Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 36 Entries. Thursday, June 9 View Page Hi everybody. I haven't brought a decent sized pumpkin to a weigh-off in a few years now. Disease pressure is the main reason and has forced me to give the patch a rest for 2022. I plan on coming back strong in 2023. Successive cover crops will be planted and the soil amended over the next few months. The honey do list has gotten a little out of hand lately, so I think it will be a win win all around to sit out a year in this area.   Thursday, June 9 View Page Haven't gotten around to cutting down the winter rye yet. Hey, it's on my list. About six feet tall.   Thursday, June 9 View Page I decided to grow some real food this year in a part of the patch. No members of the squash family allowed. We have potatoes, corn, cherry tomatoes, hot and sweet peppers.   Thursday, June 9 View Page I have a few Giant Amaranth growing. The record height for these annuals is just over 27 feet. They have been beset with problems. Deer love to eat them, and some kind of beetle has been ravaging them. Time to get out the Merit. Still they persist on growing. Thanks Brian for the seeds.   Thursday, June 9 View Page OK, I couldn't resist planting just one. I'm going at this very low key. No big name seed to worry about. Minimal patch prep. This area is behind my house about two hundred feet away from the main patch. Maybe the bugs won't find me.   Thursday, June 9 View Page Side view 1109 Pappas 2528 Geddes X 2469 Daletas.   Thursday, June 9 View Page I was drafted as a rookie grower for one of the giant tomato growing teams. As you can see, I'm a little bit behind the rest of the pack right now. Steve ( Materdoc ) assured me that there is still time to grow and be able to compete. I think the guy knows what he is talking about. He sent me several of his better seeds including his Megadom 8.36.   Thursday, June 9 View Page Of course there is the obligatory ground hog to be dealt with   Sunday, June 19 View Page Looks like some fun-guy pooped on my lawn   Sunday, June 19 View Page Not quite as cool as Captain 97's eight lober, is this still unusual six lobed flower   Sunday, June 19 View Page My one plant is starting to move now. No soil test was taken in the new area. Just going by past experience, winging ferts by reading the plant. About 15 feet long with a flower at 14 feet that should open within five days. Let's hope it is a good one.   Friday, June 24 View Page Time to deal with the mustard.   Friday, June 24 View Page Done. Another cover crop will be planted in a few weeks.   Sunday, June 26 View Page Nice five lobed flower pollinated this morning. 1109 x 1109. At about 15 feet out.   Saturday, July 2 View Page Ok, it is time to get serious now about this giant tomato contest. Can't let my team members down.   Saturday, July 2 View Page Their new home is good to go. Going to plant tomorrow. Eight holes were dug in the Tomato Town planting area. They were backfilled with composted manure, dump compost, and the good pumpkin patch soil in this area. Bone meal and three Wow fertilizer packs are at the base of each planting area.   Thursday, July 7 View Page Well, what is a growing season without a setback or two. I was wondering why the leaves were flagging near the front of the plant. At about the eight foot mark, the main vine was nearly rotted through. A few weeks ago, I think I may have kinked the vine moving it onto the weed block fabric. Either that or a critter chewed into it. Good thing I wasn't taking this year too seriously. Upside, now I have two plants. I'll grow a pumpkin on each. Let's see how that goes lol.   Thursday, July 7 View Page Day 10 pumpkin on the front eight feet of plant. Or plant number 1. At 23 inches in circumference. A fairly normal measurement for it's age. I doubt that it can sustain normal growth. The front end of the plant is only about 150 sf. I guess it is too late to join the 150 sf contest.   Thursday, July 7 View Page Giant amaranths are over eight feet tall now and growing rapidly. They kinda remind me of " The Day of the Triffids ".   Saturday, July 9 View Page The tomato plants are happy. I had never read before the tips and tricks of getting a giant tomato. I'm learning ! My biggest challenge will be to keep them from being eaten by deer. I keep the spray bottle of deer repellant handy.   Saturday, July 9 View Page Plant (s) are looking good.   Monday, July 18 View Page The giant amaranths are really starting to move now. About eleven feet tall I would guess.   Sunday, July 24 View Page My single plant experiment has been a bust so far. Every pumpkin set has aborted. Too late now for anything but a display pumpkin. I'll let any female that emerges grow and see what happens.   Sunday, July 24 View Page The tomato plants started on June 5 are beginning to really take off.   Wednesday, August 17 View Page I made my first ever slammer sling today.   Wednesday, August 17 View Page Always a thrill when you run into one of these underwater. This big male was brought up for show and tell. You can't keep them when they are this large. At about ten pounds. He went back over the side after his beer and photoshoot.   Thursday, September 1 View Page Driftwood flagpole on the North River.   Thursday, September 1 View Page My giant amaranth is nearly twenty feet tall   Thursday, September 1 View Page North River flagpole   Thursday, September 1 View Page I guess it is time to pick this girl   Friday, September 2 View Page My first ever entry into a giant tomato contest. This one is for team "Extreme Tomato Syndicate"   Monday, September 19 View Page My one year experimental pumpkin patch has been restored to it's normal state.   Friday, September 23 View Page Most of my eight tomato plants have something growing on them. Two are just over the twenty inch mark, and two others are close. I'm hoping to hit four pounds.   Friday, September 23 View Page Picture   Friday, September 30 View Page At 21 inches in circumference I was expecting more. It is what it is they say. Score 2.77 for The Extreme Tomato Syndicate.   Thursday, October 6 View Page The wind from the remnants of Hurricane Ian were too much for my giant amaranth plant. It did provide the opportunity for an accurate measurement. It was 22 feet four inches tall. The deer had a party eating it after this picture was taken.