Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 23 Entries. Saturday, March 31 View Page He's baaaaack! Everyone's favorite pumpkin gnome is back to herald the start of the 2018 pumpkin growing season. Today, this rye grass will get cut and tilled into the patch. Next week, we'll get a delivery of "black magic" from Stephen at Artisan Landscaping and the patch will be officially ready to go.   Saturday, March 31 View Page Oh the potential...! Love Spring days when you can clean up the garden and get ready for the season. I may have overdone it though...so sore...but it's a good sore. Will put up the hoop houses shortly. It's a pretty good looking patch for a backyard patch.   Sunday, April 8 View Page Cut a new patch solely for the giant squash this year. Can't wait to see what it produces!   Friday, April 20 View Page 4-20! What a perfect day to start growing something big and green (and orange too!). ??????. All seeds are soaking and will be planted tomorrow! Here's this year's lineup: 1018 Pelletier 2015 - the original that started it all ?? 629 Pelletier 2017 - the Howard Dill Award winner for prettiest pumpkin 1167 Pelletier 2017 - from Grawp - last year's second place giant pumpkin in BC 1790.5 Wallace 2015 - my first Wallace seed! Excited! 1071 Horde 2016 - This was a great big green giant squash And it begins!   Sunday, April 22 View Page Hoop houses up! It's almost go-time! Exciting!   Tuesday, May 1 View Page All the babies have germinated! Went with the 1790.5 Wallace 2015, 629 Pelletier 2017 and 1071 Horde 2016 squash along with 1167 Pelletier 2017 and 1018 Pelletier 2015 as backups. Let the fun begin!   Wednesday, May 2 View Page Spent some time on my birthday yesterday to get the plants into the hoop houses. Was a warm sunny day today. Everything looks very happy. This the 1790.5 Wallace 2015. The cots were huge!   Tuesday, May 22 View Page Had to be a week away for a conference. Luckily, all is well in the patch. My initial plant was the 1790.5 Wallace 2015... Unfortunately, it got fried with some early season heat we're not used to here. However, my backup 629 Pelletier 2017 is growing very aggressively and will be my main plant now. The final weight isn't indicative of the true potential of the plant last year as it was only pollinated after August 1st and was in a 300 sq ft patch. It's growth rate even eclipsed my 1,167 last year when comparing the growth at same date past pollination. Looking forward to seeing what it will do in the main patch.   Thursday, June 7 View Page The 629 Pelletier 2017 aka Ella is looking great and ready to outgrow its greenhouse. Hoping the weather warms up a bit more in the next few days.   Thursday, June 14 View Page Born free!!! Ella (629 Pelletier 2017) has outgrown her greenhouse! All out in the open now. Main vine about 9ft and really good secondary growth. Now we just need some more sun and warmth!   Sunday, June 17 View Page Looks like we have a female on the 629 Pelletier 2017 aka Ella. This stretch of nice weather is coming at just the right time!   Wednesday, June 20 View Page Oh the humble beginnings in the garden! Hmmmm, think I'm a proud Canadian or something?!? Here's a look at Ella as well as where Laverne, giant marrow and Frank will be growing. I'll take the same pic in September and it will be a sea of vegetation (and hopefully some monster fruit!). Notice the double fencing... #nosquirrels Also, plenty of shade structures to prevent from sun scald in this heat wave.   Sunday, June 24 View Page 629 Pelletier 2017 is growing well and really starting to fill out. Have a nice female about 9ft out on the main which I'll pollinate but likely will cull. Hoping this stretch of cool wet weather passes quickly.   Wednesday, June 27 View Page One week's worth of growth on Ella (629 Pelletier 2017). Not too bad considering how cold it has been. Bring on some warmth!!!   Thursday, June 28 View Page We have a female! Pollinated this nice 4 lober on the 629 Pelletier 2017. This is the earliest I've ever pollinated, but probably won't be keeping it as it's only about 8ft out on the main. I have a another one that will be about 15 ft out, so hoping that will be a good option as it'll be a much better position.   Thursday, July 12 View Page Ella (629 Pelletier 2017) is getting huge now. Over 20 ft long and almost 30ft wide. Nice food factory to support the new baby pumpkin!   Thursday, July 12 View Page Pollinated this honey of a female yesterday! Beautiful 5 lober about 16 ft on the main. I'm 11 days behind last year, but with a much healthier vine and way better position. Now if Mother Nature continues to cooperate, we should be set. Fingers crossed the pollination takes!   Monday, July 23 View Page Ella (629 Pelletier 2017) doing well! Start taking measurements soon. Looks to be around the same size as Grawp was last year, though I am 11 days behind (lost all my initial plants due to the early season heat wave and being away for a conference). Hoping to catch up with the amazing stretch of weather we've been having.   Tuesday, July 24 View Page Just when you think things are going well... BAM. Had to perform emergency surgery this morning. The blossom nub seemed suspect today and sure enough, had the slightest bit of rot forming. Cut off the rot and treated with peroxide and sulphur and put a fan on it. Fingers crossed that it heals and keeps chugging along. It's in perfect position and would be really sad to see it go down.   Sunday, July 29 View Page Ella (629 Pelletier 2017) packed on another 11 lbs last night. She's now ahead of Grawp was last year at same time of pollination. Fingers crossed she holds together.   Wednesday, August 8 View Page Here's Ella (629 Pelletier 2017) at DAP 28 and OTT 215. Doing better than Grawp last year. Similar shape too and super smooth skin. Just hoping the blossom end holds together. Have some other neat things happening elsewhere in the patch, but will save that for later.   Thursday, August 23 View Page Ella (629 Pelletier 2017) at DAP 43 and OTT over 300 now. Still averaging about 25 lbs a day. We're heading out of the hot smoky weather into a cool rainy spell, so that could slow down quite a bit. Still hoping to get to 1,000 lbs by Oct!   Saturday, September 8 View Page Ella (629 Pelletier 2017) sitting at around 900 lbs now and still growing quite well considering how crappy the weather has turned as of yet. She's super pretty. I'm thrilled considering how challenging this year has been. Let's hope she goes over 1,000 and weighs heavy!