Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 130 Entries. Saturday, April 15 View Page Here is the line up for this year as long as every seed cooperates. Best of luck to everyone and grow em big and orange!!!!   Saturday, April 15 View Page In northern VT if you wants grow then you must glow. Soil heating cables and 250 watt infra red lights ready to go. Soil is at 52 degrees. We have 2 weeks to get the soil warmed up and dry.   Sunday, April 30 View Page It is a cold cloudy start to the season but the soil cables have helped inside the hoops. Here is the 1059 Vincent McGill.   Sunday, April 30 View Page The 1297.5 Young against the 907 Young.   Sunday, April 30 View Page 777 Young.   Sunday, April 30 View Page 1297.5 Young's competing against each other.   Sunday, May 7 View Page Well May certainly has let most gardeners down around here. We have had just over 10 inches of rain this past week and below normal temps. The next 3 mornings are predicted to be in the low 30's.   Sunday, May 7 View Page Old patch view. The good news is that 7 out of 8 plants are still alive. The bad news is we lost the 1059 Vincent McGill.   Sunday, May 7 View Page Here is the 907 Young that we planted next to 1059. The 907 is a 1059 self with 1 Howard Dill winner to her progeny so far.   Sunday, May 7 View Page This hoop has 907 Young vs 1297 Young. I may actually keep this second 907 as I really want to get 907 into 1297 and we have others planted.   Sunday, May 7 View Page 777 Young (993 Vincent McGill x 1059 Vincent McGill) is looking good so far. We are planning on selfing this as there are not many still around.   Sunday, May 7 View Page 1297 Young times two. So far this has been our most aggressive seed. Time will tell.   Sunday, May 14 View Page It has been a mostly cloudy and cold week with 4 mornings in the low to mid 30's. We are just happy the plants are still alive. Warmer weather predicted for next week. Let's hope for growth. 907 Young.   Sunday, May 14 View Page Second 907 Young with 1297 Young next to it.   Sunday, May 14 View Page 777 Young is starting to show a bit of growth.   Sunday, May 14 View Page Competing 1297 Young's. Both seem to be happy so far.   Sunday, May 21 View Page 1297.5 Young vs 907 Young. We will be choosing in a couple of weeks.   Sunday, May 21 View Page 907 Young is the keeper in this hoop. (1059 x self)   Sunday, May 21 View Page 777 Young is our slowest so far but looks healthy.   Sunday, May 21 View Page Twin 1297.5's. This will be a tough decision on which one to keep.   Sunday, June 4 View Page It has been a rough spring with colder and wetter then normal. Not impossible to grow but during the work week you have to guess how open your hoops should be. I tend to keep it cooler as it will slow growth but won't cook them. Here is the old patch.   Sunday, June 4 View Page The new patch gets a bit more sun and drains better but still well behind last year. We put more amendments in: 50 pounds of cal nitrate, 50 pounds kelp meal and 75 pounds 0-0-50 as well as 10 cubic feet of perlite.   Sunday, June 4 View Page Finally planted long gourds today. 137.5 Ansems.   Sunday, June 4 View Page 1297 Young old patch. Slow growing but looks healthy. A little over 3 feet long today.   Sunday, June 4 View Page 907 Young (1059 x self) 3.5 feet long today.   Sunday, June 4 View Page 139 Ansems.   Sunday, June 4 View Page 777 Young. Definitely the runt but I really want to self it. 2 feet long today.   Sunday, June 4 View Page Giant tomatoes are in the ground. (2) 5.44 Young, (2) 6.23 Konieczny, 3.22 Marley and a 5.61 Konieczny.   Sunday, June 4 View Page New patch 1297 Young growing in same spot as momma. 4 feet long today.   Sunday, June 11 View Page We are finally warming up a bit and starting to dry out. Plants are smaller then past years but healthy so far. Saw cute beetles on 6/9 and sprayed.   Sunday, June 11 View Page New patch drys out faster then old and also gets more sun.   Sunday, June 11 View Page Here is the 137 Ansems. Kind of back pedaling but fine overall.   Sunday, June 11 View Page Here is the old patch 1297.5 Young doing ok around 5.5 feet and starting to produce secondaries.   Sunday, June 11 View Page 907 Young is growing well and is around 5.5 feet.   Sunday, June 11 View Page 139 Ansems seems to be happy and should start climbing soon.   Sunday, June 11 View Page The 777 Young is our slow growing patience pusher this year and is about 3.5 feet. I will keep her chugging as I really want a selfed seed.   Sunday, June 11 View Page New patch 1297.5 Young is our leader so far at 6 feet and secondaries just showing up.   Sunday, June 11 View Page Tomatoes are doing well. First mega blooms on the 6.23 Konieczny at 15" and the 5.61 Konieczny at 13".   Sunday, June 18 View Page The weather has warmed up and the plants are starting to show signs of growth. Bad storms predicted in next 24 hours with high winds and hail.   Sunday, June 18 View Page Old patch is out performing new patch currently but lots of season left.   Sunday, June 18 View Page 137.5 Ansems is getting ready to vine. You can just start to see the tendril curls.   Sunday, June 18 View Page 1297.5 Young in old patch is in the lead so far and is just shy of 9 feet long.   Sunday, June 18 View Page 907 Young is doing well at 8.5 feet with it's first baby at 8 feet.   Sunday, June 18 View Page 139 Ansems is starting to look at the trellis.   Sunday, June 18 View Page 777 Young is just starting to show ok growth and is 6 feet long tonight.   Sunday, June 18 View Page 1297.5 Young new patch is just starting to throw secondaries and is around 8.5 feet long.   Sunday, June 18 View Page Tomatoes are starting to thicken up nicely.   Sunday, June 18 View Page We have hail nets up just in case. These are 12x12 on old patch.   Sunday, June 18 View Page One big hail net on new patch which covers 40x20.   Sunday, June 25 View Page This has been a challenging week in a challenging year for our little patch. We received just shy of 7 inches of rain in the past 6 days. View of old patch.   Sunday, June 25 View Page Friday 6/23 was the worst with 3.75 inches of rain primarily in one 45 minute storm. Saturday we could not step near the patch as it had standing water. By Sunday morning we were able to work in it albeit still being saturated.   Sunday, June 25 View Page Long gourds took a brunt of the wind but are still alive. Here is the 137.5 Ansems.   Sunday, June 25 View Page Here is the 1297 Young old patch and is just under 13 feet with first females just showing.   Sunday, June 25 View Page 907 Young is at 11.5 feet with two females near the growing tip.   Sunday, June 25 View Page The 139 Ansem got real beat up but is close to finding trellis.   Sunday, June 25 View Page The 777 is just starting to get rolling with secondaries just starting and is just shy of 10 feet.   Sunday, June 25 View Page The 1297 Young in the new patch is starting to throw good secondaries and is 12 feet long with a baby at 10 feet and one in the bud.   Sunday, June 25 View Page Tomatoes are starting to get bigger. No big mega blooms so far.   Wednesday, July 12 View Page More pictures and patch pictures this weekend. Our patch got fully saturated and this aborted all pumpkins and stopped vine growth. We are just starting to pollinate but only have one confirmed. Tomatoes are doing fine. Here is a nice mega bloom on our 5.44 Young.   Wednesday, July 12 View Page Here is a nice big mega bloom on the 5.44 Young that appears to be fully fused. Time will tell.   Sunday, July 16 View Page We haven't posted in 3 weeks as our patch got saturated and all growth stopped. The new patch is recovering the slowest as it is more silty then the old. Old patch view.   Sunday, July 16 View Page New patch view.   Sunday, July 16 View Page 137 Ansems was sitting in water and is starting to grow again but unfortunately it has a fungus that might end up killing the plant. In the past we have saved plants with applications of liquid copper and are starting that now.   Sunday, July 16 View Page Here is the 1297 Young old patch. Every year my wife names our pumpkins and this year the theme is WestWorld which is a popular show on HBO. This girl named Armistice is 5 lobes 1297 Young x 907 Young at 18 feet and is 4 days old.   Sunday, July 16 View Page Here is Clementine 907 Young x 1297 Young at 18 feet and 2 days old. Clementine has 5 lobes.   Sunday, July 16 View Page Here is the 139 Ansems growing a bit faster but still not happy.   Sunday, July 16 View Page Here is an example of the fungus on the 137 Ansems.   Sunday, July 16 View Page Here is Maeve 777 Young x self. She is 7 feet down the main and on a secondary. The main snapped in a storm and most of her secondaries are still not growing.   Sunday, July 16 View Page And lastly please meet Dolores 1297 Young x 907 Young. She is at 15 feet and is 5 lobes. Today is day 10 with a 24" cc.   Sunday, July 16 View Page Here is the tomato cave. All 6 have tomatoes going with a couple of nice mega blooms.   Saturday, July 22 View Page Had a great patch tour at Thoff's. Thanks Tony. Grow em big and orange!   Saturday, July 22 View Page This is a cool rafting river near his house.   Wednesday, July 26 View Page Kerry and I just got home from a fun long weekend in Saratoga Springs NY. We met up with thoff and then hit the ponies for a couple days.   Wednesday, July 26 View Page Tuesday night we took in a Chicago/Doobie Brothers concert at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Here is a pic of the Doobie Brothers performing.   Wednesday, July 26 View Page This is the 777 Young x self. This plant is still recovering from major flooding. We are going to allow a few pumpkins on this plant as the plant is still week and small.   Wednesday, July 26 View Page Here is the 907 Young. Just 12 days old but is nice and shiny still.   Wednesday, July 26 View Page Here is 1297 old patch and is looking like she will have good color.   Wednesday, July 26 View Page Here is Dolores (named from westworld hbo) She is 20 days old today with a cc of 67 inches. We are just happy to have a chance to get a couple of pumpkins mature this year with all of the horrible weather and cold temps.   Sunday, July 30 View Page The band Kansas rocked Portland Maine. They sounded like 1970's still. The original lead guitar player was in top form and the new lead vocal was spot on. Carry on my wayward son!   Sunday, August 6 View Page This has not been the worst growing weather year in our 21 years of growing but is probably in the top 5 worst. We just get dried out and yesterday we got 3.08 inches of rain with a hail topping. Persevere is the motto this year!   Sunday, August 6 View Page The newer patch has taken the brunt as the soil isn't the same as old patch. The soil got saturated to muck and then we got mid 80's and sun for 2 days. Stopped all growth and aborted babies to stay alive.   Sunday, August 6 View Page Here is the 1297 Young in the old patch and has a cc of 95.5 at 25 days. Not as white as the photo but lighter then the one in the new patch.   Sunday, August 6 View Page Here is the 907 Young which is starting out gorgeous. She has a cc of 67 inches at 23 days.   Sunday, August 6 View Page Our 777 main vine broke all secondaries terminated so we are just letting her go and will grow a few porch pumpkins on her.   Sunday, August 6 View Page This is the 1297 Young in the new patch. We are slowly getting some new vine growth to start but it may be too late. She had a cc of 109 at day 31.   Sunday, August 6 View Page Giant tomatoes might be our only decent showing as the greenhouse has saved them. All fruit are young with a couple older ones with 17 inch cc's.   Sunday, August 6 View Page Unfortunately the long gourds have faced the same wet cold weather as the pumpkins. Both plants have just made it over the 14.5 foot trellis and now we will start looking for pollinations but will need a frost free September to grow anything.   Sunday, August 20 View Page I haven't done a diary update in awhile but even though we have had a challenging pumpkin year with flooding we have found other things to do. Last week we were in NH to see Don Felder from the Eagles, REO Speedwagon and Styx.It was a great show!   Sunday, August 20 View Page Ok now to the pumpkins. This older patch has done better due to the soil holding up to the flooding and is at least full of leaves.   Sunday, August 20 View Page The new patch has been the bigger challenge but is coming back.   Sunday, August 20 View Page Here is our pumpkin named Armistice from WestWorld (1297.5 Young x 907 Young) She is 38 days old and has an ott of 298". Probably our best grower but........   Sunday, August 20 View Page She does have a stem split. We caught it the first day, lengthened the split towards the vine. Applied sulfur powder inside and out as well as a fan 24-7. Stem Splits Happen! If you catch them early and treat them the pumpkin has a good chance to maturity.   Sunday, August 20 View Page Here is pretty Clementine from WestWorld (907 Young x 1297 Young) She is 36 days old today and has an ott of 247". She sure could be a looker if I can get enough days of growth on her.   Sunday, August 20 View Page Here are Maeve and baby Maeve from WestWorld. (777 Young x self). The main vine snapped at 8 feet so we decided to grow a couple on her. Older one is 39 days old and 230".   Sunday, August 20 View Page Here is Dolores from WestWorld (1297 Young x 907 Young) She is starting to get some color but has a dent. Her plant was under water for a good period of time which probably didn't help her shape. She is 45 days old today and is at 302 for an ott.   Sunday, August 20 View Page We are growing giant cucumbers again this year and this is our biggest so far.   Sunday, August 20 View Page Giant tomatoes are starting to swell. Here is a 20" on our 5.44 Young plant.   Friday, August 25 View Page We had visitors at our local fair. Far left me, Jim Bryson. Center Michelle who is the fair garden center superintendent. Far right Frank Barber and Harley Sproule. Three great growers and even better men. It was a pleasure meeting you all.   Monday, September 4 View Page Has anyone had decapitated sunflower heads at 10 feet before?   Monday, September 4 View Page All of these looked to be pruned off clean and I know it is not from a human? Squirrel, Bird, patch camel?????   Monday, September 4 View Page Our weather has been so diverse day by day but overall cool and wet with a couple of frost close calls. Here is the new patch overview.   Monday, September 4 View Page Both pumpkins in old patch have stem splits. One is dry so fan and sulfur over to the other.   Monday, September 4 View Page Here is Armistice 1297.5 Young x 907 Young. She is wide and low and measures 337 for ott.   Monday, September 4 View Page Pretty Clementine (907 Young x 1297 Young). She is only 50 days old and has a 287 ott.   Monday, September 4 View Page Here is Clementine's stem split. Color is good though!   Monday, September 4 View Page Here are the 777 girls, Maeve and baby Maeve. They are 264 and 220 ott. I am hoping to bring baby Maeve to my fathers assisted living facility.   Monday, September 4 View Page Here is Dolores (1297 Young x 907 Young) She is 60 days old today and has an ott of 337 inches.   Monday, September 4 View Page Giant cukes are starting to swell.   Monday, September 4 View Page Here is a fatty on the 5.44 Young. Cc of 22 5/8.   Monday, September 4 View Page Here is a young tomato on the 5.61 Konieczny. Lower one is 21 cc and top one is 20 for a cc.   Tuesday, September 12 View Page Picked our second giant tomato tonight off from our 5.44 Young. Looks beefy.   Tuesday, September 12 View Page But seemed to go light at 4.40 pounds. A few more still growing and am hoping they will weigh a little better.   Wednesday, September 13 View Page Rest In Peace Clementine (907 Young x 1297 Young) Now 560 Young 2017 est dmg. Unfortunately we were able to push grass into the cavity through the stem split. She was a symmetrical beauty and reddish orange. Will seed this weekend.   Saturday, September 16 View Page For all of you who knows what this feels like! Lots of seeds though 907 Young (1059 Vincent McGill x self) X 1297 Young (1912 Carter x 1000 Gansert). We will probably give this a roll next year. Dark red orange.   Saturday, September 16 View Page When ever I start to take this hobby too seriously and get bummed out by all the issues that can happen I sit back with a beer and listen to this http://budlight.whipnet.com/mp3/pumpkin.mp3   Monday, September 18 View Page Weighed a tomato from the 5.61 Konieczny yesterday on our vintage baby scale. Now the 3lb 5oz Young 2017. Not official of course but was spot on with the store scale we used which was certified on the 4.40 Young earlier this year and also makes a cool picture!   Monday, September 18 View Page Dolores (1297 Young x 907 Young) is splitting and sapping all over with this crazy 80 degree weather. Fingers crossed she will hold together.   Monday, September 18 View Page Tall sunflowers picked and ready to be seeded.   Monday, September 18 View Page There are 550 pumpkins in this barn that will be carved by Dick and Ann Squires for their Halloween display.   Sunday, September 24 View Page Season is closing out and just have new patch pumpkins still growing. Here are the 777 Young sisters.   Sunday, September 24 View Page Here is the 1297 Young enjoying our 87 degree afternoon. We only got this warm a handful of times all summer. Crazy weather.   Sunday, September 24 View Page Our pumpkin named Armistice was weighed yesterday at the Vermont weigh off and is now the 916 Young 2017 (1297.5 Young x 907 Young). She stands 51 inches tall and will be a great carver if she lasts until Halloween.   Friday, September 29 View Page Packed up with a couple of little ones for Maine. Looking forward to our first Maine weigh off.   Saturday, October 7 View Page Our season ended with our 910 Young 2017 at Frerich's Farm Stand. We had a great time with all of our friends in southern New England!   Sunday, October 15 View Page We brought our 777 Young x open to my Dads assisted living facility. Our son Andrew helped and is in picture.   Sunday, October 15 View Page I want to thank Gene LaRiviere, Steve Connolly, Ken Desrosiers and especially Peter Rondeau who helped convince my wife we needed to grow bushel gourds! So out came the tiller and 500 square feet was added to the new patch which is now 2200 square feet. Thanks guys you are a “big” help!   Wednesday, November 22 View Page Our son Parker playing on our new toy in the garden. We went with a John Deere 1025r as it should be big enough for all of our needs except for lifting pumpkins.   Wednesday, November 22 View Page We added a subsoiler attachment and ran that through last night. The lights on the tractor made evening work easy.   Wednesday, November 22 View Page This is what the subsoiler looks like.   Wednesday, November 22 View Page Subsoiler is roughly 2 feet long if you add the bottom boot. We figured it went down 15-18 inches and will hopefully improve our drainage.