Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 164 Entries. Sunday, February 10 View Page I thought I would start my 2008 diary with a scene out the back side of the house. Winter has its grips on us and about this time of year I start losing hope that spring will ever appear. But it does. Just have to be patient. Sunday, February 10 View Page And here is a picture of the patch. The advantages of being a backyard grower is that we can look down from our 3 season porch on to the patch. Hard to believe that there will be pumpkins growing out here in 3 months or less. Sunday, February 10 View Page Here is a pic of our giant onions. Well.... atleast they are supposed to be giant. last year our largest was around two pounds. We are hoping to do much better this year. Sunday, March 30 View Page Watching a lot of other diaries and seeing people starting early fair plants and regular plants in warmer climates got me all pumped up. UNTIL I peeked out the back door and saw my patch. LOL 6-14 inches of snow still and to make it even better it is the hard packed type. Oh well, spring vacation is right around the corner and the season will be started in early May as usual. Sunday, March 30 View Page The giant onions are still doing well. A few more weeks for them as well, if I don't eat them first. Sunday, May 4 View Page Well it is finally here, growing season 2008. After all of the research, seed selection, and most importantly new friendships our patch is tilled and the seeds are germed. We mowed our winter rye last weekend and this is a pic today after our second till. We will still be knocking down some rye stragglers for the next couple of weeks but what they add to the patch is well worth it. Sunday, May 4 View Page Here is a nice pic of our green pool and the rest of the patch. Family helped with the hoops and electrical will go in this afternoon. We are sticking with the 250 watt infra red lights again this year. We had our best luck with them in the past. They seem a little much but we get pretty cold up here sometimes. Sunday, May 4 View Page And here are our starters for 2008. As always I am striving for an orange line up consisting of 670 Daigle, 772 Poirier, 603.5 Muller, 919 Richards and last but not least our very own 588 Young. Sunday, May 4 View Page This is our home made light bench with veggies and pumpkins as well as potted annuals on the floor. My wife starts roughly 300 annuals each summer. We are amazed how much green houses charge for annuals and she puts together many baskets mostly from seeds collected during the summer. Sunday, May 11 View Page Well things are suriving ok here in VT. The days have been nice and in the low 60's but we have had 4 frost in the last 6 days. Plants have been in the ground since the 6th and are doing ok. I had a late germ this year due to a wonderful family vacation. Plants will catch up, no worries. Sunday, May 11 View Page Here is the rest of the patch over our nice green pool. Note to self, need to get pool started. LOL Sunday, May 11 View Page Here is the 603.5 Muller. Seems to like VT dirt ok. I am hoping to cross this into our 588 Young. Sunday, May 11 View Page We are growing our own 588 Young again this year. Hoping she will grow large and orange for us. Time will tell. Sunday, May 11 View Page Here is the 772 Poirier. Hopefully she will prove to be a nice color pumpkin again. We have lots of potential crosses planned here. Sunday, May 11 View Page The 919 Richards was some what of a late entry but fit in nicely to our color scheme. This might be what we cross the 772 into. Sunday, May 11 View Page Here is the 670 Daigle. I have wanted to grow this the last couple of years and am very happy to finally get the opportunity. Sunday, May 11 View Page Giant kelsae onions. They are not happy with the cold transplant but should adapt in a week or two. We started most of these by seed on December 2nd 2007. Sunday, May 11 View Page These are tomatoes whose seeds were given to me by Mike Strange from Montreal. Now I just need to learn how to prune them for maximum fruit size. Sunday, May 11 View Page Last but not least are our giant sunflowers. This year we have tried Craven, Grey Stripe and a secret variety from a fellow grower. Last year our tallest was 16 feet 8 inches. Not sure if we will be able to surpass that. Sunday, May 18 View Page It is hard to believe that mid May is here already. Our weather has been pretty decent as of late, but the forecast is rain and cold for most of next week. It is so hard to be patient this time of year as the plants put more energy into their root system than the green parts. Even after many years of growing I still have to remind myself that it is still a marathon. Slow and steady. Sunday, May 18 View Page The rest of the patch. It also takes a long time to keep the rest of the patch weed free. The family pitches in and that makes the work much easier. I do not use and am not an advocate of weed killer. I have to rely on my patch year after year and I worry about any residuals. Sunday, May 18 View Page I have finally put the the long gourd in. It seems to be having a hard time aclimating. I am going with the 120 Eaton this year but have a couple of back ups just in case. Sunday, May 18 View Page Here is the 603.5 Muller. Seems happy. None of our plants are going gang busters yet. Sunday, May 18 View Page 588 Young. Growing fine but doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry either. Sunday, May 18 View Page 772 Poirier looks happy. This is one of my orange gambles that I hope will come through. Sunday, May 18 View Page 919 Richards. Plant is doing well. This is another orange gamble. I hope I can help prove this as a nice orange producer as well as the 772. Time will tell. Sunday, May 18 View Page 670 Daigle. This seems to be a bit of a slow grower so far. But I have seen slow green producers do really well once the fruit has set. Sunday, May 18 View Page Maters are just ugly still. They have been surviving with just buckets at night. Still have faith that the great tomatoe will visit here. Sunday, May 18 View Page Onions are still kicking. I am quite ahead of last year and no signs of bulbing yet. Fingers are crossed. Sunday, May 18 View Page Sunflowers. They still have a ways to go to reach 16+ feet but they are started on time to get there. Monday, May 26 View Page The patch is doing fine for the most part but we are unfortunately morning the loss of a couple of plants. Our 120 Eaton LG and our 603.5 Muller have become victims to the seed corn maggots. i have never lost plants this early and feel terrible about the loss. Monday, May 26 View Page The rest of the plants are doing fine despite the dismal weather we had last week. Thank god this is a marathon because if it were a sprint I would be out already. We did another soak with merit and I will be replacing the 603.5 with another 817 Young today. Monday, May 26 View Page Here is the 817 Young that was growing less than 2 feet from the stricken 603.5 Muller. So weird to see one plant go down while the other appears fine. This is a cross of ours from last year that I think has potential to grow real pretty orange. Monday, May 26 View Page 588 Young. I was planning on crossing the 603.5 into this. Guess I am going to have to go back to work and figure what is the next best cross. Plant is growing ok, a little warmth could sure help it out. Monday, May 26 View Page 772 Poirier. This plant is liking the VT dirt so far. Not huge in size but really starting to throw leaves. Monday, May 26 View Page 919 Richards. Seems happy so far. The leaves are more triangular on this plant, looks kind of cool. Hoping it produces a huge orange beauty. Monday, May 26 View Page 670 Daigle. This little guy is still plugging away. I like this plant so far, lets just hope it stays on course. Monday, May 26 View Page Tomatoes still a little shocky but getting greener. They will be fine. Monday, May 26 View Page Onions are huge for us at this time of year. We should easily pass 2 pounds this year. I hope. Monday, May 26 View Page Sunflowers are starting to thicken up nice. Once these get situated and happy they grow like mad. Thursday, May 29 View Page Second night of frost in a row. Weather is supposed to be warming up in the next day or so. Sunday, June 1 View Page The past week as started to show a slow change in our weather for the better. We have had a lot of days in the low 60's which has been tough but overall the plants are growing steady. All electrical is removed. The next 10 day forecast does not have any nights in the 30's so we took the chance. Sunday, June 1 View Page You can also see with this picture that we have our overhead watering system set up. This will be used full time in about a week or so once the hoops come down. Also for all the swimming pool critics out there the pool is starting to come around. Each year I get an email or two from grower friends picking on me about how green the pool looks. LOL Sunday, June 1 View Page 817 Young. This has been a good growing plant so far and should be down and running by next weekend. I am bummed we lost the 603 but am excited to see what our 817 can produce. it should be very orange. Sunday, June 1 View Page 588 Young. This again is one of the thicker plants that we have grown. We are hoping it will grow a new personal best for us again this year. Sunday, June 1 View Page 772 Poirier. This has been a very nice easy plant so far. It should be down and running by mid next week. This may be our plant to cross into our 588. Sunday, June 1 View Page 919 Richards. This is also almost down and running. Good easy to manage plant so far. Sunday, June 1 View Page 670 Daigle. this has been our slowest grower so far. not too worried though it looks nice and healthy. Hoping for a huge orange pumpkin out of it in a couple of months. Sunday, June 1 View Page Tomatoes are starting to look good. All of the new growth is nice and green. I am hoping to have cages built before next weeks diary. Sunday, June 1 View Page Onions are doing very well. I am atleast a month ahead of last year. We would love to see something in the 4 plus pound range. Sunday, June 1 View Page Giant sunflowers are taking hold well. had to cover them from frost for a couple of nights but forecast looks good. They can add a foot a week once they get going. Sunday, June 1 View Page 114 Jutras Long Gourd. Doing well so far. We are hoping to get an earlier pollination one of these years to bring to our local fair but keep having bad early luck. Keeping my fingers crossed for this year. Sunday, June 8 View Page Its hard to believe another week has passed. We removed the hoops on Saturday and now are awaiting a good growth week (hopefully). This has been a hard spring so far for us but things are looking to change. Perfect growing weather the last two days and a good warm forecast for the next week. Our fingers are crossed. Sunday, June 8 View Page As you can see my patch assistants are taking a well deserved swim break. Between taking care of our patch we have also been helping my dad with his this morning.My dad does well with the growing but it is hard for him to keep the soil weed free so we help him once a week. Sunday, June 8 View Page Our 817 is doing well and growing in the same spot that its mother did last year. Just starting to run and will hopefully be grounded mid week. Sunday, June 8 View Page 588 Young is growing good so far. A fairly agressive plant but has a hard time keeping its vines on the ground. We are facing same early challenges with this plant as we did with the same seed last year. Hopefully end result will be same or better. Sunday, June 8 View Page 772 Poirier. Nice happy plant so far, seems to like our soil and has adapted well to our weather fluctuations. Mid week we will cut the back up plant next to it. Sunday, June 8 View Page 919 Richards. One of our longest plants so far but a little on the wimpy side. I have found though that the thinner plants are typically alot easier to train than the thick ole sturdy ones. Sunday, June 8 View Page 670 Daigle. This plant is staying compact and shooting its main vine skyward. I am going to have to have a talk with it around mid week and try to convince it will do better growing along the dirt. LOL Maybe thats what we all need a plant psychiatrist to help with training of the vines. Sunday, June 8 View Page Tomatoes are starting to kick butt. I made my own cages this year. They are made with grade stakes and bolts. Sunday, June 8 View Page Here is a pick of the onions. They probably grew the best in the cold damp weather. Sunday, June 8 View Page The largest onion so far. It is currently about the size of a tennis ball. Hoping they will continue to grow this well. Sunday, June 8 View Page Last but not least here are some of our sunflowers. They are growing well so far. Sunday, June 8 View Page Thanks to Bob for letting me know I forgot a pic of the 114 Jutras LG. It has survived May and is starting to run. Hopefully will be up and climbing by next weekend. Thanks Bob. Hopefully I can give you a run at topsfield. Ha Tuesday, June 10 View Page We received a bit of a storm today dumping 3 inches of rain in a matter of 20 minutes. Welcome to vermont pumpkin plants you will never see a drought. Maybe waterlillies would be a better crop to grow here. Sunday, June 15 View Page Another week has passed and all plants have survived. I always look at that as a major plus. LOL We had a nice growing week with good heat and a few major storms. We had hail all around us but were very fortunate with just a few holes. Sunday, June 15 View Page Here is the rest of the patch. I can't wait for another few weeks cause I am getting real sick of weeding and cultivating all that dirt. We are finally in the fast growth stage as long as our weather stays with us. Sunday, June 15 View Page Here is a pic of the 114 Jutras LG growing well and on the trellis. Sunday, June 15 View Page 817 Young. This plant seems very thin but so did its momma. Bright yellow vines though so we are hoping for a nice orange beauty. Sunday, June 15 View Page 588 Young. This has been a good grower and our thickest vine so far. Sunday, June 15 View Page 772 Poirier. probably our best plant so far. Almost as thick as our 588 but growing a bit faster. Sunday, June 15 View Page 919 Richards. Growing well and starting to throw secondaries. Sunday, June 15 View Page 670 Daigle. Still one of our slowest plants. Still have high hopes though. Sunday, June 15 View Page Tomatoes are starting to fill the lower part of the cage. A few blossums this week. Sunday, June 15 View Page Onions continue to grow well. Largest is about the size of a baseball. Sunday, June 22 View Page Compared to what some of my fellow growers are going through i can't complain a bit. The weather this past week has not been great but nothing to severe either. As always we have had a number of cold nights and cloudy wet days that have hampered growth. Also 6 out of the next 7 days have thunderstorms predicted with a few being severe. LOL Mother nature ultimately chooses how my season is going to go. Sunday, June 22 View Page Here is the rest of the patch. It is nice to finally see things beginning to fill in. Every inch of new growth means less dirt to cultivate next week. My back could use a break. Sunday, June 22 View Page 114 Jutras Long gourd. This is growing well but does not like the cold. Hopefully a bit warmer this week and the growth will kick in. Sunday, June 22 View Page 817 Young. This is a thin petite vine just like its mother was. Nice to have a thinner vine once in a while because it makes it so much easier to train the plant. This would be a good seed for a beginner grower due to its flexibility and ease to train. Sunday, June 22 View Page 588 Young. this is not a thin vine and not a easy one to train. This plant is exhibiting the same size as last years and is very rigid. I could see where a new grower with some impatience could easily snap the main. This seed gave us the same frustrations last year but also grew the biggest pumpkin we had ever grown. Sunday, June 22 View Page 772 Poirier. Very nice plant for us so far, Nice thick main and shooting nice consistant secondaries. Sunday, June 22 View Page 919 Richards. This plant is doing well. The stump has a long diagonal split but has healed over in two parts. You can almost slide a quarter straight through it. I don't think this is going to impact the plant or pumpkin size. Sunday, June 22 View Page 670 Daigle. This is still the runt of the litter but is starting to pick up. We still have high hopes for a nice large orange pumpkin from it. Sunday, June 22 View Page The tomatoes are starting to fill the home made cages nicely. We have had a few blossums but have not checked to see if anything has set. Sunday, June 22 View Page Onions are clipping along very well and we are way ahead of last year. Our largest is 10 inches in circ and doing well. They seem to like the cool and wet weather we have been having. Sunday, June 22 View Page Sunflowers are doing well. Had some bugs chewing on them but a little merit seems to have stopped that. Sunday, June 29 View Page Another week gone by and another few close misses with severe weather. I did site an svb this afternoon but plants have been sprayed. The laundry list of things that can go wrong with these plants is amazing. As always I will just be happy to get a pumpkin to the scales. Sunday, June 29 View Page Other half of patch. Even though the weather has been sketchy it has at least been warmer and plants are starting to take off. Sunday, June 29 View Page 817 Young. Plant is still pretty thin but growing well. The 1101 that was the mom was planted in the same spot last year and she was a thin plant as well. First pumpkin is still in bud so we will have to wait awhile before we pollinate this plant. Sunday, June 29 View Page 588 Young. Still growing well, even with all of quirks. The vines want to run straight up to the sky. Other than that plant is agressive and has a couple of pumpkins. Should be pollinating the one we want in 10 days or less. Sunday, June 29 View Page 772 Poirier. Pollinated a nice 5 lober on the 28th with it self. Probably won't keep this if it sets. The next set is at about 11 feet and will be opening in 5 days or so. Sunday, June 29 View Page 919 Richards. Still one of the stronger growers. One set will be here in about 3 days at 10 feet and next will be week to 10 days at 12 feet. Very long stems on the pumpkins. Sunday, June 29 View Page 670 Daigle. This plant is starting to pick up the pace. There is one female in the bud at about 10 feet not sure when it will be ready. I am hoping for a July tenth pollination but we are going to have to get some nice growing days for that to happen. Sunday, June 29 View Page Tomatoes are doing very well. I need to start pruning them. Sunday, June 29 View Page Onions are getting huge for this early. biggest so far is 11 1/2 inches around. Sunday, June 29 View Page 114 Jutras Long Gourd. Doing well and really starting to take off. Grew about 40 inches this week. Still a long way to the top though. Sunday, July 6 View Page Happy 4th of July. Another week has gone by and the plants are doing ok. This has been a real slow yesr for green growth. Our weather has not been as miserable as some but a challenge none the less. Here is the first half of the patch. Sunday, July 6 View Page Second half of the patch. The plants are starting to fill in their 450 foot squares but not fast enough for this weeder. Sunday, July 6 View Page 817 young. This plant remains very petite. We have a blossum on the end of the main but won't be ready for another 5-10 days. Sunday, July 6 View Page 588 Young. Still doing well and growing good. Hard plant to train. Have one pollinated on it but not where I would like it. Next pollination at 12 feet in next day or two. Sunday, July 6 View Page 772 Poirier. Strong plant with a early set at 11 feet. Not happy with the angle but like the cross so will try to reposition and keep. Sunday, July 6 View Page 919 Richards. Pollinated one today with the 772. Plant is doing well so far. Sunday, July 6 View Page 670 Daigle. This has been the challenge of the patch this year. First very slow growth and now the main seems all balled up. Hopefully will straighten out soon. Thoughts of huge and orange are fading on this plant. Sunday, July 6 View Page 114 Jutras LG. This plant is doing great. Just climbed over the top of the 11 1/2 foot trellis. I will get up there tomorrow and coax it across the top. Hoping for a new personal best with this lg. Sunday, July 6 View Page Tomatoes are starting to take off. I have left 3-4 blossums per plant and pruned the rest. Time will tell if I am doing this right. Sunday, July 6 View Page Onions are still doing well. largest are around 13 inch circ which was as big as we grew last year. Hopefully these have a lot more growing to do. Sunday, July 13 View Page Here is a look at a nice rainy day in VT. Yesterday was 85 degrees and sunny and today mid 60s and rain. Plants are still very healthy and pumpkins are starting to slowly come along for most plants. Sunday, July 13 View Page The rest of the patch. i have had to make a couple tough decisions due to the slow green growth i have gotten this year. I have also chosen a couple of pumpkins to focus on that are very young. Sunday, July 13 View Page 817 Young. I got out before the rains this morning and got everything pruned and burried. Plant is still small but growing well so far. I question whether the pumpkin I pollinated took for it had water in the blossum 2 days before pollination. I put mesh over the fruit and put a ceiling over it. It is day 4 and barely growing. Time will tell and it is an interesting experiment. Sunday, July 13 View Page 588 Young. Decided to terminate the first pollination for the second and the second aborted on me. LOL Here is the third and looking good this early. Fingers are crossed. Sunday, July 13 View Page 772 Poirier. This plant is still growing very well and the pumpkin is at 10 days. I will be doing some measurements tonight. looks like a wheel so far but may grow into a more blocky pumpkin. Sunday, July 13 View Page 919 Richards. This plant is still growing strong and I like the shape of the pumpkins it is throwing. Pumpkin is at day 7. Sunday, July 13 View Page 670 Daigle. this plant just woke up again and started growing very well. One on the main to pollinate in about 4 days. I know it will put me out of the huge running, but a big and beautiful would be sweet. Sunday, July 13 View Page The tomatoes are starting to grow like crazy. I really need to get out there with hedge trimmer and give it a hair cut. Sunday, July 13 View Page Onions are doing well. Here is a pic of the largest to date with a circ of 14.25 inches. Sunday, July 13 View Page 114 Jutras Long Gourd. This is starting to grow really well. Hopefully will start seeing females in a week or two. Friday, July 18 View Page 2 more inches of rain today that makes a total of 4 1/2 inches total in the last 6 days. Lining up to be the worst season for us with only 3 plants that look pollinated. Sunday, July 27 View Page It has been two weeks since my last diary entry. Our season has been full of challenges as usual with all sorts of things not going to plan. We have had a very high number of aborts this year and are just getting some pumpkins set on a couple of plants.Here is a pic of the first part of the patch. Sunday, July 27 View Page We got a soil sample done a little over a week ago and it seems it is not a dirt problem so we are baffled. We have also gotten a ton of rain the past two weeks in an already wet patch. We do have two pumpkins pollinated on time and are hoping they make it through to take us to a weigh off. Sunday, July 27 View Page 817 Young. This plant is in the wettest part of the patch and we got a ton of aborts on the main. This is the only pollination we got to set and it is growing very slowly on a secondary. Sunday, July 27 View Page Sorry the last pic was from the aborted pumpkin. This is the pic on the back main. Sunday, July 27 View Page 772 Poirier. This plant has been well behaved and problem free. Pumpkin is trying to grow well but gets bogged down with too much rain and slows the growth down. Because we are in a wet area we are unlike alot of growers who get huge growth spurts with lots of rain. We actually get the opposite due to the soil getting compacted and ferts locked up. Sunday, July 27 View Page 919 Richards. This has been a real easy plant so far as well. I think it will produce a real beauty too. We crossed the 772 into it, which we are hoping will make a sweet future cross. Sunday, July 27 View Page 670 Daigle back main. We have decided to go with two pumpkins on this plant seeing we are late. This plant went into a weird growth lull but is now fine and looking really strong. This is a 670 selfed. Sunday, July 27 View Page 670 Daigle main vine. This is crossed with the 772 Poirier and is about 19 feet out. Maybe seeing the plant is so large it will do ok for us to at least get a lawn pumpkin. Sunday, July 27 View Page We have picked a couple of onions already that have stopped growing and ate them. These Kelsae are actually very good to eat in my opinion. Largest so far is just shy of 17 inches and looks like it is almost done growing. Sunday, July 27 View Page Tomatoes are going crazy still. I probably have way too much foliage left. The tomatoes are just starting to come. Hopefully they will be bigger than our 2 ponder last yr. Sunday, July 27 View Page 114 Jutras Long Gourd. This lg is growing well with hopefull pollinations in a couple of days. Plant is doing well but also in a real wet spot in the garden. Looks healthy so far. Sunday, July 27 View Page Here is our largest sunflowers. They are starting to get their heads now so probably won't get much taller. This wet summer has affected their growth I believe with an early maturing. Sunday, August 3 View Page Another rainy week has passed and the plants are starting to get bogged down. I have dumped a little over 12 inches of rain out of my rain gauge since July first. This is the wettest year i have ever tried to grow in and the forecast is for plenty more. Here is a peek at the patch. Sunday, August 3 View Page I have got a couple of late pollinations that seem to be successful. I know they won't be competition worthy but hopefully will make a good pumpkin boat. Sunday, August 3 View Page 772 Poirier. This plant is still doing fine and was up to 25 pounds a day until the soil got over saturated. Sitting around mid two hundreds. Sunday, August 3 View Page 919 Richards. This is my favorite shaped pumpkin so far and is in the low 200 pound range. I think it will have very good color as well. Sunday, August 3 View Page This is our 670 Daigle back main pumpkin that we selfed. Just 11 days old but growing very well. Sunday, August 3 View Page Here is the 670 main vine crossed with the 772 Poirier. It is 11 days old and growing very well for the conditions. Sunday, August 3 View Page Here is our largest Kelsae onion so far compared to a 12 ounce soda can it is huge. Hit a circumference of 17 1/2 inches today. Monday, August 25 View Page Here is a pic of the top 3 at our local Champlain Valley Fair along with Eric Hulls 87.5 inch long gourd. Monday, August 25 View Page Kevin Companion and his 864.5 pounder. Monday, August 25 View Page Eric Hull with his 2nd place 653 pounder. Monday, August 25 View Page Myself with our 486.5 pounder. Monday, August 25 View Page We also have a booth at the fair by the giant veggies to sell seeds and memberships and to also answer questions. Monday, August 25 View Page Here is our giant tomato. We got second place at 2.27 pounds. Monday, August 25 View Page We got first place with the giant onion weighing 3.45 pounds. This onion had a circ of 19.5 inches and was the biggest I have grown. Sunday, August 31 View Page Posting has been tough this summer with a hard drive replacement and having two teenage sons in football. This has also been one of the most "challenging" years for our garden. We have just gotten nice summer weather the last two weeks. Overall we will have a couple of good lawn pumpkins, which is what our goal is every year. Sunday, August 31 View Page Just like the pumpkins, I have had a tough time pollinating long gourds. Finally getting a very late pollination a couple of weeks ago. This is 40 inches or so and growing well with our warm late summer. I don't have a lot of hope though this late in the season. It would be nice to get into the 70 plus inches to bring to our weigh off. Sunday, August 31 View Page 588 Young. Too many aborts to get a decent pumpkin on this plant. We have a major dill ring on this pumpkin about in the middle of it, so its probably good to have a late pollination (less size should be less chance of a split on ring)Pumpkin is sitting at a little over 300 pounds. Sunday, August 31 View Page 670 Daigle. This is a late pollination as well and is sitting in the mid 400 pound range. It is just starting to get some color and we are hoping it matures enough to give us an idea of the color for next year. Sunday, August 31 View Page 919 Richards. This pumpkin is leaking and weeping all over the place and also has a stem split. But the color is great and crossing it with the 772 Poirier should produce sweet pumpkins next year. This pumpkin is sitting around mid 600 pound range. Out of 12 years of growing this has been one of our toughest years. It really makes you appreciate the good years all the better. Thursday, September 4 View Page 670 Daigle BES. Sealed up with caulking and will try to keep for one more week for seeds to mature. Only one pumpkin left in patch and that one is leaking all over. Sunday, September 7 View Page September seemed to come in a flash. Both of my sons are playing football which seem to take a lot of time and energy. It is easy this fall with little success in the garden. We finally have a lg which is about 68 inches. We are happy with anything and will probably see it slow down to a crawl with cooler temps coming. We also have a nice tall sunflower which is hard to measure due to lots of curves. We are letting a head grow on it for seeds. We are guessing it is close to 17 feet. Sunday, September 7 View Page Here is the rest of the patch. Sunday, September 7 View Page 588 Young. Worst than not being able to get one germ is to get a very late July pollination with a dill ring!!!!! LOL Dreamin of next year already. This peanut shape is measuring around 425 pounds. Sunday, September 7 View Page 670 daigle. Another late pollination that was growing very well. Well until the BES that is. Sitting about 560 pounds and will probably be opened for seeds in a week or so. Sunday, September 7 View Page 919 Richards. The color on this pumpkin is amazing. We have a very deep stem split that will probably go through soon. But if we can keep it healthy enough I would like to get it to a scale. Nothing too impressive for size but has some sweet color. I crossed this with the 772 Poirier. Could be a dynamite color cross for next year if the seeds are good. Sunday, September 7 View Page Here is the head off from one of grey stripes. It measured 47.5 inches in circumference. We are drying it so we can put some in the giant veggie seed exchange or to growers that want seeds from it. Wednesday, September 10 View Page The 919 Richards stem split went all the way through yesterday. So I took pics and cut open for seeds tonight. So from now on it is the 678 Young dmg uow. This is a 919 Richards crossed with a 772 Poirier. Seed count looks ok but will know better after a couple of weeks when they are dry. Rough year for our patch but we are looking forward to cleaning it up and getting ready for next year. Sunday, September 21 View Page Well our season is quickly coming to an end. Here is a pic of the only thing left in our patch. The 4-5 weeks of rain seemed to kill all of our hopes for 2008. I do believe we made some good crosses though that should do much better than this years pumpkins. Sunday, September 21 View Page 588 Young. hopefully this will stay together for our weigh off in 3 weeks. It has a dill ring that is causing me some concerns. Currently this is right about 500 pounds and was crossed with the 670 Daigle. Sunday, September 21 View Page I just had to show a couple of pics of this sunflower. We picked it in my dad's patch last weekend and was amazed of the heart shape. It also had a sweet purple hue. This was off from one of our Cravens. Sunday, September 21 View Page Here is another pic of the heart shaped sf that shows the color and shape. Truly a cool thing to happen. Sunday, October 12 View Page Here is a shot of some of the pumpkins at our VT state weigh off yesterday. We had growers from Canada and from NY State as well. The weather was great and many members pitched in to make this one of the best run weigh offs we have had. Congrats to Mark Breznick for his new VT record of 1392 pounds. Sunday, October 12 View Page Here is my Dad with his first ever entry in a weigh off. He has been growing for the last 5 years and I finally got him to go. 444.5 is pretty good for his patch size. Sunday, October 12 View Page Here is a pic of me with our only pumpkin to make it this fall. This is off from our own 588 Young seed. I was shocked with the end result as it taped 294 inches which should have put it at 539 pounds but ended up weighing 695 pounds. Never thought 29% heavy was going to come from my patch. Sunday, October 12 View Page Here is a really cool carving from Terry Keim from Williston Vermont.