Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 70 Entries. Tuesday, March 7 View Page That's me (Kirsha) helping my husband in the patch last summer. I've served as a patch assistant for many years. This year, I'm going to try to grow my very own.   Tuesday, March 7 View Page Here's the newly extended patch. I'll be on the left, with the tree stump. One pumpkin in a 20 x 20 space.   Sunday, March 12 View Page Went to the OVGPG beginner's seminar last month and the advanced seminar yesterday. I learned a lot :)   Tuesday, March 14 View Page Got my results from the West Virginia University soil lab. (It's free for in-state residents!) Looks like I gotta raise the Ph and phosphates.   Tuesday, March 21 View Page Dustin got new drip tape for his patch, so...   Tuesday, March 21 View Page I'm inheriting his old soaker hoses for my patch.   Sunday, March 26 View Page Tilled the patch today. Then added two truckloads of soil. Now, if I could just get the energy to take down our Christmas wreaths.   Thursday, March 30 View Page My very first pair of patch boots :)   Sunday, April 2 View Page Spread some lime today. Hope it fixes my Ph a little before I set my plant in the ground.   Saturday, May 6 View Page My first seed: the 982 Trychta.   Saturday, May 6 View Page Hubby filed the first one to show me how. I filed the other three.   Saturday, May 6 View Page Soaking now in a mixture of water, humic acid, and B vitamins.   Saturday, May 6 View Page It's been about 4 hours. Time to put these little guys into pots.   Friday, May 12 View Page All four pots are just starting to poke through the soil. I plan to keep them in pots as long as possible because I don't have hoops or cables, and it's still chilly at night.   Tuesday, May 16 View Page Time to re-pot these three. One didn't take.   Tuesday, May 16 View Page These 3-gallon pots should give me another week.   Tuesday, May 16 View Page In the meantime, I have to get my new 20x20 spot ready. I switched to the backyard patch, instead of the front yard to take advantage of the new drip water lines. I'll be in the back left corner.   Sunday, May 21 View Page Time to put my three little plants in the ground. I know I'm supposed to just plant one in the patch, but I'm too nervous to cull.   Sunday, May 21 View Page I like this one the best, so it will get the center spot.   Sunday, May 21 View Page But first, I've got to add some kelp meal and chicken manure to the soil.   Sunday, May 21 View Page One more till looking for rocks and a good raking to smooth everything over. Now the patch is all set.   Sunday, May 21 View Page The three amigos! Watered in with some urea mate. (I plan to cull next week, but don't tell them that.)   Saturday, June 3 View Page Drip tape cut to 20 foot patch length, and finished off with red tape to tell the difference from Dustin's 30 footers.   Saturday, June 3 View Page First few lines of drip tape installed. Will install more lines throughout the summer, as needed.   Friday, June 9 View Page The one on the left is growing wonky.   Friday, June 9 View Page And then there was one.   Friday, June 9 View Page Sprayed with a systemic this morning to guard against cucumber beetles and disease. All my efforts will be focused on this guy now.   Tuesday, June 13 View Page Lots of animal tracks around the plant. Going to buy a motion sensitive camera to see what's going on at night.   Tuesday, June 13 View Page While I was away for a few days, the main vine split and became a bit twisted.   Tuesday, June 20 View Page Worked from home today. Used my lunch break for patch upkeep.   Saturday, June 24 View Page The main vine is about 8 foot long. Very little side-vining so far.   Saturday, June 24 View Page But I have this potential female flower right at the tip of the main vine. We'll see how everything looks next week. Might be a 4th of July pollination.   Saturday, July 1 View Page Picked these 631 Trychta male flowers from Dustin's 150 patch to use as pollinators   Saturday, July 1 View Page She should be ready to open tomorrow.   Saturday, July 1 View Page All tucked in for the night.   Sunday, July 2 View Page I pollinated this beautiful six-lobed female this morning.   Sunday, July 2 View Page Sneaky as a ...   Tuesday, July 4 View Page 2 DAP = 6.5 inches around   Tuesday, July 4 View Page Many thanks to my husband who helped me build this platform and move my vine into position today.   Friday, July 7 View Page My husband pollinated a second pumpkin (5 lobes) on the same vine for me, as a backup, while I was traveling for work.   Sunday, July 9 View Page The main girl at 7 DAP = 15 inches, with a long stem   Saturday, July 15 View Page 13 DAP = 32 inches   Saturday, July 15 View Page My backup hasn't really done much since its pollination a week ago. Might just cull it and go with only 1 pumpkin - but going without a backup makes me super nervous. ??   Sunday, July 16 View Page Built "Presley" a house.   Tuesday, July 18 View Page There's water - but I can't tell from where. I lifted her up and she's okay underneath.   Wednesday, July 19 View Page The foam board was nice and dry this morning, so that's good news. Still not sure what happened. Also took a measurement while I was out there. DAP 17 = 43.5 circumference.   Saturday, July 22 View Page DAP 20 = 53.5 around.   Saturday, July 22 View Page Was feeling good about the progress, until Dustin came through for a patch inspection. He spotted this...   Saturday, July 22 View Page So many things to remember to check on. I totally missed the soft spot on the underside of the stem. We put some copper fungicide on the spot, and I'm setting up a fan now. Hope it's not too late!   Saturday, July 22 View Page I bought Presley a waterproof blanket today. Hopefully that will help her stay a little drier.   Friday, July 28 View Page The stem looks worse, not better :(   Friday, July 28 View Page Gotta do some major surgery to clean it out. Dustin showed me how to cut out the gook.   Friday, July 28 View Page Everything looks better now. Hopefully she can bounce back while I'm traveling to Florida for work this week.   Friday, July 28 View Page Also figured out that the water was coming from rain pooling in a low spot on the board. Drilled a hole to help it drain. Might need a few more holes, though.   Friday, July 28 View Page Dustin didn't want me using his "good fan," so he bought me this little guy today at the store. Now I wait. Dry, Presley, dry!   Saturday, August 5 View Page Back from my trip and everything looks great. Sprayed some systemic today and will try to widen or shift the board area tomorrow to better center the pumpkin before it's too big to move.   Saturday, August 12 View Page It's getting too crowded in there   Saturday, August 12 View Page So I took a jump and removed the blossom   Saturday, August 12 View Page Going to put some fungicide on the cut and keep my fingers crossed   Saturday, August 19 View Page DAP 48 = 102.5 cc, 65 ee, 67.5 ss = 235 ott   Saturday, August 19 View Page Stem healed nicely.   Saturday, August 19 View Page Blossom removal is healing too   Saturday, August 19 View Page Only major issue right now is that I'm running out of room. Didn't center the pumpkin on the board when it was young.   Saturday, August 26 View Page Day 55. 108, 71, 70 = 249 ott. Weather has turned quite cold. Fingers crossed she stays warm and dry until October 14.   Wednesday, August 30 View Page DAP 59.5 = 111.5 + 71 + 73 = 255.5. She's dry, pretty, and getting bigger!   Saturday, September 16 View Page Still looking good :)   Friday, September 22 View Page Hey Jay - I heard you were asking Dustin for these...   Friday, October 13 View Page His & Hers loaded for Ohio Valley.   Saturday, October 14 View Page She’s third in line to be weighed. She may not be big, but she sure is beautiful.   Saturday, October 14 View Page 516 pounds :)