Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 7 Entries. Tuesday, April 21 View Page The 2026 season has begun! Since autumn, I've been dreaming of planting a giant pumpkin again, but... things are a bit complicated by the fact that I don't have my own plot. Plots near Moscow are very expensive. And I could buy a plot somewhere far away, but I wouldn't be able to travel there often. So I turned to my relatives and friends, and I managed to secure two spots for pumpkins. On one of the plots, it's just a clearing. But on the second, the 16 square meters they gave me were littered with the remains of the old house: pieces of the foundation, old boards, and other debris. I spent the whole day clearing it all away. The foundation stones are very heavy, and I was only able to drag them a little and arrange them around the perimeter. Thursday, April 23 View Page The weather hasn't been kind to us this year. It's been +5 to +10°C during the day and 0 to +3°C at night. Right now and to the end of April. So I dug two holes where I'll lay the heating cable. Meanwhile, the pumpkins are already growing: 2136.3 Chusov 2025 - a Russian record and 1112 Timiryanov 2025 - the most beautiful russian pumpkin of 2025. If we had a Howard Dill Award, this pumpkin would definitely win. Tuesday, April 28 View Page I planted my pumpkins in the garden on April 28th. The weather was terrible. It snowed 20 cm, and the snow broke my greenhouses. But I fixed them and planted the pumpkins, since they were already very large. Thursday, May 7 View Page In May, the weather improved, and the pumpkins began to grow well. The main vine is already over 2 meters long. The photo shows a pumpkin grown from seeds 2136.3 Chusov 2025 Monday, May 18 View Page and another pumpkin - 1112 Timiryanov 2025 - grows on 14 square meters and is participating in a competition 150 square foot challenge Monday, May 18 View Page I love it when pumpkins have their own agro-amulet. My pumpkin last year had a plaster skull next to it. This year, of course, it will also be guarding the pumpkins. But next to the pumpkin, there will also be this wonderful bass guitar (which, by the way, I found in the trash:D), as a symbol of heavy music. After all, I want my pumpkin to grow heavy. Sunday, June 21 View Page Summer has begun. Our weather is changeable: sometimes it's +30�C, sometimes it rains and gets colder at +8�C. The pumpkins grow, and I've already pollinated four female flowers: two per plant. Now I have dap 20 of 1112 and dap 16 of 969. The 969 is growing without any problems overall. But the 1112 has started to produce shriveled leaves. I'm sure it's not overfeeding. My readings are at 300 ppm, but the pH is 5. And that was probably the problem: acidic soil = nutrient imbalance. Then I added 150 liters of chalk solution. 7.5 kg per 150 liters of water. It seems to have helped. The deformed leaves have stopped appearing. Today I removed the spare pumpkin on 1112. The main one is growing well.