Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 53 Entries. Sunday, January 7 View Page 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver DAP 80.. OTT 319 with a gain of just 1 she’s stopped growing and I have some major stem problems you’ll see in the next pic   Sunday, January 7 View Page I don’t know if I’ve done the right thing or not but I’ve cut all the rot off the stem and dusted with sulphur powder and fan on 24/7 . To make things worse it hasn’t stopped raining here for a couple of weeks. Doesn’t look good and only 12 days to go :(   Sunday, January 7 View Page The 717kg Oliver x 2252 Paton has also stopped growing at DAP 50 .. OTT 273 with some stem issues as well so I removed the bad bits off this one too. Fingers crossed we make it to the weigh off   Thursday, January 11 View Page Harvest day came a little early but that’s okay. Here she is.. The 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver at DAP 84 and weighing in at 300.5kg / 662.48lbs and I couldn’t be happier with this result this is my new PB :)   Thursday, January 11 View Page Harvest day came a little early but that’s okay. Here she is.. The 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver at DAP 84 and weighing in at 300.5kg / 662.48lbs and I couldn’t be happier with this result this is my new PB :)   Thursday, January 11 View Page The 717kg 0liver x 2252 Paton at DAP 52 weighing 218.5kg / 481.71lbs surprisingly going 6% heavy.   Thursday, January 11 View Page A big thank you to Dale for all his help.. honestly he does so much for everyone here trying to grow a big pumpkin. We really appreciate it and I can’t thank you enough Dale. You’re a legend mate   Thursday, January 11 View Page A sneak peek of my pumpkins in the shed. Nice cool dry spot for them here.. hopefully they keep till next weekend. So much rain predicted for this week again so this is definitely the best place for them right now.   Thursday, January 11 View Page One more photo of the Paton x Oliver :)   Thursday, January 11 View Page And my husband Murray (another legend) and Dale did such a great job getting the pumpkins on the pallets and up to the shed with no trouble at all. I was so happy and relieved!! haha. Thanks so much boys   Thursday, January 11 View Page Last pic I promise.. Murray and I with my pride and joy :)   Friday, January 19 View Page What can I say but this is bloody awesome!!! :)   Friday, January 19 View Page What can I say but this is bloody awesome!!! :)   Sunday, January 21 View Page Well we made the 2 hour journey over the mountain range to the small country town of Kyogle. It poured rain the entire trip terrible roads here at the moment with all the flooding rain we’ve had. So many pot wholes and some parts of the roads have been washed way in the recent floods. So it was always going to be a mission getting my pumpkins to the festival in our old truck ‘Betty’ an old 1958 Bedford that hasn’t driven more than 20km in a very long time. It was a bit of a wild ride and I don’t think I took a breath the whole way but gosh I had fun. What is that feeling of your big pumpkins on the back of your truck.. WOW!!! I just love it! haha :)   Sunday, January 21 View Page Here she is on the scales..Dale and John weighing my Paton. She came in at 299kg that I couldn’t believe. So she only lost 1.5kg sitting in the shed for 12 days. I was expecting her to loose up to 10kg so that was a very nice surprise.   Sunday, January 21 View Page The 717 Oliver on the scales.. weighing in at 217kg same thing just a loss of 1.5kg after sitting in the shed for 12 days. So it pays to keep them cool with those fans going a sheets still on while they’re sitting around waiting for the comp.. oh and some good music too of course   Sunday, January 21 View Page So.. I was very pleasured to get 3rd place with the Paton in the Open Pumpkin over 250kg Comp. I can not believe I got my foot on the podium with the Big Boys..wow! If I didn’t have the Big Pumpkin bug before I sure have it now haha. John got second place at 328kg and Tony winning the comp with 357kg. Great job boys.. but next season I’m coming for ya! haha ;) jokes   Sunday, January 21 View Page Me with my beautiful granddaughter Matilda who also got 3rd place in the junior section with her 62kg baby Oliver that exploded when the boys got her off the truck when she got home haha. I’m glad it didn’t happen at the comp or there would have been tears   Sunday, January 21 View Page Matilda and I <3   Sunday, January 21 View Page With my beautiful mum <3   Sunday, January 21 View Page And last but not least with my beautiful little family <3 <3   Monday, January 22 View Page Hi guys I have a new Instagram account if anyone is interested…farmerlilli_big_pumpkins_ Thank you! :)   Thursday, January 25 View Page Nice big seeds from the 2252 Paton x 867kg Oliver I’m guessing there’s around 300 to 400 hundred seeds .. well hopefully   Thursday, January 25 View Page I only ended up with around 200 seeds from the 717kg Oliver x 2252 Paton half the seeds had already germinated.. I guess that’s what happens when you stand around looking at your big pumpkins on the back of your truck for too long hey!   Friday, January 26 View Page The patch all cleaned up and ready to sow sorghum seeds before the rain comes in this afternoon. I am preparing a much bigger pumpkin patch for this coming season it’s about 4 times the size I just had. It’s going to be great having so much space to work in. Can’t wait for the season to start   Friday, February 2 View Page While there’s not a lot going on in the pumpkin patch at the moment I thought I’d share a few fishing pics.. This is a Longtail Tuna also known as the Northern Bluefin Tuna.. I caught this beauty at Moreton Bay just up the southeast coast of Queensland. This is my favourite fishing spot only an hour from home :)   Friday, February 2 View Page A nice GT I caught at Fidos Reef off the Tweed coast next to Cook Island. This is our local fishing spot.   Friday, February 2 View Page And this was amazing, a reef shark took a bite out of my Snapper as I was reeling it in. Also at Moreton Bay. I’m looking forward to getting back out there this week. Love fishing :)   Saturday, February 3 View Page The Sorghum cover crop is looking good   Saturday, February 10 View Page Bowie checking out the cover crop <3   Saturday, February 24 View Page Beautiful sunrise over the patch this morning   Saturday, February 24 View Page Beautiful sunrise over the patch this morning   Tuesday, March 12 View Page First cut on the Sorghum cover crop.. and you can smell the goodness :) Probably cut it two more times over the next couple of months.. ending this crop late May. Then followed by a Rye cover crop for June and July.   Tuesday, March 12 View Page First cut on the Sorghum cover crop.. and you can smell the goodness :) Probably cut it two more times over the next couple of months.. ending this crop late May. Then followed by a Rye cover crop for June and July.   Monday, April 8 View Page Awesome day fishing at Bulwer Ledge Moreton Bay today. This is my catch of the day a nice Painted Sweetlip.   Wednesday, April 10 View Page Chipped Palm frond compost.. we have so much of this piled up from the 40 or so large Canary Island Date Palms that line our driveway. We prune and chip the fronds every six months and over the years it builds up. So I decided to trial it in my pumpkin seed raising mix. It’s lite and airy, very moist but not mushy and just feels perfect to just soften our custom potting mix that we usually use. If the trial does well I’ll also use it in the patch.   Wednesday, April 10 View Page This is the trial of the 50/50 palm frond compost and potting mix. Looks great lots of fibrous roots very happy with the result. Thumbs up   Friday, May 31 View Page Ryegrass is looking good.. but always seems to grow so slow it’s a bit like watching paint dry. It’s a good thing we’ve got bigpumpkins to keep us entertained. Love watching everyone in full swing doing such great work growing beautiful plants and amazing pumpkins. It’s very exciting to watch and also super inspiring. Will someone grow the dream 3000lb giant this season??? I hope so!! But really I think just getting a pumpkin to the finish line is an incredible achievement in itself. Best of luck everyone keep up the hard work :)   Wednesday, July 24 View Page The old mouldboard plough doing the job on the rye grass. Broke about 15cm off the tip of the plough on a huge black basalt pillar rock.. we have a few of them in this paddock.   Friday, August 16 View Page This is my lineup for this season. Hopefully they all germinate as some of these seeds are getting pretty old.. fingers crossed. 1810 Werner 1843.5 Werner 1730 Fulk 1676 La Rue 2109 Zywiec 300.5kg Cox x 2 (own seed) 218.5kg Cox (own seed)   Thursday, August 22 View Page My seedlings are coming along nicely with a surprise late comer the 2109 Zywiec starting to pop this morning.   Tuesday, November 5 View Page 1810 Werner is growing well. Pollinated 24.10.2024   Tuesday, November 5 View Page 1810 Werner x self DAP.. 12   Wednesday, November 13 View Page 1810 Werner x self DAP..20 OTT 160 ‘Beth’ This is my best day 20 to date :)   Wednesday, November 13 View Page Side view of the Werner DAP..20   Wednesday, November 13 View Page The patch by night   Wednesday, November 13 View Page And the patch by day. The hailnet has already served its purpose with our first wild hailstorm for the season just last week.   Wednesday, November 13 View Page And the patch by day. The hailnet has already served its purpose with our first wild hailstorm for the season just last week.   Wednesday, November 13 View Page pic   Monday, November 18 View Page 1810 Werner x self. DAP..25 OTT 199 a gain of 39   Monday, November 18 View Page The 1667 La Rue x self. Hail damaged and a little neglected DAP..20 yet to tape   Monday, November 18 View Page The 1667 La Rue x self. Hail damaged and a little neglected DAP..20 yet to tape   Saturday, November 23 View Page 1810 Werner DAP.. 30 OTT 229 gain of 30 in the past 5 days. Terrible weather cold and wet. Over 162mm of rain in 24 hours yesterday. Temps 18c -20c Not good at all