Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 100 Entries. Sunday, January 5 View Page Happy new year! cold cold and more cold here in northern Mn.....-20 degrees air temp at 5 pm.there saying around -40 tonight without the wind chill!   Saturday, March 29 View Page 40 degrees today!felt like 60 lol.Aspen was helping me get the greenhouse unburied.   Saturday, March 29 View Page i figured i would break the swing out for the girl since it was such a nice day!   Saturday, March 29 View Page come to Dady!i thought this pic was cool.you can see how much snow we have left.i took this pic in the garage looking out,notice the water drops in the air!   Saturday, March 29 View Page still around 3 feet of snow to melt.....then another 5 feet of frost!im taking a year off from the pumpkins. i will be going after the 8 lb tomato this year:)   Saturday, April 5 View Page i got the greenhouse plastic up today! lets see how fast it takes to melt the 2 feet of snow still in there.the weather is looking up with 40's and a couple 50's in the ten day forcast,still in the 20's at night thou. my plan is to grow around 10 tomato plants in there and 4 outside.i plan on starting those next weekend.   Monday, April 7 View Page here is the one to beat this year....my 4.57 from last year! im hoping for 8 lbs.a very low stress year without the pumpkins!lol   Saturday, April 12 View Page started some heavy carrot seeds today.i figured im not growing pumpkins this year so y not. i have decided to wait untill next weekend to start the tomatoes.then the fun begins!alot of the snow has melted in the greenhouse....but there is still a little in there. there calling for 30's for high temps for the next five days with some single digit temps at night.sounds just like last year but with more snow.   Saturday, April 19 View Page here is the seeds i started last night 4.57 macCoy x 4 7.33 Hunt x 1 4.5 evans x 1 4.70 kirsch x 1 6.83 boudyo x 2 6.57 boudyo x 1 5.07 boudyo x 3 5.03 boudyo x 2   Sunday, April 20 View Page i am hoping this will help me in my efforts to grow a large tomato!thanks alot Tim!!!   Monday, April 21 View Page one of my 4.57's popped up in just under 3 days!   Tuesday, April 29 View Page super bummed....all 3 5.07 boudyo's failed to germ. i was dreaming about growing that seed again this year. i will start a few more seeds this weekend to replace them. pot up day is tomorrow for the ten plants that did germ. i started them in peat pellets.the weather here is still crap.still lots of snow piles around.   Saturday, May 3 View Page im hoping these products get me the massive root system im looking for!   Sunday, May 4 View Page here is all ten plants,16 days from seed. i started 5 more 4.57's today. i like to use the insulation board to reflect more light at the plants.   Sunday, May 4 View Page up close!   Sunday, May 4 View Page one of 3 heavy carrots!   Wednesday, May 7 View Page i started 2 more 5.03 boudyo's today.my other 2 5.03's are real slow growers.im sure they will be fine thou.the weather has been real cloudy.kinda gets a grower down with no sun around.but it is warming up!   Sunday, May 18 View Page i planted 10 tomato plants in the greenhouse today. the other ones will go outside the greenhouse in a few days.   Tuesday, July 1 View Page here is a pic of my ten tomato plants in the greenhouse looking great!   Tuesday, July 1 View Page huge bloom on the 7.33 hunt!   Tuesday, July 1 View Page another nice one on my 4.57!   Tuesday, July 1 View Page this is where i grew my 4.57 last year. im testing some (tea bags)in this spot that ron wallace developed.   Tuesday, July 1 View Page one of three heavy carrots growing in the greenhouse.   Saturday, July 12 View Page this is a top few of the tomato off the 7.33 hunt! the stem is huge!! im seeing 6 or 7 fused stems going into the tomato,but its kinda hard to tell.   Saturday, July 12 View Page here is a front view of the 7.33 tomato about 6 days after setting.   Saturday, July 12 View Page one more look at it   Saturday, July 12 View Page nice 5 bloom off a 5.03 boudyo! that is just a couple of many nice tomatoes i have going.   Sunday, July 20 View Page the 7.33 hunt tomato is at 15 1/8 cc on day 14   Sunday, July 20 View Page here is the 7.33 plant?yep...all growth was terminated right when the tomato was set.the plant is about 18" high.   Sunday, July 20 View Page here is the 7.33 plant?yep...all growth was terminated right when the tomato was set.the plant is about 18" high.   Sunday, July 20 View Page a triple off my own 4.57 is at 16 inches on day 16.   Sunday, July 20 View Page here is the 5 bloom that i have shown before on the 5.03 boudyo.very short stem right off the main vine.i think it will end up almost growing around the vine.   Sunday, August 3 View Page tomato row!the lord has blessed me with some dream come true tomatoes this year.if they make it to the end they are going to be very special!   Sunday, August 3 View Page here is the 5 bloom off the 5.03 boudyo that i have shown before.day 28 and grew 3/4 inch cc yesterday!   Sunday, August 3 View Page here is one i have shown before off my own 4.57 MacCoy   Sunday, August 3 View Page could this be "the one"?time will tell. off my own 4.57   Sunday, August 3 View Page another shot of the 4.57!single stem,30 inches tall. it looks ridiculous hanging off this small plant!   Sunday, August 3 View Page hmmmm....which one of these can i sink my finger nails into   Saturday, August 16 View Page i picked my first couple tomatoes last night. the 7.33 hunt went 4.00 and was grown on a single stem plant that was only 18" high.i wanted to see how big i could get one on a very small plant.the cc was 22"when it started to turn then grew another 1/2 inch over the last 5 days.so the final cc was 22 1/2. the 4.57 macCoy went 5.17 lbs and was grown on a 36"high single stem plant.   Saturday, August 16 View Page Aspen with the 5.17!   Saturday, August 16 View Page Aspen and I are very proud of the 5.17.a new pb and minnesota state record!   Saturday, August 16 View Page forgot to mention the 5.17 was 23 inches cc with huge bottom lobes.   Wednesday, August 20 View Page weighed this one off the 6.83 a couple days ago on my home scale.it was 4.50 lbs   Friday, August 22 View Page me posing for a shot with the extreme gardening products!   Friday, August 22 View Page Bill foss Don young and myself posing with the 8.41!   Friday, August 22 View Page Aspen and I posing for a pic!   Friday, August 22 View Page getting ready to cut the 8.41 off the vine. it was grown off my own 4.57 macCoy and 47 days old.   Friday, August 22 View Page lets get this thing weighed!   Friday, August 22 View Page here it is!   Friday, August 22 View Page thanks for coming to witness Don and Bill!   Friday, August 22 View Page big thanks to Ron Wallace for some great products!   Friday, August 22 View Page also big thanks to Dunkels tomato turbo!   Saturday, August 23 View Page https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u9-RGPA85o&feature=youtu.be video footage!   Saturday, August 23 View Page https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHcmVcIJjB0&feature=youtu.be video footage of the inspection of the 8.41   Saturday, August 23 View Page my wife Sara,Aspen and I posing for a picture with the 8.41! a big thanks to my wife for helping me grow this!she always keeps an eye on the temp in the greenhouse when im at work and also kept it weeded a couple times.   Saturday, August 23 View Page the cc of the 8.41 is 30 1/4 inches   Saturday, August 23 View Page around the tomato one way   Saturday, August 23 View Page around the tomato the other way   Monday, August 25 View Page about time to weigh this nice looking one off another 4.57 macCoy.36 "tall plant   Monday, August 25 View Page 5.30 nice!the cc is 24"   Monday, August 25 View Page time to weigh this one tonight also!off the 5.03 boudyo. 25 1/2"cc   Monday, August 25 View Page boudyo Heavy!!!6.88 lbs! GOD IS GOOD!!!   Monday, August 25 View Page front view!   Monday, August 25 View Page 6.88 was grown on a 30" tall plant   Monday, August 25 View Page Aspen and i with the 6.88 and the plant that grew it!   Wednesday, August 27 View Page a couple people requested that i take measurment of my 5.30 and 6.88 here is the cc of the 5.30   Wednesday, August 27 View Page one way   Wednesday, August 27 View Page the other way   Wednesday, August 27 View Page 6.88 cc   Wednesday, August 27 View Page one way   Wednesday, August 27 View Page the other way   Wednesday, August 27 View Page root shot of the 6.88 plant.this seedling went in the ground when it was 2 weeks old.   Wednesday, August 27 View Page Aspen taking it upon herself to start prepping for next year!   Thursday, August 28 View Page a big thanks to worldwide giant growers for turning me on to the voodoo juice.no doubt it kept my roots nice and healthy and growing!   Thursday, August 28 View Page last shots of my big 3 before i harvest the seeds.   Thursday, August 28 View Page xtreme gardening products shot   Saturday, August 30 View Page i weighed my biggest one yet off the 5.03 boudyo that i have shown in my diary a few times.9 1/2 lbs on the home scale!   Saturday, August 30 View Page piece 2   Saturday, August 30 View Page piece 3   Sunday, August 31 View Page here is peice 1.as you can see they were not fused....Darn!   Sunday, August 31 View Page http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/content/move-over-james-meet-dan-and-giant-tomato-ely   Sunday, August 31 View Page here is our local paper. http://www.elyecho.com/articles/2014/08/30/ely-world-record-tomato   Sunday, September 7 View Page last pic of the 8.41 on a full size dinner plate!   Sunday, September 7 View Page the aftermath of the 8.41 after looking for every single seed!these pics are from last weekend.   Sunday, September 7 View Page we harvested are first watermelon we ever grew today.25 lbs! off a crimson sweet plant.we have one more about the same size on the plant.the plant was only 6x7 in the greenhouse.   Sunday, September 7 View Page Aspen sitting on are neon pumpkins that are just about ready!they are calling for low 30's and snow the middle of the week.welcome september!   Monday, September 8 View Page the minneapolis news tribune called me today. paper.http://www.startribune.com/local/274414611.html   Thursday, October 2 View Page pulled my biggest carrot out tonight. i got my goal of 3 lbs! i got a very late start on these,so im very happy with it.   Sunday, October 5 View Page its october 1st and not one frost here yet.crazy! they said 28 last night,but only got down to 34.   Sunday, October 5 View Page sry i ment oct 5th on the last post.   Tuesday, November 4 View Page got my Red jacket today!big thanks to Marv for taking this on and making a grower feel speicial! also big thanks to Tim pennington Eddy Z Steve srickler Lee zappa for helping with the funds to make this all possible! this is now my new favorite Jacket!   Tuesday, November 4 View Page Side view with the GPC logo!   Tuesday, November 4 View Page Back view!   Sunday, November 23 View Page here is a pic i sent to Don young showing him i think i had a shot at the world record. i think he was just excited as me! i was blown away when he said he would drive all the way from iowa without hesitation! a big thanks to Don and the GPC for making this official!   Sunday, November 23 View Page one more pic.   Monday, November 24 View Page i heat my house with wood.just knowing that this will keep us nice and warm makes it worth it.also the by product has amazing results in the garden!   Monday, November 24 View Page if you are ever wondering what saw to buy,i recommend the sthil MS 291.great saw!   Sunday, December 28 View Page i forgot to post a pic of the pumpkin we grew this year. we grew it right along side the tomato plants in about 80 sq feet.it was off the 359 foss.it went down to a bes early on. it was probly around 300 lbs.   Sunday, December 28 View Page Aspen and i doing the thump test on the 359. teach em early!   Sunday, December 28 View Page some people said that my 8.41 must have been as big as my head.....well....you be the judge of it!