Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 193 Entries. Friday, January 1 View Page Happy New Year! This is the final picture of our germ and new light test. These both are from our 1552 Young seeds from 2020 and are happy with the results. Next we will purchase the same led light for the second shelf and we will be all set for April.   Sunday, January 17 View Page The growing season is still 3 months away but Mother Nature still shows how beautiful she can be.   Saturday, January 30 View Page Practicing for our virtual winter meeting! I think our members are better growers then zoom meeting experts. Just saying!   Saturday, February 6 View Page Vermont virtual meeting is off and running!   Saturday, April 17 View Page Spring has arrived in Vermont! Kerry got her bugaboo out of winter storage.   Saturday, April 17 View Page Seed starting day. Good luck to all growers and make sure to keep this hobby fun!   Sunday, April 25 View Page We have awoken the giants!   Sunday, April 25 View Page Full grow bench so far. There is a 4 foot heat mat on top shelf. We started a back up for each hoop today and two of the 143 LeBlanc long gourds. Started 12 tomatoes today. Two 6.44 Young, (2) 5.71 Lambchop, 9.65 and 6.55 Porkchop, 8.1 and 7.72 MacDonald, 666 and 7.64 Spaziani, 6.23 Konieczy, and 5.62 Larue.   Tuesday, April 27 View Page Had 10 yards of compost delivered today and decided to take a half day to move it as rain is forecast for the next few.   Tuesday, April 27 View Page The tractor makes this so much easier as we used to move it to the patch by wheelbarrow. This is roughly 5 hours of work and around 9 yards on on this patch. Subsoiler was used in a checkerboard pattern and tilled 3 times. The soil heating cables are dug in and plugged in with the hoops in place. I will give the cables 5 days to heat the soil before planting Sunday or Monday.   Tuesday, April 27 View Page Old patch is starting to get there as well with the hoop on a 400 square foot space and compost on both long gourd trellises. The spot on the right will be finished later and is for the tomato greenhouse.   Sunday, May 9 View Page We spent our first weekend in NH since summer with our oldest son Parker and his girlfriend Amanda. Here is Kerry and Parker in Prescott park along the Piscataqua river.   Sunday, May 9 View Page Here is Parker and Amanda with their 10 month old Maine Coon cat named Rollo. Already 15 pounds!   Sunday, May 9 View Page Here are our giant tomatoes along with long gourds and 8 Atlantic giant back ups.   Sunday, May 9 View Page It has been cold and cloudy in Vermont the past week. The plants seem to be pretty happy and getting their roots set in. Here are the two 1469 Young plants.   Sunday, May 9 View Page Here are the competing 1455 Young plants. I believe this would have ended up as our largest pumpkin last year if it did not split at a seam.   Sunday, May 9 View Page Here are the 1552 Young’s and they will get the 800 square foot space this year.   Sunday, May 9 View Page And last but not least is our 1215 Young plants. Let’s see if they can grow another tall orange pumpkin.   Sunday, May 16 View Page This is our second Sunday update and our plants have been in the ground for a full 2 weeks. The weather is starting to look favorable and we are hoping for growth to pick up.   Sunday, May 16 View Page We set the tomato greenhouse up this weekend. We will eventually have 8 giant tomato plants in it.   Sunday, May 16 View Page For now the greenhouse is holding tomatoes and long gourds with other back ups and flowers. Around Memorial Day we will dig the giant tomatoes in.   Sunday, May 16 View Page We had a 146 LeBlanc long gourd out grow our grow table so I decided to plant it. Now it is our gamble gourd! We also have 5 back ups in the greenhouse.   Sunday, May 16 View Page Here are 2 of our 1469 Young plants. These plants are just starting to run and both seem to be growing good.   Sunday, May 16 View Page Next up are the 1552 Young plants. These are not as happy early as the others are. Last year we had our slower start from this location too but it ended up growing our 1469.   Sunday, May 16 View Page Next up are the 1215 Young plants. These are the strongest plants so far and both are running.   Sunday, May 16 View Page Last but not least is the 1455 Young plants. These are growing strong and just starting to run.   Sunday, May 23 View Page Time for my Sunday update. There are talks about less diaries here and that is a bit depressing for me. I post because it is our diary to track our season and to be able to look back at past years to compare our growth. Our diary has documented the good and bad as well as happy occasions and very sad ones. I encourage all to try doing a diary as you will love to look back at it years down the road.   Sunday, May 23 View Page This weekend we put up the mesh electric fence on the new patch so that we could plant our giant sunflowers. The first 6 in the row are seeds from Henry the giant pumpkin-sunflower grower!   Sunday, May 23 View Page The old patch is getting close to being fully planted. I still need to get a ladder out to clean the old long gourd vines off the trellis.   Sunday, May 23 View Page The greenhouse still has plants in it. The weather forecast is up and down for the next week. Will probably plant tomatoes on Memorial Day. The 5 gallon bucket has the 6.23 Konieczny in it. Let’s see if I can get one to the scale off it this year.   Sunday, May 23 View Page Here is the 146 LeBlanc greenhouse side. It is starting to take off and is 40 inches long today.   Sunday, May 23 View Page Here is the 1469 Young. We have chosen the one that was a little less aggressive but was behaving better. It is 30 inches long today.   Sunday, May 23 View Page 146 LeBlanc number two is also growing well outside and is 29 inches today.   Sunday, May 23 View Page Our problem hoop in the patch houses our 1552 Young seeds. These plants just sat and spun and I believe it was due to broken soil heating cables. They are finally starting to green up and run. The biggest plant is 19 inches long today.   Sunday, May 23 View Page The second longest plant in the patch is the 1455 Young and we have pruned out the second plant. It is 45 inches long today.   Sunday, May 23 View Page Our patch leader is the 1215 Young. This is our chosen keeper and it is 52 inches long today.   Monday, May 31 View Page The weather has been cold and gray here for the past 4 days. We bundled up our hoops for a potential frost on the 28th. Fortunately it only got down to 34 and no frost!   Monday, May 31 View Page We spent the long weekend in Saratoga to see some horses and do up the town. Ok. Do up was shopping and eating and a little gambling. We did stay up past 10pm one night though! Our neighbor Paul was nice enough to open and close the hoops for us and we thanked him with some yummy NY IPA’s. We took hoops off when we got home as the weather appears to be looking better.   Monday, May 31 View Page The old patch also survived!   Monday, May 31 View Page Today we also put the giant tomatoes in the ground. Here are the 6.66 Spaziani and the 6.44 Young which will be our tough outside plants.   Monday, May 31 View Page Here are the greenhouse plants which are: 2 of the 5.71 Lambchop, 5.62 LaRue, 7.64 Spaziani, 8.1 MacDonald, 7.72 MacDonald, 9.65 Porkchop and 6.55 Porkchop.   Monday, May 31 View Page Here is our greenhouse trellis 146 LaBlanc and it is 53” long today. Long gourds don’t do as well as pumpkins in the cold so we are very pleased that this is still alive and growing.   Monday, May 31 View Page This is the 1469 Young in our old patch. All of the plants have light green leaves which I blame on the cool weather and soil. Hopefully these will green up by next diary entries with the nice weather coming. She is around 4.5 long today.   Monday, May 31 View Page Here is the 1552 Young which currently is the runt of the litter. She was starting to grow better and then the cold weather slowed it down. She is 3.5 feet long today.   Monday, May 31 View Page Our second best early grower is our 1455 Young. This plant has been easy to grow and has taken off right out of the gate. She is 7 feet long today.   Monday, May 31 View Page Our fastest grower so far this year is the 1215 Young. Been easy to grow so far and is sitting at 7.5 feet long.   Sunday, June 6 View Page Here is a good example of a ribbon vine. This head is 10 feet out from the stump. I suggested to the grower to terminate and take a side vine as the new main. Without terminating the plant will still feed this large sink and the side vines will stay stunted. Time will tell if this works.   Sunday, June 6 View Page It was a beautiful hot day in Vermont today and the pumpkins loved it for the most part. I am saddened by the loss of two of our growing community and send our thoughts and deepest sympathy out to Rick Jolivette who lost his wife and growing partner and the Marvin Meisner family for losing a pioneer in the giant tomato growing world. We are a family and we all hurt when one of us hurt.   Sunday, June 6 View Page The old patch seems happy as well with the pumpkin moving and the long gourds climbing.   Sunday, June 6 View Page All 8 tomatoes in the greenhouse are growing well. A little lighter green then last years plants which I am hoping will be good for pollinations.   Sunday, June 6 View Page Here is the first 146 LeBlanc long gourd growing next to the greenhouse. It is looking good and is around 6 feet tonight.   Sunday, June 6 View Page This is the 1469 Young in the old patch. It is just starting to throw secondaries and is just shy of 7 feet tonight.   Sunday, June 6 View Page Here is the second 146 LeBlanc long gourd. It is quickly catching the first one and is 5.5 feet long tonight.   Sunday, June 6 View Page The 1552 Young continues to be the runt of the patch but is growing much better now. It is starting to show some secondaries and is 6 feet long tonight.   Sunday, June 6 View Page The 1455 Young continues to grow well and is 10 feet long tonight.   Sunday, June 6 View Page I wanted to show a leaf from the 1455 which was over heated when we had the hoop houses on. There were a couple leaves that got fried like this. The rest of the plant looks fine.   Sunday, June 6 View Page The patch leader again this week is the 1215 Young and tonight it is 10.5 feet long. The first female is around 8.5 feet and we will let it open to see what it looks like.   Saturday, June 12 View Page Biggest striper of the season so far. Was 36 inches long but didn’t have a scale to weigh it. Pumpkins and fish equals great summer!   Sunday, June 13 View Page Ok. Now we are back to pumpkins. Northern Vermont has been extremely dry and the pumpkins survived the weekend but have slowed in growth. Even though rain is in the forecast, we still drenched the plants pretty well this evening.   Sunday, June 13 View Page In the old patch you can really see how dry the soil is where we have not watered. Overall, we are both happy with the green growth so far this year.   Sunday, June 13 View Page The tomato hut is coming along and does not need the same amount of watering as each plant was planted a foot or more below the surface. This area is also in shade around 3 pm this time of year. A few of the plants are showing females already but we won’t work too hard to pollinate them this early in the season.   Sunday, June 13 View Page The 146 LeBlanc near the greenhouse is currently ahead of the other one and is about 9.5 feet long. Around 5 more feet and it will be at the top of the trellis.   Sunday, June 13 View Page Here is the 1469 Young. She is really starting to throw secondaries and is a little over 10 feet long tonight. She has a baby at 8 feet but we are hoping to pollinate one a little further down the main.   Sunday, June 13 View Page This is the second 146 LeBlanc and looks good as well. She is around 8.5 feet long tonight.   Sunday, June 13 View Page The 1552 Young is still our shortest in the patch at 10 feet tonight. The secondaries are all coming and should be stretching out soon. There is a baby around 7 feet that we will let open to see how it looks but won’t be our keeper.   Sunday, June 13 View Page Here is a row of our giant sunflowers. These are all between 2-3 feet tall tonight.   Sunday, June 13 View Page The 1455 Young is our second best plant in length but has the best secondaries. She is just shy of 14 feet long today but has no females showing as of yet. The male blossoms have pollen, so I don’t believe it is a sterile plant. The 1080 Young which is the momma was slow last year with females as well.   Sunday, June 13 View Page The 1215 Young continues to be our patch leader at just over 14 feet in length. The baby at 9 feet opened and was a clean 5 lobe, so we are hopeful the next females will look decent too.   Friday, June 18 View Page We had a critter attack last night. It did not go through the electric fence but chopped 4 giant sunflowers in half.   Sunday, June 20 View Page My son and his girlfriend vacationed with us in Maine. This was her first ever striped bass and was a 42 inch monster. The fish was released safely to swim another day and give someone else a memory for a lifetime.   Sunday, June 20 View Page Time for Sunday update from our patch. The critter chronicles continues as we lost 2 more giant sunflowers while we were away. I think it is time to purchase a game camera to help identify the culprit. If you have any suggestions please send me an email.   Sunday, June 20 View Page Overall, the pumpkins are growing well along with the long gourds and tomatoes.   Sunday, June 20 View Page The tomato house continues to do well with blossoms galore. We won’t keep anything this early but I am eager to see if we get a better pollination percentage with a little less fertilizer.   Sunday, June 20 View Page Here is the 146 LeBlanc next to the greenhouse. She has both mail and female blossoms coming and is 12 feet long tonight. Just 2.5 feet more and she will be on top of the trellis.   Sunday, June 20 View Page Here is the 1469 Young and is at 13.25 feet tonight. Secondaries are a bit slow but are starting to pick up steam now.   Sunday, June 20 View Page Here is the other 146 LeBlanc long gourd. Starting to grow well and is at 11 feet long tonight.   Sunday, June 20 View Page Here is the 1552 Young and it is also 13.25 feet tonight. The secondaries all seem to be growing at the same pace and makes the plant look square. Looking back at last years diary, the momma plant was a bit square too and took longer to fill its space compared to the other plants.   Sunday, June 20 View Page The 1215 Young continues to be our fastest grower and is just shy of 19 feet long tonight. There is a baby at 15.5 feet that we are protecting and should open by mid week.   Sunday, June 20 View Page Last but not least is the 1455 Young. She is just shy of 18 feet tonight and has a baby we are protecting at 17 feet. The plants really took off with the warm weather while we were gone. After a 3.5 hour drive I spent 3 hours in the patch burying. My back says “no bueno”!   Sunday, June 27 View Page I will start this Sunday update by reintroducing our patch TikiMan God. We used to use soda cans but I got this from a Xmas yankee swap and have been using him as a reference point to show as the pumpkins grow. I couldn’t find a soda can, so this will have to do. (Insert smiley face)   Sunday, June 27 View Page Kerry and I were off on another adventure this weekend and headed back home this morning. After a 3 hour drive we both spent 3 hours in the patch burying, weeding and stirrup hoeing. Needless to say, sleep should come easily tonight.   Sunday, June 27 View Page Our weather this growing year has been all over the map. Last Wednesday we had a high of 61 degrees and today we hit 93. The plants were growing quite slow all week, but are kicking it into high gear now.   Sunday, June 27 View Page The 146 LeBlanc greenhouse side is about a foot above the trellis, which puts it about 15.5 feet long. I am starting to see some fungal issues on long gourd and pumpkin leaves. Sprayed Kocide 3000 tonight. It seems the long gourds respond to copper the best.   Sunday, June 27 View Page The tomatoes got a haircut late last week. Nothing set yet but they look healthy.   Sunday, June 27 View Page The 1469 Young is growing steady in the old patch. Secondaries are a little slow in coming but they are there. The plant is around 17 feet long tonight.   Sunday, June 27 View Page Here is the first hopeful pollination on the 1469 Young. I am guessing it will open Tuesday or Wednesday. The baby is at 14 feet down the main vine.   Sunday, June 27 View Page Here is the second 146 LeBlanc long gourd. It is around 6 inches above the trellis at approximately 15 feet.   Sunday, June 27 View Page The 1552 Young is growing square, similar to its momma. Probably not the best choice for this spot as it might be a challenge for it to fill all 800 square feet. The plant currently is 17.5 feet long.   Sunday, June 27 View Page Here is our first hopeful pollination on the 1552 Young. It is protected with a stocking and should open tomorrow. I have 3 males from the 1215 Young to cross back in to it. This baby is at 13.5 feet.   Sunday, June 27 View Page The 1215 is kicking right along and is over 20 feet long today. We have one pollinated at 15.5 feet and another further down opening this week.   Sunday, June 27 View Page Here is the 5 day old baby on the 1215 Young. It will take some patience but we will get it to sit straight on the mill fabric. I am happy with the nice long stem which should help the alignment out.   Sunday, June 27 View Page Last but not least is the 1455 Young. This plant is a monster with thick vines and big leaves. It is well over 20 feet long and filling its 600 square foot space quickly.   Sunday, June 27 View Page Unfortunately the first female opened yesterday while we were gone. It is a clean symmetrical 5 lobe girl and if the bees did the deed we will probably keep it at 17 feet down the main.   Sunday, July 11 View Page Please, somebody tell July to slow down. Kerry and I are making up for our lack of travel last summer and have been away for the last 4 weekends. We got a chance to stay home this weekend to get caught up on the garden and house chores. The patch is filling up nicely and the pumpkins are slowly starting to swell.   Sunday, July 11 View Page The old patch is having a few challenges as we have a fungal issue starting to take leaves on the 1469 Young. The Long gourds have a bit of the black leaf fungus but we seem to be slowing it down with fungicides.   Sunday, July 11 View Page Both of the 146 LeBlanc long gourds are over mid way on the trellis top which put them in the 20 foot range. There are a couple of females that I will try to pollinate tonight.   Sunday, July 11 View Page The tomato house is rocking and rolling this year with a pollination on each plant. No mega blooms but lots of doubles.   Sunday, July 11 View Page The 5 gallon bucket tomato has a pollination. Let’s see if we can get one to the scale this year.   Sunday, July 11 View Page Here is a close up of the 5 gallon challenge tomato. I am guessing the other contestants are not shaking in their boots over this one.   Sunday, July 11 View Page Here is our third attempt on the 1469 Young in our old patch. The plant is close to filling its 400 square foot space but has a leaf fungus we are battling. We may have one more shot on this plant by end of week. Fingers crossed!   Sunday, July 11 View Page 1552 Young at day 6. This is our second attempt on this plant and is an open pollination. Our first pollination had what looked like girdling on the stem end and was not growing well. We have a pollination tomorrow but the season is getting on, so we may go with this girl.   Sunday, July 11 View Page This is our 1455 Young. Also the second on the main at 6 days old. She is also open pollinated. The first pumpkin also showed a kind of girdled look, so we culled it. The second and third pumpkins look fine, so my guess was something environmental. We have had wide temperature variations and had a 3 day stretch with high temps under 60 degrees.   Sunday, July 11 View Page Here is our 1215 Young. This plant always seems to throw something unique at us. This is a very long very “ridgey” pumpkin. We have had long pumpkins but never long with lots of ridges. Early looks are trending towards a dark orange too.   Sunday, July 11 View Page 1215 Young. This is what I call “ridge-a-licious” Let’s see if we can keep her solid.   Saturday, July 17 View Page Saturday update of our patch. Overall we are very happy with the patch and having fun watching these incredible plants grow. I know that we don’t weigh our plants in the fall but as a plant lover, these AG plants are unbelievable! The two 600 square foot spaces are full and the 800 square foot is filling quickly.   Saturday, July 17 View Page The old patch is having its struggles as we have a leaf fungus getting the best of us. We are staying on a stringent fungicide schedule that may be slowing it but it is hard to tell. The long gourds are quickly filling the trellis and we may have 1 or 2 pollinated on each.   Saturday, July 17 View Page We have at least one pollinated on each tomato. No mega blooms but they all seem like they are growing. Here is the tomato in our 5 gallon bucket challenge.   Saturday, July 17 View Page Every year Kerry names the pumpkins and this year the theme is Willy Wonka. Here is Violet Beauregarde off of the 1469 Young. This is in the old patch and a 400 square foot space. We will see if we can get her to the finish line while battling leaf fungal issues. Violet is 6 days old today and has an ott of 43 inches.   Saturday, July 17 View Page Here is Veruca Salt of the 1552 Young. Veruca is 12 days old and has an ott of 81 inches today.   Saturday, July 17 View Page Here is Grandma Georgina off the 1455 Young. Georgina is 12 days old today and has an ott of 91 inches.   Saturday, July 17 View Page Last is Grandma Josephine off of the 1215 Young. She is still rib-a-licious at 25 days and has an ott of 198 inches.   Saturday, July 17 View Page Side pic of Grandma Josephine. Our pumpkins are growing much slower than last year but we are always happy to see them swelling!   Sunday, July 25 View Page Happy summer. Kerry and I caught the Chicago show at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center last Sunday. They still have 3 founding members on the stage and certainly put on a great show.   Sunday, July 25 View Page Next came the race course of course. It felt great to get back to live racing with fans in the stands.   Sunday, July 25 View Page We decided to take a couple of the track tours and here we are just below where the announcer sits. Saratoga race course has been around since 1864 and is full of racing history. Kerry was fortunate enough to get a shoe from the black smith on our back lot tour.   Sunday, July 25 View Page This was my first purchase when we got back home. Never a good sign but needed just about every year. We have a very small stem end split on the 1215 Grandma Josephine. The quicker we can find and treat a small problem the better the outcome usually.   Sunday, July 25 View Page Before patch work we had to pick blueberries. Our neighbors picked some while we were gone but not nearly enough. Here we have close to 4 gallons of blueberries which weighed in at 21 pounds. That’s a lot of pies!   Sunday, July 25 View Page Ok time for pumpkins! The good news is we still have 4 growing. There was a big front that came through with lots of rain and strong winds. We were fortunate not to get hail and the tarp shelters held up.   Sunday, July 25 View Page The plant in the old patch is still losing leaves to a fungus. It will be interesting to see if we can get another 40 days on the pumpkin or not.   Sunday, July 25 View Page The tomato house is moving along. Have lost a couple to blossom end rot but the others are looking ok.   Sunday, July 25 View Page Here is our 5 gallon bucket challenge tomato. Not sure of the age but it has a circ. Of 11.25 inches.   Sunday, July 25 View Page Ummmm. Perhaps Barry had a pesky moth that pollinated a caveman club before it came to the 146 long gourd. LOL The fat bottom might add weight that will stretch the long gourd even longer. Stay tuned!   Sunday, July 25 View Page The other 146 LeBlanc looks long and skinny. Let the race begin!   Sunday, July 25 View Page Here is Violet Beauregarde off the 1469 Young. She has the best shape of all our pumpkins but is on the plant with leaf fungal issues. She is 14 days old today and has an OTT of 109 inches.   Sunday, July 25 View Page Here is Veruca Salt from our 1552 Young. Like Ned, all of our pumpkins are very long this year but others are growing them that look more normal. Makes for an interesting pumpkin albeit probably won’t be a HD contender. Veruca is 20 days old today and has an OTT of 157 inches.   Sunday, July 25 View Page Grandma Georgina off the 1455 Young is also 20 days old today and has an OTT of 171 inches.   Sunday, July 25 View Page Side view of Grandma Georgina off the 1455 Young to show how long she is. It looks like the color will be a nice dark orange.   Sunday, July 25 View Page Last is Grandma Josephine off of the 1215 Young. We have a fan on her stem 24/7 now but the small crack seems to be staying the same. Josephine the “rib a licious” is 33 days old today with an OTT of 247 inches.   Sunday, July 25 View Page Side view of Grandma Josephine from the 1215 Young. Nothing in the patch is growing fast this year an we are way behind a few of our best years but overall we are very pleased and have a few unique looking fruits. It is typical for a grower to be concerned by 1 or 2 areas on each pumpkin they grow as these are potential split areas. This year on the 1215 we have at least 12 worry zones. It will be a miracle if we can get it to a weigh off!   Sunday, August 1 View Page We got to spend a long weekend with our son Parker and his girlfriend Amanda. This picture is taken from York Beach Maine and it was the first beach weekend we had out of 3 attempts. It was cool for end of July but much warmer than back home.   Sunday, August 1 View Page During the 4 days we were gone our high temps at our house never reached 70. And the sky was gray if not dropping water. The pumpkins and other fruits are just not swelling as much as we want but we can’t control it.   Sunday, August 1 View Page Old patch pumpkin is still plugging along and the long gourds are pollinated.   Sunday, August 1 View Page Here is our longest so far on one of the 146 LeBlanc long gourd plants. It is roughly 3 feet long.   Sunday, August 1 View Page Here are the weapons we are growing on the other 146 LeBlanc plant. It may not grow a pb but it may have our pb long gourd weight. The longest is a little over 5 feet so far.   Sunday, August 1 View Page Here is a mega bloom pollinated off the 5.71 Lambchop at about 6 feet up the plant.   Sunday, August 1 View Page Here is a mega bloom on the 6.55 Porkchop at about 6 feet up the plant. Our 5 gallon bucket tomato is still growing and has a cc of 13.5 inches.   Sunday, August 1 View Page One of our patch leaders is off the 8.1 MacDonald. This mater has a cc of 15.5 inches. Tomatoes are growing very slow with the cool temps which may be good if they ever mature.   Sunday, August 1 View Page Here is Grandma Georgina off the 1455 Young. She is 27 days old and has an OTT of 230 inches.   Sunday, August 1 View Page Here is Violet Beauregarde from our 1469 Young. Her plant is still failing with fungal issues but she is still growing. She is 21 days old today and has an OTT of 168 inches.   Sunday, August 1 View Page Here is Veruca Salt off our 1552 Young. She is 27 days old today and has an OTT of 220 inches.   Sunday, August 1 View Page Last is Grandma Josephine off our 1215 Young. Her rib a licious shape seemed to slow her growth down and there was too much pressure with all the rain we had and she split through to her core.   Sunday, August 1 View Page Grandma Josephine estimated at 460 pounds and was never going to be a 1000 pounder but she was kind of cool looking.   Sunday, August 1 View Page Here is the split that did her in. This would of happened regardless if we were home or not and I had treated the initial split with sulfur and had a fan on it 24/7. We will clean the planting area this week and think about planting a cover crop. Splits Happen!   Monday, August 2 View Page Agony of defeat. For all of you giant pumpkin growers that had to pull a perfectly healthy 600 square foot plant after the pumpkin on it split. You know how this feels! Giant pumpkins are so challenging to grow as we are always walking on the edge of the cliff to get a big one.   Sunday, August 8 View Page Unfortunately, we lost our second pumpkin today. Grandma Georgina went down with a stem split all the way through to the core. Had to do the selfie to show the shirt I chose to wear to document another pumpkin down.   Sunday, August 8 View Page We got the plant and the pumpkin to the compost pile and soil samples taken and winter rye spread. We will keep the sprinklers out until the seeds sprout.   Sunday, August 8 View Page These are sunflowers from Henry the giant pumpkin grower. They are close to 16 feet tall.   Sunday, August 8 View Page The old patch seems to be holding its own and the fungal issues have slowed a bit. Need to work it harder then we want as we need at least one lawn pumpkin this fall.   Sunday, August 8 View Page Here is Violet on the 1469 Young in the old patch. She is 28 days old and has an OTT of 214 inches.   Sunday, August 8 View Page Here is Veruca off of the 1552 Young. Still very long but still growing sound. She is 34 days old today and has an OTT of 266 inches.   Sunday, August 8 View Page Here is the longest long gourd from the 146 LeBlanc b plant. Clipping along well at 67 inches long. We have kept 2 others on this plant.   Sunday, August 8 View Page Long gourds on the 146 LeBlanc a plant are growing well and much thicker than plant b. The longest on this plant is 98 inches.   Sunday, August 8 View Page The tomatoes are slowly plugging along. Here is our largest which is from the 8.1 MacDonald. She has a cc of 18.5 inches tonight.   Sunday, August 8 View Page Here is our second biggest tomato from the 6.55 Porkchop and has a cc of 17.25 inches.   Sunday, August 8 View Page Our 5 gallon bucket challenge is still alive but growing very slowly. It has a cc of 15 inches tonight.   Sunday, August 22 View Page We picked the 5 gallon bucket tomato. Just 1.76 pounds but at least we got one to the scale this year!   Sunday, August 22 View Page Bottom of 5 gallon bucket tomato. Now 1.76 Young 2021.   Sunday, August 22 View Page It has been a couple weeks since our last update as we spent 5 days in Saratoga NY mostly at the horse track and also visited the Fasig Tipson Saratoga Yearling auction. We didn’t purchase a horse, so I guess giant pumpkins for another year or two. LOL Here is Violet off the 1469 Young. She is on a plant with major fungal issues but keeps slowly growing. She is 42 days old today and has an OTT of 279 inches.   Sunday, August 22 View Page Here is Veruca off of the 1552 Young. She is 48 days old today and has an OTT of 335 inches.   Sunday, August 22 View Page The long gourds on one of the 146 LeBlanc plants are huge. Typically huge is a great word when describing pumpkins and long is preferred in long gourds. They are great looking though and will look good at our fair. They are almost done growing between 112 and 115 inches.   Sunday, August 22 View Page Here is a good picture for size comparison. I have a big gourd of a head and these are bigger. Sure are pretty though. Talking about the long gourds of course!   Sunday, August 22 View Page Now this is more like it. The second 146 LeBlanc long gourd produced a nice skinny one. If this doesn’t sour tip it could get us close to a personal best!   Sunday, August 22 View Page We still have a few green tomatoes growing and a couple over 20 inch cc.   Sunday, August 22 View Page Our best tomato so far is from the 8.1 MacDonald. Just shy of 22 inch cc tonight. It has not been a good growing year here but it is what it is. We have been growing giants since 1996 all but one of those years we had plants in the ground. The off year was because of a bad accident. As far as I am concerned every year we can grow is a gift and you have to take the good with the bad. Grow triumphantly my friends even if Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate.   Tuesday, August 24 View Page Harvested our tall sunflower for the Champlain Valley Fair. These things are harder to transport than giant pumpkins.   Friday, August 27 View Page Here is our tomato that we brought to the Champlain Valley fair and we may use for team tomato contest. The hot weather has made everything mature early.   Friday, August 27 View Page Back side of tomato.   Friday, August 27 View Page Here we are with our tall sunflower at the fair. A new pb for us and fair record at 17 feet 10 inches. Was an adventure driving this to the fair!   Sunday, August 29 View Page Violet off the 1469 Young is now the 536 Young 2021. She was only 42 days old but was not on a big enough/healthy enough plant to be near 1k. So, a perfect pumpkin to bring to our fair. We are very happy with the early orange color!   Sunday, August 29 View Page Meanwhile back in the patch, our tomato hut is looking slim. A number of tomatoes flashed early. I have weighed them and documented just in case I need to use one for tomato team. We are hoping one of the three left will be bigger then those though.   Sunday, August 29 View Page New leader is the 7.72 MacDonald and it is at 22 inches tonight and still green.   Sunday, August 29 View Page The skinny 146 LeBlanc long gourd is still growing well.   Sunday, August 29 View Page Even though it has a skinny end,it still looks solid. Fingers crossed!   Sunday, August 29 View Page Veruca off the 1552 Young is still plugging along. She is 55 days old today and has an OTT of 355 inches tonight.   Sunday, August 29 View Page Not the shape we were hoping for but all our pumpkins in new patch were long this year. Hard to complain about the color though!   Sunday, September 5 View Page Hard to believe the 2021 season is coming to a close. Here is our best long gourd on the second 146 LeBlanc plant and we are very happy that this long gourd is now 1xx inches long. Ha! Need to keep people guessing a bit.   Sunday, September 5 View Page Would you look at the tip! We are now calling this long gourd Captain Hook.   Sunday, September 5 View Page Our only pumpkin left is our 1552 Young. It is still slowly growing and is 62 days old and has an OTT of 367 inches. Not the shape we were hoping for but has a very nice dark orange color with smooth skin. As we are looking to create perfect pumpkins we understand that it is subjective. Howard Dill rated pumpkins in our opinion need to have the best combination of nice orange color, round shape and smooth non cantaloupe skin. People talk about pumpkins glowing and I feel it is the smooth skin that really makes a pumpkin color pop.   Sunday, September 5 View Page We only have 2 tomatoes left and still need to weigh one more for the tomato team competition. This is our biggest so far from the 7.72 MacDonald. She has a circ of 23 inches today.   Sunday, September 12 View Page We harvested our longest long gourd to be measured at the Vermont weigh off next Saturday. It is a long one for us.   Sunday, September 12 View Page Not my year for tomatoes but here is a 3.5 pounder to help our team out.   Sunday, September 12 View Page Here is the blossom end of the now 3.5 Young 2021 which is an 7.72 MacDonald x open.   Friday, September 17 View Page We helped Dick and Ann Squires load their pumpkin for the Vermont weigh off tomorrow. Don’t you just love this time of year!   Saturday, September 18 View Page Last tomato for the team competition is now the 3.74 Young 2021. Tough year growing here this year but proud of our team!   Saturday, September 18 View Page Under side of the 3.74 Young 2021.   Sunday, September 19 View Page Was a great day at Vermont weigh off. We were happy to break our State long gourd record with this 144.75 inch one from the 146 LeBlanc seed.   Monday, September 20 View Page Our fall display is started.   Thursday, September 23 View Page All loaded up for Saratoga.   Sunday, September 26 View Page We had a great day at the Saratoga weigh off yesterday. Beautiful day and great conversations. Our 1552 Young came in 6th place with a weight of 1298.5 pounds.   Saturday, October 23 View Page We had stairs and a small deck on the patch side of the house that used to connect to our pool. We rarely used it and it was close to 25 years old. Sooooo….,,,,.   Saturday, October 23 View Page We broke it down today and framed in and put plywood on the door opening. We have a neighbor who is a carpenter that will help finish the vinyl siding work.   Saturday, October 23 View Page Now we have a 2400 square foot patch for next year that we will try 3 plants at 800 square feet each.   Tuesday, November 30 View Page It is with a very sad heart that I report that our hobby has lost Dick Squires who was a great pumpkin grower and an even better person. Rest In Peace my good friend!