Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 55 Entries. Thursday, January 1 View Page Happy New Year everyone, grow 'em bigger than ever this season! Friday, June 5 View Page Cover crop coming nicely... Saturday, June 6 View Page Night or day, man gotta do what man gotta do... Sunday, June 7 View Page Done! Sunday, June 7 View Page Giant tomatoes growing okay too, no complains :) Monday, June 22 View Page Plants from front to back: 2323 Meier, 1765 Howell/Jolivette, 2008 Edwards, 1916 Barron. One watermelon plant in the hoop on right, first patch of seeds didn't sprout, got plant from Martins (which kinda died...) and finally got one seed to germ (203 Zuerner), guess if the plant is still pretty small, lol. Bad luck with LG seeds too but got more seeds from Martins, thanks again! Sunday, June 28 View Page All plants have sets now, putting sand under the 2nd one, 1916 x 2008, at day 10. Sunday, June 28 View Page 1916 x 2008 @ day 10. Sunday, June 28 View Page 1916 x 2008 @ day 10. Sunday, June 28 View Page 1916 x 2008 @ day 10. Sunday, June 28 View Page All 18 giant tomato plants are blooming now, some of them having weirdo flowers, awesome! Monday, June 29 View Page Growing nicely, only one week makes a difference already :) Saturday, July 11 View Page Whole family working :) Saara burying the vines with me while Joe is at work :) She is doing great job! Saturday, July 11 View Page Gotta admit, she is lot faster with burying than me and Joe, lol. Sunday, July 12 View Page 2323 Meier x 2008, pollinated 06/17, 5 lobes, 9 ft out. Sunday, July 12 View Page Sideview, 2323 Meier x 2008, pollinated 06/17, 5 lobes, 9 ft out. Sunday, July 12 View Page 1756 Toni&Rick x 1916 Barron, pollinated 06/22, 5 lobes, 16ft out. Sunday, July 12 View Page 1756 Toni&Rick Jolivett, sideview. Sunday, July 12 View Page 1756 Toni&Rick Jolivett, frontview. Sunday, July 12 View Page 2008 x 1916, pollinated 06/26 (2nd pollination), 5 lobes, 16 ft out. Sunday, July 12 View Page 2008 sideview. Sunday, July 12 View Page 1916 x 2008, pollinated 06/18, 5 1/2 lobes, 11ft out. Sunday, July 12 View Page 1916 x 2008, pollinated 06/18, 5 1/2 lobes, 11ft out. Topview. Sunday, July 12 View Page Culling some giant tomatoes that are not the keepers... Sunday, July 12 View Page One of the keepers so far... we try to narrow out 2 tomatoes / plant. This year I have 2-4 tips on each plant. All suckers are cut out, also at this point started to cut lowest leaves (that touch the ground) off. All plants are having sets on them. ALso cut some tips off from tomato plants now. Sunday, July 12 View Page WR 8.41, couple promising looking fruits on this one! Sunday, July 12 View Page WR 8.41, couple promising looking fruits on this one! Sunday, July 12 View Page WR 8.41, couple promising looking fruits on this one! Sunday, July 12 View Page WR 8.41, couple promising looking fruits on this one! GPC finally clarified the giant tomato weigh off rules, the fruit itself needs to be attached. This mean, even with just one stem on one looking fruit, the fruit itself needs to be attached, not "separate" fruits on one stem. If there are questions at the weigh off that the fruit might be 2 separate fruits, it should be cut open to be sure, is what I understood. Wednesday, July 22 View Page 2323 Meier @ day 35, lost blossom end 3 days ago to rot. EST only around 400 pounds. Wednesday, July 22 View Page 1756 Howell @ day 30, EST 400 lbs. Sunday, July 26 View Page 2008 Edwards @ day 30, our favorite one so far this season. We measure first time when the pumpkins are 30 days old, so don't know daily gains for this one yet. This one is tucking the blossom end in now too... Sunday, July 26 View Page Some of the tomato culls, doing my best to narrow down to 1-2 keepers per plant. All tips, extra growth and flowers are mostly whacked off from tomato plants now. Also the lower leaves are trimmed off from all plants. Monday, July 27 View Page Small bad spot/crack on stem of the 2323 Meier. Cleaned it and put sulfur powder, it should heal ok if it don't get wet. Monday, July 27 View Page All good to go again. Monday, July 27 View Page But, this isn't something you want to see when you go and measure your pumpkin. 1756 Howell @ day 35, EST 600 lbs, gaining about 40 lb/day now. Split goes all the way through the stem and inside the pumpkin (not into the cavity), couple inches deep. Monday, July 27 View Page Joe cut the split longer to relief the pressure, fingers crossed and prayers said! Monday, July 27 View Page From below... Monday, July 27 View Page Inside the split... Monday, July 27 View Page I think this summer is our summer of sulfur powder :D Monday, July 27 View Page Then we add the fan and everything we can do is done. Hopefully we don't get rain soon, luckily (or unluckily), I just watered the plants yesterday... Monday, July 27 View Page If we were not growing the pumpkins, we would have missed so many beautiful sunsets! Tuesday, July 28 View Page Our 1916 Barron @ day 40 and only 449 EST. I totally agree with Joe when he says this fruit is totally turd... Plant is the biggest we have and still growing well and the pumpkin is little s... Tuesday, July 28 View Page Another view of 1916 Barron @ day 40, eating its blossom end. 3 out of 4 our pumpkins are growing over their blossom ends, just great. The one that is not, don't even have blossom end anymore, lol. Tuesday, July 28 View Page Blossom end of 1916 Barron @ day 40. Tuesday, July 28 View Page Blossom end, without the blossom, on our 2323. Lost the blossom to rot 07/19. It's pretty much healed but growing inwards now, we don't really expect it to hold... Tuesday, July 28 View Page Our 2323 Meier, not doing too well either, wicked shape and no blossom end... Tuesday, July 28 View Page Always some smaller or bigger setbacks when growing giants but the yard sure looks nice :) Lost the one and only watermelon on my only giant watermelon plant today (stem was snapped off, no idea how). Was only 3 days old but the first female on plant and also last one for me, too late and no other females on sight... Tuesday, July 28 View Page 8.41 growing ok. I guess :D Tuesday, August 11 View Page 1756 Howell / Jolivette. Tuesday, August 11 View Page Split of 1756 finally healed and not getting bigger. Fingers crossed and prayers said... Sunday, August 16 View Page Was just a matter of time for this to happen, it still sucks though... lost 2323 at day 60, EST 1065 lbs. Was still doing around 30 a day. After losing the blossom end, spot just didn't hold... We also pulled off the 1916 Barron. Pumpkin never really took off and finally stopped growing totally. No holes into the cavity but for unknown reason started to rot from inside the flesh. Plant was growing like crazy, wish the pumpkin did too... Sunday, August 16 View Page Last side view of 2323. Sunday, August 16 View Page Stem side of the 2323. Sunday, August 16 View Page Nice sets on most of the giant tomatoes. We have 18 plants this year. Pulled the fruit on 8.41, it separated into two different fruits when it grew bigger. The other 8.41 has ok set on it so far...