Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 417 Entries. Sunday, January 5 View Page This catalogue cover sums it up for me. Indoor grow: Hard to see but, atop the catalogue, on the right, is a nice triple that got culled. Less developed (a week younger) on the left, is one that I think would have been huge. It would have had a roundish shape but I don't think it would be fair to call a single... Looks to me like three or four squeezed together into one... Looks like 4 or 4 1/2 lbs to me. I have been trying to judge based on the stem and sepals, and it's actually hard to judge based on the stem, the sepals, or the position in the cluster. In the future I may try to judge based on the stigma.   Sunday, January 5 View Page Smallish double (upper right) is currently the keeper. Probably a runty bud it looked good at first though and it's pollinated... A small triple is the backup to this one. After that... Nothing. The plant is all pruned.   Sunday, January 5 View Page My 3rd world setup. I'm behind on eating my greens. Excess nitrogen and probably excess potassium too. I'm going to try watering a small amount, daily, to try to reduce the moisture flux & blossom end rot. Giving a gallon every week or so was convenient but causes too much moisture fluctuation I guess? Even though the plant was not getting bone dry or wilting, the water fluctuation did help ruin the last tomato.   Monday, January 6 View Page Pollen flying on the little triple. Its very hard to see tomato pollen and in my experience it flies only on the first day the flower is completely open when the petals are light yellow. By the time the petals are a more vibrant dark yellow the window for pollination may be closed? We like dark colors but bees like light colors. And I wouldnt be a bit surprised if the tomato flower is colored in uv, that we cant even see, but bees can!   Wednesday, January 8 View Page My sleep gets messed up by low sunlight someone texted me at 7:45 pm and I was asleep and I read it as 7:45 am then I went back to sleep and woke up at ten or so and thought I slept through a whole day but I guess it was only a couple hours... have completely lost track of time no sense of time at all now. Total mental confusion... we had one nice day but other than that the weather has been unhelpful w/ dark cloudy short days & soaked too. The past two systems dumped about a foot of rain. I said enough is enough and covered 1500 sq ft of garden with plastic. A bit too late any extra nutrients are long gone. I will probably lay one more sheet whenever its not dark/raining/snowing. Other than that things are going peachy. Onions should be popping up in a few days. 6 lbs is the goal... Onion, tomato, potato, carrot... Whichever. Gotta hit 6 lb. on one of these... not sure I can. Winter grow tomato is doing better and my neighbor is going to let me borrow a grow light since the plant has outgrown the other lights. Maybe 1 lb. is possible...   Wednesday, January 8 View Page Tomato measures 5.5 inches cir. @ 10 DAP. I think thats good for a little double blossom. Chicken doo coming tomorrow. Its hot stuff with strong ammonia smell and disappears fast... the worms eat it. I dont know if it will help gain me a pb though because the rain has set my soil back to zero. Maybe, just getting back what I lost?   Wednesday, January 8 View Page Add Father of Fools to my monikers. I thought the long chilli looked like a tomato. Well, it is. The cheap potting mix I used has some resident tomato seeds that resisted any compost heat-sterilzation by the manufacturer. Long chilli is coming up though. Just... fooled by these usurping interlopers.   Wednesday, January 8 View Page Almost caught up on my work and chores so just sitting here dreaming of summer days gone by. The most tangible reminder of summer is the 'sundried' tomatoes from last year. They were a surprising success and I would recommend drying cherry tomatoes as a useful extra-garden-produce prepper activity. If they dont get totally dry (sun is not necessary its really more of an air drying process) they can be frozen. I harvested about a hundred pounds (wet weight) of sweet red cherry tomatoes from a row of 14 plants and this made about ten pounds of good quality dried tomatoes. I am about a third of the way through them. ...So, there's a lot less reason to ever buy any tomatoes from the store.   Saturday, January 11 View Page Hit by BER just like clockwork 11 DAP. The calcium reversal probaby happened yesterday but didnt 'look wet' until today. I added a small amount of fertilizer about dap 9 and I probably let the soil start to get acidic? Or maybe I am not watering at the correct time of day? And I should have cut back on the watering. But I dont think I was overwatering the plant is moderately big and with the fan and lights and at about 30% humidity... it has been needing the water. Anyhow the gain today was awesome... 3/4 inch in one day. But the calcium didnt keep up... So I can kiss that kind of gain goodbye. Almost a nice tomato. So close. Might be time to scrap this project but there is a still longshot a tiny bud that could be open at the end of the month. Its on a quadenary branch (whatevers after tertiary)... So...Should I stick with it? And keep the pressure on you, bnot?   Sunday, January 12 View Page Indoor tomato comp: I am out guys. . . Sorry. It was fun I would like to give it a try again in the future. Thanks all. It did help pass the winter and I did learn some things I needed to learn. I forget the day I started but it would have given three possible sets @ primary, secondary and tertiary branches... And maybe coulda squeezed a set on a fourth. But instead I got a germination of a long chilli and I am gonna try to grow a pepper plant now.   Tuesday, January 14 View Page East Lewis County current conditions... 4'' lovely white snow. Uh-oh, the forcast though... Gonna switch to brown stuff this afternoon. 1-2 inches of manure expected, so keep your mouth closed when you look up... unless you are a worm!   Wednesday, January 15 View Page No snow here... It's time to plant!!!!!!! (And you thought I got an early start last year, ha... let me show you an EARLY start! Hang on, because THIS is an early start, folks!) Ok just kidding, for now...   Friday, January 17 View Page Keeping politics out of my diary, again. Excellent self-discipline, as usual...   Wednesday, January 22 View Page This is the healthiest lettuce plant I've grown. I got the nutrients approximately right in the ex tomato bin! No insects, slugs... the nice part of indoor growing. Freeze "sterilized" soil used here. (A plastic bin this size fits in the chest freezer.)   Saturday, January 25 View Page Brought a pack of seeds to the Library seed swap and folks gobbled many of them up. The rest got put in a three ring binder and will be a community resource. Many of the other seeds I brought got gobbled up also... And I took home about twenty packs of seeds from the other participants. I may go against the grain this year in terms of my climate zone and do a large planting of peppers. It looks like I may have little helpers again so I cant get too ambitious. Everything will go at half speed until they begin to get atop the learning curve.   Sunday, January 26 View Page Now at 50 % germ on the giant onions! As an amature allium grower I consider this to be quite good. No disappointment at all. For me... thats a success.   Monday, January 27 View Page Junuary. Very warm. 9 pm and the frogs are still croaking feels like its time to plant. Somehow a dandelion has a bud up with yellow showing already. Maybe it will be open tomorrow.   Wednesday, January 29 View Page Fledgling dandelion flower. It's been warm. Doing all I can to jinx it.   Wednesday, January 29 View Page I looked up Rodebaughs recommendation for catching moles... It looks cool. I am stuck with these. The black victor trap works well for me (first catch of the year here) and the green one is similar but I don't think the green one is available anymore --this is good --it's half as effective as the black one and harder to set. Unfortunately I find trapping to be absolutely necessary. I have not found moles and gardening to be compatible whatsoever, way too much root damage. I will say this though: The sonic repellers might work for a very small garden, as long as there are worms elsewhere... I've used them to temporarily corral my moles out of important areas. In some situations, it might be possible to let moles do their thing most of the year, then repel them during the growing season rather than killing them. Sorry for being gruesome. I'll have to experiment more with the sonic repellers. I've had luck with castor oil too but it really comes down to cost. It's a lot cheaper to not have ANY moles.   Friday, January 31 View Page "Thou shalt not eat the forbidden fruit..."   Friday, January 31 View Page No commandments needed? It's just all too easy to follow commandments when the "forbidden fruit" is a sprouting onion. The Spaziani giant Ailsa onion had two internal sections both are sending up leaves, and hopefully seed stalks which will keep my personal seed supply going. It's not a storage onion but it stored better than a walla walla? The lettuce is amazingly beautiful emerald color just too lovely to pick it yet.   Friday, January 31 View Page Class is in session. Listen up you little pipsqueeks... I've stolen porkchops secret to success!!! I am such a bas***d. Gotta do what works ya know...   Thursday, February 6 View Page Snow worms. I successfully jinxed the warm weather.   Thursday, February 6 View Page It may be too hard to see. They don't look like baby earthworms, I've seen both kinds side by side eating rotten pumpkin. They are not red worms either. Cominig up atop the snow is one of their strange behaviors they also like skinny dipping atop clear plastic maybe they think clear plastic is snow. I would be creeped by them but... I've found others more creepy than these... The others are too creepy to post. Little nubs on them like a snake trying to grow arms... Gross.   Thursday, February 6 View Page Groundwater is only 1 ft below the soil and raining heavily. . . This is as swampy as I have ever seen it. The laundry sink almost overflowed the pipes in the ground out there must be deeper than 1 ft and full of water. Normally my soil drains excellent. The whole valley here is fully saturated.   Thursday, February 6 View Page I pulled the beautiful emerald green lettuce and then decided to replant it because it did so well. I replanted it in an empty corner minus all the outer leaves--which tasted great. I am inspired by Charles Dowding to be semi serious about lettuce. He has great vids on youtube... I will let it bolt and make seed it passed vigor and taste test. So why not.   Saturday, February 8 View Page I mixed some low germ pepper seeds into a tray of spinach starts. I thought this was a clever way to not waste a whole tray trying to grow seeds that may not germinate well. If none germinate its ok... I will plant the spinach starts instead. I have trouble direct sowing spinach because its a favorite delicacy of the soil bugs here. Plus its too early but by March it can go out in the garden under a cover and then I wont have to wait until summer for a salad. Any peppers that sprout can get put in gallon pots and spend a couple months by the window. I will start competition tomatoes and some roma tomatoes sometime in March. Thanks big moon.   Thursday, February 20 View Page A vid of where I live. How lovely, I forget how lucky I am!!! When he says "Calm Air Here" he's flying over Glenoma. How beautiful. ps I saw this guy fly over my house a week ago on the 12th... His airplane is more of a motorized hang glider than a real plane. He posted a vid from that flight too its funny and quite unexpected that I found him (and that exact flight that I witnessed from the ground) on youtube. https://youtu.be/Gn2Hi12v2YA?t=143   Thursday, February 20 View Page Awesome weather every beehive was getting pollen today and that silly dandelion finally bloomed. Soil covering: The clear plastic is warming the ground a lot... Bindweed is sprouting up in one area under the plastic already. The one area that has an opaque tarp has more mold but less weeds. The clear plastic warms the ground the most but it allows some weeds to survive.   Friday, February 21 View Page New soil testing methods commencing soon? New soil freezing method? Frozen vs unfrozen: seedling tray comparison??? Lots to do!   Monday, February 24 View Page Last year my (more successful) ultra early start began Feb. 27th. The much less successful start began Feb 25th... Getting very close time is flying by. I have an empty pot with dirt so... For my ultra early start this year... Its getting soaked tonight... hmm which seed to plant?! I doubt I can do better this year... figure the odds of success are almost zero...but surest way of all to fail is to not try. I might start an early competition tomato also. Last years ultra early plant won me $100. Maybe starting ultra early will bring me good luck again...   Tuesday, February 25 View Page Started soaking a 263 Est. (1103 Zaychowski x 1462 Gibson) early a.m. today because it might be a good plant. Using garden dirt from an area I probably shouldnt... Oh well. If it passes this resistence-to-disease test then it will then get to proceed to the next test. I am relying entirely on strong genetics. Looking for a late May pollination... New growers... dont try to copy me. April is the month to start if you want a pumpkin in October. I am playing with an end of August target. And I am more interested in playing around than winning. Maybe that will change someday? Meanwhile... hopefully various top growers will post diaries about how to actually win. Will start the 5.12 MacDonald 'domingo' for the extra early tomato plant.   Tuesday, March 3 View Page Purslane is a good combo with pepper starts. The only thing that keeps pace/ exceeds lettuce is the cole crops. Its an ok combo. . . Spinach is about on pace with a tomato. Worth trying maybe. Finally have germ of the 1103 Zaychowski x 1462 Gibson. Its orange with moderate size potential and great genetics. I doubt it would keep up with a 186 Radach but I cant plant the same thing every year. 186 Radach outgrew the 2005 Haist started in the same pot and both grown out fully so it cant be too bad although I didnt exactly test the max size potential of those plants. Anyhow today was the nicest day so far this year. I planted lettuce and a giant kohlrabi and the lettuce is kinda fun to start indoors now its a question of bugs slugs and the weather. I will be spending a lot of time at home chipping away at inventing a better beehive. Hopefully I finally get it to work. Feeling a little sick and was near the outbreak. Pumped gas and then thought   Tuesday, March 3 View Page ...thought, 'What am I doing? I have no sanitizing wipes with me!' (I am an idiot admittedly.) Dont think I caught it but really the gas pump handle at Totem Lake Arco has to be the epicenter... Can I laugh at this. To quote Shakespeare... 'tomorrow you may find me a grave man'. Is it a sin to laugh when I should lament. Probably.   Tuesday, March 3 View Page That dang gas station is the busiest around other than costco on the weekend. And they dont have a bathroom! I guess I am morally obliged to do my part. All those portable handwashing stations used at big events should be deployed to the 'totem lake arco's' of the world? Join in! Let's kick this virus's butt!!!   Wednesday, March 4 View Page Team Grinch: prickliest cactus, largest onion, and hairiest... vetch? Onions are doing well... thanks garden rebel.   Thursday, March 5 View Page I am healthy as a horse. No CoVid 2020. I wish everyone around me was as healthy as I am. I wish my ex's were mentally healthy. Then they would have no reason to hold my children hostage. I may be busier in the court system than in the garden this year. Its a nightmare and a waste of money. Its too bad they wont come to their senses.   Thursday, March 5 View Page I dig this person.   Sunday, March 8 View Page Germination was slow (low temps) but my 263 Est. is up. I would love a personal best and it will have 500-700 square ft to prove its strength. A couple of the 5 MacDonald tomatoes are up. Cold & wet spring weather is lettuce is taking a beating. Its all a roll of the dice when planting early... Rather than roll the dice I should have put them under plastic!   Monday, March 9 View Page My tomato lineup just planted them tonight in the hope of some early ones they are so slow to ripen here... aiming these at August: 8.22, 6.54 Porkchop Reed's yellow x 2 4.05 Peine x 2 7.18 Hill 3.61 Peine 4.38 Momate x 2 4.58 Sandercock 3.44 Oglesby I am a bit heavy on the megadoms and light on domingos. I have a few folks who might want a 9.65s and lambchops... wait to see about bringing out the big guns for the team comp--- maybe I can hook my friends in here in Lewis county into being 'c' growers???   Monday, March 9 View Page Starting them in a Jiffy windowsill tray. . . The little airpot disks are cool. Thought I was going to get to plant them with the kids but my ex is using my kids as bargaining chips to get what she wants. It might be a couple more weeks before she realizes this is morally wrong. Plus: I dont think its going to be a successful way of negotiating with me.   Monday, March 9 View Page Some other work fell through so not much going on this month. So hopefully I get caught up... Since so much seems to be against the world and myself personally at the moment... I am gonna say something that IS working is the clear plastic covers for the garden beds... The soil is 10 to 15 degrees warmer. The plants and weeds under the plastic are a month ahead of schedule in terms of growth. I think I may even try a giant watermelon this year? Because I may have the warmest soil I have ever had and I think I may have better luck with bugs and fertilizing this year. No pics the tablet is maxed I may switch to new devices soon. Well... Gotta get back to work:(   Tuesday, March 10 View Page A couple nights in the 20's. Cold and dry the bees are happy eating honey fast now they may eat as much during this March as in all the winter months preceeding. Majority of pollen is yellow. . . Not sure if its willow, alder/hazlenut or an unknown source.   Tuesday, March 10 View Page The lettuce wasnt ready for 20's farenheit. Lastly... I found a spot for... cantelopes and peppers?? 300 sq ft or so. Double plastic layer is down. I wish I could post a pic...   Tuesday, March 10 View Page Right side up? New device! Here is the soil getting warm via plastic rather than heating cables. The soil may not hit 70 until May, but it should be 60 by April. The last thing I need is an increase in my electricity usage.   Tuesday, March 10 View Page The Barret long chili is nearly 2 ft tall I guess I started it too soon it has hit the lights multiple times and gotten burned. Usually peppers are so slow this one is might be a very big plant by the end of the year.   Thursday, March 12 View Page Captain 97... Ok buddy... impressive & now I gotta try to catch up. My main worry for this year is that the fair will be cancelled. But thank you for the competitive motivation.   Saturday, March 14 View Page Dustin... Wow what an inspiration. I am so happy that you are giving those kids some more to their lives than the just 'hunker down in front of the computer' at home. You are going to make a huge positive difference this year!   Tuesday, March 17 View Page In.   Tuesday, March 17 View Page Weather was cooperating and plant was done with the 1 gal pot... The choice was upgrade to a custom grow bag or plant in 55-60 degree dirt. Sun in the forcast, so roll the dice!Mad that I burned the second leaf with calcium nitrate. Anyhow this is not how to grow big. This is just me seeing what is possible and... I am playing early mind games with my competition... Captain 97 has a nicer setup but my 263 Clayton is ahead, yeah baby... woohoo. Or... It was up until today when it hit 55 degree soil, not 70. Fun, fun, fun.   Tuesday, March 17 View Page All tomatoes up except the 8.22. (Rotted.) ...I should have done a presoak with a little peroxide and then watched the soil temperature closer. 972 Marvin squash is going in... & It's really not necessary for a 2019 seed but giving it the paper towel with a little bit of H2O2 that the 8.22 should of had.   Wednesday, March 18 View Page Started 144 tomatoes (2 trays) of 8.22 x open progeny. One tray is dirt the other seedling mix running a comparison. Trying azos this year. Main threat will be aphids they knocked half my peppers. 356 Borgers mom seed of his 1109 started today.   Friday, March 20 View Page Blazing sun today. This is the warmest driest bit I can ever remember in March. It's not too warm though. Jack Frost is still employed and at work... Maybe not tonight though... it's hot out!!!   Friday, March 20 View Page No lockdown here Gov. Inslee or his advisers came up with a compromise that may or may not prove to be rather smart... Let low risk groups work to protect the economy and support/enable the isolation of high risk people. Isolation he noted does not mean being emotionally alone it just means physically safe. Jay Inslee is officially a good guy in my book! Anyhow Round 2: the orange and green seeds are now in pots I used 1/3 Krainick dairy cow manure and 2/3 amended soil for my mix. If this mix doesnt work then I will move on to Round 3.   Saturday, March 21 View Page Soil warming with greenhouse plastic is working GREAT. The weather has been sunny though and the soil might drop back to 50 degrees if we switch to clouds and rain for awhile. Mulching with leaves has the opposite affect it keeps the soil cool on these warm days... potatoes are storing well in the 'shade-garden' under shredded leaves. I am unsure when the optimal time turn the soil might be. If I am tearing out myco friendly plants then maybe I should leave them in until the last minute.   Saturday, March 21 View Page I think I will grow a watermelon and at the rate I am getting things done maybe just five or six competitive tomato plants. Such a strange year... Really miss my kids but the courts are shut down and then when they finally do open there will be a backlog of cases. I was completely clueless how horrible it can be to be a father in this 'modern' age of paternal serfdom...   Saturday, March 21 View Page Suburban-- bummed to hear you wont be jousting for a thousand pound pumpkin. I will put in a few long gourds... Snake gourds and the 666 Hester 2004. My last shot at an over-ten-year-old seed the Northrups are No-thrups so far. While I am at it how about 6.66 Spaziani for the toilet bowl *ahem* 5 gal challenge.   Saturday, March 21 View Page Giant onions planted. Still pencil sized or a permanent marker at best. They have been outside in the cold wet weather and basically like most plants they do not appear to grow at 50 or below. I resisted the temptation to space them closer and put them a ft apart. Gave one cup of feathermeal on top of the ground. Not sure if I should give anything else but I have a feeling they will want more nutrients than potatoes or pumpkins. For nutrients, I think onions and peppers may be similar?!   Tuesday, March 24 View Page Marvin squash is up and bnot's orange seed is coming up. I couldnt find my orange Foss seeds. I will try the 5 gal tomato competition though and I think the Scarecrows pride cow manure will be my secret ingredient... I am liking it. Good texture and doesnt burn the plants and I think it may hold the right amount of water. Peat moss mining is like coal mining that stuff should stay in the ground.... And I think this 'scarecrows pride' dried dairy stuff might be better for plants anyhow.   Wednesday, March 25 View Page Forrest Gump when Jenny finally comes to her senses and marries him only after being diagnosed with AIDS... so poignant. Started more tomatoes this is round three. I lost the first to frost and the second to bad seed starting mix. Started the 904 Northrup 2005 seeds. Getting in over my head maybe!   Thursday, March 26 View Page Forcast has turned to crap. Spring will not be early after all. Keep your plants going Captain 97. My St. Paddy's day plant caught a cold. More of a freeze. You win.   Friday, March 27 View Page I have slipped into a dream... An alternate reality. Wake me up... when Coronavirus ends.   Friday, March 27 View Page Abysmal tomato germination my seed may have begun germinating when I saved it I left it warm and damp longer than it should have been 7/144 sprouted and those that did sprout seem to have been amongst the smallest seeds they are rather small. 0/30 in the third batch because I added too much feather meal and this rotted the entire soil. 36 more in the dirt... 4th and 5th batch. Its the tomato equivalent of the invasion of Normandy here. If anyone wants to chat about coronavirus or gardening stuff text me? 2 o 6 9 for 7 for for 83. Still up for tomato team mates or i will go it alone. . . It doesnt matter one bit. I will have have tons of fun with whatever cards are dealt to me...   Monday, March 30 View Page If we were all wearing masks maybe the docs wouldnt have to. I am in trouble though my nose is too big. Maybe could use a size K bra cup.   Monday, March 30 View Page I have mowed my oats twice... I think I feel the tomato competition coming!!! No lack of oxygen here... sorry for posting too much.   Tuesday, March 31 View Page Time machine forwards 3 months... Covid is solved... And here is a picture of porkchop looking enviously at how my garden looks. Time machine backwards... Everything sucks. Send me $5 if you enjoyed the ride!   Wednesday, April 1 View Page Good seed give-away karma... Found a few extra old seed contest seeds. I thought I was all out! It pays to dig through your seed collection every now and then! Reinforcements may be needed because the others are not doing anything. Marrow seeds!!! I may give the master gardener thing a try if my beekeeping work doesn't start to gain some traction.   Wednesday, April 1 View Page I looked at the nutrient profile of the processed cow manure product and I see it is high in ammonia and surprisingly low in potassium. This explains some of what I am seeing. Then I discovered that miracle grow tomato food has the least amount of ammonium of that product line and next I discovered it is... tomato colored. How silly. Nevertheless, it may be my new favorite fertilizer. I will not be adding excessive fertilizer once the tomatoes are set. I believe in the lean diet approach I will probably go very lean on magnesium once the tomatoes are set because it could hasten ripening and is not necessary to size in my experience and might conflict with potassium. My belief is that potassium and calcium are certainly important but I am unsure of what else also might be important. The mobile nutrients are probably less critical. Lastly I wonder if the tea idea could be beneficial in terms of reducing ammonia levels. And hence blossom end rot because ammonium competes with calcium. Basically I may try tea prior to blossom set and perhaps nothing but a maximum level of calcium and potassium after the fruit is set.   Sunday, April 5 View Page 102 Risi (1191.5 Northrup x 1161 Rodonis?) coming up as an orange genetics plant. 356 Borgers may go in today depending on construction of a quick tent greenhouse. Less keen on this plant because the cotyledons were deformed too early to tell if it still has potential.   Monday, April 6 View Page 356 Borgers is in. Looking for a pollination at exactly twelve feet & it will be my 150 sq ft plant I guess. . . the other bigger area really wasnt totally ready. I can say with certainty I will not break 1000 but it will be blossom-down... I suppose there is one vine pattern that might work where I would have a slim chance at 1000 or a personal best.   Monday, April 6 View Page Correction: The 102 Est. Risi 2013 is 1191.5 Northrup x 1059.6 V/M. Should be orange! I have no clue where it will go but its good to have an extra plant or two.   Tuesday, April 7 View Page Oops onion post today got sent way back to March 21st. Auto- entry of the posting date on this phone is troublesome.   Wednesday, April 8 View Page Giant cabbage went in today. Should be an excellent companion with potatoes. Gourds for grafting have been a real struggle which is too bad because my watermelons are doing well. Do gourds need very steady, ideal temps and moisture? Well, then I guess I have work to do. I dont think the giant watermelon will get a companion crop. I may try carrots with giant pumpkin. I cant think of a companion for a watermelon. The good news is maybe I can give it 288 sq ft.   Thursday, April 9 View Page I am doing square garden beds and a lot of companion planting. It sounds very pie-in-the-sky wishful gardening but there is an actual advantage. The advantage is I can identify nutrient issues better when I have more plants of various types. Row gardening has some drawbacks. I planted the 5.12 MacDonald tomato today. I will go easy on myself and only do one area of nine competition plants. But I might do the 5 gal bucket challenge and some experimental ones too if I have time.   Thursday, April 9 View Page New plan no full size plants this year. Three in 150 sq ft hopefully.   Friday, April 10 View Page The 972 Marvin squash has the largest first leaf (in back) I can remember its 9 inches across. It's a good plant so far. 356 Borgers is smaller but healthy. Nevertheless-- I wish I'd planted three 356 Borgers seeds and chosen the best of them.   Friday, April 10 View Page Superb weather. Gourds round 2 started. At 90 degrees steady with correct moisture. First round they said "dude we are not pumpkins." Will attempt about a dozen gourd/melon grafts. Will attempt some tomato grafts too if they ever send the seeds. Thanks to those who sent me tomato seeds.   Saturday, April 11 View Page Thank you pumpkin helpers:)... I miss watching Joel Holland videos with you...   Saturday, April 11 View Page I think there was an inchworm... True orange color. This was the 162.5 Clayton grown off the 186 Radach. It's tempting to throw yet another 186 in the ground.   Monday, April 13 View Page My Spaziani giant zucchini came up. Remember-- $55 prize to the winner... Giant zucchini contest!   Wednesday, April 15 View Page Gourds came up much better at 90 degrees than 60-80. Some Sherwood and a Barlow coming up in addition to many of the seed exchange gourds. Many of the bushel gourds will be used for grafting though. I planted the 463.5 Theil directly in the garden upon germination. The bugs might get it but not slugs its been so dry they are all hiding which is unusual this time of year. A couple stretches of very low humidity this year, contrasting with the one 'excessive rain' event.   Wednesday, April 15 View Page Watermelon onto AG today. In recovery chamber now. Good practice for the watermelon on gourd attempts. Many tomato starts look like crap this year. To conserve seed starting mix and get them into better dirt I should replant them at cotyledon or first leaf stage? I do have the 5.12 in the ground already and it is a nice plant so far. 4.55 Momate is the leader of the pack but some Peine's close behind. Frank the Tank will be the largest momma tomato I killed one of my WR porks and gave the other two away. And my last 7.18 Hill looks to be a dud. Diggidydog Dang...   Wednesday, April 15 View Page One pretty pumpkin!   Wednesday, April 15 View Page Two pretty pumpkins... Love u! :)   Wednesday, April 15 View Page Third pretty pumpkin. Love you all...   Thursday, April 16 View Page The 972 Marvin squash is a great plant and my best area just started getting sun. I am thinking it will get a really good chance to prove itself?   Thursday, April 16 View Page I am going to track the weight of one of my beehives. It weighed 84 lbs tonight at about 8:30.   Thursday, April 16 View Page Trying Amish pie pumpkins. Couldnt resist. 972 Marvin...Heater was on all day its raising the temp in the tent by about twenty degrees. Its my happiest plant ever. I wish I had a C02 meter! I suspect its getting a boost there as well, sitting on top of two tons of decomposing organics?? I did an azos / myco drench. I think the azos may be a positive factor this year. But I haven't used it enough yet to say for sure.   Friday, April 17 View Page 972 Marvin was looking good ready to go out yesterday so it got planted yesterday. Paper/plastic grocery sacks made a nice pot again this year. Am thinking four plastic grocery sacks rather than three. Heavy!   Friday, April 17 View Page Check out the size of this plant. Low growing and huge. 972 Marvin squash. Awesome.   Friday, April 17 View Page Patch tour. Thanks for letting me borrow your hat, Cole.   Friday, April 17 View Page Sorry if any more of these are sideways. This is a piece of greenhouse plastic tied up and draped over the plant. Basically, just a tent. Very comfortable inside. Small heater set on low kept it about 60 degrees last night.   Friday, April 17 View Page Pics. Like an incoming tide, the germination area quickly filled back up!   Friday, April 17 View Page The "door". Its clipped up to a third post. Its just crap I rigged up but its flawless the temps are perfect, access is easy, and the plant is sitting on the mother lode of organic garbage. I will probably have ammonium problems. I will have to be sure to not add any ammonium. Good luck 972. Thats it! Patch tour for today is now over.   Saturday, April 18 View Page My little pumpkin pollinators gained 2.5 lb. 86.5 lb now. Weather and bloom were ideal today. A medium strength colony two deeps one super... about one deep more than they actually need. A good one and a half story beehive, in other words.   Sunday, April 19 View Page Cool with showers beehive net weight: -.5 lbs. Now 86 lb. Wow they eat a lot when the weather gets too cool and damp to fly more than a minimum amount.   Sunday, April 19 View Page Oops my post about my squash plant today went back to the 16th... auto entry on the date got me again... That should really make a mess of this diary.   Sunday, April 19 View Page Oops my post about my squash plant today went back to the 16th... auto entry on the date got me again... That should really make a mess of this diary.   Sunday, April 19 View Page Beehive gained a quarter pound. Cool weather reduced activity to about 1/2 of the day. Better than going negative but thats not going to make me honey crop at that rate.   Tuesday, April 21 View Page Beehive update +3lbs now 89 lbs. Awesome. Weather is going to take a turn so the two steps forward one step back pattern will continue.   Tuesday, April 21 View Page Marvin squash says 'Feed me Seymour!' It moved its leaves so fast this evening tracking the sun... Creepy. Plus its growing unbelievably fast. Might have to do a tissue test at and try for a pb. Equally concerned about excessive nutrients as deficiencies.   Wednesday, April 22 View Page Gain of about 2 oz on the beehive scale. It was colder and they flew less but I was expecting a pound. 89 lb 6 oz. Yesterdays should have said 89 1/4 lb. Not making much honey at this rate. The weight they bring in includes pollen. Some of the disparity in weight gain and flight activity is probably due to them drying all the nectar they brought in yesterday. More wet nectar means more weight loss as it gets turned into honey. If they bring in 3 lb probably its 1 lb water that needs to be evaporated 1 lb future honey (the part of the nectar that wont evaporate) and 1 lb pollen which will get eaten by the bees eventually or as soon as the weather is too poor for flying & flowers.   Wednesday, April 22 View Page 100% germ on the House Indian corn. Too pretty to not plant it! I have a large polycarbonate greenhouse door to use as a cover. Too early for corn but I wanted to plant them on easter with the kids. I thought the kernels look so pretty like easter eggs.   Thursday, April 23 View Page Beehive update. Poor weather no flight activity except water. Rained all day. Minus about 1/2 lb... About 88 lb 14 oz. Squash update: vine is not laying down as well as I would like. . . Lack of sun. The rain today was mild and relatively warm. I should have uncovered the plant. Lost one cotyledon to slugs and bugs. I should have put the bait out.   Thursday, April 23 View Page Will tempt the plant to bend down with a strong grow light placed on the ground... illuminating it in the direction I hope the plant will grow.   Friday, April 24 View Page Beehive update @ one full week: Cool day they flew excitedly in the afternoon no gain today and no loss. The weather was just too damp and cool. Total for the week +3.75 lb. I might have read the scale wrong so the numbers may not add up right but I think that last number at least 3.5 lb for the week is correct. Probably my last daily beehive post. Always short on time or energy but maybe I can write weekly updates More about the beehive: I may condense them into one deep box and one super (honey harvesting box) rather than two and see if this increases their efficiency. I will also swap some new frames in. So the weight of the hive may change but the total weight isnt whats important. The change in weight is whats very important.   Saturday, April 25 View Page Bees were coming in very laden and lots of flight activity today. I keep hoping for multiple pounds but yet another day of zero gain. To quote Winnie The Pooh... Very Confuzle. Sqash is iooking good. Cheated an put a flake of hay under the vine so the vine will lay on the hay for a very short distance--just a foot or two-- and then be perfectly even with the ground. The grow light probably helped coax it down but it was still at about 30 degree angle and its a large plant so that experiment was not worth the risk.   Saturday, April 25 View Page Well well what have we here. Two watermelons successfully grafted. The only problem is I forgot to tag the tops I only tagged the rootstock. I might be starting some work away from home so looks like a bonus challenge... I will try to grow them in an automated manner... Weed fabric please.   Saturday, April 25 View Page 5.12 MacDonald. Plus... lots of companion planting this year. I don't have pics of all but some I am trying: Carrots/radish Garlic/potato Onions/cilantro Cole crops/ potatoes Pumpkin / potatoes Lettuce / tomato (pictured here) I should probably try: lettuce/ garlic or lettuce/ giant onions I'm also going to try a bushel gourd back to back with my squash. If it costs me a couple hundred pounds oh well I don't think a state record is within reach anyhow. Squash plant looked great today though. It's off to an awesome start don't know why my 356 is lagging (growing normally I suppose) but by comparison the 972 Marvin squash... is really squashing the competition.   Sunday, April 26 View Page Beehive Week 2: -.25 lb minus a quarter pound today not a good start heavy rain this morning but they flew a lot in the afternoon. I rearranged the boxes so they now weigh 56 lb.   Sunday, April 26 View Page Squash plant & hay. It's amongst the biggest young plants I have ever had. Might have been low on phosphorous? Looking better now but still may be low idk. Im sure everyone else will catch up to me soon as I juggle all the usual no-soil-test issues.   Monday, April 27 View Page So far the hive gained two pounds @58 lbs but for the honey gain was probably just one pound. Will go to weekly updates now. Thats the last daily update.   Friday, May 1 View Page Another tomato update. I chose not to use pesticides despite seeing a few aphids scattered around the plant. I did try spraying garlic water on it but I figured that was mostly wishful thinking. Now I am glad to see a ladybug and ants patroling the plant. I have seen the same little ladybug for three days. I guess she really wants me to win the tomato competition? Lol...   Monday, May 4 View Page Anyone ready for a road trip?   Monday, May 4 View Page Kinda straight here.   Monday, May 4 View Page Pretty. Or Lord of the Rings.   Monday, May 4 View Page Gardening lesson #115 if your plants are getting eaten by slugs and your girlfriend punishes for God knows what by with holding your slugline hostage... Dump her and never look back!!!   Tuesday, May 5 View Page Beehive gain 4.5 lb this week... but a cover blew off and it got rain on the wood. Probably a pound or two was just water soaking the dry wood. Checking inside... Not much honey. The only thing they are really gaining is brood (the unhatched baby bees). This pic is not the same hive but it's similar...   Tuesday, May 5 View Page My female friend thinks I'm lying about the slugs. These were her sunflowers. Her idea of a fair fight is to take my slug killer. Lol. My idea of a fair fight is to say 'bye... until you apologize...'. I know she is not the type to apologize so this should give me about six years or so to freely play in the garden. At this rate they won't even reach 26 inches, much less 26 feet. One will hopefully make it. I didn't notice the slug on the post when I took the pic.   Tuesday, May 5 View Page Leaves on 972 Marvin squash plant have broken some records for me... Nice one week growth difference.   Tuesday, May 5 View Page Shovel for scale... leaf is at an angle so hard to tell size but this one measured 27" across its is the fourth leaf on the plant. The third leaf measured 26.5 ". I think 27" is a personal record. I don't think any of this guarantees a squash/pumpkin over 400 lbs though! Very happy with it, but there's a lot of work yet to do. "To do or not to do." MacBeth's pumpkin patch.   Tuesday, May 5 View Page Cover blew off my orange pumpkin. It looks like it was finally starting to go. Planted only a day after the 972 Marvin. I guess the saying here would be: "You're a day late and a dollar short."   Tuesday, May 5 View Page Giant cabbage... Plus lettuce and potato. All getting eaten by slugs. And I think a small animal stepped on the cabbage and broke the inner leaves... Maybe a cat. The beds are 3' x 3'.   Tuesday, May 5 View Page The rest are tomato pics of my 5.12 MacDonald, early outdoor tomato...   Tuesday, May 5 View Page Nice triple or so on top. Doubt it will be a keeper hard to get good set and growth this early but maybe. We'll see.   Tuesday, May 5 View Page Last pic of the 5.12 Mac Donald 'Domingo'. Good luck kiddos with your 4.05 Peine in five gallons... The 4.05 is my probably the best seed overall again this year. Makes it easy when a slug chews the entire top off the 6.54 Frank the Tank. The Frank the Tank plant grew TWO six pound tomatoes! Mine looks like it would have been a good plant... Probably was my best. Will try to get it planted... and see how the side branches look. Bummer.   Wednesday, May 6 View Page The 102 Risi orange AG got planted. Such a small number for an AG but the plant looks good and I want to try the genetics & hopefully get a nice orange pumpkin. Unfortunately it looks like any other plants may only be used as pollinators.   Sunday, May 10 View Page Happy Mother's Day :) Ginormous mega on the 5.12 tomato I did not pollinate it myself but maybe dry weather got it pollinated? I doubt it perfect weather though. So thats pretty early for a garden grown blossom the plant is good but not perfect... not sure what the issue is. A second blossom is open today the mega was fertile yesterday I think.   Sunday, May 10 View Page No extra early squash/pumpkin pollination this year though... Looking at my plant and pollination on May 15 last year, Wow... But nevertheless doing very very well this year just nowhere close to having a flower... Thats ok though! Pollination possibly very late May or early June and tissue test soon maybe in a week or so. Plant is a monster... but nutritionally I doubt anything is anywhere close to balanced.   Tuesday, May 12 View Page Lost the mega on the 5.12 MacDonald. I am bummed because it was one of the largest and best shaped I have ever seen. With ideal soil and weather I would it would have been 7 lb. I am no longer happy with the prunning plan I had for the plant. Wish I had cut almost everything off and just pushed on that one mega. The plant was started in late February. The other plant I started in eary January would have had ripening fruit now... It partially froze a month ago.   Tuesday, May 12 View Page Lost the mega on the 5.12 MacDonald. I am bummed because it was one of the largest and best shaped I have ever seen. With ideal soil and weather I would it would have been 7 lb. I am no longer happy with the prunning plan I had for the plant. Wish I had cut almost everything off and just pushed on that one mega. The plant was started in late February. The other plant I started in eary January would have had ripening fruit now... It partially froze a month ago.   Thursday, May 14 View Page I hope these grow... I think they'd do great if they were planted between the creek and where the grass clipping were dumped and one of the piles of sticks got burned.   Friday, May 15 View Page Whats up homies. At homies, lol.   Monday, May 18 View Page Spaziani 'Giant Zucchini' started weak but looks good so its going in the ground today... The bugs and slugs have been more voracious than I have ever seen so they are clearing space for more plants as I lose the ones I planted earlier. Also had a pretty much fatal amount of stem splitting with my giant cabbage... Not sure the issue there. I dont remember putting too much fertilizer on but with some of these, like calcium nitrate for example, a little bit goes a long ways. Some things are doing well but without lots of learning and testing my gardening efforts will probably continue to be hit and miss.   Tuesday, May 19 View Page Some others planted... Frank the Tank- one of the best even though topped by a slug- it found a good home in the ground. A couple 4.05 Peine's again amongst the best. A couple yellow Delbruts. Probably nine or ten tomato plants total. I have a couple long handled dipper gourds and a Harrington long gourd in the ground, and the Foss orange AG genetics plant. All thats left to plant is some melons. I may till the ground (multiple times?)because so far in my experience watermelons have done better in' yes-til'l than in no-till... Everything else this year has been no- rototiller. Some plants do better and some dont. I would rather till than use insecticide but of course its tempting to just drop the entire arsenal on the bugs rather than learning to coexist. Most temptations are bad.   Tuesday, May 19 View Page Knock on wood the 5.12 early outdoor may have set the mega. Now my concern is that it may not be totally fused. I wont be watering until this tomato is past the cell division phase thats for sure. Trying hard to avoid BER. I doubt this plant will need any water at all should be plenty in the ground for the roots to find. Supposing we do get a very hot dry spell, I wonder if misting the plant would be better than saturating the ground. I am sure having fun. But the best strategy now is to leave it alone... Just cover the plant if it rains...   Wednesday, May 20 View Page Artificial tomato weather. Going to add heater to dry the air out. A pain! Real weather here is warmish and 24 hrs straight of misty rain. Its not happy tomato blossom weather... Humidity is off the chart.   Thursday, May 21 View Page A youngster pulled all the tags out. I had one tomato plant that was an unknown... now I have many. No tomato grafting this year. Insanely voracious slugs and then a kid who was unsupervised for just one minute.   Thursday, May 21 View Page 5 gallon challenge. This plant is my own 5.04 off Porkchops 8.22. Looks ugly but its like a train-- there's no stopping it. The momma plant simply knew how to grow. Domingo genetics: I dont think all the offspring inherit this unstoppable trait... Some revert to more normal/ dainty growth?   Sunday, May 24 View Page It feels summery today!!! Last bit of winter/spring weather nothing grew the past few days except the grass and borage. . . Last bit of steady cold rain. Tomato is set, miraculously... I would have put the odds of it at setting at 20 to 1 against. I cant believe that gamble paid off. It looks to me like a personal best. The rest are 2 and 3 weeks behind sorry no pic its a little bigger than a quarter I would rate the bloom @ a bit over 5 lb. My guess for its potential. . . 5-6 lb If all goes fairly well.   Monday, May 25 View Page This is my early outdoor mega. Cool misty day yet again... Had to set up the artificial light and plastic cover again. A lot of work so I hope it pays off. I consider this one a quintuple can see five different stigmas in the photo actually. I am debating a balanced organic foliar feeding. I really want to get this sexy thing to the finish line!!!   Friday, May 29 View Page I got everything out of the greenhouse and planted except the grafted watermelons. No giant cantelope this year but that was fun maybe as a backup to the watermelons. I have enough plants in the ground to try for master gardener (bottom of list?) dont have a field pumpkin planted yet though. Bushel gourds dont seem to like me so thats the only category that I will not make any effort.   Friday, May 29 View Page Onion leaf, 3.5 ft long. They may not reach 5 lbs or 10 lbs, but they will be the biggest I've ever grown??? I should set a goal, like 3 lb.   Friday, May 29 View Page This was the lovely big healthy lettuce plant from much earlier this year. A good amount of flower buds. I'm happy that it will give me some seeds.   Friday, May 29 View Page I was going to plant corn in a no till system that allowed weeds but the weeds are going too crazy. Oats may reach 6 ft tall. A better way will be to use an area that has been covered in plastic all spring, where most of the weeds are dead. This is where I will spread my lawn clippings. It will be no till & should make a nice area for garlic or potatoes after the corn gets harvested.   Sunday, May 31 View Page Tomato setup. This pic was like ten in the morning & look how sunny it is... Anyhow this tomato is going to be on artificial life support for two more weeks not a hint of summer in the forecast although it will be dry at least. Plant was covered for the last rain storm seemed like it rained heavy for 24 hours straight. Can't see the tomato very well I guess what this photo really shows is that you don't need to be fancy. As long as the cords don't short out in the rain. And as long as it's just a rainstorm not a windstorm.   Sunday, May 31 View Page I guess there was a patch of blue sky in that picture. But I had the grow light on all day. Cold and cloudy all day. The leaves are curled up just a bit so I think the plant pulled in some calcium but I might try a comfry/ borage tea with a little wood ash... and hope that it would have some bioavailble calcium in it. I'm certainly no expert. I'm barely smart enough to know to not fool around with excess ammonium and water.   Sunday, May 31 View Page I don't want to get BER. Blossom end rot. I hope I've done things correctly! Jobes has been a good fertilizer (it's bone meal feather meal, and ?) and the K special fertilizer didn't induce any BER in my tomatoes last year. So I feel like I can trust that one. I could probably trust the miracle grow tomato food, it's only 1.5 % ammonium... I probably won't use it unless the the plant health seems off or a deficiency appears. I'm certainly not going to use the regular miracle grow or the bloom booster. Fine for foliage and flowers... but I don't think they are ratioed right for getting maximum fruit weight and unless your water has a lot of calcium... the ammonium in these.... I think could throw-down the calcium levels too far... Send me some good luck mater heads.   Sunday, May 31 View Page I want to post a before and after. This was May 5th. I think you will be very surprised what this plant looks like on June 5th.... Pic coming in 5 days....   Tuesday, June 2 View Page 4 weeks later. Two things growing so fast.   Tuesday, June 2 View Page Thats the Butler North American record sunflower and another little sunflower. WHO is STILL SO GOOD at making other things look BIG...!   Wednesday, June 3 View Page Happy 40th, Special K! And a note about my early tomato: Because my personal best grew late in the year and suffered near freezing temps and dew I am allowing this to happen I am not in a rush to harvest and I think this cold stress could help now that the risk of BER is waning. The plant may invest more in the fruit if it thinks the end is near? I diverge from the optimal babying-the-plant thinking and am thinking outside the box. I want the plant to allow this tomato to suck whatever it needs out of the plant. No self preservation mechanisms for the plant... I think the cold at night will help with breaking the plant down to where it will place all of its hope for its survival into the tomato. Call me wacko if you will but my personal best was from a plant that I believe by some mechanism knew it was dying and it found some way to bypass the normal self preservation and put everything it had remaining in the plant into the tomatoes. Other than that I am still babying it. Tough love plus real love and then both the kids and the tomatoes turn out better?   Thursday, June 4 View Page These pics were taken the day that I collected a tissue sample. Guess the excesses and deficiencies? I will post the tissue test results after. See how pumpkin smart you are! Or... not.   Thursday, June 4 View Page Another.   Thursday, June 4 View Page And another. I'll give you a hint: There were just three deficiencies. And there were three excesses... one in particular.   Monday, June 8 View Page Late night babysitting some beehives so I have free time. The early tomato was burning the midnight oil. I left the grow light on until 2 in the morning. Today it was on all day... Dark clouds. I should have left it on longer today. Until midnight. But I shut it off at 830. Bnot where are your tomato efforts? I have my 5 gal tomato set hopefully I would say DAP 2... The early one is nearing DAP 30. The other seven or eight tomato plants are going to bloom this week but not all the plants are in top shape for setting their first blossom.   Tuesday, June 9 View Page Terrible weather! Doesnt feel like May... I mean JUNE. Last I checked there was a day in the forcast with a HIGH of 48!!! (and a low of 40). We've already been having go-crazy-where-is-the-sun weather and this is yet to come. Welcome to the Scottish Isles.   Wednesday, June 10 View Page Pollinated a few days ago. Just a double. I want to see what pops out on the 2nd and 3rd trusses. The white porcelain stays very cool, even in the hottest sun. So that should keep the roots stress low if summer ever arrives.   Wednesday, June 10 View Page What a beauty. She is gonna win the Marvalicious Award for most beautiful tomato. Wish me luck. Gonna need it...   Saturday, June 13 View Page This is my best 'no artificial heat' plant. It did have plastic over it when I thought it could freeze. Just not a good year weather-wise. Wettest, and least sunny, late May and early June I have experienced. The forcast called for a high of 47 a couple days after the high of 48. Please just put some snow in the forecast so I can throw in the towel. I cant really complain. Things are going well.   Sunday, June 21 View Page Not much to see. The plant is mostly to growing the tomato but there's one little sprout after the tomato. Better pics of the tomato later maybe... Probably closing in on three pounds. I hope it has a few more weeks left. Slow and steady here I sprayed lightly with copper sulfate and seaweed though. Soil has been very damp so the plant has a fan keeping the top half dry and on the cloudy days a grow light... pretty much every day has been dark cloudy we've had rather steady bad weather. Not getting the soil drying recommended by porkchop. Soil drains good but we've been saturated up until the solstice this year. There was only one stretch in early May that the soil dried a little bit.   Sunday, June 21 View Page Solstice pic. Flagging a bit this is like the second day this plant has seen direct sun in about a month? Junuary may finally be over.   Sunday, June 21 View Page I am enjoying the flower photos this year. Usually they bore me to tears. Here's the Marvin squash today. About two days away another is about 1 week away. A great plant. Definitely one of the top plants I have grown. Showing some good vigor and disease resistence considering the weather. Ps I have good male blooms on this one, if needed. I know I am a couple hours away from most growers but thought I'd offer since I've sometimes been on the other side of that. I know how it is.   Sunday, June 21 View Page I am enjoying the flower photos this year. Usually they bore me to tears. Here's the Marvin squash today. About two days away another is about 1 week away. A great plant. Definitely one of the top plants I have grown. Showing some good vigor and disease resistence considering the weather. Ps I have good male blooms on this one, if needed. I know I am a couple hours away from most growers but thought I'd offer since I've sometimes been on the other side of that. I know how it is.   Sunday, June 21 View Page New favorite mug!!! Thanks u guys!   Sunday, June 21 View Page Only one possibly viable seed. Didnt use hormones on it. I am ready for next year.   Tuesday, June 23 View Page 972 Marvin squash x self... starting its consummated life @ 0 DAP this morning @ 12 or 13 ft out. Behind on vine burying so a personal best seems unlikely. Other than not burying its own vines, this plant has really impressed me in every way!   Friday, June 26 View Page Very large atomic bomb dropped on Seattle.   Friday, June 26 View Page This shows how wet a spring we had. Roots sprouting out of willow trunk in my yard... All up and down the trunk! It thought it was underwater!!!   Friday, June 26 View Page Free. Will become tomato cages. Cant get a good value at the store nowadays.   Sunday, June 28 View Page Marvin squash. Small split. 5 DAP. Appears light green at the moment.   Sunday, June 28 View Page Plant looks great just wish there were no weeds, vines were buried, tertiaries pruned. I've only put a half day of work into this plant since the plastic cover came down and that aint enough.   Sunday, June 28 View Page This is the bright spot on the gardening horizon. I've got the corn/potatoes companion rows thats not too excitong but even more exciting is the corn/ kale rows... I think this will be very successful. Kale is between the corn. In theory I could still mow the rows and also get back to back crops. I know the kale will do well because it grew this way on its own... last year.   Sunday, June 28 View Page Tomato in the 5 gal toilet reservoir. Only a nice big single and a smaller single so far. There are some triples coming up but I do think the roots are maxed out. It might require a half gallon a day of water. Kind of a pain to have to water it every day. Other than that its doing nearly as well as the ones in the ground.   Monday, June 29 View Page 50th birthday I think she is getting pale gonna be red or pink in 15-20 more 'years'. (Days.) Who else just turned 50???   Monday, June 29 View Page Naughty, naughty, on the tomato plant!   Tuesday, June 30 View Page Oats grew 6.5 ft tall. No irrigation... Still raining here.   Tuesday, June 30 View Page Fall & Winter plot. Weeds here were 7 ft high!!! Wacked them. Now solarizing them.   Wednesday, July 1 View Page Just a single.   Wednesday, July 1 View Page A really nice double but the stem is so short! Almost touching already. I think its doomed.   Friday, July 3 View Page 972 Marvin squash x self exactly 10 DAP. I will attempt to get this positioned downward today. Looks really good so far. Growth is excellent considering we are not in the 80's or even mid 70's here. Cool rain all day on July 1.   Friday, July 3 View Page Vine support.   Friday, July 3 View Page Excavation for the wood pallet. (I should have done all of this a few weeks ago.)   Friday, July 3 View Page Sittin on the pallet. It went ok a little kink but oh well. As it grows atop the sand the weight of the squash will shape the squash down around its blossom button... Which I did not remove. The pallet has a flat surface of boards that water can trickle through. Fine dirt would have worked just as well as sand.   Friday, July 3 View Page Should be good for now. This is NOT the easiest/best way to grow em blossom down... Stay tuned for the better way... Next year.   Saturday, July 4 View Page Here are a couple tissue tests. This is the tissue test for this year's 972 Marvin squash about a month ago.   Saturday, July 4 View Page This is the plant that grew the 795.5 a couple years ago. Notice the nitrogen. No splits on the plant. I dont expect any on this years either. I did have one last year that kept splitting but I did not do a tissue test on it. Wish I had...   Saturday, July 4 View Page Got lucky... our first try this year we found a big potato. Not starving yet. Happy 4th. Keep America Great!   Sunday, July 5 View Page Wildlife trip. Life in the savannah... Encountered a pack of very strange creatures.   Monday, July 6 View Page Look how cold this forcast is! Today 62 tomorrow 57... then this! What a strange year. I dont think a 200 lb watermelon is going to happen. Four plants in the ground... three ard grafted to bushel gourd rootstock. I would be quite happy with 50 lbs. Pollinated 102 Risi x self today.   Monday, July 6 View Page Some unwelcome lumps and bumps. I attribute it to a critical boron deficiency. I think the rest of this year will be a struggle.   Monday, July 6 View Page Another pic. Its not getting the nutrients it needs. I have a backup set but it was not a controlled pollination.   Thursday, July 9 View Page Poor man's avocado? Green summer squaah this year rather than yellow. Regardless of color, the extra sets are good eating at about 3 DAP... but I am one of the few growers who is not using any pesticides. I am getting burned out! I wish this was easier. I think the partial kink in the vine could be part of the problem. But I also added 50+ grams of borax to the plant. Heck of a plant. Second largest plant I have ever grown.   Thursday, July 9 View Page I dont think my tomato will ever ripen!   Thursday, July 9 View Page Happy 60th birthday. It feels loved... its blushing. Dont think it reached five pounds though. Its big... but its just not... very big. Good news its the biggest I know of... it should hopefully put my team at the top of the leaderboard???   Thursday, July 9 View Page Look, I am growing a pair... Of sunflowers... My on and off girlfriend kept helping the little straggler and its been keeping pace with the other. Wouldnt have expected this. It looked too runty to me. I would have pulled the little one. Anyhow there is no question these Butler sunflowers have good genetics and that these are the tallest I will probably ever grow. Some credit goes to the girlfriend for wanting me to have both of them. Ha ha.   Friday, July 10 View Page This is the backup squash getting lowered into place. Nice long stem and it's cooperating so far on becoming blossom-down. A bungee cord helping make the descent more gentle.   Saturday, July 11 View Page Potatoes and Jerusalem artichoke combo... sorta works...   Saturday, July 11 View Page Knee high by the fourth of July... well the potatoes were! Potatoes and popcorn getting too crowded. Putting the corn between the rows of potatoes was better than putting them adjacent to the rows of potatoes. I tried three different methods of planting the corn. Direct seed, bare root, and small transplant. I see no significant difference in the performance. I think if they can be fertigated by overhead water then bare root might be the easiest and would be successful, even if some of the roots get broken. The extra head start of using transplants helps with slugs, rabbits, etc. Kale could be transplanted too but thats probably more work than needed because it could just be sown directly. It sprouts just as well as the weeds and in a cool wet years it might grow faster than the corn.   Sunday, July 12 View Page They are destroying the orange Republi-kin!   Sunday, July 12 View Page 9 weeks 63 DAP With all the artificial light... this tomato is gonna be as expensive as Copper River salmon. But dang she looks worth it...! Other than the sulfer she is looking frickn delicious.   Sunday, July 12 View Page This is one on my 5 gal challenge plant. Pretty sure its a domingo x strawberry tomato. The bumble bees were very active on the strawberry tomatoes. Looks like I am not a threat to win this challenge.   Sunday, July 12 View Page Best grafted watermelon. It hasnt been much of a watermelon year. Plenty of time left its gonna be an Indian summer...   Sunday, July 12 View Page & best onion.   Sunday, July 12 View Page Spaz. Giant Zucchini. Wow... cool plant. Vines halfway like a pumpkin sorta bushy like a zucchini too. Females look and smell like zucchini's. Lots of them, but none are pollinated yet. From what I can tell, although its in the same family its definitely not related to a marrow.   Tuesday, July 14 View Page Congrats Dan! I had to see how big 33" was... my hands are small or thats a big tomato... Almost as big as the lid of a 5 gallon bucket. I dont think Dan understood what was meant by '5 gallon bucket competition.'   Friday, July 17 View Page I call these 'fourth of july lillies' because they normally are about halfway blooming on the 4th of July. This year they are very late. I doubt I will ever again see them bloom this late.   Friday, July 17 View Page Another domingo x strawberry. This is an unexpected setback. Huge plant. The biggest plant I have. But... little strawberry shaped tomatoes.   Friday, July 17 View Page Definitely not 33". GPC rules are that ones larger than 25" you should have two witnesses. So she aint huge but for me she is decent.   Friday, July 17 View Page Oaky leaves on the 102 Risi orange genetics plant.   Friday, July 17 View Page Very rounded leaves on the Foss orange genetics plant. Definitely going to be very orange.   Friday, July 17 View Page Hell yeah. @ 69 days baby!   Friday, July 17 View Page One last photo of the tomato grow! I left one lettuce plant for seed. The rickety cover did great. In the future I would hang plastic on the southwest side not the southeast side. For support I used the elastic ankle of a sock-- cut into a square-- rather than a nylon. Seems to have worked perfectly!!!   Friday, July 17 View Page Zucchini #2 is a longer shape. PC police get out your batons and 'Rodney King' me. Gonna summon a different Rod and call this black beauty "Dennis the Rod" x self.   Friday, July 17 View Page City of Portland looks like a landfill, generally speaking. Making America clean and happy will be Kamala's legacy, hopefully. Hopefully only the trash goes to the incinerators. (Especially the white trash, because it's more deplorable..) I know Portland isnt the only city, and it extends down to Albany. What is going on? Btw there are plenty of sod farms in oregon why cant they just buy one and let people camp on the grass. People could have a nice healthy outdoor existence?   Saturday, July 18 View Page Spaz. Zucchini is getting very prolific. I think I have a keeper set SpazZ X self. It looks good for eating. The shape is a little more plump. A unique garden seed from the exotic seed exchange!   Saturday, July 18 View Page One more... Ugggh. All the patience I can summon. 70 DAP today... But she can make it one more day. Going all the way baby, yeah!!!   Saturday, July 18 View Page I was growing a pair... but they got some 'end rot'. These things are so sensitive... to potassium, and ammonium, and soil moisture.   Sunday, July 19 View Page I can do whatever daddy does.   Sunday, July 19 View Page I smell a ripe... tomato. Where is it... what happened???   Sunday, July 19 View Page DAP 71 1/2... one more night of no sleep!   Sunday, July 19 View Page Some slight cracking of the sulfer in the past week. I am surprised that it does seem to have grown in the past week despite beginning to blush a week ago. I watered heavily and even got the whole plant wet in the evening... no longer care about roots or foliage... Its the 11th inning & plump is the name of the game! She can split! As long as she dont leak!!! 5.12 MacDonald is now the ... ?   Tuesday, July 21 View Page I thought there might be a problem! As soon as I picked it and held it, I thought... 'uh oh, this doesnt weigh much.'   Tuesday, July 21 View Page Previous picture, taken at the post office.   Tuesday, July 21 View Page She couldnt get the weight in the same pic as the tomato. 4 lbs 3.3 oz = 4.206 lbs The grocery store said 4.17 lbs plus .03 TARE (we forgot to clear the tare weight so it subtracted .03 lbs) = 4.20 lbs. There you have it... 4.20 lbs. A light little bugger! Picked yesterday at 72 DAP... had family obligations but I finally got it weighed today.   Tuesday, July 21 View Page Measurement was off by an inch... Multiple stems were in the way.   Tuesday, July 21 View Page Sides are connected on this side only.   Tuesday, July 21 View Page Connected. Not leaking, but there was a small bit of end rot that was worse for the wear after rinsing the sulfer off. I would say a minor spot of rot, but the gpc we would probably not accept. Maybe its still good enough for the team competition... idk.   Tuesday, July 21 View Page Stem cut to within 1". I coulda cut it shorter but hey... just following the rules :) Thats it for today. It's time for this tomato become a Hawaiian burger and fresh salsa. Bye-bye, ya lightweight, stinky-bottom, eye-candy tomato!!!   Tuesday, July 21 View Page 4.20 Clayton. Only one viable seed...? Strange. No hormones used. Ready for next year!!!!!!   Tuesday, July 21 View Page Confession, it was resting on the ground... Granted we had no rain until a day ago. No need to trust me see here just blossom scars... she shipshape and worthy of the GPC.   Wednesday, July 22 View Page Spaziani Zucchini. Doing the zucchini thing. The branch on the left has 4 zucchini's queue'd up back-to-back (x 4). Littlest one is hard to see. They seem like normal zucchini's, but with more girth, and the growth habit of the plant is exactly halfway between vining and bush.   Saturday, July 25 View Page Big flowers for big girls! Soon!   Sunday, July 26 View Page 10 DAP on the 102 Risi. Really awesome pumpkins in your diaries fellow growers. Big ones and some great orange color too. My pumpkin patch is not so exciting!   Sunday, July 26 View Page 11 DAP Spaziani Zucchini. Wow!!!   Sunday, July 26 View Page Hell of a mega. Look at the perfect symmetry! I would call it a 6 fused blossom. Too bad its on one of my many domingo x strawberry plants!!!!!!   Monday, July 27 View Page Tomato etching seems possible. Best done early, so it might heal.   Tuesday, July 28 View Page Purple garlic, purple dahlia. The garlic did well with no irrigation. The dahlias would be doing better with irrigation. I planted the garlic about 6 " apart. I wonder if I could space them at 3 or 4 inches... maybe it would be good to try growning them with plastic mulch.   Tuesday, July 28 View Page 2nd ripe tomato of the year is shamefully small. 10 oz but you gotta love those dingleberries. So close to beating Mr. Sutherland. I guess I need more dingleberries.   Tuesday, July 28 View Page Mama Mia! I think its time to call Eddy. This Spaziani tomato is growing in about 50 sq ft and has about 100 leaves.   Tuesday, July 28 View Page Only 13 DAP? Rick says they grow for at least 100 days...   Wednesday, July 29 View Page Bush plant I thought was a marrow. Not sure whats going on here. Cutting the sets off and trying for a controlled pollination but probably wont know for sure what this is until the end of the season.   Wednesday, July 29 View Page 4" gain. Banish me to the zucchini board please!   Thursday, July 30 View Page Where'd my pumpkin go??? Another one set on this plant set on the same day. Gonna name her 'Sandbagging Cindy'. She might be a beauty!   Thursday, July 30 View Page Woah, again. Was not expecting another 4". Playing around with my zucchini too much. PS: There's an ignore button. You... might want to use it.   Friday, July 31 View Page Giant Zucchini: 3.5" so the expected slowdown in circumference has arrived (at DAP 16... 51.5") but... in terms of pounds... no slowdown. You know what? A giant zucchini always felt like it might just be a silly goal. But here we are.   Saturday, August 1 View Page Top view.   Saturday, August 1 View Page Side view. Had some help from some solitary bees so finally got a half dozen set tomatoes set on the Frank the Tank plant. This is the best though. Most are singles. A couple large singles, and this one is more like a large double... but kinda round shape like a single. The best mega blossoms didnt pollinate but I am still happy with my options.   Saturday, August 1 View Page Why do I suspect that you are crossed with a strawberry tomato? Pretty much my season went to hell. Three (of my best plants!!!) are hybrid domingo x strawberry (cherry) tomato. And one plant has not set any tomatoes. And... a couple are two scrawny to bother with... Waaah, waaah, waah & boo hoo.   Saturday, August 1 View Page This is kinda cool, though??   Saturday, August 1 View Page Seed exchange edible squash are breeding true. One of the lovely kobochas on very healthy plant. Acorn and delicata are producing too. There was a 4th. Not sure if the 4th one grew. The kabocha is the biggest and most productive.   Saturday, August 1 View Page 54". Gain in pounds has peaked. That was a fun ride. It should gain a few more inches but I think its pretty much done. Very cool. Thanks Rick.   Saturday, August 1 View Page Oh lets give that whale of a zucchini a name and an age... DAP 17 for 'Mobey Dic-chini'   Monday, August 3 View Page Spaz. Zucchini is making a push for 60" circ. 56, 57.75, are the latest numbers. Its getting heavy. Sandbaggin' Cindy did the gender change thing. She now wishes to be known as Swashbuckling Scarface. If Scarface's scar gets any bigger, he might get drunk and fall off the vine. It may be an accident or it may just look like an accident...   Tuesday, August 4 View Page I spread some wildflower seeds. This is the only one that bloomed. Looks fake in this picture. It has small, thin leaves. Its about a foot high.   Tuesday, August 4 View Page Mobey Dick. 20 DAP. These things sure mature fast. Should make 60" circumference here in 2 days. And that will be the end of my vinyl tape measure. Shouldnt get much bigger. A fun seed 2 grow.   Tuesday, August 4 View Page .56 lbs (252 grams) 5 gallon challenge... not so great. Unfortunately, this is going to be my one and only entry.   Tuesday, August 4 View Page Mowed between the corn rows.   Tuesday, August 4 View Page The swiss chard between the corn did well. Better than the kale, in fact. I think this worked as a companion because the chard is one of those plants that melts in the sun but it looks tender here at the time of year when little plants can get roasted.   Thursday, August 6 View Page Woo hoo... bp is back.   Thursday, August 6 View Page New technique.   Thursday, August 6 View Page The stockier sunflower did not grow taller than the spindly one.   Thursday, August 6 View Page The weak spindly one caught up. Its on the left... the one thats not hunched over yet. It measures 15 ft. The stockier one is the same height. I have had many instances now where a small weak seedling has turned into a very nice plant. And I see some diaries like Nana Rea where her smallest plant is growing the biggest pumpkin. Trying to judge plants early on... may be a waste of time. My big fast growing squash plant is a big dud as far as growing pumpkins goes...   Saturday, August 8 View Page My quixotic project tonight was to dehull a couple small sheafs of oats. I successfully did so, with a blender set on low and a leaf blower. I got a couple cups of oats. The oats for purchase in the store are like cardboard. I am going to making a simple 'forage meal' of the oats and fresh picked blackberries. I bet I will feel like a million bucks! When I eat what I produce locally, I always do. Something about the processed standard-American-diet just puts me in a stupor at best, if not outright killing me.   Saturday, August 8 View Page Done cooking. Three ingredients, oats, salt and blackberties... And its totally delicious in a way that it wouldnt be if it was not fresh, homegrown food. The blackberries are plenty sweet and the oats taste like real food not cardboard. A success!   Monday, August 10 View Page Really glad I left all four sets. A couple days ago I couldnt tell which had the best potential but it quickly became pretty clear. I might have culled the one that is now clearly the best.   Tuesday, August 11 View Page Apple sauce... the easiest product of all to make at home? Teach your kids or they will end up becoming know-nothing rioters.   Wednesday, August 12 View Page Optimal spacing on the dahlias could be the same as for corn. Fall corn maze??? How about... a dahlia maze instead.   Wednesday, August 12 View Page I have concluded this is Spaziani #2. I think I ended up with an extra big zucchini seed. I was busy trying to give them away and meanwhile my girlfriend as was trying to squirrel them away. In squirrel talk, when one squirrel says to another, "You drive me nuts!" it's the highest compliment.   Wednesday, August 12 View Page I have concluded this is Spaziani #2. I think I ended up with an extra big zucchini seed. I was busy trying to give them away and meanwhile my girlfriend was trying to squirrel them away. In squirrel talk, when one squirrel says to another, "You drive me nuts!" it's the highest compliment.   Wednesday, August 12 View Page And this Giant Zucchini #1 is at DAP 28 it may turn orange although a week ago it was a darker green than a field pumpkin... it started out like a zucchini... now a bloated beached whale. If Mobey Dick turns orange it means he is voting for Trump & he is a migratory whale who only lives in Washington during the summer, he is actually a registered Florida voter.   Saturday, August 15 View Page Giant Augerbine (Eggplant). It has one set. The plant looks like it could use some nutrients. Eggplant surrounded by 'hens and chicks' or is it 'chicks and hens'... Hence the following question, 'Which came first, the hens-and-chicks or the eggplant.' So... do egg jokes... 'crack' you up??? Horrible huh!   Saturday, August 15 View Page So... the corn planted with the potatoes corresponds to the corn that is not doing very well. Except the very first row.... which is not near the potatoes and also doing poorly. I did break the ground structure near there, though... and probably didnt spread chicken manure as heavily there. The area where the corn is doing best was no-till. But it also got better fertilizer and more water. Anyhow... multiple variables. The no till corn was a big success. Potatoes and corn appears to be a "no". No-till seems to be a 'yes' for some crops because the soil acts as a sponge better. And despite the ground being hard... in reality its penetrated by the corn roots. Fluffy tilled soil is kinda horrible, I dont know why pumpkin growers swear by it. Except that with careful watering, and nutrients being added, it makes no difference. Tilled soil acts like its own mulch, so thats good. But I only have 1 ft of soil here so I cant afford to turn half of it into 'soil-mulch'. Works better here to have 1 ft of healthy soil and use a fine layer of organics for mulch. 6" of soil limits plant growth 1 ft. is much better but 2 or 3 ft would sure be nice. Its a silly resolution but I think I need to resolve to use the perfect amount of mulch. And definitely need to tackle the weeds especially the perennial weeds.   Saturday, August 15 View Page Heck yeah!!! Biggest I have grown. (And lovely too.) Porkchop DO NOT try these they are the worst. Forget Atlantic giants, tomatoes, pumpkins, zucchinis... Forget it all.. I have found my true love??? Since this is not a fruit... I guess that makes me the fruit??? Lol.   Saturday, August 15 View Page Biggest onion not quite a kilogram. Slightly bigger than storebought... not great though. They take a long time but I think these are worth growing... Growing these was satisfying but a little less exciting.   Saturday, August 15 View Page Check out the red delicious compared to the Akane. These both grew on the same tree! The Akane pictured here was grafted onto the scabby red delicious... but these are just as perfect as the ones on my other tree. So if you have horrible scabby apples, all you have to do is graft on a better variety... and voila you will have good apples. The grafting experiment worked so now I know I can regraft & get rid of all the red delicious, which are consistently scabby. A remarkable difference in these apples that grew on the same tree!!! Every Akane apple is perfect and every red delicious apple is that bad.   Sunday, August 16 View Page Solid apples. Unbelievable what one medium size tree yields. There are 1000+ on this tree. Variety is Akane I think and I recommend it for an early variety... always ripe in August. Scab free, perfect organic apples! Other varieties are terrible.   Monday, August 17 View Page One source, top-of-tomato info.   Monday, August 17 View Page This watermelon thing is kind of addictive. Tiny plant but it's doing it. The bushel gourd rootstock sprouted but now its pruned to zero growth points, so the bushel gourd foliage here should contribute to the watermelon.   Monday, August 17 View Page "The Pannademic" is gonna be hard to catch but nevertheless this dirty little scurvy old swashbuckler wants to get naked too... and chase that big woman. Maybe she doesn't really have a disease... but she will after he catches up with her!!!   Thursday, August 20 View Page Here is an aerial view. I counted 250 leaves. The plant could fit in 150 ft I think. I've got a vine problem now. We will see how it goes. This plant had no heating and it was a cold spring. Plenty of time for it to grow though. Finally killed the mole. Nutrition looks ok to me... soil might be getting acidic though.   Thursday, August 20 View Page Finally set one. I now have ALL the gpc categories covered. I wasnt trying for this... it sorta just happened. But... the only gpc record I could break would be for 'most unmasterful gardener...' Sounds depressing! I am definitely not be a real contender in any category but I am gaining a lot of experience which keeps it exciting. For example, I never knew the gourds could be hand pollinated in the evening. I am happy just to be learning. There is a lot to learn when growing every category. If I ever do break any records, it will probably be because of what I am learning right now.   Friday, August 21 View Page Maybe I should take the bindweed off this one...   Friday, August 21 View Page Indoor melon 30". Outdoor melon is 35.75" Bugs eating the stump. Hopefully one of them reaches 50 lbs. I could have done a lot better... pretty happy just to have two melons set. They are not hard to grow, really. But they dont really GROW until the hottest part of the summer here. First fall rain coming through today. Things were getting dry. Can bbq without worrying starting a fire now. But dang I should have had some cover crops seeded & ready to go.   Sunday, August 23 View Page Awesome tomato there, young man! We figure it weighs 2.0 to 2.5 lbs... didn't get a weight on it so hopefully my other singles keep growing.   Sunday, August 23 View Page Uh oh. Not much wind in this little pirate's sails. Thanks K.D. for the pic. Bottom was 100% good. Kinda see it here... but take my word for it. Dang it on the weight! I do expect this will get replaced by a bigger weight... but for now every entry counts!   Sunday, August 23 View Page Home scale is just a little generous it gave me an extra gram or two. Pretty close.   Sunday, August 23 View Page Confession, it was resting on the ground... Granted we had no rain until a day ago. No need to trust me see here just blossom scars... she shipshape and worthy of the GPC. Posted this twice it sent the other post back to July. It's done that with a couple other entries, one of the zucchini posts went too far back in time also. This diary will be a mess. (Accurate portrayal of my life.)   Tuesday, August 25 View Page 48 degrees out overcast w/low clouds, almost like fog, 7:45 am. And the bees still beat me to the flowers. Congrats bees... you win :)   Thursday, August 27 View Page My friends tomato... Little Tomato Nose weighs .247 lbs. Congrats! No blossom end rot. Her strategy was to never water, ever. Mr. Potatohead is not sure if she gets the whole 'what plants need' thing... She tried to keep her tomato in the dark, indoors, and Mr. Potato head said, "Uh... That's a great idea except how will you feed the chloroplasts." She said she would feed them beef stew and cheesy biscuits... Mr. Potatohead thought he might get added to the stew, so he snuck away and is now hiding in the garden.   Thursday, August 27 View Page Trans-sexual corn. Social politics, now residing in my garden. Looks like I shouldnt drink my well water. Can't even tell jokes nowadays, so I will shut up now :)   Thursday, August 27 View Page About 20 gallons of tea. Trying to push numbers up. It was 42 degrees last night. I have been taking careful measurements and this tanked the numbers for both the watermelons really bad. From one inch a day to effectively zero. The indoor melon went from 1.5 inches daily gain to .5 inches... I am unsure whether the outdoor melon will resume any growth at all. I covered both melons with plastic because it will be chilly again. But hopefully not 42 again.   Friday, August 28 View Page I am still measuring using the same method. The blue tape holds the braided nylon in the same place. I crimp the nylon every evening and the crimp mark stays in the line, this creates a permanent record of the growth without having to write anything down.   Friday, August 28 View Page Measuring the distance between the crimp marks is easy. Then I can calculate the new circumference and the approx. weight gain. The formula is (circumference, inches)^2.61374 x .001517.   Friday, August 28 View Page Plenty of room now... This is a good example of where the vine should be when growing cinderella coach style, with the blossom down.   Saturday, August 29 View Page Greenhouse melon flew past the outdoor melon. I wonder if my tomatoes would benefit also if they were under plastic? I got a single past 20" but I know it doesnt weigh much. Two pounds maybe. I left six singles on the Frank the Tank plant because I was unsure which would perform the best. It's a huge plant easily able to support six big singles so I am not inclined to cull any yet but if the plant gets overburdened then a few can come off. It has a couple chances left on some bigger blossoms. One in particular got pollinated yesterday, hopefully. The late pollination is nothing a small impromptu greenhouse cant fix...   Saturday, August 29 View Page Pumpkin (no pic, sorry!): Is at 13 lbs per day... I might be able to boost it to 14 or 15 in the next heatwave. 260 leaves... so that's a half pound per ten leaves. I think a good benchmark is a pound per ten leaves, though. However, the leaves are not big and I think the patch gets too much shade for those kind of numbers. Very soft skin still. Good color. Excellent shape. Tomato in pic: This is a double that could weigh 5 lbs if everything goes right? Its connected. Not by much. Good luck everyone! Two months of nail biting ahead.   Saturday, August 29 View Page Hope this is right side up. The leaf here was an original leaf from way back in May... the fifth true leaf I think... I attribute the longevity to having sufficient silicon in the soil. But low humidity... and having only a few days in the 90s helps too. I think they start to age quickly if the patch temp hit the upper 80s.   Saturday, August 29 View Page So the same leaf is visible here it kicks straight back at a funny angle. Its the first full size leaf same leaf as in the recent picture and it looks like I planted this kin 115 days ago... 90 days is a good benchmark for leaf longevity, I think. It's pretty awesome to get them to last even longer. They do last longer in partial shade. This plant is shaded in the afternoon.   Sunday, August 30 View Page So pretty... what does it mean lol. This is proof there is life on Mars, I think.   Sunday, August 30 View Page Ugh. Will this slow the outdoor melon again??? I will measure this evening and find out.   Sunday, August 30 View Page Top number is humidity bottom is temp... and in very small numbers I can see that the lowest temp was 37 degrees. On clear nights, frost on cars starts at 38... might of had a light August frost there? Love fall weather... My favorite time of year. But there's a heatwave coming. More summer, yay! No complaints at all.   Sunday, August 30 View Page Numbers crashed again a little chilly today the melons didn't crash completely the pumpkin did though. I may have added too much nitrogen to the pumpkin.. hopefully it doesnt abort but I think it might have aborted. Too much tinkering... should have stayed out of the garden yesterday. Ive gotta just let things grow.   Monday, August 31 View Page I bought some fertilizer... wasnt sure what the best option was. But I think I bought the right one... lol???   Monday, August 31 View Page I have tried a tomato lobotomy of sorts I am very concerned about the stem pulling off on this one. I should keep it dry & keep dew off also because I think water may weaken/ soften the stem. The cut may not have helped, but thankfully I doubt I hurt it either... I was very careful to give each half the correct portion of the stem and it went as well as can be hoped for!   Tuesday, September 1 View Page Russian heirloom "Slutskaya". I dont get the obsession with the Peter Peppers...   Wednesday, September 2 View Page Thanks Jack for being on my team! Trying to follow your advice! Today will probably make or break my tomato. Its somewhere under the cover here. Zucchini not quite 3 ft.   Wednesday, September 2 View Page There is a lot of plant behind the tomato. Looks terrible but there's probably 30 sq ft of plant there. All the suckers are removed.   Thursday, September 3 View Page Chinese tomato torture with bamboo. Has not stopped or slowed the growth... But it was getting very awkward. I will probably switch to short cedar wedges. I have no clue where this tomato will fail, or if it will make it. I have a couple other doubles set. We ARE having an Indian Summer so these late August sets may stand a chance. Not going for ripe. Just going for green & big by Halloween.   Thursday, September 3 View Page Maybe it's not technically an Indian summer until we get some nice weather after Sept 21. Lots of thripes this year. A terrible year for thripe infestation... blackberries, willow, the sunflowers, and the plum trees are all hosting thripes. But a good year for flea beetles... almost none this year. I have not used any pesticides so they are just following natural up and down/ boom and bust population cycles... all on their own.   Thursday, September 3 View Page I still can't believe the p.o.s. sunflower on the right recovered & grew taller than its far more stately brother/sister. There is no such thing as a dud 26 ft. Butler Sunflower... those seeds belong in a fairy tale... they're closest thing we've got to magic. Nothing I know of is closer to actual jack-and-giant-beanstalk seeds! If you can get some they are worth a try. One last note: the "sort of 150 sq ft" (maybe more like 200 sq ft.) pumpkin is up to 14 lbs per day which I am very, very happy with. It should cross 300 lbs tomorrow and the plant is in great condition to push it for 40 more days. Goal: 300 more pounds in September and 100 more in October. Leaves look awesome, got the bloaty-center boron problem fixed, I think. It was the boron or manganese that helped, idk. But it more than I know about tomatoes. I guess I also need about five years of tomato growing then after that I will actually know a little bit. This is year #4.   Friday, September 4 View Page Ugh... This is sloppy sulfer plus dew equals acid... Acid plus sunshine equals brown skin? I think the tomato is young enough that it can heal... but crap, u know? I had this happen one other time. Read my diary & learn what NOT to do.   Friday, September 4 View Page Cedar shims. This is becoming the most Frankensteined tomato ever. Dont think she knows anything about tomatoes...   Saturday, September 5 View Page 300 lbs maybe. The bottom is solid and the top but the side walls are paper thin where it's not getting enough calcium or other nutrients. Worried it wont make it.   Saturday, September 5 View Page Just horrible. I am just going to leave this plant alone... maybe some compost tea in its future but it's not easy to excited about a tomato that looks like this.   Saturday, September 5 View Page I should tear this tree out and plant a tomato here lol. Apparently this is the one thing I do know how to grow... I do know how to do the pruning just right on apples. 75-80 apples here.   Saturday, September 5 View Page The 5 gal tomato had good roots evenly distributed. I just didn't get the watering right and gave up sooner than I shoulda. I used dirt which holds probably half as much water potting mix. I probably wont try this again. It was fun and challenging but it just doesnt fit very well with how I want to do things.   Saturday, September 5 View Page These sunflower heads do look heavy. I trust the plant knows what its doing. I will probably be posting a lot I dont mean to bore anyone with my piddly-sized stuff but I am going to keep the garden going and try to enter all the items I need for the master gardener challenge. It wont be gpc recognized because its doubtful I will make it to the weighoffs. But I like tracking my personal bests so here it goes...   Sunday, September 6 View Page Apprentice gardener, first two entries... 38 lb. Field Kin & 26 lb. Marrow. The field kin is Spaz. Zucchini #1 x self. But it clearly qualifies as a field kin. The marrow is 81 Iles x Spaz. Zucchini #1... so these two were crossed. So fyi to any future marrow-kins, these were your parents. Did not reach my goal of a 40 lb zucchini. Instead, I got a 38 lb field kin lol.   Monday, September 7 View Page Smoked bean. Hard to breath. Windy. Low humidity. Insane weather, the wind is blowing 180 degrees opposite of normal.   Tuesday, September 8 View Page Crazy low humidity. Catching a break on the heat. Having humidity this low is really great for reducing disease.   Tuesday, September 8 View Page I put this plant where the 5.12 MacDonald tomato was. So it was planted sometime after July 21. I think it might be a butternut. It has a few sets already. It's funny that July 21 might not be too late to plant some gourds or squash for Halloween or Thanksgiving, if the fall weather is nice they might produce even when planted so late.   Wednesday, September 9 View Page "Indoor" natural melon (left) and outdoor grafted onto bushel gourd, right. The one on the right is 26.5 lbs so just a half pound bigger than the one I grew two years ago. Going to eat it right now!!!   Wednesday, September 9 View Page Getting ready for next year.   Wednesday, September 9 View Page I left the biggest tree.... and plenty of others. I love trees I prefer planting them to cutting them.   Friday, September 11 View Page Covid stats, Sept 2nd.   Friday, September 11 View Page This snake thinks it's a dog with a bone. I have never seen a snake carry its prey (slug) around like this.   Friday, September 11 View Page Dennis the Rod weighs in at 24.25 lbs.   Friday, September 11 View Page Talk about a Black Beauty... the Rod looks like a real zucchini. 11 kg. I did cross Mobey the Whale (middle) and the Rod. Dennis the Rod is x self so lots of options but no clue how to proceed. Maybe the smooth zucchini genetics could help the marrows be less prone to splits... or field kins could grab a little extra length. It's all just silly until it actually works. Anyhow it was interesting to get two variations. The Rod was grown on zucchini plant #2. The Whale was grown on zucchini plant #1. Dennis the Rod would have made a decent entry to the Puyallup Fair giant vegetable contest. Too bad.   Friday, September 11 View Page This one is dedicated to all the baby pumpkins out there who love their mommy pumpkin!   Saturday, September 12 View Page My poor tomato. I dont know if this one has potential or not... but the artificially created split is nearing 1/4 ". Its better than having the stem pull away from one of the lobes. I think I will continue experimenting with this and maybe splitting the stem earlier, perhaps just a few days after pollination. The earlier it's done, perhaps the better it can heal. This could end up being a key technique for growing heavy tomatoes. The color is bad because of sulfer burns. I think the sulfer burnd did slow the actual growth of the tomato the unburned portions are healthier and growing noticeably better.   Saturday, September 12 View Page Maybe this is a better picture.   Monday, September 14 View Page Eggplant nearly 1 kg.   Monday, September 14 View Page Tomato that measured 20.5".   Monday, September 14 View Page 2nd tomato... do I really get to keep all this stem?   Monday, September 14 View Page Good diameter for a single. What will it weigh...   Monday, September 14 View Page 3.44. A bit light. These singles were on both grown on the 'Frank the Tank' plant. Not having the best year this year.   Tuesday, September 15 View Page Quite big by ordinary standards. But quite small by BP standards though... I thought the catfacing on the eggplant was so similar that of a tomato! Sweet corn is getting ripe. Long gourd: Looks like I will have to dig a hole in the ground by next weekend.   Tuesday, September 15 View Page 2.35 lbs or so. 3rd off the 6.55 'Frank the Tank' they are dropping like flies. Only the first of these was not DMG. Perfectly maxed my home scale out. I cant weigh anything heavier on this scale. Which means the next two off this plant will have to go into town. I left five on this plant. The plant is huge 30-40 sq ft or so and I dont think it slowed them one bit. Too bad they are all singles.   Tuesday, September 15 View Page I also wanted to see if different shapes developed better than others. It's hard to tell which tomato has the best potential at the get-go. Theres maybe some subclasses of 'singles'. The first here I would call triangular, the second I would call a diamond/quadrilateral, the final is a pentagon with just a bit missing. These shapes were evident early on. Perhaps as you might expect, the Pentagon shape did end up the heaviest, despite being a relatively thin donut. It seems like a slightly fuller and thicker pentagon-shaped single could hit 5 lb but no such luck for me. All of mine seem to be weighing lighter than I would have liked. Which is a humbling reminder that I know very little about nutrients & care required to grow anything that will impress anyone on bp.   Wednesday, September 16 View Page Mid September... good genetics and afternoon shade and not going to crazy with the ferts = nice leaves. Bring on the crap weather... cant ask for a better looking plant to try to the push numbers all the way to harvest. It's been holding steady still above 10 lbs per day despite a week of smoke. The smoke is still about as thick as a fully cloudy day.   Friday, September 18 View Page Planted this mid August. I should probably start some indoor lettuce sometime in October.   Friday, September 18 View Page The etched tomato got "ripe" without rotting even though it was picked before fully mature. This is how to achieve a store-bought-quality tomato.   Saturday, September 19 View Page Internal flaw hard to see so I marked it with dots. I believe it has nearly broken through. May have to pick this one early... was on track to be the 2nd largest I have grown. And I do think this particular flaw was a result of being grown blossom-down, unfortunately. So the question is... pick it now or cross fingers and wait. Hmm...   Saturday, September 19 View Page Try again...   Saturday, September 19 View Page Trying to keep H.D. appearance. Daconil on the damage... and clear silicone on top. I have never patched a pumpkin. Good thing we aren't going to a gpc weigh off since they syrictly dont allow foreign substances. It's a shame to pick it now because the leaves are perfect. Might have gained 200 lbs more but it's much better to get something than nothing.   Sunday, September 20 View Page Go Patons;) This is no Paton pumpkin... Est. 500 lbs. But it was a late July pollination and the shape and color aren't too bad.   Sunday, September 20 View Page What beautiful leaves.   Sunday, September 20 View Page !!! Its under the clear silicone! Good thing I put the silicone on. Does it have a chance? I cut it off the vine because to leave it would court disaster... at some random point in time it would break the silicone.   Sunday, September 20 View Page It's hard to see here but the plywood bent more than I would have expected. I dont think that's to blame for the internal split but maybe it is. I do think a sturdier flat surface would be best. Keeping the pumpkin very level would be good also. They bend so easily like jello as they grow. Oh and one last note... the very small amount of straw under the pumpkin was wet and moldy from rain and irrigation. But the bottom was solid. If the crack had been on the bottom I would have been clueless. I will probably go back to growing on a pallet with cedar slats because that drains the water better. The only good thing about being more directly on the ground is being plugged into a nice steady temperature.   Monday, September 21 View Page Here are three reminders to myself... no more outdoor tomato plants. They often do not shrug off rain the way the pumpkins do... Plus Jack is growing under cover with great results and my covered melon did better than my outdoor one. Another 3.04 lbs of rotten tomato. Only the 2.77 was good. Plenty of reasons not to grow outdoors anymore. This year wasnt great but I can gain my "Team No Hay" a couple pounds tomorrow when I weigh my biggest single.   Wednesday, September 23 View Page The nice thing about my tripod (and growing short pumpkins) is I dont need a lifting ring. I have at least 8 doubled poly lines on this. I've spaced them between the ribs of the pumpkin.   Wednesday, September 23 View Page Every haute couture smartphone photographer knows about the flying molten pumpkin motif.   Wednesday, September 23 View Page EZ. PZ. Really works good to break the effort into two parts. Part 1: getting the tripod setup and lifting & inspecting the pumpkin. Part 2: loading.   Wednesday, September 23 View Page SmallPumpkins.com tomato competition entry #1   Wednesday, September 23 View Page There she is... 13 lbs! errr... grams! Yes this was supposed to be a giant variety. Team 'no hay" appears to be in trouble!!! I'd better go dig around in the leaves like Jack.   Wednesday, September 23 View Page Alright, enough sandbagging. Best single. It's a bit more than a single. I was ready to cull this one earlier this year because I didn't like the shape it seemed like it wasnt very plump but it ended up the biggest "single".   Wednesday, September 23 View Page Not Sutherland-sized. But... it struggled to fit in my tomato basket.   Wednesday, September 23 View Page Better than the others. 4.12... probably 4.11 really because it was pouring rain. A few drops of water on it.   Wednesday, September 23 View Page Finally no rot & no leaking. Just got lucky I guess. This tomato was grown resting on the ground ... no sling.   Wednesday, September 23 View Page Forgot to say... that one was also off the 6.55 Frank the Tank plant. Grown simultaneously with five other tomatoes... about 15-16 lbs total. The important thing next year will be to focus the energy on just one. A large plant should not have trouble with the quantity of energy available. Getting it focused on just one tomato will be my challenge.   Thursday, September 24 View Page Had so much water up in the cracks of the tomato I decided to re-weigh it. Now 4.06 lbs after drying out for a day. So it lost an ounce as it dried off, and dried out, for 24 hours. I will use this as the competition weight. Being on Jack's team... we may not win... but I do feel like the deck is already stacked in our favor plenty enough.   Thursday, September 24 View Page Pumpkin budget $-15.00. Excited to try this. I know its unconventional (grain type rye or mustard is the gold standard and this is NOT rye grain! So dont copy what I am doing... THAT of course applies to 98% of what I do)... I do have my quirky reasons for trying this instead. This year is almost over.   Saturday, September 26 View Page Dried apples on a pumpkin seed drying tray.   Tuesday, September 29 View Page She's a beauty. Only a pound but I love the color. Big thanks for the seed to Reeds... One of the awesome seed exchange items last year. Will definitely try these again! Ps if I disappear for a month or more... my phone battery is the issue.   Wednesday, September 30 View Page A little less appetizing. This one stopped growing and sure enough it's got a problem. It's hard life is over @ 2.3 lbs it certainly didn't pack on the weight. The stem healed somewhat where I split it but fusarium or something into the tomato. I think in the future... keep very dry, and possibly a fan on any big ones... and much lighter sulfer dusting, if any. All the effort here was disastrous except the stem splitting. Sometimes they will split naturally but other times it would be good to assist so that the stem doesnt pull away from a portion. The internal cracking was a bit too much here. But the stem didn't pull away from either side. Hmm... Interesting....   Wednesday, September 30 View Page Yucky pic... goes with the previous post.   Wednesday, September 30 View Page Prior to being split apart. The sulfer and accompanying acidity got through the skin of the tomato. The sulfer damaged the skin and retarded the outer growth a bit, too. Excess nternal acidity retards growth... Good to know. This may be why excess nitrate doesnt create proportionally larger fruit. Supposedly assimilation of nitrate is acidifying. Ammonium competes with calcium but supposedly it's not acidifying within the plant. As long as the xylem doesnt have too much ammonium (but the phloem does have ammonium) then there is no conflict? This sounds very techno babble coming from someone who didn't hit 5 lb. But hey... even small houses need some kind of foundation, right!   Wednesday, September 30 View Page Jerusalem Artichokes, back left, finally bloomed. They are quite tall. 10 ft. easily. I am mowing rather than tilling and speeding decomposition with potassium nitrate. Trying to bring up micronutrients also. After seeing the no-till corn do better I am only investing my efforts into getting healthy decomposition and protecting the soil as best I can from the 4 or 5 ft of rain we will get here between now and April/May. Mowing, mulching, cover cropping (even just fallow/weeds is ok with me as long as they are not obtrusive perennial weeds) and solarizing are the strategies that seem to have the most potential benefit. I will be rotating planting areas. I really dont have time to maintain all the planting areas in actual crops so some areas will get careful attention and other areas will get less attention. I love seeing how many different bugs are making the corn their home. A garden without pesticides is home to an abundance of life. Many predator insects and birds. I am not seeing any devastating buildups of pests.   Thursday, October 1 View Page Delivered the 102 Risi x self to the market. Weighed on crane scale at home 511.5 Clayton UOW. Knock on wood... the silicone patch and early harvest seems to have prevented a hole from opening into the cavity. That's it for my season.   Friday, October 2 View Page Last (single) tomato. Bottoms up on the my lackluster year. Other tomatoes: I do have an impressive truss which I will be trying for a pb for truss weight.   Friday, October 2 View Page Tomato truss... new personal best. 7 tomatoes... 9.51 lbs. This plant had other fruit on it and was also competing with two other plants. I wrote this plant off but nevertheless it performed well. I am not optimistic about getting all that weight into one tomato... but at least this shows me where I need to focus my attention. This one had a damaged stem prior to the truss and I wonder if that's part of the reason it pushed this truss so big. Might have "girdled" the phloem. Many things to consider 4 next year... whats the optimal pruning... getting the nutrients available but not excessive... getting & picking the right blossom. This is work, lol.   Saturday, October 3 View Page Glitch in the matrix. 100% sound tomato... no rot, no leaks.   Saturday, October 3 View Page Kaboom!!! Almost broke the scale, I think. 3.37 lb. Grown off one of my "giant strawberry" tomato plants... lmao. Lackluster year. Probably should picked it in the a.m. for maximum firmness/turgor/weight but we're rolling onto next year here. Hot weather here in the low 80's. I was correct in predicting an Indian summer here. There ought to be some monster pumpkins out here. But very quiet.   Saturday, October 3 View Page All's well that ends well.   Saturday, October 10 View Page Notes for 2021: Seems to have taken three weeks for more flower bud initiation and development. I cant be sure but the late fall megas I am seeing now were initiated during the first fall precipitation about three weeks ago??? The rain and cooler weather at the end of September seems to have contributed to some worthy megas. Same as last year. Something about the weather and the time of year is driving the mega blossom's formation.   Wednesday, October 14 View Page Watermelon weighed in at 26.5 kg/58.5 lbs. That is pretty good. About doubles my personal best. Happy to hit 50 lbs. I started out this year wanting 200 lbs... then it became 100... and then 50... as my eyes adjusted to reality. I want to try grafting onto a bushel gourd again but I want to allow a lot more bushel gourd plant. If somehow the two could co-exist. Perhaps allow the bushel gourd to grow one direction and the watermelon the other direction. I think this could be powerful?   Monday, October 19 View Page My long gourd was doing great until the rain-splash got some kind of bacteria or fungus on it. The part near the ground was the only part of the gourd affected... so I assume this was the issue. Its about 90 inches its about tied with my previous personal best. I do like gourds. They are fun. I am dreaming about field pumpkins, however... Field pumpkin fever. I might only do field kins and tomatoes next year? I think thats all I will be able to manage.   Monday, October 19 View Page The 500 lb pumpkin that went to the store is holding up. Knock on wood... it may make it to Halloween. But its gonna be a boo-hoo Halloween for the daddy pumpkin. (I dont get it... why cant has the state said I cant be a father to these kids? But of course I can be an ATM machine. Some highstrung people have a way of seeing things that arent really there. I am kinda high-strung myself... its hard for me to imagine anyone being more highstrung and ungrounded than I am. But some are... Some people really should not use drugs!!!) End of my little rant. Have a happy, SOBER, safe Halloween everyone :)   Monday, October 19 View Page 56 lb. field kin & 58.5 lb. watermelon. The one year that I grow enough items for the master gardener but... I didnt get official weights on anything this year. The gpc category I totally failed on was the bushel gourd. Maybe next year?   Tuesday, October 20 View Page My sh;t aint big. But thats ok because its all about the photo!!!!!!   Tuesday, October 20 View Page Getting a start on next year: Same genetics these were grown on the same plant. But one is 20% thicker than the other... presumably would weigh 20% heavier. The difference here is the pollination date and also number of fruit on the plant. Like I said, grown on the exact same plant, so this is NOT a genetic difference.   Tuesday, October 20 View Page W/prev. post.   Tuesday, October 20 View Page My squash plant had trouble getting one set and focusing on it. It grew this one 378 lbs plus a dozen others (after I gave up hope for a big one...) for a total of approx. 1000 lbs. It also grew the equivalent of at least 1000 square feet of foliage. Not a good conversion of leaves to pounds. Mostly due to insufficient quantity & distribution of healthy roots... also excess nitrogen, and some deficiencies.   Tuesday, October 20 View Page My "not a master gardener" stats for the year. I did score 3 personal bests though. The scoring is interesting because you could grow a world record long gourd and it would score less than a 1200 lb squash. I think Mr. Jutras has strategized squash as his top priority for that reason. It could be recalibrated so that tying a world record in any category would be 100 points?   Thursday, October 22 View Page I have posted plenty but... gorgeous pink popcorn. Yum... pass the salt. I planted 4 or 5 varieties and I think their pink popcorn was the best performer in the garden & Territorial Seed gets a free shout out for that. I am hungry. I cant wait to find out which kind tastes the best.   Thursday, October 22 View Page Another smashbang awesome find today... was these Jerusalem artichokes. And they seem to get along well with potatoes... which is a surprise. All these potatoes came out of the ground on the same pull!   Thursday, October 22 View Page Amish, kabocha, delicata and acorn. The only one that was a dud for me was the butternut. At planting time I wasnt sure growing these would be worth the effort but really happy I did...   Thursday, October 22 View Page Here I think I found out why the squash plant had trouble focusing. The plant is way too much of a spider shape. In other words, I dont think these big secondaries way back at the base were helping the pumpkin one bit. Some plants naturally focus on one pumpkin without much pruning. Well this plant wasnt that type of plant. This plant should have been carefully pruned to a diamond shape or the standard tree. My unruly squash plant! But the leaves held up well against disease and so did the stump. I irrigated directly over the stump all summer pretty much begging for rot but it was still solid when I pulled ot out today. I attribute this to some extra rugged genetic vigor in the plant. 972 Marvin was the seed.   Sunday, October 25 View Page Strawberry corn next to the pink popcorn. Sure wish I had some more of House's Indian Corn... It got planted too early & in the wrong spot. Moderate frost last night so this year is pretty much over. Many distractions... Hopefully I dont forget to post the 150 sq & the zucchini contest results!!!   Monday, October 26 View Page I noticed after the freeze the cornstalks dried out quickly. I pruned the plants down but left the corn and I pruned the tips of the corn too thinking it might dry faster or, at a minimum be easier to husk. I will probably turn the lower portions of the stalks into "firewood" because it takes 2 years for them to decompose here. They will dry out faster than they will decompose. Ps most of the corn is at a nice height for picking but a few ears were up over my head... the front row lacked fertilizer or water and its a bit short for picking. Overall, happy with it... I've now got lots of corn to choose from to get my popcorn breeding project started.   Tuesday, October 27 View Page Mark's giant zucchini... its a pumpkin hybrid but the plant and fruit do show enough zucchini in them to qualify. Not sure if the seeds will be available. Congrats Mark!   Tuesday, October 27 View Page I really wish Biden & his backers weren't a bunch of rotten apples... I didnt vote last cycle so +1 for El Trumpkin. The left... basically pushed me off their party wagon. Or maybe I got off because it was going nowhere. All I wanted was for Biden to admit some impropriety. Not even in office yet and he is already doing the Bill Clinton dance :(   Tuesday, October 27 View Page I dig this Democrat... I am such a mess!   Wednesday, October 28 View Page Skunkotiller. I am not complaining... Hopefully it does the whole patch.   Thursday, October 29 View Page Odd find... normally red is a dominant color in corn I would expect minor variations in the ears based on the open pollination but this stalk has two completely different ears of corn on it.   Thursday, October 29 View Page Closer up. These two ears are sisters off the same stalk. Wow! I had no idea this was possible. My notes for the corn experinent... Planting in clumps (up to six plants?) but spacing wider could give more interesting genetic combinations. They seem to mostly self pollinate or pollinate just with the neighboring plant. The vast majority of the pollen doesnt actually drift quite as far as I had assumed. Some pollen may drift very far but most just dumps straight down and only the closest plants are getting significantly crossed. To get more interesting outcomes & more genetic crossing, planting in denser clusters slightly farther apart may make a lot of sense? The productivity should still be ok.   Friday, October 30 View Page Last post of the year! August lettuce, surprisingly did not freeze! I did have plastic on it a few nights but one night the plastic fell off so it weathered a couple frosty nights. I should probably treat late July/early August like springtime and plant a whole garden. I hope the fair is open next year & better than ever. I want to try field kins with back to back pollinations. Maybe the first pollination would show any good traits and the second pollination would give a chance to breed the best ones from the first round. Also a possible goal for next year would be to grow tomatoes in an open tunnel/ igloo style greenhouse and to try to do controlled pollinations. A third goal would be... top secret & 100% ambitious.   Wednesday, November 4 View Page Funny numbers check out Michigan.   Wednesday, November 4 View Page Then an hour or two later... The votes are sliding away despite not having more precincts reporting. Seems like someone wants this country as divided as possible. I am calling it 270 to 268 for Biden. Doesnt get any more divided than that. Ugh... Democrats in control... with this much debt & lawlessness & immorality. How could this possibly go wrong. Ahh... drinking from the bitter cup. Well it was worth staying up late to watch the numbers get all incomprehensibly fudged up. I think I might be depressed for a day or two... or a year or two!   Wednesday, November 4 View Page Not quite there yet but looks like a Biden win just in time for the morning news... slowly fudging the numbers away overnight. Does that represent Democrat leaning votes at the polling stations coming in? ...Supposedly. And so whats the story about why the % reporting briefly went down a bit there in Michigan when it should only ever go up? Chucked some votes in the ol' digital trash can I guess...   Friday, November 6 View Page Left wing: Trump is a dictator!!! Them and their fake news... this is a dick tater.   Wednesday, November 11 View Page Veterans rule! Stop the theft... of Chistmas. My Grinch squash carving I dont have the time or energy to try to finish it. Maybe carving isnt my thing... Kudos to those who have the patience and skill. In other news, it looks like Henry and I need a recount... we are both at 402 posts.   Wednesday, December 2 View Page I should shut up about covid my kids mom caught it apparently and the brother of a family friend died. I am hopeful we can return to normal or better-than-normal about a year from now. This is the 109 lb field kin I grew a couple years ago. Tons of worms... I am working on pulling bindweed out. A couple of small adjustments... Rather than trying to get 100% of the bindweed all at once I think I will work the ground twice. If I pull out stragglers and plant potatoes in early April... I can probably get good production and good weed suppression. This double working of the soil should allow me to contour the ground to run water off during the winter but pond it in the summer. Secondly, I am wondering if I could run a field kin plant across the potatoes. I like the idea of treating field kins as a fall crop the way Baggs does marrows... my 109 was pollinated in early/mid July and picked in late August/early September. Thats a good window for success we only had a couple days in the 90's this year... but a late July/ early August pollination could be harvested in mid October so that growth window could work, too. Wish I knew of a companion crop with better synergy than potatoes. I probably only have enough CEC and nutrients for one crop. Maybe sowing something benign like clover wouldnt hurt. The best thing would be to keep the soil properly fed and watered and weed free. I should probably use both mulch and liquid nutrients otherwise the needs wont be fully met.   Thursday, December 3 View Page La Rue domingo is keeping up with the spinach and arugula. Frozen garden dirt I have been fiddling with nutrients put azos and tricho drench on. Freezing gets rid of the bugs nicely. So lazy... this is actually the exact same dirt I used last year.   Sunday, December 6 View Page I thought of a way to steal Chistmas. Doh... wrong diary. I mean... I thought of a way for me to (possibly) get the best soil health over the winter. Its just an untested idea but here it goes: Because we get 5x the rain we really need, it can deplete some of the good stuff from the soil. Covering the ground with plastic is pretty much the best way to retain the nutrients. A cover crop or thick straw mulch is a big help too but there is a third option which is to also rotate plastic covers overvthe garden areas. A plastic cover helps reduce the excess rain, but the way I figure it, some rain is probably a good thing. The plastic covers quickly makes homes for rodents because it creates a warmer, drier, protected place to vacation during the winter. So I am thinking that using plastic over, say, 6 out of 7 of the garden areas but rotating one sheet of plastic to whichever was the unprotected plot everyday would create a seven day rotation where each plot could get rained on for a day and the voles would either have to abandon that plot or get eaten by a cat or bird hopefully because their protection suddenly moved. So this would give some of the benefits of the rain, like activating worms and soil biology and neutralizing the ph wherever its off a bit... It would add oxygen to the soil to have the plastic for that one day a week. And it isnt hard to move one piece of plastic it takes five minutes maybe to just drag it from one spot to the next, and secure it with some old iron pipe or metal barrels. Five minutes a day to maintain seven garden areas optimally seems worthwhile. Rather than having depleted nutrients or too many rodents. One last note: As long as the temps stay below the 70's the low angle of the sun wont overheat a covercrop under a plastic sheet. The cover crop might get matted down when it rains or snows but as long as it is free of the plastic for one day a week, it should survive. Thus, plots with cover crops could be protected from excess rain also without destroying the cover crop? I will be trying this scheme this winter. Most of the plastc sherts I am using are 15 x 15 but I have one thats 30x30. Its still moveable at that size.   Wednesday, December 9 View Page After too-heavy rain. Note the small mounds of debris, which from human height causes a pockmarked appearance of the ground. The bigger ones look like mini mole hills but what they really are is...   Wednesday, December 9 View Page Alert NASA... Its a... worm hole!!!!! So I didnt realize this but the worms are getting a bit hungry they are now HORDING FOOD atop thier nest hole which also their bathroom. Yum, leaves coated with your own poop... Bon apetite! I wasnt aware that worms stored and innoculated their own food. Dang u worms... now I need to do more with my life in order to show that I am a higher-level organism than you. These mounds may also protect their holes against rain and predators.   Friday, December 11 View Page Too warm and humid. Back on foodstamps I guess. Sorry for needing your tax dollars. On the other hand... I still have potatoes. Maybe I have enough Irish in me to survive ;)   Friday, December 11 View Page Veggie torture... Mrs. Chop is ready to get rid of any students who sniffle. High density cilantro and shallots (for use as green onions). I'll be eating like a king... Potatoes. Salad. Tomato soup. They all just need fresh picked green stuff to sprinkle on them. If you have been going to the grocery store for 40 years... being self sufficient and not having any intense cravings for anything at the store is a very strange feeling. Of course its 20x harder to keep kids happy than myself. Kids dont realize that fried kale and sausage is the same thing as ice cream.   Sunday, December 20 View Page Just picked. This Granny Smith was way up at the top of the tree so high up I didnt notice it before. Kinda cool to find a good piece of fruit in late December. Still crisp and sweet. A few Braeburns have made it through fall also just lying on the ground what a good late season apple. Not much winter weather yet this year... Just a few frosty nights nothing below upper 20's yet.   Tuesday, December 22 View Page The tomatoes got edema or whatever. Not enough transpiration so the foliage gets white blisters from excess water? I have seen it before. They would rather be under hailed lights. Lettuce likes LED lights though. Well that year sorta flew by. Missed the Christmas star cloudy here but no worries. When I am as old as Yoda it will come again!   Thursday, December 24 View Page The way, the truth, the life! Happy birthday and thank you for teaching me. I came to learn & I am open to learning more.   Friday, December 25 View Page More important than pumpkins: The Truth. (Was born on Christmas day. And then abused, bullied, vilified, neglected, and crucified.) Merry Chistmas. Live in God my friends, not in fear.   Saturday, December 26 View Page Mostly covered, except some kale plants. Mild and wet weather continues... just thought I would show off my use of plastic.   Tuesday, December 29 View Page Exciting forecast. 26 last night. Probably the coldest night so far. Half inch of ice on a 5 gal bucket. But basically no winter here the buds are swelling already.   Thursday, December 31 View Page Sorry. Just seems like the correct way to end 2020.