Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 26 Entries. Friday, May 14 View Page Have four seedlings started with two nice ones in the three leaf stage. This is my second year trying to grow a giant pumpkin and I'm hoping for better results this time around. Saturday, May 15 View Page Well today is the day of reckoning. Need to figure out what plant I'm going to devote to. Was thinking of planting two then pluck the least productive plant in a few. I'm very new and I'm trying to learnas much as I can so I can work around the major trial and error points. I'd really apprechate any ideas or feedback anyone could provide. This meens a lot to my children and to myself and we are going to give it our best shot. Pictures of the four plants I have started are pictured. I was told they are ready to be planted when they are in the three leaf phase. I see a third leaf on all so I assume it's time. Saturday, May 15 View Page I think this is my choice that we're going to commit to. Hoping for some dumb luck until I can gain wisdom. Any suggestions are welcome and wanted. Have a good day in the dirt peeps Saturday, May 15 View Page Learned today that what little I thought I knew there is so much more involved with growing a giant pumpkin. Glad to have a few great people offer some advice. I really wanna make this work. Thanks to everyone for your advice Sunday, May 16 View Page Up all night reading, reading and more reading. I never realized how much there is to learn if one wants to grow a true monster pumpkin. This site is great and thanks to all the great people that helped answer my questions and have pointed me in the right direction. Sunday, May 16 View Page Went and purchased all the supplies I needed to build two nice hoop houses today. Also got a truckload of nice aged cow manure to add to the soil after I widen my patch from 30x20 to 50x3. After great input from members of this site I've decided to grow out two plants, one on each end of the plot growing torward each other in the middle. I'm still very new at this and I know I'm behind on a lot of things but I have a lot of time, patience and I'm in this for the long haul. If I grow at least a 500 pounder I'll be ecstatic. Anything bigger is a happily accepted bonus. Sunday, May 16 View Page Tomorrow the new expansion of the patch will be tilled and prepped. I'll be having four yards of a special mixture of perfectly aged compost and organic cow manure delivered to spread accross the entire patch. I'm so far behind because of a lack of knowledge and poor planing. Everything will be coming back together soon. Monday, May 17 View Page A big day was had here today. Lot's acomplished and my plants will meet earth tomorrow. The patch was lenghtened, widened and completly re-tilled. Then I mixed in another 4 yards of two year old compost and 1 yard of year old composted cow manure. With the patch prepared and ready as it will ever be I started constructing my mounds and hoop houses. Planting day tomorrow! Not sure why but I'm very nervous Tuesday, May 18 View Page Time to introduce plants to earth.... Another long day today and I should be in good shape. Happy day. Have lots of pictures I'll post some later Thursday, May 20 View Page All four plants are finally in the ground. There was so much work to do last minute to get things ready here. Next year I'll know a little better - this year I will pray, a lot. Hope to post some pictures later Monday, May 24 View Page Things are going ok here thanks to some information sharing from some great people. For some reason though I feel very strange about adding anything to this diary despite a lot of progress here in my patch. There are some unbelievable growers here and I'm so green I feel very akward posting. I should have everything up to snuff here in couple more days and will post a couple pictures then. Monday, May 24 View Page Here are my two plants. This is "G" Monday, May 24 View Page And "WC".... Culled out two of my other plants that are now planted out in the compost pile to run as nature intends. Tuesday, May 25 View Page Well, this is what I'm working with. After days and days of hard work I can honestly say this is as good as I can get. Strange how these plants become almost like children. I've fished the Bering Sea and the North Atlantic and nothing has ever made me more concerned or nervous than my plants. Shit, I don't even get nervous? What has become of me? I guess all I can do now is to keep applying good basic gardening skills, keep studying and learning, try to do the right things and hope for the best. Thursday, May 27 View Page My plants are just starting to lay down(about half way) and made it through a big down pooring thunderstorm last night. Got rid of my ant problem too(I think)after spraying the other night. Monday, May 31 View Page Plants are looking very nice and healthy. They are still slowly laying over and should touchdown sometime this week. Just letting nature take it's course at this point. Friday, June 4 View Page Plants are doing well and I'm still trying to keep on reading and learning. Plants are half way layed down. I got rid of my ant problem too using Sevin per group member suggestion. So glad my dad's german shepard that jumped the fence into my patch didn't do any damage. I'll post some pictures later. Tuesday, June 15 View Page Here's my plant. She's looking ok and starting to grow pretty good. Tuesday, June 15 View Page Here's my son Hunter's plant. She's lookin' ok as well. Tuesday, June 15 View Page Here's a picture of my plant with the salt marsh hay I layed down. Have a feeling that the hay will attract a lot of insects, and maybe some fungus. Going to spray down all the hay later with a three in one solution. The saly hay is not near the plants themselves. I left 4-5 feet in all directions around the plant uncovered. Thursday, July 15 View Page Have a small wound indent that I thought might just go away as the fruit grows. Any ideas? Thursday, July 15 View Page wound Thursday, July 15 View Page Closeup of my newest problem.... Monday, July 26 View Page She's growing.... Tuesday, August 10 View Page She's growing... Tuesday, August 10 View Page Growing....