Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 85 Entries. Monday, March 18 View Page Its that time of year again! This Year I will be growing three of my own seeds. The prime spot in my patch will go to my 639.5 Radach pictured in the back. It was pollinated by my 1461 Rodebaugh plant that grew my 835.5 Radach pictured in the front.   Monday, March 18 View Page My second plant will be the 1931 Turner. I just love the shape, texture and color of this pumpkin. It was pollinated with an orange pumpkin as well so it should have great potential to carry through the orange genetics. It's got Tiger King and 2365 Wolf on both sides of its family tree.   Monday, March 18 View Page My third plant will be another of my own seeds my 784.5 Radach grown in 2022. The genetics are 1872 Sippel x Tiger King.   Monday, March 18 View Page In my small patch, I will be growing my 144 Radach. This one was also pollinated with the 1461 Rodebaugh that produced my 835.5 pound Pumpkin from last year. The 150 square foot challenge has added a Howard Dill award so I am going to throw my hat back in the ring for that.   Monday, March 18 View Page My soil test came back looking pretty good. I added some horse manure in the fall and that sent my Potassium up a little higher than I like but I think its manageable.   Monday, March 18 View Page I will be making minimal adjustments this year adding some Manganese, Some copper, some boron and some liquid gypsum to boost the calcium.   Monday, March 18 View Page We had some nice weather this weekend so I got out in the patch to get things underway.   Monday, March 18 View Page The cover crop is looking pretty healthy way better than last year at this time so hopefully that is a sign of things to come.   Monday, March 18 View Page Made my first pass with the tiller. I am pretty happy with the way the soil is looking texturally. It appears that the Puyallup Fair is no longer going to be an option for giant pumpkins so I will be starting my seeds a bit later than I have in the past. I will probably get started in another 10 days or so.   Tuesday, March 26 View Page I rebuilt the armature for the greenhouse. The ends were ripped out of the ground by a windstorm last summer. I used 4×4s this time. Also used the opportunity to slide the whole thing a couple feet to the south. Should have about 4 feet of extra width for the two plants in the big green house.   Tuesday, March 26 View Page I added two yards of pumice to the patch. It is similar to perlite in its capability to improve drainage and aeration in the soil. It's heavier and more durable though so it's supposed to stay mixed in better to the soil and last longer. We will see if this helps out.   Friday, March 29 View Page And were off! Started 3 of my 639.5 Radach seeds as well as the 1931 Turner in the germination chamber.   Saturday, March 30 View Page got most of the plastic on the greenhouse just need to get the other end closed up.   Saturday, March 30 View Page I am really happy with the way it turned out.   Tuesday, April 2 View Page All 4 seeds have germinated and have been transplanted into 1 gallon pots. In the past I have just used dirt out of the patch in my one gallon pots. This year I am going to try to get a quicker start so I mixed in some peat moss along with some azos and mycho. I am hoping that a little looser soil allows the roots to get off to a robust start.   Wednesday, April 3 View Page I got the soil heating cables into the green house. I use gutter de-icing cables plugged into a thermostat that has a soil temperature probe. I also mixed in about a cubic foot of peat moss into each planting site.   Saturday, April 6 View Page After 12 years my T-5 grow light bit the dust. I am kind of glad it did. I purchased a new LED Light and it's much brighter than the old one. Plants are looking strong with the first true leaves out. I also watered in some essential and some companion today. Trying to get that Biology ramped up early.   Saturday, April 13 View Page Time to put the plants in the ground.   Saturday, April 13 View Page The root growth is looking about as good as I have ever had at this stage. Glad I added that peat moss in with my soil.   Saturday, April 13 View Page I planted 2 of my 639.5 Radachs next to each other. Which ever one starts out stronger will be kept and the other one will be removed. The 1931 Turner is on the other side of the walking board and will grow in the opposite direction.   Saturday, April 13 View Page I am trying something diferent with the 1931 Turner. I experimented the last couple of nights with putting a large plastic tub over the planting site with a heavy quilt over it. The heat radiating up from the soil heating cables kept the air temp in the tub above 60 degrees while the air temp in the greenhouse was in the low 40s. I am going put the tub over the plant once the sun goes down and take it off again in the morning. I'll try that a try for a few days and see how it works. Obviously I won't be able to do it too long before the plant out grows it. The 639.5s will get the heat lamp on them. I am also putting the grow light over them for a few days.   Saturday, April 13 View Page I started 4 of my 784.5 Radach seeds today as well. This will go in the smaller hoop house to the south of the big greenhouse. I forgot how small these seeds are. The cross is 1872 Sippel x 2350 Gienger. Nothing but 1501 genetics in this bad boy.   Wednesday, April 17 View Page All 4 784.5 Radachs germinated successfully.   Wednesday, April 17 View Page The two 639.5 Radachs are doing pretty well 4 days in the ground and they have grown. Third leaves are opening up. We had some frost on the ground this morning but the heat lamp kept them warm enough.   Wednesday, April 17 View Page The 1931 Turner is growing well but is not quite as healthy looking as the 639.5s. Not sure if it is from the tub I've been putting over it at night or because I had the grow light over the others. I will put a heat lamp on this one as well starting tomorrow.   Saturday, April 27 View Page The 639.5 Radach in the foreground and the 1931 Turner in the background are both doing well. They should be vining out soon.   Saturday, April 27 View Page These are the 784.5 Radachs under the grow light. The two on the left have some genetic issues and threw doubles for the second true leaf. The one on the right seems to be growing perfectly normal.   Saturday, April 27 View Page Got the soil heating cable in and the small hoop house up. The 784.5 Radach will be going in this spot. I'll probably put it in the ground tomorrow.   Saturday, April 27 View Page I started 3 of my 144 Radachs and 3 of my 658 Radachs on the 25th. They are in the germination chamber and should be up in a couple of days.   Wednesday, May 8 View Page It's been cool and gray for the last week and growth has been slower than I hoped. The 1931 Turner and the 639.5 Radach have both vined out but are not quite down to the ground yet.   Wednesday, May 8 View Page The 784.5 Radach is struggling. unfortunately I think I had my new grow light too close to the plant and the first two leaves got toasted. The third leaf seems to be coming in OK though so hopefully it grows out of it. It's put me way behind though.   Wednesday, May 8 View Page We finally have a good stretch of weather coming up so I put the 144 Radach in the ground today. This one has no Heating cables and no hoop house.   Wednesday, May 8 View Page This will be my entry for the 150 square foot contest. The raised bed is 10 feet by 12 feet but I don't want to mess around with enlarging it so I am just going to use the dirt area for the vines and use the 3 feet off the end for the Pumpkin. I might snake a few vines out on the grass in that 3 feet as as well depending on where the pumpkin ends up on the vine.   Monday, May 13 View Page What a difference a few days of warm sunny weather can make. Both the 639.5 Radach and the 1931 Turner are on the ground and running. Got some good secondary growth starting already too.   Monday, May 13 View Page Both plants are around 4.5 feet long. The largest leaves are 23" across. I buried a couple nodes on the main vine already hoping to get some good root growth established early on. I am really happy with how things are going right now.   Monday, May 13 View Page The 784.5 Radach has recovered nicely from my grow light mistake. The 3rd 4th and 5th leaves look wonderful.   Monday, May 13 View Page The 144 Radach after 5 days in the ground.   Thursday, May 23 View Page The 639.5 Radach in the foreground with the 1931 Turner beyond. Both plants are about 9 feet long. Pretty much caught up to where last years plants were on this date even with the later start.   Thursday, May 23 View Page Secondary vines are rolling. The 1931 Turner is wider than it is long.   Thursday, May 23 View Page The 784.5 Radach is vining out. The vine is trying to go the wrong way and I am slowly working on adjusting it around.   Thursday, May 23 View Page It's been cold and gray for the most part but the 144 Radach is doing OK outside without any protection.   Saturday, June 1 View Page The 639.5 Radach is 11.5 feet long. It got a nice Christmas tree pattern going.   Saturday, June 1 View Page first female on the 639.5. This one will be about 13 feet out on the vine when it grows out. Probably a couple weeks out from blooming.   Saturday, June 1 View Page The 1931Turner also at 11.5 feet long. No female flowers yet on this one.   Saturday, June 1 View Page The vine is on the ground on the 784.5 Radach. Secondaries are just starting to get going.   Saturday, June 1 View Page The 144 Radach out in the elements. It was a pretty dismal May around here we only had about 5 days of sun and only got close to 70 degrees once. Pretty much upper 50s to Low 60s all month with night time lows in the low 40s. The Plant hasn't grown much as a result but I am not too worried because a slow growing more compact plant might be an advantage in the 150 square foot contest.   Monday, June 3 View Page We had a deluge of a rain storm in the wee hours of the morning. It was so loud it woke me up. Totally trashed the outdoor plant. I propped the leaves back up with stakes and we will see if it pulls through. I will start a backup just in case. Normally I would say that this is way too late to start a backup but since this is the 150 square foot plant it might still have enough time to grow something decent.   Monday, June 3 View Page Meanwhile, the hourly forecast on the weather app on my phone this morning called for rain all day long. I left the greenhouse unvented accordingly. Unfortunately we had a few sun breaks. My wife wasn't home for the emergency venting call and I ended up with quite a few sunburned leaves. I am a little surprised it was this bad as it was only 52 degrees outside and my temperature Guage said it only got up to 98 in the greenhouse. The plants just weren't acclimated yet for that kind of heat since it's been so cool lately. It's not the end of the world but it's obviously not ideal as these are the leaves that will just about be reaching maturity when the Pumpkin is being pollinated.   Monday, June 3 View Page I have to be the only person who has ever had rain damage and sun damage on the same day LOL. The 639.5 Radach seemed to get it a little worse than the 1931 Turner. The 784.5 in the small greenhouse was completely unscathed. Probably because the plastic is a little more opaque on that one.   Saturday, June 8 View Page I got behind in my posting so lets catch up.... The 639.5 Radach is chugging along. The Sun damage from the other day is manageable but not insignificant. I have about 25 leaves that are damaged to one degree or another.   Saturday, June 8 View Page Here is the first female on the main vine of the 639.5. I am guessing 5 or 6 days until it blooms.   Saturday, June 8 View Page Here is the next one on the the 639.5 Radach. It will be pretty close to the end of the greenhouse when everything grows out. It would make a great keeper but we shall see how things play out. This plant is putting out lots of females on the secondaries. I culled off about 10 today while I was vine burying.   Saturday, June 8 View Page The 1931 Turner survived the heat a lot better. Only about 5 or 6 leaves burned on it. The first Secondaries are right at the edge of the greenhouse. I am going to have to roll the side up soon.   Saturday, June 8 View Page Finally got a female in the tip of the 1931. Still quite a ways out for pollination. Should be in a good spot at the end of the greenhouse when it grows out.   Saturday, June 8 View Page I am pretty happy with the 784.5 Radach. It's about 8 feet long and the secondaries are starting to run strong.   Saturday, June 8 View Page The 144 Radach was really puzzling me. It seemed to recover from the storm the other day but every afternoon it would wilt in the sun and then perk up overnight. Today while I was watering I noticed the reason why. The stump was split bad. I think it must have done it in the storm and I just didn't notice it until now. Anyway it's game over for this one.   Saturday, June 8 View Page I started these backups. It's way too late to be starting. The only reason I am trying is because It's my 150 Square foot plant so I don't need as much time for the plant to fill up its space. Might be able to pollinate by late July.   Thursday, June 13 View Page Polinated the first on the 639.5 Radach with the 1931Turner this morning. I only had one flower open today so there wasn't much pollin. There is another one coming that I would prefer to be the keeper but I pollinate everything so I have options.   Saturday, June 15 View Page The 639.5 Radach is looking ok.   Saturday, June 15 View Page The first pollination is 2 days old. Too soon to tell if it took yet but looking promising.   Saturday, June 15 View Page This is the second on the 639.5 Radach. I am hoping this will be the keeper. Probably looking at another 7 or 8 days before it blooms.   Saturday, June 15 View Page The 1931 Turner is looking great. I made a bone headed move and accidentally pruned off one of the secondaries on the left side. Other than that It's been great.   Saturday, June 15 View Page Here is the first on the 1931 Turner. I am thinking about 10-11 days until it blooms.   Saturday, June 15 View Page The 784.5 Radach has just about outgrown the small hoop house.   Saturday, June 15 View Page Here are the new plants for the 150 SF contest. We are supposed to have some decent weather next week. I will shoot for getting them outside on Monday.   Friday, June 21 View Page Pollinated the second on the 639.5 Radach this morning. I had lots of pollen but unfortunately there is a bit of funkiness going on with the lobes. The first pollination didn't take. There is one more coming on the main but I am also going to look at pollinating on secondaries so that I have options.   Saturday, June 22 View Page The 639.5 Radach has lots of good plant just need to get a fruit set.   Saturday, June 22 View Page Here is the one I polinated yesterday with the petals removed. It probably won't set with all of the deformity in the lobes. I am not sure that I would want to use it even if it did.   Saturday, June 22 View Page Here is the next one probably my last hope on the main vine. I've got several coming on side vines that I will pollinate as well as backups.   Saturday, June 22 View Page Here is the 1931 Turner. It's an absolutely gorgeous plant.   Saturday, June 22 View Page just waiting for this one to bloom on the 1931.   Saturday, June 22 View Page Side vines for both plants are starting to extend past the greenhouse. I am exited to see what this extra plant size will do for my fruit size.   Saturday, June 22 View Page Took the plastic off of the 784.5 Radach. Need to get all of the weeds tilled on the periphery and the drip irrigation laid.   Saturday, June 22 View Page The first female on the 784.5 is a couple weeks out.   Saturday, June 22 View Page Got the backup plant for the 150 contest in the ground. It has a lot of catching up to do.   Monday, June 24 View Page Pollinated the first on the 1931 Turner this morning. I didn't have any flowers open on the 639.5 so I ended up self pollinating it.   Saturday, June 29 View Page pollinated another on the 639.5 main vine this morning. I don't know if it's the cold weather or what but I am having a terrible time getting pollen this year. There haven't been a lot of male flowers and a lot of the ones that have bloomed have been underdeveloped with very small or in some cases no stamen. I had to use day old pollen on this one.   Tuesday, July 2 View Page The 639.5 Radach is starting to fill up the Greenhouse. A couple more weeks and it should be pretty much full.   Tuesday, July 2 View Page Here is one on a sidevine that looks like it took. Could be a potential keeper if I don't get anything on the main vine.   Tuesday, July 2 View Page The 1931 Turner looking good.   Tuesday, July 2 View Page It looks like the first pollination on the 1931 Turner took. It's at 10" Circumference on day 8.   Tuesday, July 2 View Page The 784.5 Radach is starting to full in nicely.   Tuesday, July 2 View Page The first on the 784.5 is a couple days out from blooming.   Tuesday, July 2 View Page The 144 Radach has some catching up to do but it's looking good.   Wednesday, July 3 View Page Here is the first on the 639.5. it's growing well at 18.5" circumference on day 11. I'd prefer not to use it if I can help it because of the messed up blossom.