Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 106 Entries. Sunday, January 3 View Page Well its 2010 and I am trying to study as much about pkn growing as possible before planting time comes around I finished off 2009 knowing very little about the world of giant pumpkins and I still have so much to learn it’s a little daunting . I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the fine people on BP.COM for a sharing the information I so badly need to at least have a reasonable chance of growing a giant pumpkin next season. I still need to finish preparing my patch but its under snow right now so not a lot I can do there I can however start thinking about 2012 season . I am getting a steady supply of horse manure now a trailer load per week and have maybe 4-5 tonnes of it cooking away as we speak I know this won’t be ready this season but as I say it’s for 2012 season so should have ample amounts come next fall.   Sunday, January 3 View Page I shall be setting up a windrow wormery system and scrapping most of my wormeries to put the worm populations in to the manure with a bit of luck they should reproduce at a quicker rate, I’m trying to get as much worm castings gathered as possible I have maybe 1000# so far and when I sort my wormeries in the spring maybe the same again. line up next season will be a Paton 1457 and a ghaye 1452 and one other not yet decided I shall have to see what seeds arrive in the future before the decision is made I would like to thank everyone who has sent me seeds I will make sure as many as possible go into the dirt this year. if I don’t grow them I’m sure plenty of people who are joining the friendly competition on my community site will grow them I have had tremendous interest so far in growing giant pkns and so far I have over 20 people defiantly going to grow one or two plants maybe not to competition standards but who knows they might just get the giant pkn bug and go on to concentrate growing them next year. Finally for now I hope every one of you grows big in 2010 and have a great season and thanks again for sharing and being patient with me.   Monday, January 4 View Page well yet another day doing nothing on the patch im starting to go stir crazy. i have never been in the house so much in many yrs we have -6 c today pretty cold for the uk and with the snow and ice on the ground there is nothing i can do on the patch . oh well at least its warm in here and after all i have google to do more research.   Tuesday, January 5 View Page another day with snow on the ground i know its not alot but my old scare crow at the back dont care for it much roll on spring time   Tuesday, January 5 View Page well at least something is warming up at the patch i was going to turn it today but didnt have time   Tuesday, January 5 View Page so i added a bit more to the heap from the manure i got on sunday this pile is about high enough now guess ill have to start moving down the plot a bit with it   Tuesday, January 5 View Page thats it now for that pile for the next three weeks all covered up and cooking away nicely i shall turn full pile then into the next compartment   Tuesday, January 5 View Page the good thing about snow is it makes everything look the same so my garden looks as neat as everyone elses right nowi doubt it will last   Saturday, January 9 View Page well yet another snowy day here in england so nothing to be dont on patch my farmer friend is bringing another load of manure tomorrow morning hope i can get the padlocks open to let him in i got some seeds today off john van hook thanks john it only made things harder as now i have 15 seeds to choose from i have settled on 2 and still need to decide on my last plant and backups here are the seeds i have so any input would be nice 1021 myers 670 diagle x self 1054.5 van hook 1566 rodonis x1450 wallace 1058 ghaye 877 ghaye x 1502 wallace 1145 van hook 275 van hook x 1450 wallace 1145.5 van hook 1161 rodonis x 1450 wallace 1264 ghaye 1058 ghaye x1309 hebb 1266.1 van hook 275 van hook x 1450 wallace 1360 ghaye 1309 hebb x 1689 jutras 1452 ghaye 1350 starr x 1309 hebb 1457 paton 1041.5 McKie 06 x 998.6 pukos 05 679 watkinson 1180 pukos x 1289 holland 696.9 van hook 1306 jutras x 1450 wallace 830 raymont 08 511.2 zaychkowsky 06 x 843 reiss 857 myers 1180 waltes x 1233 reiss 905.5 van hook 275 van hook x1142 van kooten keep smileing people it will soon be spring   Tuesday, January 12 View Page still abit of snow on the ground here but im going stir crazy sitting at home so i decided it was time to turn the manure pile today so took covers off and started moving this   Tuesday, January 12 View Page i like to turn my compost inside out so to speak turn sides in to the middle and top on to bottom you can see from the pic the the sides have not started to decompose yet so thats why i have dont it this way   Tuesday, January 12 View Page three and a half hours later this is how it looks ok so it dont seem such a big heap by some standards but towards the end i was feeling every fork fulli think ive under estimated how much is there   Tuesday, January 12 View Page this is the heap from the path side it looks alot but im sure ill find a use for it all and its cecomposing very quickly so should re ready for the wormeries in around 6 to 7 weeks time no more turning this heap untill then   Tuesday, January 12 View Page this is three of my wormeries these are full and will be harvested in the next couple of months ready for fresh bedding from the manure heap to be added when i have salvaged the worms from the compost and castings   Tuesday, January 12 View Page i may have a vermin problem over the patch so some one in chatroom said have you thought of getting a cat well i have gone and done it now im not a cat lover but i forced myself for the good of mt pkns hope she does ok she dont look much but sure as hell scared a couple of crows who landed on the fence lol   Saturday, January 16 View Page well the weather is still winning here no work can be done until it gets a bit better , my manure piles getting nice and hot again after turning it going to start a fresh pile tomorrow as i have some more coming from my farmer friend. thanks for the tips guys on what to plant keep em coming its always nice to have a little input to keep me going during the winter   Monday, January 18 View Page at last managed to get on the patch again now snow has melted so i got to dig in some of the manure i got half done today and hopefully i shall get the rest dug in tomorrow its still very wet but i wanted to turn the soil abit to increase surface area before the next cold spell the worms are still there in great numbers so im glad about that   Monday, January 18 View Page i got these household water tanks given now im wondering what to make with them i can either make tea brewers from them or maybe even a kind of solar heater for greenhouse or mini hoops any other ideas people id be greatful to hear   Tuesday, January 19 View Page some one asked me if my manure pile is getting hot i cannot remember who it was now maybe this pic will answer it for you   Tuesday, January 19 View Page here is a bucket of worm castings from my stash i have about 1000# to use and hopefully about the same when i empty wormeries later on in spring   Tuesday, January 19 View Page finished digging in the manure i got i know i should wait till ground dries up a bit more but im so bored waiting for spring to get here i needed to do something but thats it now let the weather hit it and do its job thanks pap for your comments   Tuesday, January 19 View Page here is an intresting pic ofof two worms i found today in the middle of mateing it shows how they reproduce in the pic you can see how the worms are joined at the clitellum this is the reproductive organ of a worms the thick band area after copulation a cocoon is the deposited in the ground it looks like a very small lemon starts off yellowish and darkens with age this cocoon can hold upto a dozen or so small worms but more usually about 3 to 5 sorry about the biology lesson but not everyone knows where worms come from i just saw these two when digging and thought id try to get a pic   Sunday, January 31 View Page not been to good the last week or so ive got a slight injury to my shoulder but nothing to bad havent been able to get much done i have managed to get some more manure delivered even though the farmer said he was not coming this week due to his 4x4 been broken   Sunday, January 31 View Page the manure underneath the covers is cooling off again now i may have to turn it again soon to get some fresh heat in it i have had real problems in my wormeries i seem to have lost the vast majority of my composting worms to the cold weather i should have about 240# of worm but it looks more like 20# i just hope the cocoons are going to be ok to repopulate the bins come spring time or its back to simple composting until i get more worms   Monday, February 1 View Page amazeing the difference what 4 weeks can do under a bit of old carpet this stuff is really starting to look ok now compared to a few short weeks ago when it looked just like the pile behind it   Monday, February 1 View Page i decided to move the main pile about abit to get more room for some more manure to be delivered i love them stacking squre boards so easy to work with the bag in pic is a 1 ton builders bag used for sand or stone it gives you an idea of the size id say that the boxes will hold about 1.5 ton of manure when settled and the bag a ton   Monday, February 1 View Page this other pile is just starting to get abit of heat build up in it now so on goe the carpets i think and in a couple of weeks turn it in to the other bay and recover seems like and endless task right now but i hopefully should have ample amounts of manure compost come next yr   Wednesday, February 17 View Page just received my seed promo from egvga thanks kaarina and all the people who donated the seeds this yr good luck in 2010 to all concerned   Thursday, March 4 View Page well its been a little while since i added to my diary so here goes finally managed to complete digging the patch over seems to have taken foreverwhat with it been so cold or covered in snow for weeks or just to wet now its dug im going to start adding more manure and finished compost ill put on all i have this yr and see what happens the weather here in uk has been glorious this week its up to 66 f right now but still dropping below 32 at night so getting good frosts and really good thaws during the dayhope it holds out for another week or so so i can get on and add the stuff then its getting covered in weed control for the next few weeks so i can get on with the rest of my garden good luck every one only a few short weeks now till planting all the best mal   Friday, March 5 View Page been busy today putting some of my home made compost on patch there is alot of castings in this as well but i havent the time to seperate them out so on they go   Friday, March 5 View Page a bit of a closeup of the compost its not bad its been abit to wet over the winter so i had alot of pot wroms in the mix so i have put it in a sort of windrow to dry off bafor i cover it over for a few weeks   Friday, March 5 View Page i slavaged some of the compost worms from the compost to inoculate my new manure piles not as many as id like but i can only use what i have available ill add more worms as i turn out more compost   Tuesday, March 9 View Page weather has been kind to me the last few days so i got the tiller out today gave the patch a quick run over to get some compost dug in at last my old chicken run is starting to look like a pkn patch i was starting to lose heart a little and the closer the season gets the less confident i felt but i feel alot better now   Tuesday, March 9 View Page when i finished tilling the patch i decided i was going to cover it with weedcontrol for a month or so and thats what i have done hope this lots gets a little heat into the ground and also it should allow the worms to rise up in the soil abit   Friday, April 2 View Page well its been awhile since my last entry i have been a bit busy doing the rest of my garden but i have managed to build a hoop house we had a couple of weeks decent weather but its turned a little cold again now forcast rain again the hoop house is 8 ft by just over 4 ft so should house a plant until weather gets warmer. not long now before this years madness begins good luck every one have a great season all the best mal   Sunday, April 25 View Page well today is the day i have been waiting for all winter today in sowing my pumpkin seeds im growing three this year but have filed and soaked seven seeds my line up is paton 1457,ghaye 1452,gibson 1462 back ups are ghaye 1058,ghaye 1360, paton 1457 john van hook 696.9 let me wish everyone the best of luck this season and im hopeing not to make to many big mistakes on my first season growing AG'S. i would also like to thanks the people who donated me the seeds this yr and for the vast amount of info i have managed to gather over the winter. lets hope i can put some of it to good use all the best everyone and grow em big Mal   Tuesday, April 27 View Page good news 6 of the seven seeds sprouted in 36 hours only one im waiting on is the jvh 696the other six are now tucked up in thier pots a mix of erin compost and vermiculite with some mycorr added so it looks like im may get   Tuesday, April 27 View Page opps i hit wrong button i may get my first choice of plants to go in its 1457 1452 and 1462 i shall keep the other plants going in case of any mishaps good look folks and grow em big atb mal   Tuesday, May 4 View Page well its time to get planting i managed to get some meager supplies gathered in to help me out this season i hope to plant 2 plants out in hoops tomorrow if all is well looks like the 1452 and 1457 plants will go in first as these are way ahead of the others right now good luck every one   Monday, May 17 View Page well last week was a real downer i almost lost all my plants to really bad frost it managed to kill off a couple of my backups and almost all of my plant suffered to some degree hopefully its over now my plants are almost dormant but its warming up this week im going to plant the gibson 1462 and the jvh 696.9 together in same patch and let them fight it out before culling one later. all the best mal   Sunday, June 13 View Page its been awhile since i last posted its been a rough year so far first i got hit with a hard frost and now its decided its going to rain for the most of june my pkns are really struggling to get going just to cold and not enough sun i have lots to learn about growing giant veg here is my attemp at giant cabbage nothing special but hey its all a learning process to me and my rookie yr thats a three inch pot on the bamboo cane to give a little idea of size   Sunday, June 13 View Page my potato's seem to like the recent wet weather just hope i get to eat some this year befor the slugs or blight end them   Sunday, June 13 View Page here is my eating veg this year not spectacular i know but so far its going ok a little slow but hope sun comes out again soon   Sunday, June 13 View Page my eating onions seem to be doing ok so far this is the first time ive grown any onion from seed seems to be going ok   Sunday, June 13 View Page this is my feeble pkn plants so far just not enough sun and cold weather are not helping this is the jvh 696.9 and much smaller beside it the gibson 1462 the gibson will be pulled soon i think   Sunday, June 13 View Page this is the ghaye 1452 plant about same size as 696.9 but still way behind with the weather i ran out of space on my phone to take pictures of the paton 1457 but its about same size as the other plants   Sunday, June 13 View Page this is my sunflowers not likeing the weather at all but hey such is life   Tuesday, June 29 View Page well it seems like summer is here my garden is taking off at a rate of knots now (seemed like it was never going to happen ) my pkn plant are starting to move ok now the plants i have left are the 1457 paton 1452 ghaye and 696.9 jvh the ghaye and the jvh are going well the paton plant seems to have stalled a little but still holding on ok the plant in the picture is the ghaye 1452 plant its going along nicely now not showing any flowers yet either male or female but hey its only small yet   Tuesday, June 29 View Page this is the 696.9 jvh plant about the same size and as heathy as the ghaye plant not showing any flowers yet   Tuesday, June 29 View Page this is the giant beetroot im left with after culling down from five seeds to this final one seems to be doing ok right now its in a raised bed about 4 ft by 3 ft   Tuesday, June 29 View Page ive never grown any giant veg before so i dont know if im doing things right but here is one of my giant cabbages the bamboo on top is 1 meter long to give a sense of size   Tuesday, June 29 View Page this is another of my cabbages also with a 1 meter cane on top for size   Tuesday, June 29 View Page my sunflowers are picking up now only at about 3 ft so far but growing well enough   Tuesday, June 29 View Page this is one of my giant marrows its a baggs 80.7 and doing quite nice at the moment seems to like where its placed   Tuesday, June 29 View Page my potatoes look good so far not showing any problems the front ones are pentland javelin and the purple flower ones are maris peer   Tuesday, June 29 View Page this is just a picture of my eating veg sorry about the pics but it looks well in real life i just hope thet my year continues as its going ok i wont break any records but im really enjoying doing what im doing good luck everyone regards mal   Saturday, July 10 View Page had a bit of a mishap with the 1452 plant ive snapped main vine i must have put a bit to much stress on it when ive been pinning it down so it looks like thats it for that plant i shall keep it in for now to see what happens i still want to use it as a pollenator plant oh well not to worry a sily rookie mistake and a lesson learned   Sunday, July 11 View Page here is the snapped main   Sunday, July 11 View Page one of my cabbage plants doing its thing the soda can is just to give idea of size   Sunday, July 11 View Page another of my cabbage plants doing ok ive not grown any giant veg before so its all a big learning curve for me this year   Sunday, July 11 View Page mt giant beetroot plant seems to be doing ok also not alot of root on it yet but its starting to root up now   Sunday, July 11 View Page my corn seems to be growing really nice this year so far maybe it likes the azos i treated the plants with they are at over 5 ft now and only just starting to through up flower spikes   Friday, July 30 View Page just a quick update things are hecktic here so much to do and so little time this is my best marrow to date nothing massive but its growing steady   Friday, July 30 View Page my giant beetroot is still growing plenty of leaves to feed the root   Friday, July 30 View Page this is the important bit the root i have not measured it really but i can not get my hands around it and who knows whats below ground   Friday, July 30 View Page this is the only pkn i have got going so far its still in the pigmy class of pkns measures 26 inches circ on the 1452 plant i snapped main vine on   Friday, July 30 View Page i still have a few cabbages growing these seem to be doing ok getting some insect damage now but i will try to keep them going   Friday, July 30 View Page the other cabbage doing ok   Friday, July 30 View Page some of my sunflowers are showing signs of flowers now just about 8 ft i hope i get one over 10 ft that was my goal   Friday, July 30 View Page this is my biggest mater going so far nothing special but its still there   Friday, July 30 View Page my sweetcorn is looking ok this year so far i used a little azos on it and it seems to have helped   Tuesday, August 17 View Page this is my 1452 ghaye fruit at last its reached 100# putting on aprrox 10 lb per day now so all in all im happy enough concidering the poor weather we are haveing this summer   Tuesday, August 17 View Page this is the fruit on my jvh 696.9 its taping out at 78# but putting on steady weights now also about 10# per day   Tuesday, August 17 View Page this is my attempt for EGVGA veg of the year beetroot now i dont have a clue how to estimate beetroot as you never know how much is below ground it circ measurement is 53 cm   Tuesday, August 17 View Page another pic of beetroot the plant is still growing strong no sign of bolting yet its stands about 4.5 ft tall and loads of new leaf growth   Tuesday, August 17 View Page this is my best giant marrow to date its taping in at a nice 70lb this is going into a local show on the 25th if all goes well   Tuesday, August 17 View Page this is another marrow on same plant this i hope will be ready for next show third week septemberits taping mid 30s right now   Tuesday, August 17 View Page this is a different plant the wursten 73.? its alot different shape and colour however plant is suffering from pm so its a gamble if it will make it big   Tuesday, August 17 View Page this is my best tomatoe is at about 2 lbs and still going strong its on the perry 3.59 plant bryan sent me   Tuesday, August 17 View Page one of my cabbages hearting up now dont have a clue on weight the head is almost two feet across id say   Tuesday, August 17 View Page another cabbage plant doing about the same as the other still waiting on three to heart up   Tuesday, August 17 View Page most of my sunflowers are starting to flower now all at around 9 ft but one still going its at almost 11 foot and no sign of flower yet   Tuesday, August 24 View Page this is my first attempt at growing giant marrows this one tapes at 73 lb its going to a local show tomorrow i should find out the right weight there funny how a lump of fruit can put a smile on youre face   Friday, August 27 View Page the fruit on my 1452 plant not growing very fast only 179 lb to date   Friday, August 27 View Page i like this marrow its 60lb now its entered in a show in three weeks time still time to put some weight on   Friday, August 27 View Page this marrow is for the same show its at 57 lb now hope it keeps going   Friday, August 27 View Page my best sunflower head so far its 14 inches across and yes that is blue sky and yes im in england   Friday, August 27 View Page my beetroot is still growing ok its 58 cm circ now and loads of new leaves emerging still hope it keeps going   Friday, August 27 View Page same beetroot well over 1 foot out of the ground wonder whats below ground   Friday, August 27 View Page cabbage hearting up nice now about 24 inches across heart   Friday, August 27 View Page different cabbage but about same size   Friday, August 27 View Page my biggest mater its est at almost 3 lb but still very green hope its ready in three weeks for show   Friday, August 27 View Page oh ye i forgot to say my marrow got first at local show i weighed it and it was 74 lb bang on chart   Saturday, September 11 View Page these are my best maters this season dont think i will beat these this year   Saturday, September 11 View Page a nice single mater not massive but did ok 1 lb 13 oz and a bit lol   Saturday, September 11 View Page my best mater 3lb 3oz and a bit   Sunday, September 19 View Page did my first real show this weekend i only entered 6 items and got six prizes so im obver the moon really this is my three biggest marrows got 1st 2nd and 3rd 33kg 32 kg 29 kg   Sunday, September 19 View Page this is my biggest mater 3lb 3 oz on the scales yesteday but it weighed more a week or so ago   Sunday, September 19 View Page my cabbage i entered there was no heavy cabbage class so i entered it in quality class and got third approx weight was 50 lb   Sunday, September 19 View Page my giant beetroot i entered it in the ugly veg class and got second was beaten by an anya potatoe i was robbed lol wieghed 20.2 lb but it was suffereing from heart rot   Sunday, September 19 View Page best marrow 33kg   Sunday, September 19 View Page marrow 32kg   Sunday, September 19 View Page third marrow 29 kg not a bad season after all   Monday, November 1 View Page this is my 394 pumkin after it got carved out   Monday, November 1 View Page this is same pumpkin in the dark quite pleased roll on next season   Friday, December 31 View Page well thats it for 2010 roll on 2011 thanks everyone for a good first season ive made many rookie mistakes but hope i learn from them good luck this coming season bring it on atb mal