Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 106 Entries. Friday, January 1 View Page Getting prepped to start the carrots at the end of the month. I cut 4 inch by 16 inch high pvc pipes in half......   Friday, January 1 View Page Taped them back together and also taped the bottom.   Friday, January 1 View Page Then I built a box out of scrap cedar since it will be part of the decor for the next 3 months. The back side will be up close to a window so I slipped a piece of 3/4 " insulation board inside the box on that side for a buffer from the cold.   Friday, January 1 View Page With the lights over the top!   Sunday, January 24 View Page The season has started! Into the germination box goes the giant carrots and rutabbega:)   Wednesday, January 27 View Page So I guess my rutabbega seeds germinated in 2 days and I checked on them at 3 days....Start over!   Friday, January 29 View Page Ok I checked on the rutabbega seeds after 2 days this time. Man these things germinate fast!   Friday, January 29 View Page The first of the carrots are up!! This seedling was hardly through the soil and look how long the main root is! These will go right into my 16 inch pipes so I don't disturb the roots.   Saturday, January 30 View Page What's in your pipe???...lol   Saturday, January 30 View Page Carrots and rutabbega are settled into there new home for 3 months.   Wednesday, February 10 View Page This is y we plant at least 2 carrots per pipe. The one is way farther ahead of the other. This is the difference between a 4 lb carrot or a 8 lb plus carrot even this early on. One pipe had 3 duds that were way behind so I started more to replace them.   Saturday, February 20 View Page Carrots are growing well.it was a easy decision on the carrot on the right. The ones in the middle pipe are neck and neck....I will give it a few more days and then decide on what one to go with. The pipe on the left are 2 weeks behind because I wasn't happy with the first round of seedlings. Like wixom said he had trouble with them falling over,i just added some more soil to the top of the pipe.   Friday, March 4 View Page Carrots are growing well and down to one per pipe.   Friday, March 4 View Page Carrots are growing well and down to one per pipe.   Friday, March 11 View Page 54 today and melting fast! You can see my wood ash will meet the soil soon! :)   Friday, March 11 View Page Rutabbega seedlings are up!   Friday, March 11 View Page I transplanted one of my carrots in the ground today. I figured socal's got his in the ground already and he was only 60 degrees today ;)   Friday, March 11 View Page Ok that didn't come out straight....but you get the idea :)   Wednesday, March 16 View Page My carrots developed some sort of disease.(brown spots on the foliage)I sprayed and drenched them with companion.....so we will see...... I might be out before it even starts! :(   Saturday, March 19 View Page Honey I shrunk the carrots!!! Start over! I very generous grower offered me one of his plants so we will see if it makes it all the way to Ely :)   Sunday, March 27 View Page Some seeds for the gardens and flower beds came. Started some of these tonight. Really impressed with Johnnys seeds.   Sunday, March 27 View Page But we still have alot of snow that needs to melt before we think about planting out!   Friday, April 1 View Page Well everyone is posting pictures of there big carrots and there pots.well here is mine after starting over. We will see how this ends up not being in pots for as long.still hoping for a PB from these! No go on the ruttabegga this year.they just keep dying No matter what I do.   Friday, April 8 View Page Poor cosgrove....he's got to survive the frozen tundra up here.will he make it?......stay tuned!   Friday, April 8 View Page I wonder if this is how cosgrove feels right now....alone and afraid.   Friday, April 8 View Page Cosgrove stopped for a stroll on the north shore!!   Saturday, April 9 View Page Cosgrove made it!!! Thanks a bunch Q tip!!   Saturday, April 9 View Page Cosgroves New home for about 3 weeks! A 6 gallon grow bag.   Saturday, April 9 View Page I know this will be sideways,but look at those roots!   Saturday, April 9 View Page All potted up into his new home!! This carrot is massive! Way bigger than mine was this time last year!   Tuesday, April 12 View Page We put the plastic up on the greenhouse on Sunday. Time to start the thawing process!   Friday, April 15 View Page Started 2 of these today! I'm excited to get back into growing giant pumpkins.   Wednesday, April 20 View Page Both 1317's are up!   Wednesday, April 20 View Page Cosgrove is settling into his new home real well and is all hardened off and ready to go in the ground at the end of the month.   Friday, April 29 View Page Cosgrove went into the ground tonight!   Friday, April 29 View Page Nice roots!   Friday, April 29 View Page All nestled in for a long summer of growing!   Friday, April 29 View Page Both 1317's hit dirt tonight as well!   Friday, May 6 View Page 88 degrees on May 6th!   Friday, May 13 View Page Was in the twin cities area today and got back just in time to turn the heater on in the greenhouse. Snowing out and ice on the inside plastic of the greenhouse!   Tuesday, May 31 View Page Cosgrove continues to put out new foliage and is looking good.last year at this time I thought I had a good one going.this one is a good ways ahead of that!   Tuesday, May 31 View Page Here is the 1317 that I chose.I yanked the other one out yesterday.a little behind because I didn't heat it early on.but is gaining steam now.   Tuesday, May 31 View Page We got the garden all planted last week.   Tuesday, May 31 View Page Oh yea... After all my other carrots got a disease. I planted more carrots and this is one of them. This is cosgroves step brorher Leonard.   Tuesday, June 7 View Page It has been no lie nothing but rain and clouds and cool for 7 days. But today the sun finally came out! 60 degrees but was able to keep the greenhouse over 80. The 1317 has some catching up to do,but no worries :)   Tuesday, June 7 View Page I was going to take the year off from tomatoes....But all this tomato talk and picture's made me start a couple :)   Wednesday, June 8 View Page 33 degrees this morning and had my first male open up!   Saturday, June 18 View Page I got a Apple tree for father's day! Prairie Magic! Very excited about this. If I treat this like I do my giant plants I might have apples real soon! :)   Saturday, June 18 View Page This one is for Q tip Check out this leave on this 5.30.....lol   Saturday, June 18 View Page Cosgrove is really starting to grow now!! He is a nice multi headed carrot. (that's a good thing)   Saturday, June 18 View Page This is the worst plant I ever grew.it burns at 65 and sunny and don't have time to babysit it because I'm putting a addition on my house. Doing a foot a day now and getting close to the end of the greenhouse.won't be pollinating for another week.   Friday, June 24 View Page Passed this girl up this morning.I want to get the plant almost all terminated before I pollinate one, then like JD up in Alaska says.....go on a 90 day tear!! It will be a couple weeks later then I normally pollinate so we'll see how it works.   Saturday, June 25 View Page It was a great day to be mostly cloudy and lots of rain because it was very hot and humid.   Saturday, June 25 View Page A couple of my 5.30's almost ready to go in the ground.so in 300 sq feet we have a giant pumpkin plant,2 tomato plants and 2 carrots.   Saturday, June 25 View Page The base of cosgrove.   Saturday, June 25 View Page Under canopy shot of the 1317   Saturday, June 25 View Page The plan is this will be my keeper.about 18 ft out. Should be open before July.   Sunday, June 26 View Page Cosgrove has a new friend,,the 5.30 MacCoy. The other carrot was not keeping up so I pulled her to make room for a tomato plant.   Monday, June 27 View Page 55 and cloudy today but rocking and rolling in the greenhouse!!   Friday, July 1 View Page It's pumpkin growing time! This one will be up in the morning. A little late compared to previous years. 1317 x self Greenhouse is pretty much filled up and terminated.   Saturday, July 2 View Page Pollinated this one at 18 ft with 5 1317 males. Probably the most symmetrical lobes I've ever had for a keeper!   Saturday, July 2 View Page Here is the setup to keep her cool. Just an old stump cover with a white scarf to keep her shaded ;) Also a fan blowing towards her. It is supposed to only be 75 today so not to overly concerned about her getting too hot.   Saturday, July 2 View Page Here is the setup to keep her cool. Just an old stump cover with a white scarf to keep her shaded ;) Also a fan blowing towards her. It is supposed to only be 75 today so not to overly concerned about her getting too hot.   Saturday, July 2 View Page The Big stem came just in time! Thanks Tanner! I will use this on everything in the greenhouse.   Saturday, July 2 View Page Cosgrove is starting to rear his wide load! I did a few things different at transplant this year to try to match the bottom with what the top looks like. We will see......   Friday, July 8 View Page Dap 6 for the 1317. I pollinated one out about 20 ft on Wednesday for a backup. The plant is terminated all except the main.   Friday, July 8 View Page One of my 5.30's growing fast!   Friday, July 8 View Page Might be the biggest stump I've ever had and it's still really early.hopfully that's a good thing.   Friday, July 8 View Page Cosgrove   Sunday, July 10 View Page I looked yesterday and no flower buds....then I look again today.....plants still amaze me!   Wednesday, July 13 View Page Day 10 for the 1317 was yesterday and was around 27 cc   Wednesday, July 13 View Page Day 10 for the 1317 was yesterday and was around 27 cc   Thursday, July 21 View Page So we had one of the worst storms I could ever remember last night.70 to 80 mph sustained winds for about 20 min.to say I was nervous is a understatement!i was pretty much thinking I wouldn't have a greenhouse anymore after I seen it flexing in the wind.but was suprized there was little to no damage that I could see before I left for work! So now I know I can rest well when we only have 30 mph winds next time :) The whole area has uprooted trees and the power was out for 6 hours. Grow on!   Tuesday, July 26 View Page Dang!!i was going to give Shannon a run for a pretty one this year......   Tuesday, July 26 View Page Day 20 was last Friday.around 200 lbs. Aspen was giving spookley a good morning hug!   Tuesday, July 26 View Page Cosgrove the carrot.it's about 10 inches across.   Thursday, July 28 View Page Day 26 for the 1317 and it's estimating at 310 lbs and did 28 lbs since yesterday morning. Its only a 280 sq foot plant,so I'm guessing that's about max per day for a small plant. Going to be a nice orange one though!   Saturday, July 30 View Page This is what I have been spending most my summer doing and I'm proud to say I did it all myself! It's a addition for our addition coming in January 2017! :) This is a picture when I started in late April.   Saturday, July 30 View Page Coming along ahead of schedule! This pic was from May.   Saturday, July 30 View Page Roof is going on! Still in may   Saturday, July 30 View Page All shingled up!   Saturday, July 30 View Page The outside as of now is pretty much finished except for some trim.plumbing and electrical are completed and soon ready for sheet rock!   Saturday, July 30 View Page We are having a couple chilly nights.so spookley gets some blankets and warm hugs before closing up for the night!   Monday, August 1 View Page Just for my records today is day 30 for the 1317 and estimating at 410 lbs.   Wednesday, August 3 View Page I had to expose the top of Cosgrove because he was getting lots of growth cracks up top and was starting to get a little soft in one spot. So I exposed all the cracks and put a fan on it ,it should be fine but from here on out I will not water close up to the carrot.   Wednesday, August 3 View Page Spookley is starting to turn orange!!   Tuesday, August 9 View Page Day 37 was yesterday for the 1317 and right at 600 lbs.   Friday, August 19 View Page Ok Q tip,,,i know we talked about I hope we arnt growing tuna cans under the soil but we never talked about balloons???   Friday, August 19 View Page The little split actually turned out to go into a cavity just like a pumpkin.had to cut a bigger hole to get air in there.there was also a lot of rot.if the fan doesn't dry it out over the weekend I will have to pick it.   Sunday, August 21 View Page 12.42 lbs!!! Yes!!!   Sunday, August 21 View Page Here is a picture to show what the crack looked like before I cut it open so I could get more air. There was a big air pocket in the top of the carrot and it was slowly rotting because air got in there.so it's not like it was all rotted away.just showing you this if some people might not think it's a viable carrot for competition.   Sunday, August 21 View Page Another shot of the 12.42 lb cosgrove!   Tuesday, August 30 View Page I give up biscutridge wins!! :)   Wednesday, August 31 View Page Just kidding.Q tip would be embarrassed to weigh that one.that's how small it is. :) All joking aside.well done biscutridge!!   Monday, September 5 View Page Looking good out my new bedroom window!   Monday, September 5 View Page Looking good out my new bedroom window!   Monday, September 5 View Page Ribbon vine on our ornamental gourd plant. This is a good thing I think to get as many as we can before frost takes us out.lol   Monday, September 5 View Page Getting chilly!   Monday, September 5 View Page Giant zinnias next to the greenhouse. Defiantly my favorite flower! Once they bloom they stay looking like they just bloomed a month later!   Monday, September 5 View Page The Apple tree i transplanted like 3 months ago has apples on it and looking awsome! It's the little things :)   Monday, September 19 View Page I have been leaving the sheets off a little to try and get the most orange I can out of it.   Monday, September 19 View Page Just 4 more days left of covering it at night.   Thursday, September 22 View Page Leaving the sheets off for the past week has really oranged it up. 28 hours until lift off!   Sunday, September 25 View Page Made the trip to Gale woods farm yesterday and the pumpkin weighed 957 lbs. It was a great weigh off site and everything went very smooth!   Sunday, September 25 View Page So right before it got the scale Alex says to chris..."tell MacCoy he's going down"then Chris looks me straight in the eyes and tells me"your going down MacCoy"and Bill thought it was funny! :)   Monday, September 26 View Page And know I understand how the paparazzi flips things around when they get pics just at the right time.lol Because that's not at all what those three were saying.everyone was awesome and we had a great time!