Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 58 Entries. Saturday, February 24 View Page This will be my first season of growing big pumpkins. Last year, my wife and I stood with our kids at the Irvine Railroad weigh-off and got hooked. The backyard grass comes out in a week (after a social event my wife wants to host), and I’ll mend the soil a bit before adding drip irrigation. We have a good deal of clay the deeper you go, and some heavy rains have saturated us over the last month. Looking forward to what this year brings!   Sunday, March 10 View Page Small update, the tiller I bought works great. I hadn't watered my lawn in 6 months, and it was still thriving. The constant rain kept it alive, despite my hope it would have died off long ago. I threw some grub killer out, noticed quite a few out there when I turned the soil. I need to mix in some soil amendments and compost, then begin laying out the drip watering hose with my automatic sprinkler system. My neighbor was getting rid of a 30' strip of turf. We inherited it, and it'll be the pathway to the hot tub during the growing season. No turning back now!   Monday, April 8 View Page Started seeds a day ago. Already have 2 pushing through at a little over 24 hours under my light. Soil surface temps hold at 76* with my setup on the temp gun. I am going to need to move to larger containers, I don’t know what I was thinking with these little things. Rookie mistake.   Tuesday, April 9 View Page 2023 Andrusz (brown pots) and 894 Rickard (black pots) 48 hours in. Hoping to see more movement this time tomorrow.   Friday, April 12 View Page Progress report: Growth! Looks like one dud seed, but I’m not concerned. Huge thanks to KC Kevin. Picked up a couple 1708’s from him today, they are pictured front right in the photo.   Sunday, April 14 View Page Picked up a used IBC tote locally. Time to clean it and get the irrigation system in place.   Monday, April 22 View Page Been extremely busy in non-pumpkin life. Haven’t taken many pictures as a result, but imagine the same plants as above…. Just bigger! As of today, the plants are in the ground!   Friday, May 3 View Page It’s been a minute, here’s an update. This is my true first day off in about 3 weeks, so I found some time to snap photos. I’ve been hand watering twice a day because my irrigation is still in progress. Well, my wife has been doing it while I’m away, then I’ve been catching the second watering. Hoping to make the waterings more frequent with less quantity per instance with my pump setup. I have 3 plants going in identical shade covers. Still learning to read the leaves.   Friday, May 3 View Page 2023 Andrusz   Friday, May 3 View Page 1708 Donahue   Friday, May 3 View Page 894 Rickard   Sunday, May 26 View Page Ive got a few updates to write about. Here we go! A couple weeks back I cracked the main vine on my Rickard. It slowly got worse, turned into a heck of a kink, and the plant overall has not been doing all that great. I planted one of my backup / crash test plants and it’s very likely going to take over as my 3rd plant. My other plants are doing good. Outgrowing their shade structures. I purchased a good meter and I discovered the PH from the city water is 8.2. It honestly surprised me it was that high.   Friday, May 31 View Page Photo update. Bigger shade cloths are on the way. Built the trellis in the background last weekend for the wife. Also, our sweet corn is doing almost as well as all the weeds on our hill.   Monday, June 3 View Page New larger shades are in and at 40%. Old ones were accidentally 70%. The 3rd plant is still on the small side so it’ll get a shade upgrade another day.   Thursday, June 13 View Page 2023 pollination attempt #1, courtesy of my wife while I’m working. The 1708 looks to be on track for pollination this weekend.   Sunday, June 16 View Page A week makes a bit of a difference!   Sunday, June 16 View Page Father’s Day “Tea Time”   Sunday, June 16 View Page Forgot to attach the photo   Monday, June 17 View Page 1708 pollination day   Tuesday, June 25 View Page Here’s the 1708 at 7 DAP. The first pollination of the 2023 didn’t take, and I should have another attempt in a couple days. We’ve had an absolute scorcher of a heatwave the last few days and so far the plants are surviving, minus a leaf or two.   Thursday, June 27 View Page In another “I’ve got a lot to learn” moment, here’s my tissue results. Big thanks to the original, and much wiser Kevin from Mission Viejo for always offering sound advice when I need it!   Tuesday, July 2 View Page The 2023 plant has been a bit of a saga, but here we are 4 DAP, crossed with the 1708. This is the 3rd attempt, the 1st never took and the 2nd had seeds in the blossom, so we aborted it.   Tuesday, July 2 View Page Here’s the 1708, 14 DAP.   Saturday, July 6 View Page Couple changes - My wife has called dibs on the area where the 3rd vine was. That plant is now gone to make way for her colorful & weirdly shaped decorative pumpkin plants. I mean, she did let me take over the entire backyard. I guess she can have a piece of it back :). I put up 20x30 shade cloths this morning, slightly larger than the old ones. I should have used this size from the beginning.   Monday, July 8 View Page Man this is fun. The fruit on my 1708 Donahue plant is estimated at 121 lbs , DAP 20. The fruit on my 2023 Andrusz plant is estimated at 8 lbs, DAP 10.   Friday, July 12 View Page As promised to the wife, she gets her own little garden to plant her decorative pumpkins in. She’s already outside breaking it in, Halloween isn’t far away. I’m certain I didn’t make it big enough now that I’ve stepped back from it, but it’s a start!   Friday, July 12 View Page Tomorrow is DAP 25 for the 1708 (pictured) and DAP 15 for the 2023.   Tuesday, July 16 View Page The 2023 was pollinated 10 days later than the 1708. I like the color!   Friday, July 19 View Page 2023 stem photo by request! Orange coming through.   Friday, July 19 View Page This is my fleet of fans. I get about 2.5 days worth of low speed power per fan. We also use these when camping with our trailer. Great little fans.   Monday, July 22 View Page The 1708 is averaging 30lbs a day. It is on pace for my personal goal this season, which I won’t say out loud, because I’m superstitious and I’ll jinx it!   Monday, July 22 View Page The 2023 has near identical numbers for its growth at each DAP when compared to the 1708 fruit so far. We’ll see what the next week holds!   Wednesday, July 24 View Page Earlier in the week I had to reposition the 2023 to avoid it growing backward onto the stem. Within two days it had a new flat spot and was stable enough to move a couple inches. Today I moved it another three inches on the growing platform. It’s at DAP 26 and gains are picking up.   Wednesday, July 24 View Page The 1708 is growing steadily. It gets a little sun in the afternoons, which I honestly don’t know if that’s good or not. Might pick up another wall for the EZ-UP to block that side. The entire thing is under a shade anyway, so it’s not full sun. The blossom end might not be visible for much longer. This fruit certainly isn’t fighting gravity!   Tuesday, July 30 View Page The 1708 from the other side at DAP 42. Leaf damage from 30 days ago has given it some character.   Tuesday, July 30 View Page The 2023 fruit is still growing well. I don’t know that it will grow at a rate to surpass the 1708. Even if it does, the main doesn’t have as much play in it so I’m watching that pretty intently as it grows.   Saturday, August 3 View Page Patch watering system improvement- I hooked up a sprinkler line to the fill side of my tank with my inline filter. Now I can fill and drain remotely. Prior to today I only had a WiFi 110v plug on the pump, so I was only able to get one full tank in, which really doesn’t matter for the most part. However we are taking a quick camping trip and I won’t be close enough to check in for a few days. Of course I can’t treat the tank remotely, but I can at least I can keep the soil moist in this heat.   Thursday, August 8 View Page Still chugging along at 30 lbs / day. I’m certain it will slow down soon.   Friday, August 9 View Page This won’t be my competition fruit unless something catastrophic happens. It sure has a pretty color and shape! The 2023 is taping around 650 lbs… I think today is DAP 43 for it. This fruit was set later than the 1708 and the plant got hit by a bit of disease early on, more so than the 1708.   Sunday, August 11 View Page Story time! About a week ago I noticed some bite/gnaw marks on the stump and the secondaries immediately surrounding the stump on the 1708. I suspected rabbits or rats, both are abundant in our neighborhood as we back a hill with a lot of greenery. There is a lone squirrel that we see jumping from tree to tree, but never in the patch. I have been taking anti-rodent measures and baiting / trapping / eliminating vermin as I find them, but stepped up the game of late. Vermin cause health problems. I do not like vermin.   Sunday, August 11 View Page Vermin.   Wednesday, August 14 View Page Nothing more than another overhead charting of plant growth for the season. 38 days left! Both fruits are starting to slow based upon the last three measurements.   Wednesday, August 21 View Page The 1708 fruit is still chugging along at about 15-20 / day, down from 30/day at its height. More color is starting to set in. I did some looking back at older overhead photos. About 1/4 of my plant did not exist when the fruit was 20 days old. I think that new growth really counts for something as I’m starting to lose the oldest growth due to age. This wasn’t a strategy, it just worked out this way and I think I’m glad it did. Hoping that “new” growth will carry me to the end.   Wednesday, August 21 View Page The 2023 is just a real pretty orange color and shape. It grew back on itself a bit. This is taping at 923 lbs today and is gaining exactly 14 lbs / day for the last 5. One month to go until the scales!   Tuesday, August 27 View Page Today is DAP 70 for the 1708 and it has continued to slow. It’s averaging 9 lbs a day now. 25 more days of growth until this one hits the scales! Pictured is the 2023, and it’s estimated at 1050 lbs. It’s a pretty pumpkin from this side.   Tuesday, August 27 View Page I thought I had a vermin problem. I was wrong. The vermin have a me problem. Their days are numbered.   Thursday, August 29 View Page Vermin.   Tuesday, September 3 View Page Today is DAP 77 for the 1708. My wife wants to name it Gourdon Ramsey. I kind of like it. I’m sure we aren’t the first to come up with that. Anywho, She’s still growing but there’s a bit of a heat wave this week. Temps are above 90 for 6 days straight and in the 100’s for two of those per the weather man. Pictured is the destruction / old growth during sunset tonight. The 1708 is in the background. My formula for the remaining days on the vine is to simply keep the plant alive / cool as long as I can.   Saturday, September 7 View Page 1708 photo update. Shovel for scale.   Saturday, September 7 View Page 2023 update. Shovel for scale! It’s a little over 1100 lbs at my last measuring on DAP 70 / Sep 5th. Someone else had mentioned they wanted to swap notes on this fruit… please email me and I’d be happy to share. I can’t seem to find the comment on a previous post.   Saturday, September 7 View Page Overall I am incredibly happy with how this season has gone. This is my first year and both plants grew well. The fruits both went beyond my personal goal of 1,000 lbs. 13 more days on the vine for the 1708 and then it’s weigh off time!   Monday, September 9 View Page California is known for a lot of things. One of those things is wildfires. The heat has been consistently in the 90’s and 100’s for a week and it’s supposed to start letting up tomorrow. The view is looking east from my drone, at a very safe distance above my backyard.   Monday, September 16 View Page Took down the shade covers over the weekend and nearly lost one of my EZ-UP’s due to the wind today. Crisis averted and only had a few leaves get damaged when it rolled over in a gust. Lesson learned! Today is DAP 90 for the 1708. It’s still getting about 5 lbs / day. I think it’s DAP 81 for the 2023, which is no longer growing. Night time photo attached.   Sunday, September 22 View Page The 2023 came in at 1206 lbs, weighed on my non GPC / non certified crane scale. Both of my fruit are sitting in front of my house and will be lawn ornaments as long as we can get them to last, hopefully through Halloween.   Sunday, September 22 View Page The 1708 came in at 1479 lbs on the scale, good enough for 3rd place. This was an absolute blast and we’ll be back next year. Being new I intentionally didn’t include a lot of the “what I’m doing to grow the fruit” in my entries here because this is all new to me and I’d hate to promote bad info. Now that I have a full year of reading / talking / researching, and a season of actually growing I think I’ll ease into that for next year.   Friday, October 4 View Page Haven’t had much time to work on the patch and prep for next season…. But we’ve set the bar on the street in Halloween decorations.   Friday, October 18 View Page I suppose today marks my journey towards the growing season of 2025. I promised my wife and kids half of the yard back. I’ll be seeding tall fescue in the half closest to the camera, and putting a rotation of cover crops in my patch (the half furthest from the camera). Winter Rye, Clover, and Mustard. Lastly, I’ve tilled in Peat and Perlite. I’m going to till in more Peat, Pumice, and will top with probably 5 yards of an aged humus compost blend I like with the first cover crop rotation. Will soil test, and amend as needed from there.   Monday, October 28 View Page 12 yards of material mended in… Well, closer to 11. About a yard went to the garden beds. Next up, seeding the future grass area and cover crop in the patch. I’m contemplating laying down a wooden barrier between the two halves of the backyard… not sure if that or a nice edge material from Home Depot would be best. Decisions…