Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 65 Entries. Friday, April 14 View Page Well I have bit the bullet & started AGs today. I have been behind because of traveling (you know you can’t travel during growing season, ha) and the weather not cooperating. Anyhow, so I have the patches tilled & the driptape is down. Next I want to put TerraClean down, followed by TerraGrow, Azos, Mykos & some other beneficials. And then install my heating cables, put up my minigreenhouses & prepare the planting sites. Whew!   Saturday, April 15 View Page Here’s the pic.   Saturday, April 22 View Page Here are my AGs, pic is from yesterday, 1 week after the seeds had been sown. Sorry they don’t show up well under the LEDs. Front L to R: 1935 Ford, 2350 Gienger, 2114 Wallace, 1806 Sperry, 326 Ritter & 2702.9 Cutrupi. Back L to R: 1953 Daletas, 2356 Mendi, 1940 Urena, 326 Ritter, 1686.5 Stelts & 2365 Wolf. Very pleased with how they are looking at this age. My most anticipated seed, the 2183 Mendi , was a no-show.   Saturday, April 22 View Page Here are some of my tomatoes in the midst of approach grafting. It’s a mix of Giants & heirlooms.   Tuesday, May 9 View Page It’s been a while since I’ve posted. I started my seeds April 14, then transplanted them out Thursday May 4, later than I wanted but you know how it goes. In Patch A I have dueling 326 Ritters. They’re looking pretty good now, much better than when I first put them out.   Tuesday, May 9 View Page Patch B has 2356 Mendi on the L & 1953 Daletas on the R. You can see the thermostat for my gutter cable, my soil thermometer, my electric heater, fan & the WiFi thermometer. Next to the WiFi thermometer there is a paper bag which doesn’t like to stay in place. Gonna have to work on that.   Tuesday, May 9 View Page Patch C has 2114 Wallace on the L & 2364 Wolf on the R. Grow babies grow!   Tuesday, May 9 View Page Here is the pic of the 326 Ritters.   Friday, May 19 View Page My dueling 326 Ritter plants were 2 weeks in the ground on Thursday, look to be neck & neck to me.   Friday, May 19 View Page 2 weeks in the ground. L 1953 Daletas R 2356 Mendi.   Friday, May 19 View Page 2 weeks in the ground. Plastic removed yesterday. L 2365 Wolf R 2114 Wallace.   Wednesday, May 31 View Page I have culled down to 1 vine in my patches. The 326 Ritter is 10’ long.   Wednesday, May 31 View Page This is my 1953 Daletas, around 7.5’ in length.   Wednesday, May 31 View Page My 2365 Wolf, also about 7.5’ long.   Wednesday, June 7 View Page Started putting up the solar shade fabric up, couldn’t get it done nearly as easily without Kathy.   Wednesday, June 7 View Page The solar shades on the other patch.   Monday, June 26 View Page This is my 2365 Wolf at 11 DAP. Very pleased with the shape.   Tuesday, June 27 View Page This is my 326 Ritter at 12 DAP, very pleased with it’s shape also.   Sunday, July 2 View Page My 326 Ritter 18 DAP OTT 150”.   Sunday, July 2 View Page My 2365 Wolf 17 DAP OTT 135.5”.   Sunday, July 2 View Page My 1953 Daletas 9 DAP horiz circ 23.5”.   Saturday, July 8 View Page 326 Ritter OTT 225.5”.   Saturday, July 8 View Page 2365 Wolf OTT 217.5”. Found a bad spot on the button yesterday. Cored it out & treated it, hoping for the best.   Sunday, July 9 View Page 1953 Daletas circ 54”.   Sunday, July 9 View Page 1953 Daletas circ 54”.   Friday, August 4 View Page First entry for Giant tomato for me this year, much larger to come, lol. Seed was Dan Greene’s MegaDom Dom cross.   Friday, August 4 View Page Whoops, too many mater pics in my cell & not fully awake. This is the real pic. The other one was Wayne Morgan’s.   Friday, August 4 View Page My 326 Ritter fruit at 50 DAP.   Friday, August 4 View Page Fruit on my 2365 Wolf plant. 49 DAP. The pic doesn’t do justice to the length of this fruit, quite long, ha!   Friday, August 4 View Page Frustration set in.the correct pic had better post!   Friday, August 4 View Page Trying again on the pic of my 326 Ritter.   Sunday, August 6 View Page Picked this fruit & I was pretty pleased at first.   Sunday, August 6 View Page When I looked closer there was a small area of rot 1 x 1.3 cm in size. When I turned it over a small amount of fluid leaked out. DQ!   Sunday, August 6 View Page We lost the fruit on my 1953 Daletas. It had gotten up to an estimated weight of 311# when it stopped growing. There had been a small area of rot on the main vine distal to the fruit. I amputated the distal main vine & I thought it looked clean. I sprayed the stump with rubbing alcohol, dusted it with S powder, put a fan on it & forgot about it. When I cut the stem on this pumpkin there was rot in the interior which obviously went into the fruit. So now I’m trying to get a female to pollinate for a porch punkin.   Sunday, August 6 View Page This is the stem on the tomato. Roots forming on the stem of the fruit may be indicative of the level of humidity we have had recently.   Sunday, August 6 View Page My 326 Ritter taping at 1,187#.   Sunday, August 6 View Page My 2365 Wolf with Kathy atop it. Taping at 1,417# currently.   Sunday, August 6 View Page The 326 Ritter.   Sunday, August 13 View Page We took first place at the Indiana State Fair, weighing in at 1,099#. We had a great time speaking with the other growers.   Sunday, August 13 View Page We took first place at the Indiana State Fair, weighing in at 1,099#. We had a great time speaking with the other growers.   Wednesday, August 23 View Page One of the pics from the Indiana club’s Patch Tour. This is at my place. Everybody had a good time, despite the heat, ha!   Thursday, August 24 View Page Here is one of my 5 gallon bucket plants with a fruit starting to color up.   Thursday, August 24 View Page A closeup of the fruit. It is on one of my 8.355 Strickler Domingo plants.   Thursday, August 24 View Page Another pic from our Patch Tour.   Sunday, August 27 View Page My 5 gallon fruit. Seed was 8.355 Strickler.   Monday, August 28 View Page Well I thought I had already included the pic.   Saturday, September 9 View Page The most recent pic of our 2365 Wolf.   Saturday, September 9 View Page The most recent pic of our 2365 Wolf.   Wednesday, September 20 View Page Neighbor has a drone, very cool.   Wednesday, September 20 View Page Neighbor has a drone, very cool.   Sunday, October 1 View Page Coming down to the wire!   Sunday, October 1 View Page Coming down to the wire!   Saturday, October 7 View Page Well, it was quite a production yesterday, we’ve never lifted a punkin this big & had to call in some power equipment from a landscaper friend.   Saturday, October 7 View Page The lifting crew, minus Kathy taking the pic.   Saturday, October 7 View Page I should have mentioned for the last pic, Great thanks to the lifting crew. Everything went as smoothly as could be expected. Here we are, bound for Dublin tomorrow.   Saturday, October 7 View Page I should have mentioned for the last pic, Great thanks to the lifting crew. Everything went as smoothly as could be expected. Here we are, bound for Dublin tomorrow.   Sunday, December 31 View Page These are the cracks produced by the repair strips on I70 on our way to Dublin. Grrr!   Sunday, December 31 View Page Here Kathy is upon arrival at Dublin the evening before the weighoff.   Sunday, December 31 View Page At the Dublin weighoff. We couldn’t believe how many huge pumpkins were there!   Sunday, December 31 View Page 2054#!!! New state record & first 1 ton fruit grown in the state of Indiana! Immensely proud & thankful. Good for 3rd place. This year we had named our pumpkins after characters on the Netflix series Call the Midwife. This was Dr. Patrick Turner. Genetics 2365 Wolf X 1686.5 Stelts +4% to the chart.   Sunday, December 31 View Page Baca pic…Antalya, Turkey   Sunday, December 31 View Page Cappadocia, Turkey   Sunday, December 31 View Page We retrieved an immense number of seeds out of our 2054, feeling very blessed!   Sunday, December 31 View Page The final disposition of our 2054! On the way to the pumpkin drop. Unfortunately the video wouldn’t load.   Sunday, December 31 View Page The final disposition of our 2054! On the way to the pumpkin drop. Unfortunately the video wouldn’t load.