circle 25 gph @ 25 psi, 3 per plant for now. I've programmed my timer to help with the heat.   Monday, May 21 View Page clockwise from top left: Fatso165, Dill892, Holland500, Fry116.5. All seem to be doing well despite gopher sign. The gophers are so prolific here that 8 years of a comprehensive eradication program have had little if no apparent effect. Any reasonable suggestion would be welcome.   Monday, June 11 View Page Dill892 June 10   Monday, June 11 View Page Holland500 June 10   Friday, June 29 View Page June 29   Friday, June 29 View Page June 29   Friday, June 29 View Page June 29 The battle against the dreaded cucumber beetle continues. As you can see, I water overhead necessitating frequent spraying. There may be none one minute, then, all of a sudden, there are hundreds everywhere. They are very prolific, and have caused more damage than any other single thing. I've been using a product called "Astro" which knocks them down pretty well.   Friday, July 20 View Page This here is a nice specimen on my Number #3 Plant Fry 116.5. Sadly, after haven taken the picture, I saw that the pumpkin wall had been breeched. Upon examination, all pumpkins on this plant had split at the blossom end. there were four total.   Friday, July 20 View Page here is the splitting I mentioned above. It goes completely through the wall of the pumpkin. this ends the season for plant number 3.   Friday, July 20 View Page here is my largest plant, number 4, which has produced the largest specimen of all 4 plants so far. you can see my gal, she's circled by the yellow crayon. number 4 commands 1200 sqaure feet at this time.   Friday, July 20 View Page Here is my largest pumpkin so far. it currently measures in excess of 90 inches in circumference. There are 3 other large pumpkins on this plant, all in excess of 80 inches in circumference.   Thursday, August 2 View Page I have lost all pumpkins on the Dill892 plant to blossom end split. That leaves me with only one plant, the Holland 500 which has 3 pupkins on it. I have decided to switch my fertilizer from triple 18 to 0-0-50.   Monday, August 13 View Page This specimen is on my number four plant, the holland 500. it is the largest of three on this plant and this is my only plant left. This one measured 139.25 inches in circumference on august 10 and is now averaging 2" of growth in circumference per day.   Monday, August 13 View Page this is the holland 500. the vine is very healthy as you can see. there are 3 punkins on it, all in excess of 500 pounds. I am considering culling one of them later this week.   Tuesday, August 28 View Page This plant continues to put out new vine growth either from the dead headed ends of the primary or secondary vines, or creates new tertiary vines. The new growth does not look healthy and strong as it did earlier in the season.   Tuesday, August 28 View Page Many of these new vines look very strange, and grow from a spot I'd pruned previously. At some points, it's as though a new plant is growing from the buried vine.   Tuesday, August 28 View Page This pumpkin tapes out somewhere around 800 pounds now. On the 25th, I culled a pumpkin from this plant that measured about 640 pounds. Since I could not remove it whole from the patch without damaging the vine, I resorted to cutting it up for removal. This pumpkin had relatively thin walls, and I'm afraid it will weigh in less than the tape indicates. Also, I observed much internal cracking, particularly on the bottom where the pumpkin rests. The pumpkin that goes to the weigh off will require much care in handling and transport.   Saturday, September 1 View Page check it out. the feelers are growing vines.   Saturday, September 1 View Page I've never seen a pumpkin or squash grow vines from the feelers before this.   Friday, September 14 View Page More strange growth. must be the radiation.   Friday, September 14 View Page mutation   Tuesday, October 16 View Page This one charted at 950lbs. When we went to move it, tragedy struck. It cracked across the middle. It had developed a hole at the underside and rotted from the inside out. I had to resort to the back-up. This picture was taken October 7   Tuesday, October 16 View Page This one charted at 790lbs, and came from the same plant. I took 7th place at Half Moon Bay. Actual weight 788lbs; only 2 pounds less than the chart. Picture taken October 7