Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 33 Entries. Thursday, April 1 View Page This past winter I planted a cover crop of barley, bell beans, vetch, and some kind of peas. I planted it just before Thanksgiving and cut it on March 20th. It was about waist high and was very dense...particularly the barley. I mowed it with my tractor and chopped it up really well before tilling it in. Thursday, April 1 View Page This is a picture of my cover crop on March 1st. Thursday, April 1 View Page I tilled in the cover crop after adding 50 pounds of gypsum per planting site, 200 pounds of humic shale (which was broadcast over the entire field),and 100 pounds of kelp meal (which was also broadcast). Thursday, April 1 View Page This is a shot of the patch from the "low end". At this end the bed height has been built up about three feet above the native adobe clay. This will be the third year that I have grown in the raised beds...they have made a huge difference in my final results. My personal best has gone from 873.5 to 1114 (two years ago) to 1288.5 (last year). Hopefully this trend will continue. Thursday, April 1 View Page This is my lineup for 2010: 991 Urena, 1161 Rodonis, 1375 Liggett, 1467 Perham, 1288 Wallace, 985 Werner, 954 Pugh, 901 Hunt, and 1288.5 Pugh. Saturday, April 3 View Page This year I'm planning to attend to some of the details that I haven't bothered with in the past. One is attempting to keep my soil as fluffy and soft for as long as possible. These are my newly made soil walking shoes which will help me achieve this goal. I tried them out and they really do work! Monday, August 9 View Page If you get a small enough kid you can make a medium sized pumpkin look big in a picture. This is my 1288 Wallace on day 35 at 280 OTT of an estimated 467 pounds. This is right on schedule to be a good one. Monday, August 9 View Page This is the one I'm most excited about, my 1467 Perham fruit. Day 41 309 OTT or an estimated 623 pounds. Long, wide, no big ribs or dill rings...solid as a rock. If I can grow this one to an estimated 1200 and it goes even 25% heavy...watch out! This seed has produced a 1355 pounder that was something like 35% heavy. Monday, August 9 View Page This is the fruit on my 954 Pugh also at day 41. It measures 304 OTT or an estimated 596 lbs. It has some nice slabs of extra, protruding meat on the sides. It already looks big and is on its way to looking huge. Monday, August 9 View Page My 985 Werner fruit currently looks like it is going to be my biggest. On day 37 it measures 299 OTT or an estimated 566 lbs. It has been going 30+ pounds a day for the past 5 days. It looks pretty solid. Monday, August 9 View Page Don't count out my 991 Urena fruit either! On day 38 it tapes 284 OTT or an estimated 487 pounds. Last year on day 40 my 991 fruit measured 240 OTT...and ended up going 1288.5 lbs. This will probably end up my best ...right Pingrey? Saturday, August 14 View Page Here's my 1467 fruit on day 46, taping to 338OTT or and estimated 811 lbs. It is hanging on to 30+ pound days. Yesterday it taped to 770 pounds...that's 41 lbs in 24 hours and I didn't even water. Saturday, August 14 View Page This is a side view of the 1467 Perham fruit. It is long, wide and pretty tall and just starting to put on some ribs. It has a long way to go yet! Monday, August 16 View Page The fruit on my 954 Pugh is starting to cantelope a little bit...and it is looking big too. This pic was today (day 49) and it tapes to an estimated 782 pounds (334 OTT). Monday, August 16 View Page My 991 Urena is starting to do its thing. From day 36 it went from an estimated 430 pounds to an estimated 716 pounds today (day 46). Last year my 991 kept growing like this for a month (it went from an estimated 420 pounds to 1220 pounds between August 9th and September 9th). This one has another 500 pounds to go in the next 20 days to match the peak growth on my 991 from last year! That would make me a very happy pumpkin grower. Monday, August 16 View Page My 1375 Liggett has three splits in its stem. None of them are through to the cavity though. I've never had a pumpkin that has a stem-split, but not split all the way through to the center cavity. I thought this one was toast a week ago, but it keeps on growing with the split under the stem. In the eight days since it first slit it has grown more than 250 pounds. It currently tapes to an estimated 653 pounds on day 45. I think it is kind of cool. I also think that it isn't going to split into the cavity! Monday, August 16 View Page I hope that this will be one of those nasty stem splits that you see at a weigh-offs where you can reach clear underneath the stem with your hand and stick your fingers out the other side. Ugly, but proof that it really wanted to grow, and has thick shoulders. HEAVY. Sunday, September 5 View Page Today my 1375 Liggett finally split into the cavity after nearly a month of slowly tearing itself apart at the stem. It taped 166x102x105=367 OTT for an estimated 1035 pounds. I'll get it weighed with my in-line scales to get a true weight on it sometime this week. I think it will be heavy based on the size of it's shoulders and the depth of the stem split before it finally broke into the cavity. Sunday, September 5 View Page The one I'm worried about splitting is my 991 fruit. It is a 4 lober and each lobe is about as pronounced as you can get. It is either really thick or a ticking time bomb. It currently is sitting at 380 OTT or an estimated 1148 pounds and is still making gains of a inch or two a day. This pumpkin is either going to be victory...or death! Sunday, September 5 View Page This fruit on my 1288 Wallace plant is so tall that it makes the considerably larger 985 Werner fruit that is growing next to it look little. This baby is measuring 159x107x107=373 OTT or an estimated 1086 pounds on day 62. If it keeps going it is going to be HUGE. Sunday, September 5 View Page After failing to get my 985 Werner to germinate last year, this year's 985 Werner is making up for it. On day 65 it is taping 176x109.5x103=388.5 OTT or an estimated 1225 pounds and is still growing. Now if it will just go heavy I could give the Napa boys a run for their money! Sunday, September 5 View Page I thought my 954 Pugh fruit had quit growing, but it keeps chugging along. On day 70 it is taping 170x103.5x105=377.5 or an estimated 1125 pounds. My 954 fruit went 13.6% heavy last year and didn't even have the big, ole' slabs of meat that this one has hanging off it. Monday, September 6 View Page And last, but not least is my 1467.5 Perham fruit. She has only gained about 50 pounds in the last week, but I'll take it. At 377 OTT or an estimated 1121 pounds I just wonder what it really is going to weigh??? Monday, September 6 View Page At 10% heavy it would be 1233 lbs. At 20% heavy it would be 1345 pounds. At 25% heavy it would be 1401 pounds. +30% would be 1457...+35% would be 1513 pounds. Oh yeah, it is still growing! Wednesday, September 8 View Page Here is the 1035 EST Pugh grown from the 1375 Liggett. Wednesday, September 8 View Page The final measurements on the 1035 EST Pugh are as follows: 161" x 103" x 103" = 367 OTT. Friday, December 31 View Page As 2010 draws to an end I need to finish up my 2010 grower's diary. Friday, December 31 View Page Here is the 1021.5 Pugh which I took to Elk Grove. This was grown from the 1467 Perham and was pollinated with the 1161 Rodonis. It was really fast out of the gates and was taping to 378 OTT on day 77. Then it stopped. I kept convincing myself that it had grown a little more as it developed a small stem split and kept my hope alive a for it becoming a 30% heavy fruit that taped to 1166 pounds! Then it went light about 12% and crushed my hopes. What a ride. I'm just glad that I knew what it weighed before it hit the scales or I might have had a heart attack in front of every grower in Northern California. Friday, December 31 View Page This is the 1158 Pugh, my largest measuring pumpkin of 2010. It was grown from the 985 Werner and taped to 399 inches or an estimated 1327 pounds. 13% light. Of course I was hoping for 6% heavy, which would have been 1460 pounds. I took it to the Sonoma County Harvest Fair and placed second. This was one big pumpkin...but it went light. Friday, December 31 View Page This is my 1205 Pugh grown from a 991 Urena. It taped to 381 inches (an estimated 1157 lbs) and actually went heavy!!! Unfortunately it developed a small hole on a sag line, so it wasn't eligible for a "real" contest. This pumpkin was about 5.5 feet long and was very skinny (179x87x114). It was weighed at the Sonoma County Fair's kids contest. Friday, December 31 View Page This is my 1336 Pugh, grown from a 991 Urena. This pumpkin nearly gave me a nervus breakdown. On September 24th it was taping to 394 inches and I decided to weigh it while it was still on the vine, so I set up a scaffold, hitched up my lifting ring and inline scale and hoisted it up. The scales read 1677 pounds and it was still growing. I almost fell off the scaffold when I saw the display. According to the scales it was about 500 pounds heavy...which would have been something like 40% heavy. I knew it couldn't be right, so we hitched it up again and it weighed the same. After about a couple of days of bouncing between dreaming of a world record and knowing that my scale had to be wrong, I borrowed Gary Miller's scale and learned that it really weighed 1336 pounds and that my scale somehow had become mis-calibrated. A week later it got really hot (101-104 degrees for three days)and it started to ooze pumpkin juice. A couple of days later it became a pile of mush. It was fun while it lasted. Friday, December 31 View Page Things did get better for me. This is my 1255 Pugh grown from my 954 Pugh. It taped to 391 OTT or an estimated 1250 pounds. It placed 3rd at Usegui Farms and won me $1000! Then they bought it for a dollar a pound! finally a little success and satisfaction! The 954 Pugh is a pretty good seed. Last year it grew a 1355 as well. Friday, December 31 View Page This is my 1260 Pugh which was grown from my 1288 Wallace plant. It taped to 388 inches (1220 pounds) so it went just a little heavy. It was pollinated with my 954, which produced my 1255 pounder, so these should be some pretty nice seeds. The 1260 was a tall, round fruit and placed 6th at Half Moon Bay.