Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 40 Entries. Friday, March 29 View Page April 1st, is just around the corner. I figured this is a good time to start my first grower diary. Spring fever has struck and I had to get out of the house and play in the dirt. I didnt get a chance last fall to till in some top dress fertilzer that I had applied. I decided today was the day. I wanted to get soil tilled up and get things working. I tilled it twice with a rototiller and ran over it with a small drag with my tractor. Here I am when I was done. Soil worked up nicely into a nice consistancy of horse manure and other organic matter. Hope to add some more manure in the next week or two prior to planting.   Friday, March 29 View Page Soil consistancy of horse manure and other organic matter after tilling.   Thursday, April 25 View Page It soon will be planting time. I wanted to test my sprinkler system before making final soil preparations this weekend. Here is a picture of my storage tank and pump. These are new additions for this year.   Thursday, April 25 View Page Sprinkler system is made out of 1" PVC pipe with 1/2" impact sprinkler heads. Here is a picture of them operating under straight stream. Should give good coverage.   Thursday, April 25 View Page This picture shows them operating under fine mist which appears to be gental. Heads can be easily changed if they do not do desired job. This should be an improvement over last year because I had very little water and had to carry heavy buckets to water the plants. Now all I have to do is flick a switch. Hope it works.   Thursday, May 16 View Page I was finally able to get my four plants in the ground today. Seeds were started inside on May 2nd, and has been to wet to transplant until today. 1. 966 Holland, 2. 735 Pukos, 3. 707 Toftness, and 4. 723 Bhaskaren All four look great. Calling for bad weather and cool temperatures for next several days. Made some some quick cold frames out of saw horses and plastic.   Sunday, June 2 View Page Its been a very cool and wet month of May here in Western New York. We finally had some 80 degree weather last week and my pumpkins are finally starting to grow. Here is a picture of my 966 Holland plant. It was planted on May 2nd. It appears to be the healthiest out of my four plants at this time.   Sunday, June 30 View Page Its been a while since I have updated my diary. This is my 735 Pukos plant. Had a slow atart but now is really taking off.   Sunday, June 30 View Page This is my 707 Toftness which is also taking off nicely.   Sunday, June 30 View Page My last posting was mot correct. It is in 90's today and supposed to be hot this week. I hooked up my irrigation system and gave it a test today.   Sunday, June 30 View Page Found this old park bench in the woods. Threw a coat of paint on it and looks almost as good as new. Im going to place it next to my pumpkin patch so I have a place to sit and take a break.   Thursday, July 4 View Page I had a real treat the other night. Joe Pukos stopped by my patch for a tour. He gave me a lot of helpul advice. Here we are looking at my 735 Pukos plant. Im in the blue and Joe is in the white.   Thursday, July 4 View Page Here Joe is showing me how to prpoerly trim off the tendrils and bury the vines. Thanks for the help Joe.   Thursday, July 4 View Page In this picture I am showing Joe my watering system I built over the winter. So far it is working very well.   Tuesday, July 23 View Page My plants are doing well. Have been watering every other day. They are starting over flow the patch. Recieved approx. 1" of rain this morning which should help.   Tuesday, July 23 View Page Here is a picture of my biggest pumpkin so far. It is on my 735 Pukos plant crossed with 707 Toftness. Pollinated on July 14th.   Thursday, August 1 View Page Its been very hot here, and we have had some thunder storms with heavy rain earlier in the week. I decided I had better put up a shade structure to protect my biggest pumpkin so far.   Thursday, August 1 View Page Here is another picture of my 735 Pukos. It is steadily gaining weight and doing well.   Thursday, August 8 View Page Here is a picture of my 735 Pukos. It continues do well and so far is my largest pumpkin. It appears to be healthy with light yellow skin with no blemishes. If it keeps going will be my biggest pumpkin ever.   Thursday, August 8 View Page Here is another shot of the 735 Pukos.   Thursday, August 8 View Page Here is another shot of the 735 Pukos. Ive got to learn how to measure it so I can get a weight estimate.   Thursday, August 8 View Page This is a photo. of my 723 Bashkaran. Started off slow but is now starting to take off. Has an orange tint to it already. They are supposed to be bright orange pumpkins when ripe.   Thursday, August 8 View Page Aerial photo of my Pumpkin patch. Applying some water in upper left corner of the patch. The 735 Pukos is under the green tarp shade structure.   Monday, August 12 View Page I put up two more shade strucures. Upper right corner shelters a 735 Pukos, Front center shelters a 966 Holland and upper left shelters a 723 Bashkaran. As you can see I did not have enough room, plants are very crowded but still look healthy and so far are doing well.   Tuesday, August 20 View Page Did a little preventative spraying today. I have sprayed on a regular basis this summer and so far no real noticeable problems caused by insects. Last year my plants were hit hard by borer damage. This electric on demand sprayer works great. Another photo. of it in my photo gallery section.   Saturday, August 24 View Page I had Joe Pukos, Andy Wolfe and Alan Nesbitt stop by my patch today for a tour.   Saturday, August 24 View Page Here we are in front of my patch. From left to right, Black T-shirt Bill Cartwright, White T-shirt Andy Wolfe, Black T-shirt Joe Pukos, and Red T-shirt Alan Nesbitt. This is my first year. Thanks for the encouragement guys.   Thursday, August 29 View Page This is my 735 Pukos. Growth appears to be slowing down. I hope it is not done growing yet.   Thursday, August 29 View Page Photo of my pumpkin on the 723 Bhaskaran plant. Also appears to be slowing down. Starting to turn orange. It is a nice looking pumpkin.   Thursday, August 29 View Page This is one of four pumpkins I have set on the 966 Holland plant. They are all about the same size. Nice block shape appear to be coming along good.   Monday, September 16 View Page This is a picture of my pumpkin on the 735 Pukos plant. It has a real nice shape. I measured it on Saturday and according to the chart it is close to 500lbs. Way more than I ever expected for my first year. Cant wait to put it out in front of my house for everyone to see. Its been a fun first season.   Monday, September 16 View Page This is my 723 Bhaskaran turning bright orange.   Tuesday, October 1 View Page Here are a couple of pumpkins off my 966 Holland plant. Still have several others to pick. Will pick my biggest on thursday after work. Hoping for 500lbs.   Thursday, October 3 View Page Time we have all been waiting for. Harvest time. Heres my crew and I wrestling with my large pumpkin trying to get in on a pallet.   Thursday, October 3 View Page Here is my lifting crew. Left Alan Leslie, Center Bill Cartwright aka. LV107 and Right is my neighbor Pat Lynch. Also present but not pictured is Doug Morsch. Thanks for the help guys. Thanks for use of the Tractor Alan. A real back saver. LOL.   Thursday, October 3 View Page All loaded and ready to go. This is the fruit grown on my 735 Pukos plant. Nice shape, feels solid, was a problem free pumpkin. Estimated weight 485lbs.   Saturday, October 5 View Page Went to Oswego today to get my pumpkin weighed. Here they are hooking the sling up to lift it on to the scale. First time I have gone to an official weigh off.   Saturday, October 5 View Page Here it is finally on the scale. Whats it going to be.????? Estimated 485lbs.   Saturday, October 5 View Page Here I am when I find out the scale reads 543lbs. I am very happy with my first attempt at growing a big pumpkin. It has been a great season. I would like to thank everyone who has helped me along the way. Thanks also to Big Pumpkins.Com Bill Cartwright.   Sunday, November 17 View Page Since harvest time I have started working on soil preperation for next season. I have tilled my patch and pulled a soil sample for analysis. Also have added a couple of loads of Maple leaves.