Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 85 Entries. Wednesday, April 14 View Page Spring time on the prairies. A few hours of rain followed by 8 inches of very wet snow. Lots of wind and a day off of school. Wednesday, April 14 View Page Here's the patch at home. I'm going with a two hoophouses this year. A smaller one to start, which will stand up better to the wind, and then the normal one. I was hoping to get the plastic on the smaller hoophouses, but it's a good thing I didn't. The weight of the snow would have not been good. To the left is the long gourd trellis. We have had no measureable precipitation for a few months and the ground was getting very dry. Sunday, April 18 View Page It's been a fabulous few days. Warm and sunny. Of course that causes all the snow to melt. The snowdrifts gave way to a big pond where Alex's hoophouse is to go. We had my little pump running for an hour or so, but it didn't seem to help too much. I can't believe I'm hoping for wind to dry it out! I managed to get a tarp over the hoophouse area at home before the big dump came. We got the plastic on the houses at home yesterday and everything is all ready for the plants. All of the seeds were sanded and soaked the evening of the 15th and by this morning, everything has germinated. Now I just want the soil to dry out. Saturday, April 24 View Page It's finally dry enough to do some work in the middle of the patch. The edges are still quite wet. Another spring, another set of kittens were born this week. Our dog, Maggie, is the kitten sniffer. Her mission at the farm is to find the kittens for the kids. Here's Alex helping me in the garden. He just loved playing with the worms. Saturday, April 24 View Page The wind was howling so we didn't get the plastic on today. Alex's house is on the left and is back about 10 feet and will be a flag pattern along the edge. I figure it will be another few weeks before the long gourds go in here. It's still soaked. The long gourds went in at home on the 19th. Wednesday, April 28 View Page It was such a nice day yesterday, my two 1019 Grande's went into the ground at home. Alanna was too busy with soccer and piano lessons to do hers. The farm patch finally has everything covered and the soil heating cables running. The ground is too cold and wet to plant anything. it will be at least 10 days for the long gourd patch to be ready to go at the farm. It's just like quicksand. I started two more seeds just in case. Wednesday, April 28 View Page So I planted the seedlings at home yesterday. Today, a winter storm warning has been issued. 40-50mm of rain, followed by 20-25cm of snow and driving winds. All unplanted seedlings are back under the lights. The farm patch was already pooling rain and it hasn't even started to snow yet. This is going to be a fun year! Monday, May 3 View Page It was a wild storm last week. Rain rain rain and wind wind wind. Back from a hockey tournament in Edmonton last night, Alanna planted a 1019 Grande at home and a 788 Vincent-McGill as a backup today. The soil at home is warm and ready to go. The farm, well, that's another story. Very wet outside the houses. Inside is still wet, but warm, so the 1055 Pitura squash and a 825 Makarchuk (backup) went in as my squash lineup this year. There's more snow and rain in the forecast. Andrew's might go in Wednesday or Thursday, while Alex's house needs to dry out for another week before I can even turn it over. Long gourds? Still under water. I don't know if those will get planted in the near future. Another crazy weather year! Tuesday, May 4 View Page Way too much rain, and more wind than we can imagine, even in southern Alberta, has cost us a big tree in our backyard. You can't drive a few blocks in town without seeing a big one like this on the ground. The only good news is the tree shades the patch after about 6pm in the summer. More rain today and it's starting to snow. Drying out? Not likely. Thursday, May 6 View Page Another day, more snow and rain. This year sucks. Thursday, May 6 View Page Here's the mud pit at the farm. Thursday, May 6 View Page Cutting 4-5 roots and it fell nice and easy. Just missed the garden shed by 2 feet. It sure opens up the yard. The kids had a great time climbing all over it. Now the real fun begins. This wasn't the way I had planned on spending my week. Anyone want some firewood? Thursday, May 6 View Page Oh, I guess I should post a pumpkin picture. Here's Alanna's 1019 Grande. Everything else looks the same. Andrew's pumpkins go in tomorrow at the farm. I have to walk on pallets just to get to the middle of the patch. The soil is warm, but wet. I think we're going to start some new squash plants for Alex. His soil hasn't even been turned over. At least I don't need to water... Thursday, May 6 View Page One of my long gourd plants at home. The Kozy Koats are filling with ice... Friday, May 7 View Page More rain and more snow. Here's the inside of Alex's house. It is getting doubtful for the plants we started for him. I started another set of 825 Makarchuk squash yesterday just in case. We may have to write of giants and go for some small ones again this year. I think I'll buy a boat to get around the patch. Friday, May 7 View Page Anyone want to trade for the wind we deal with here in southern Alberta? The crew did a great job helping carve up our tree. A chainsaw helped deal with the trunk. I just need to get rid of the stump and roots. The forecast for tonight is -8. Did someone change the calender on me? I could have sworn it was May. Heaters are running tonight full tilt and all plants are tucked in. Saturday, May 22 View Page I didn't think I would actually see this day. The forecast for today was for another inch of rain, so I scrambled last night to get the farm patch tilled. It wasn't completely dry enough, but it had to be done. The long gourd trellis was finished and I planted the long gourds at the farm. I lost one of the long gourds at home a few weeks ago with the cold at night. Saturday, May 22 View Page Alex's squash went in today. I had to rebuild his house, but in went the 955 Vincent-McGill (left) and the 825 Makarchuk (right). The other 825 I had planted did not do well in the pot for so long, so I started this one later. Andrew's two 459 Makarchuk plants went into the ground on May 8th. His are doing ok, while the 1055 Pitura is really slow and I think got burned in the hoophouse last week, while the 825 right beside it is really healthy. Thursday, May 27 View Page Here it comes again. Another 52mm of rain fell today and flooded things. Alex's two plants had better grow water wings. We've had snow days, but never rain days. The mechanical room at my kid's school had 2 feet of water in it and the power was out all day. The stormwater system is all backed up and streets are flooded every where. More rain is forecast tomorrow. Thursday, May 27 View Page I built up the soil in the corner of the long gourd garden for some reason. It's a good thing I did. Thursday, May 27 View Page It was a sad day out at the farm yesterday as Les lost his best friend Duffy. He had a stroke a few months ago and never quite recovered. Our dog Maggie and Duffy were born a few weeks apart 13 years ago and were best buddies. Thursday, May 27 View Page The 1055 Pitura didn't like the heat in the hoophouse last week and hasn't done so well. The right is my 825 squash. Things are going slow out at the farm. Friday, June 4 View Page The rainfall last Thursday turned to 5 inches of wet snow last Saturday morning. 89 mm of rain (3 1/2 inches) fell on top of already saturated soil. The Taber parade was cancelled due to the really bad weather last Saturday. Cold and wet and my plants at the farm are hating it. I still have not watered anything at the farm. The soil is completely soaked inside the houses and the plants are very slow. Here's my squash plants. The only thing that likes the weather is the weeds! Friday, June 4 View Page Andrew's plants. Friday, June 4 View Page Alex's squash plants in the corner of the garden are not doing very well. Friday, June 4 View Page The long gourd plant at the farm is suffering as well. Last Saturday and Sunday (29 and 30 of May) didn't see the weather rise above 4 celcius. No wonder nothing likes the weather. The only thing that was welcome was the 2 degrees in Calgary on the 30th. After all the fun I've had with my liver, I managed to finish the Calgary 1/2 Marathon. Not a great time for me, but I pushed myself and finished strong. At least I didn't get sun stroke! Friday, June 4 View Page It is a different story at home. I got the houses up before the wild rain and snow and the plants are doing well. Here's Alanna plants. The left is the 1019 Grande which she's hoping to push to a biggie. The right is the 788 Vincent-McGill Friday, June 4 View Page Finally, the two 1019 Grande plants. All of the pumpkins and squash were started on April 15th. Just a bit of a difference. If the wind doesn't pick up this weekend, we'll take down the small hoophouse and put up the big one. Sunday, June 6 View Page It was a nice day yesterday...ok, nice for this year. Which means it wasn't raining, snowing, or a monsterous wind. The small hoophouse at home came down and up went the big one. The 1019 Grande plants were identical in size, so I asked my daughter and she got to choose. Today, we cut the west one off. Sunday, June 6 View Page Alanna is also down to one plant. The 788 Vincent-McGill came out and she's staying with the 1019 Grande as well. Sunday, June 6 View Page Oops, here's the picture of Alanna and the 788 Vincent-McGill. Sunday, June 6 View Page Alanna's 1019 Grande. The main on hers is starting to move. My 1019 Grande has a 53 inch main as of today. Monday, June 14 View Page The plants at the farm are actually growing these days. Andrew removed one of his 459's, although he needs to spend a bit of time removing some weeds. Poor guy has been busy, plus it has been just too wet to get into the patch. Monday, June 14 View Page And we're down to one squash plant. I pulled the 1055 Pitura. Darn thing didn't like a bit of heat and was quite deformed. Strange, considering the plant I kept, my 825 Makarchuk and the 1055 are both 848 Mackenzie selfed. The forecast is for more rain tomorrow. We got about 1/2 an inch in a thunderstorm this evening. Monday, June 14 View Page Alex's squash plants are finally starting to grow. Poor little guy, he wanted something really big this year. It is amazing these plants are even alive. We are going to try to build up the soil in the corners of the patch. The long gourd at the farm drowned last week and I'm out of backups. 6 plants started and I'm down to 2 at home, and they have problems of their own, but at least they are alive. Wednesday, June 16 View Page Hey Biz, I'm going to do my very best to keep the 1019's going. With the forecast below, I'm scared. I can't just put a bucket and a rock over a seedling anymore. On top of all the rain, wind and snow this season, I'm trying to figure out who I annoyed to deserve this. I think it's about time I learned how to build an ark. ------------------------------------------------- Tonight Rain. Amount 10 to 20 mm. Wind north 30 km/h. Low 8. Thursday Rain. Amount 40 to 50 mm. Wind northwest 40 km/h gusting to 60 becoming north 60 gusting to 100 in the morning. Temperature steady near 10. Thursday night Rain. Amount 15 mm. Wind northwest 40 km/h gusting to 60 becoming west 20 overnight. Low 7. Thursday, June 17 View Page More rain. More rain. More rain. I gave up on the long gourds at the farm and planted some tall peas two days ago. Sure glad I did. Friday, June 18 View Page So as of today, we have 4 1/2 inches of rain since Wednesday morning. The Old Man river is flooding the campground. Usually you can walk 20-30 yards past furthest trees. The part that killed me was seeing the people camping for the weekend in the new section, which is still safe, for now. The river is rising fast. Friday, June 18 View Page So this is what we woke up to this morning. Alex's squash are swimming again. I bailed for 1/2 an hour, but barely made a dent. Swim boys, swim! Friday, June 18 View Page 130 km east down the road is the little town of Irvine. I can't really complain, they got way more than we did. The road at the top of the picture is the Trans Canada highway. My son's spring hockey team practices out of the Irvine arena. The kids are worried about the arena, some other people have bigger things to worry about. The good news is the 1019's are fine, just slowed down the past few days. Did I mention the weather this year really sucks? Saturday, June 19 View Page Yahoo! The rain stopped and the sun came out. Here's the Taber MD park this morning. You can see the yellow posts under the trees that were in the previous post. A number of campers didn't get out in time and are stranded in the higher area with their trailers. The ducks and mosquitos are the only things that like this weather. Saturday, June 26 View Page It has been one week since we've seen rain. I have never seen my grass so thick and lush! The cover came off the 1019 today. Alanna's hoophouse at home came down today, as did my squash and Andrew's pumpkin house at the farm. Alex's cover came off, but I left the frame up in case a storm came up and it needed protection. It is still tiny, but it has become a pet project to see what I can get out from it. Sunday, June 27 View Page It is finally dry enough at the farm that I don't need boots just to get to the garden. The soil is still saturated around where the houses were, but it was hard packed at the edges of the houses. The left is my 825 Makarchuk squash, the right is Andrew's 459 Makarchuk pumpkin. He needs to do a bit of weeding. Up until yesterday, it was just too wet to do any meaningful work in the garden. Sunday, June 27 View Page Alex's squash plants. Poor little guy. I brought in some extra topsoil to try to prevent any more flooding this year. It was too wet so I had to use 5 gallon buckets to bring in some dirt. His 955 was started the same day as all of the other plants, and it has barely moved. Monday, June 28 View Page The 1019 at home. I have a female at 12.5 feet opening on the 29th. I'm a bit nervous as we are leaving for 6 days on vacation after we pollinate it. I'm going to keep the frame up as long as I can in case of bad weather or it is needed in the fall for some extra protection. Monday, June 28 View Page The flower on the 1019 as of tonight. I had another that opened on the 23rd, but it was only 8.5 feet out and I had no males ready. Plus it was a little deformed inside. All of the females on the two 1019 plants are on the long side. Friday, July 9 View Page We're back from some fun in the sun...ok, cold and rain, in BC. In 6 days, we had maybe 1 1/2 hours of warm sun. Oh well, waterskiing in 15 celcius isn't that bad... Here's Andrew's 459. July 6th he pollinated a nice five lobeerr at 10 feet with the 1019 Grande. In the back are Alex's squash. I was hoping they would start to grow, but no luck. Friday, July 9 View Page This morning the first on the 825 Makarchuk opened at 8 feet. A little early, but there's no other females for 2 weeks. I hope it takes. It was selfed. Friday, July 9 View Page Alanna's 1019 has almost filled her garden. The first female opened on the 2nd and was pollinated by a neighbour. She did a great job, but she found it stressful. The second opened on the 7th. Alanna did this one herself, with no help from me. We have no pictures of the lobes. I hope they are better than my 1019's. Both were sibbed. Friday, July 9 View Page Here's the two on Alanna's plant. Friday, July 9 View Page My 1019 Grande. The pumpkin that opened on the 29th aborted. Another opened on July 6th at 16 feet and was selfed. It only had 4 lobes and was small. The other 2 had 3 1/2. The last shot is another at 18 feet in a day or two. I'm getting a little nervous. Sunday, July 11 View Page This had better work. This is the female on my 1019 Grande that opened this morning at 19 feet out. I'm not sure the one from the 6th took, and I have no more females for at least two weeks. The strange thing is, I had planned to sib with my daughter's 1019. But the strangest thing happened when I opened up the male flowers this morning. Sunday, July 11 View Page The five male flowers on the left came from my daughter's 1019 Grande. The three on the right came from my own 1019. Her male flowers are immature and none had any pollen in them. Four of the five were picked last night and brought inside, while the one on the furthest left was missed and left overnight to open on its own. The two plants are separated only by a concrete path. They get the same fertilizer, same amount of water, and except for my daughter's inability to bury her vines as much as she should (she's only 7) they get the same treatment. I went back to a few old males from her plant and found the same thing. Does anyone have any idea why her male flowers are not maturing? She's got a pumpkin that is on day 9 from pollination going, not stellar numbers, but fairly decent. Sunday, July 11 View Page Andrew's 459. A 6 lober opened this morning, with another ready to go tomorrow. This plant is putting out a massive amount of females, compared to my 1019. The soil is still very chunky. I really should not have tilled it when I did, but it only got dry enough this week to get it done properly. Just before our last deluge in late June it was almost dry enough to get it done, but it did leave massive chunks of dirt. I finally got the irrigation system up yesterday and ran it for 10 minutes. It was the first time I had watered that patch all year, even inside the hoophouses. It then proceeded to start raining. Go figure. Wednesday, July 28 View Page I always hate going away for extended trips during pumpkin season. There is always something to worry about. We just got back from 8 days in Manitoba for some golf and a family reunion. It was nice seeing everyone. It was also great hearing the nice comments about my pumpkin log LOL! Here's what we came back to. This is my 825 Makarchuk squash. Slow and steady. Wednesday, July 28 View Page Here's Andrew's 459. He kept the one that pollinated on the 12th. The others were not growing well and had poor position. It was tough culling them, not knowing if this one was going to take. We had to make the decision at day 7 because the pumpkins were so close to each other and we were gone for 8 days. We took a chance and it seemed to have paid off for him. The plants at the farm were small to begin with due to the wet spring. The weather has been perfect this past week. Grow boys, grow! Thursday, July 29 View Page The long gourd plant at home. No females in sight, but ahead of last year. Saturday, July 31 View Page Alanna's 1019. We had to trim a few vines to get across the path. Saturday, July 31 View Page And her pumpkin off the 1019 Grande. Saturday, July 31 View Page My 1019 Grande today. I turned some of the secondaries to run along the path and the fence, instead of terminating them as I did in previous years. This is the biggest plant I have ever had in the back yard. I'm going to let a few more grow, but there's not much more room. It has been around 30 degrees every day for the past week and the plants can't get enough water. We had a great time on our vacation to the old country. We even saw my uncle's giant pumpkins! Saturday, July 31 View Page My 1019 Grande at 19 feet that was pollinated on the 11th. It's a good thing this one took because there were none after her. It's quite a long pumpkin compared to Alanna's. Hers stared off long as well, but has turned to a nice block shape. Friday, September 3 View Page It felt very strange, collecting pollen in September. Finally, after an awful long time, the first female on Alex's 825 Makarchuk squash finally opened at 10 feet. I had to hunt around to find a few males that I missed on the other plants. The 955 died, and this plant barely hung on after being flooded for most of May and June. It's been a really crappy year. It should have opened last week, but it has been very cold at night for all of August and the plant growth has been slow. Let's just say that except for a few short spurts of good weather, it's been a crappy year all around. The things you do for a 4 year old. He had a great time pollinating it. Let's just hope the frost warnings stay away for a few weeks... Sunday, September 19 View Page It's been a rotten fall. Cold and wet. Here's my 1019 Grande at home. The cover went back up on the hoophouse a few weeks ago. A few light frosts so far. Our dog, Maggie, is still plugging away. At 13 years old, the cancer doesn't seem to be bothering her too much. It's great to have my patch buddy with me again this season. She was only given a few months to live this past spring. Hopefully she has another pumpkin season in her in 2011. The tomatoes have been really slow. We picked the first of them today and made a small batch of salsa. Usually we have several jars made by late August. Sunday, September 19 View Page Alanna and her 1019. Thursday, September 23 View Page Andrew and his 459. He's got a beauty here. Thursday, September 23 View Page Here's a side look at Alanna's 1019. Mid August the back end stopped growing at the same rate as the rest of the pumpkin. It caught up in the past few weeks but was a bit worrysome. The stem end of thick and hard. Thursday, September 23 View Page Here's her blossom end. It slowed down in August and final numbers are 101, 76, 73.5 for an OTT of 250.5 and estimated weight of 338. Thursday, September 23 View Page Side view of Andrew's 459. It's been a tough year at the farm. Only 4 times did we have to crank up the sprinklers this summer. Too wet, too many weeds, and sadly, not enough west wind to dry things out in the spring. Thursday, September 23 View Page Andrew's again. his final numbers are 115, 83.5, 81 for an OTT of 279.5 and estimated weight of 465. Alanna's and Andrew's pumpkins are off to Lethbridge this weekend for a charity weighoff. Thursday, September 23 View Page And the squash. Not my best attempt. The pollination of July 8th aborted the first week of August. It's not too good when you go to measure and the numbers get smaller.... 25 feet of main vine and it only put out 4 females, and none worked. I pollinated this on August 5th on a side vine. Saturday, September 25 View Page A good day at the Greenhaven charity weighoff. Andrew's pumpkin came in first at 462.5 pounds. 0.5% light so pretty close to the chart. A nice flat bottom and a pretty pumpkin. Saturday, September 25 View Page Alanna's 1019 Grande came in second. The weight...414.5 pounds for a pumpkin 22% heavy to the chart. The stem end is the hardest, thickest pumpkin I've ever thumped. I'm afraid to think how heavy it would have been if the pumpkin would have been even all over. Saturday, September 25 View Page Here's the winners. Ray Beaudin of Lethbridge came in third with 325 pounds. This was a fundraiser for the Children's Wish Foundation and saw a massive crowd. A large amount of money was raised today for the charity. Friday, October 1 View Page October 1st and it's pumpkin picking day at home. Here's my 1019 Grande before we pulled her out. Final measurements were 89.5, 88, 150.5 for an OTT of 328 inches and estimated weight of 743 pounds. Friday, October 1 View Page Other view of the 1019 Friday, October 1 View Page The 1019 coming out of the patch. Friday, October 1 View Page Thanks to Peter Seadon and Taber Millwright for helping out with the pumpkin moving. Those of you who watch the CBC show "Heartland", pay attention later this season. You just may see Peter in some of the episodes as a bartender. Saturday, October 2 View Page So it's off to Smoky Lake. Again, picked up Mom and Dad in Calgary and made the trip north. Here's the 1019, along with the other two biggies that were there. The one in the middle was Mary Lobay's 759 and the one on the left was Don Crews' 987 The 1019 came in 3rd. 750.8 pounds and 1.1% heavy, so pretty close to the chart. I was sure she was going to go a little heavier. Oh well, still a good showing for the fun year we had. The pumpkin has been donated to the Bluegrass Nursery Pumpkin Festival in Calgary. It will be dropped onto a car. Let's hope it makes a big boom. Monday, October 18 View Page Maggie Makarchuk June 27, 1997 - October 18, 2010 Sleep well my girl. You will be in our hearts forever. Monday, October 18 View Page Maggie, my best patch buddy, she always loved the cats. Tiger and her were best of friends. Saturday, October 30 View Page We're a little bit behind with these entries. October 30th and we opened Alanna's and Andrew's pumpkins. Alanna's 414 (1019 Grande) had many seeds, but not one grew to maturity. Andrew's 462 (459 Makarchuk x 1019 Grande - my 1019 Grande) had about 250 seeds. This was the first time we used power tools to open up pumpkins. The reciprocating saw helped quite a bit. Sunday, October 31 View Page Andrea helped Alex carve his little pumpkin. Sunday, October 31 View Page Here's the final results of the three pumpkins. Sunday, October 31 View Page Andrew's 462 on the left, Alanna's 414 on the right. We had around 100 kids for candy. Monday, November 1 View Page Halloween has a nice night. The kids had a great time disposing of the pumpkins. Alex found a great chair with Alanna's 414. The stem end was 13 inches at the widest and was difficult to carve, while the blossom end was less than 1 inch at it's smallest point. October has been the nicest weather of the year. I've never had green grass like this before November 1st. My hanging baskets are usually gone by Smoky Lake. I've still got two baskets of petunias growing strong. Strange, messed up year.