Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 73 Entries. Tuesday, January 5 View Page Happy New Years to everyone! The grass in the picture was planted on December 2. I was shocked to see that it germinated. Normally grass planted that late in the season will germinate the following spring! We had an unusually warm December, Although, it looks like winter has started here now. I had 5 degrees Fahrenheit this morning. As long as the heavy el nino pattern stays in effect I think we will have an easy winter. That means the West coast gets all the cold. I don't want to see a winter like last years any time soon.   Wednesday, January 13 View Page The next few entries will include pictures of dark rinded melons capable of growing to large sizes. I think all of these would qualify in a 'Black Diamond' contest. The picture on this page is of a 'Blue Rind' melon. I got the seeds from Lloyd Bright. He sells this strain as well as a true Black Diamond strain.   Wednesday, January 13 View Page This is a row of 'Mt Hoosiers' I got the seeds from Jake Holloway. I believe all his seed was descended from the 103 Masterson. These also have potential to grow very large. I had several in this row over 75 pounds with no special care or pruning. A picture of the fruit off the 'Mt Hoosier' will be in my next entry.   Wednesday, January 13 View Page These are the melons from that row of Mt. Hoosiers. They were grown on mulch hay and were grafted onto bushel gourd rootstock. They did very well, grown that way.   Wednesday, January 13 View Page A close up of a Mt. Hoosier in that patch. This one weighed 78 pounds.   Wednesday, January 13 View Page This melon is grown off a seed I got from Cliff Knight. (1SG on bp.com.) It weighed 95 pounds. I am not sure of the exact lineage of this melon. I believe Cliff said it was a Black diamond possibly crossed with some 'Sun, Moon and Stars' melon. My plant did not exhibit many traits from the Sun Moon and Stars. I believe he had grown several with the more characteristic spotting of the leaves and the melon. What a dark beautiful color! I admit, I rubbed it like an apple to bring out the shine.   Wednesday, January 13 View Page Here is a cool looking melon. I believe this one was from Jake Holloway. It was a Mt. Hoosier crossed with a Carolina Cross. I grew this in with my eating melons so it grew in a crowded row without enough space or care. I don't think this would qualify as a Black Diamond. Would it if the stripes were bred out of it? The Black Diamond C.C. cross might be one way to get a dark melon over 200 pounds.   Wednesday, January 13 View Page This is a Lloyd Bright Black Diamond. Grown this year. I believe the seed was off of a 170 pounder that Lloyd grew. I have problems with disease and I lost this melon to wilt, the voles tunneling under the plant didn't seem to help it either. I would love to see one of these dark melons go over 200 pounds.   Tuesday, January 19 View Page “You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man’s initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.” Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865   Tuesday, January 19 View Page I really found this old book very interesting. I especially liked the account of how the indians were farming when the white man first settled here. I thought I would share it. (It will take some time to read the whole thing.) I learned a lot. http://www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/documents/publications/a_history_of_connecticut_agriculture.pdf   Friday, February 12 View Page "When any people, regardless of race or geographical location, have not been trained to habits of industry, have not been given skill of hand in youth, and taught to love labour, a direct result is the breeding of a worthless idle class..." "If a community has been educated exclusively on books and has not been trained in habits of applied industry, an unwholesome tendency to dodge honest productive labour is likely to develop." —Booker T. Washington   Thursday, May 5 View Page I planted my AG's yesterday. Here is what went in. A 1538 Jutras, 1522 Terry, 1067 Ciesielski, 312 House, 516 Cantrell squash and a 1030 DeBacco. Now we just need some good weather. Melons will go in much later this year. Maybe towards the end of the month.   Monday, May 23 View Page Cuke beetles showed up today. The cold frames have been off the plants for a week now, they are starting to run pretty well now.   Tuesday, May 31 View Page I planted some 95 Ciesielski Black Diamonds This past weekend. (see picture) I also planted a couple 185 English Bushel gourds. I am purposely starting later this year. I want the weather to be nice and warm, which it has been for over a week now. I still haven't planted any Carolina Cross melons but I have a couple 229 Lindley melons in 4" pots. The problem is that they are covered with aphids! I need to make sure I have that problem under control before planting them out.   Friday, July 22 View Page I lost three plants to Yellow vine disease. The 312 House, the 516 Cantrell squash and the 1063 Ciesielski. The 312 House was going to be big and orange with a perfect shape. Losing that one really stung. I still have three plants left. I am hoping that they all make it. These are the ones I have left. The 1538 Jutras, 1030 DeBacco and 1522 Terry. The 1538 and the 1030 look to be big and orange. The 1522 Terry does not.   Saturday, July 23 View Page As usual I got off to a good start with the pumpkins, this picture was taken in mid June. They are growing on a thick layer of Horse manure and shavings. (Aged for about a year) This is my second year growing on a permanent mulch. The soil is phenomenal here. Earthworms abound and the soil is full of life.   Saturday, July 23 View Page 185 English bushel gourd in mid June. I got these in on the late side. But there is no rush as they are like field pumpkins and grow fast.   Saturday, July 23 View Page This is the same 185 English bushel gourd today. It looks very nice. It is growing on a chicken manure and shavings mulch that I layed out right on top of existing pasture grasses last fall/winter. It was over 6" thick and deep enough to smother the grasses. I don't have any bushel gourds set yet, but I am hoping to see some soon as this is the time of year I usually start to see some growing. I never do a darn thing for the bushel gourds and they always grow big for me. They are perfect for a farmer like me who always is juggling to many crops to pay special attention to any of them.   Saturday, July 23 View Page Now for the bad news> Does any one recognize what is going on with this 1063 Ciesielski plant? Yep, you guessed it, my old nemesis, Yellow vine disease. It has reared it's ugly head again this year.. GRRRRRR......   Saturday, July 23 View Page This picture shows the YVD on the 312 House. This plant was mostly all dead headed and I never got to see the wilting stunted vine tips which usually is the first sign. It skipped right to the adult leaf's turning a yellow/bronze color.   Saturday, July 23 View Page This is the pumpkin on the 312 House, second best pumpkin in the patch. This one was going to be a real nice looking pumpkin. Joseph House (agteacher) produces more good big and orange seeds in his patch in one season than the rest of all big and orange growers combined! LOL   Saturday, July 23 View Page 1030 DeBacco, this one is the biggest in the patch. This will be red orange for sure. The shape is not perfect though. Who cares! It is orange and it looks like it will be big. Praying that the YVD does not get this one...   Saturday, July 23 View Page 1522 Terry, this one was a slow starter but I have a feeling it may finish first in the end if it makes it. Fingers are crossed. It seems to have that juvenile trait that the 1725 Harp offspring exhibit. (the skin stays young and soft for a long time.) I am careful not to do too much touching or fussing with this one. I dead headed the vine after the pumpkin. I normally don't do that, but in my patch I don't usually get much growth after the fruit anyhow, so what the heck. It is my only pumpkin that is not going to be orange. It's momma was a beauty! Go figure.   Saturday, July 23 View Page 1538 Jutras, this one is in the same spot that grew my 1,063 last year. I don't know what it is about that spot but I do like what I see so far from this plant. This spot gets a good deal of shade, maybe until about 10 or 11 O'clock. There is a huge black cherry tree right behind it.   Saturday, July 23 View Page 1522 Terry, side vine pumpkin. In rough years I have a hard time culling to one pumpkin. I may cull this one if this and my other plants stay healthy and avoid the dreaded season ending YVD.   Saturday, July 23 View Page This is a pretty shot of the corn patch. I have been gardening since I was a kid. In all my years I have never had this much pressure from the local wildlife. I had a hard time getting a decent stand of sweet corn, I actually had to plant 3 times until I got a decent stand. First it was mice nibbling off the young seedlings and seeds, Then it was the catbirds pulling them out. I finally figured out how to stop them, I sprayed deer repellant on the seeds as soon as they sprouted. It is made of putrescent eggs and garlic. It sure does stink. Also Planting the seed a little deeper helped because when they went to pull the seedling, some of the corn was still left in the ground and they were able to re-sprout. Squirrels have been eating my pumpkin vines and nibbling my pumpkins. Mice have been decimating the potato and tomato crop. It never ends. I think that last year was such a bountiful year with a huge acorn, hickory, apple, peach you name it. The rodents and other animals really proliferated and then we had a mild winter to boot. A perfect recipe for a furry vengeance.   Saturday, July 23 View Page 516 Cantrell squash, another victim of the yellow vine disease.   Saturday, July 30 View Page A couple of days ago I noticed that the 185 English bushel gourd completely wilted during the heat of the day. It sprang back later that day as it cooled. I assumed it was some sort of terrible vascular disease. But.. It is always best to check things over and examine the plant to make sure it is not something else that may be causing the problem. I went up to the "stump" and found that it was completely excavated around and there were holes beneath the ground. The holes were too big to be from a vole or mole so I assumed it was rats. (this plant is near the chicken coop.) I set three rat traps and after a couple of days I caught a rat. I re-baited and hopefully I will catch a few more. I am not sure if the plant will rebound or not. I soaked it good and I hope it can root along the vines. (I don't bury bushel gourd vines so I don't really have a ton of rooting on the vines.) It will be really something if I still manage to grow a decent bushel gourd this year. This year has been a rough one. I need some virgin or well rested soil to grow on next year. It has gotten so that I can't even grow eating melons. Let's not even talk about the insects and critters that are trying to destroy my efforts.   Wednesday, August 10 View Page 1522 Terry, another one bites the dust. This one was going to weigh like a rock. Too bad it started to rot. I scraped out the rot and treated it but my experience tells me that this sucker is going down no matter what I do. Sorry about the photo, I had my camera on some weird setting.   Wednesday, August 10 View Page A close up of the 1522 Terry's rot. Again sorry for the picture, I am not sure what setting the camera was on. Time to do some fishing! LOL Matt D e-mail me and we'll go fishing in the big pond here.   Wednesday, August 10 View Page At least the corn is growing tall. This is 'Boone county white' corn. Probably averaging about 12' tall. Look to the left hand side of the picture, there is a tall stalk of corn with out any tassel. That is an Olotillo, A big thank you to Doug English for the seed, I am thinking this one has lots more to grow! A lone bright spot in my season.   Wednesday, August 10 View Page 1030 DeBacco, going to be a nice orange one!   Wednesday, August 10 View Page 1030 DeBacco, sorry for the weird picture. But you get the point, this one will be orange!   Wednesday, August 10 View Page 1538 Jutras, this one will also be orange. I like it. A big orange blob.   Wednesday, August 10 View Page 185 English Bushel gourd. It seems to have survived the rats. It is still growing and it's taking over the entire yard. I don't know if I have any sets yet. I have not even looked. I let these, just do there thing.   Wednesday, August 10 View Page Look what I found growing in the sweet corn patch. A Cucurbita ficifolia. This will take over the yard too. They really grow from now until fall.   Wednesday, August 10 View Page A late planting of sweet corn (July 10) The variety is 'Delectable' and 'Miracle'. I will finish the growing season right to the end with sweet corn.   Wednesday, August 10 View Page 'Carolina nugget' sweet potato being grown as an ornamental ground cover.   Wednesday, August 10 View Page 'Willow leaf' pole lima on the left and 'Christmas' lima on the right. The 'Willow leaf' is really a late one and is just blossoming now.   Wednesday, August 10 View Page This row of melons and cucumbers is still disease free. From a late planting. (June 30th) It may be disease free now, but once we get some of those cool nights look out for the downy mildew.   Wednesday, August 10 View Page 'Gordo' melon one of the few varieties to mature anything in this disease filled patch. The other variety that produced was 'Sugar cube' and 'Goddess. The rest didn't mature properly.   Thursday, August 11 View Page These are what I believe to be a cross between a field pumpkin and an 'Oranghetti' spaghetti squash. The plant was a volunteer, the fruit started out a light yellow or orange it was never green.   Thursday, August 11 View Page I went on a hike up Talcott Mountain which I believe is in Avon CT. The view from up on the ridge is spectacular. I thought I would share a few photographs from a beautiful summer evening.   Thursday, August 11 View Page This shot is taken facing southwest. Supposedly the ridge was formed at some point in prehistory when magma gurgled up between two tectonic plates. The ridge extends in a north-south direction and goes all the way down to Sleeping Giant in Hamden CT which is a few miles from New Haven Harbor on Long Island sound.   Thursday, August 11 View Page How did this Red Cedar ever germinate and take root here? It is right on the edge of the cliff, with no soil.   Thursday, August 11 View Page Fields down below, this is the fertile Farmington river valley. I wish my soil was like that soil.   Thursday, August 11 View Page One more picture.   Tuesday, August 23 View Page I am still clinging to the hope of getting one to a weigh off. I am down to two. The 1030 DeBacco and the 1538 Jutras. Both have their problems. I had to cut the 1538 off the vine because there was a rot creeping up the main vine. I let it get to about a foot or two from the pumpkin before I cut it. Hopefully the pumpkin can survive for a couple more weeks. It has a stem split and stem rot too. I have to scrape and spray every day. The icing on the cake came yesterday when the strong winds we had blew off the sheet covering the pumpkin. Our outdoor cat, "Blackie" used the pumpkin as a scratching post. There is a 6" x 9" section of cat scratches. Grrrrrrrrr... The 1030 has some major stem rot too. I have been scraping away the rot and applying daconil daily. Sooner or later it will dry out. I have faith that I will get at least one pumpkin to a scale this year. Some years are like this. It is time for me to re-think some of my strategies. I have been growing for about 10 years now, It's time to make a few changes.   Tuesday, August 23 View Page The good news is that my 'Olotillo' corn plant did not blow over in the high winds we got. It has to be 18' and I just saw the beginnings of a tassle. So maybe 20' is in the future! A lone bright spot in a difficult season. Thank you Doug English! I can't wait 'til next year! Some crops that have done well for me this year are tomatoes, lima's, and okra. The sweet potatoes have done well too, but we have a surplus of mice this year... so I am not sure how much of a crop will be left for me. I may have to go in early to harvest them, I had to do the same thing with the irish potatoes. (as they were being consumed rapidly by the voles.) It has been a warm year with several long stretches of drought. We just had some major showers on Sunday night, we probably got a couple of inches. A "million dollar rain".   Monday, September 5 View Page Anyone else have slugs this big? I have had people right up the road from here, tell me they have never seen slugs of that species on their property. We have tons of these big spotted ones! Sluggo works wonders on these.   Monday, September 5 View Page Loaded and ready for the Goshen Fair. The orange pumpkin in the back of the bed is the 1538 Jutras. I had to remove the stem because the vine was rotting and it got into the stem too. The 1538 has been off the vine since the middle of August. The one in the front of the bed is the 1542 Porkchop. (Sorry Porkchop if I got the number wrong. It was your big one from last year.) I grew the Porkchop pumpkin in a distant patch without any follow up care. So I am quite pleased with getting something for nothing. My guess is that it weighs in the 300-400 range.   Monday, September 5 View Page 1538 Jutras, now the 688 Ciesielski.   Monday, September 5 View Page This is the first place pumpkin grown by Gary Vincent. It weighed 1220 pounds. Gary told me the seed was the 2009 Wallace. It looks like it was starting to turn orange! This pumpkin was a new fair record!   Monday, September 5 View Page This is the second place pumpkin grown by Bob Ellis. Bob is a second year grower and really hit it out of the park with this pumpkin. It weighed 1126 pounds! He said it was taping in the low 900's. So it went very heavy. I am a proud father, as it was my 1063 seed that it was grown from. Not too much orange in it, but how can you complain when it goes that heavy? The heavy must be from the 1426 LaRiviere as the pollinator. The mother on the 1063 was the 1299 Wolf, a dark orange beauty. I have a bag full of seed, so I will likely give it a shot again next year. (I lost my 1063 in July to Yellow vine disease.) I am excited to see what Bob is going to bring to the Bethlehem Fair on Thursday.   Monday, September 5 View Page 720 Hall exhibition pumpkin. This one went down to a dill ring. It must have gone very light, It looked much bigger than 720.   Monday, September 5 View Page 1542 Porkchop, all carved up. Pretty cool.   Monday, September 5 View Page Fordhook 242 Lima. The best for succotash.   Saturday, September 10 View Page This is the 1030 DeBacco, getting ready to harvest for Bethlehem. I am very happy to have one nice pumpkin to bring to a weighoff. The color is right up there with the very darkest I have grown. This one has not been measured since early August. It has been one of those years.   Saturday, September 10 View Page 1030 DeBacco isn't she purty?   Saturday, September 10 View Page 1030 DeBacco loaded and ready to go.   Saturday, September 10 View Page 1030 DeBacco, this thing thumps like a rock.   Saturday, September 10 View Page One more shot of it. Growing one like this reminds me of why I like to grow orange.   Tuesday, September 13 View Page Bob Ellis's first place pumpkin. He told me it was grown off the 972 Holland.   Tuesday, September 13 View Page Peter Sweets third place entry at Bethlehem. Nice ribbing.   Tuesday, September 13 View Page Gary Vincent's Blocky beast. I liked the symmetry on this pumpkin. It took second place.   Sunday, September 18 View Page Olotillo corn, 16'9". A personal best for me! A big thank you goes out to Doug English for providing the seeds!   Sunday, September 18 View Page A grasshopper on some sweet corn stalks.   Wednesday, October 26 View Page After nearly losing this bushel gourd plant in July, it recovered and set many fruit. It is the 186 English.   Wednesday, October 26 View Page This was the biggest with an ott of 200" It was buried under weeds and I didn't even know it was there until yesterday! The fruit grew with it's blossom end on the ground and it's stem in the air. I wonder if that is the ideal position to get maximum growth. I don't know why but bushel gourds always seem to do well for me. I think they thrive with the neglect and zero maintenance that I give them.   Wednesday, October 26 View Page This poor thing grew under the fence and was completely squished and the growth was restricted.   Wednesday, October 26 View Page Another cool shot, of the 186 English bushel gourd plot.   Wednesday, October 26 View Page And another picture for all you bushel gourd nuts. (all 5 of you.) LOL   Wednesday, October 26 View Page An overhead shot of the 200 ott. gourd. The second biggest was a 193 ott. I am curious if I got one to go over two hundred pounds. I didn't bring any to a weigh off. That's the kind of year it's been. I wish I could get a watermelon that weighed as much as these bushel gourds. These gourds will have great seeds and I will use them for melon rootstock.