Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 145 Entries. Sunday, January 5 View Page We skipped steam sterilising last year so this year we are going to try and get all eight patches done again. This might be the last time as we may be heating with hot water rather than steam next year.   Sunday, January 19 View Page Can you guess what it is yet?   Sunday, January 26 View Page The "Cut and Shut" has started   Wednesday, February 5 View Page In our spare time we’ve been pimping up the company’s “Hot Hatch”. She was new in about 1957 and our dad brought her in around 1959.   Thursday, February 6 View Page More cutting, welding and grinding.   Monday, February 10 View Page Stuart gets grinding   Wednesday, February 12 View Page I got some more welding done today and she is going to be a beast.   Tuesday, February 25 View Page I just got back from Orlando and I have to say it was fantastic. Wiz and I had a couple of days fishing.   Tuesday, February 25 View Page He told me he went easy on me   Tuesday, February 25 View Page One thing for sure. The Pelicans ate well!   Tuesday, February 25 View Page Tim picks up the title   Tuesday, February 25 View Page Wizzy showed his feminine side.   Tuesday, February 25 View Page "Mr Majestyk" AKA Gary Miller with his 350lb water melon or was that 3.5lb   Tuesday, February 25 View Page And saving the best till last our very own XPG weigh off was most improved GPC site of the year. That's a huge slap on the back for all our growers.   Tuesday, February 25 View Page Stuart's and my line up will be 4 x 2009 2 x 1634 1 x 1789 Our back up seeds will be a mixture of 2032 Mathison 1894 Mathison 1874.5 Mathison 1985 Miller 1813 Northrup 1746 Lancaster.   Wednesday, March 5 View Page The thing is begining to take shape and the last diary entry should have read 2x1623   Tuesday, April 1 View Page At last they are all in.   Wednesday, April 2 View Page I had to get some help in to do some metal cutting with gas but it was real quick and I can now get on with the project.   Saturday, April 5 View Page Right, in go the start of all the good bacteria. The large bottle is a worm cast tea which has been made from worm casts of several species of worm so that it is as diverse as possible. I really like this idea and can’t wait to see the results.   Saturday, April 5 View Page I was talking to Clive Pearson who put together the XL Pro Bio products and just loved his enthusiasm, just what you need and so much better than just a salesman. We will get the rye grass and RTI myco sown on Monday.   Friday, April 11 View Page Well they are all planted and I just mixed up the back up plants and took one without looking at the labels. So now we have a 2009 with a 2032 as a back up.   Friday, April 11 View Page All tucked up for the night   Sunday, April 20 View Page It's a bit patchy but the Rye grass is growing   Sunday, April 20 View Page I can't remember which ones these are but all the pumpkins look fine   Friday, April 25 View Page We selected our final 7 plants and it was not a very enjoyable moment pulling out plants that some growers would die for. Can I just thank Woody, Bill, Dawn and Tim for their seeds that didn’t make it; at least they didn’t spend their life gathering dust in a seed collection. We are now left with 4 x 2009 Wallace’s 2 x 1623 Wallace’s 1 x 1985 Miller This is the 1985   Friday, April 25 View Page I had a fantastic day fishing with my buddy Steve yesterday; great food wine and company. This has to be my best carp ever and a very wise old girl. She was living under some low bushes and trees and where no one else ever fishes. 27lbs.What a darling.   Friday, April 25 View Page Stuart was looking for some Mycorrhizae that we could put on thro our watering system and he found a company called “Dutch Garden Supplies”. They kindly sent us a selection of products to look at we really like the look of “Plant-Success Soluble”. As well as Myco it has 19 bacterial species and two species of Trichoderma which is a bonus. At the moment every time we water is a chance to add a compost tea and or a product like this.   Friday, April 25 View Page And here are the products.   Thursday, May 1 View Page This is the 1985 looking superb and our biggest plant at the moment. That said the 2009’s are going to be a real handful to tame like last year and all the other plants look great.   Sunday, May 4 View Page All the plants have lovely thick stems and this 1623 is motoring.   Monday, May 5 View Page The 1985 is getting more than her fair share of the diary right now but she is growing super fast. On 1st May she was just a small plant and now I think we will be taking the hoop house down tomorrow. Our Potassium levels are back down this year and we are defiantly seeing less yellowing which is probably down to the luxury uptake thing between Potassium and Magnesium. A couple of days after cutting the grass we noticed the CO2 levels rising. It’s only up about 40ppm but that’s still around 10%.   Thursday, May 8 View Page All the grass got tilled in today and four of the hoop houses have been taken down. All the plants are in great shape. This is one of the 2009's   Thursday, May 8 View Page I would just love to see these grass roots under a microscope.   Saturday, May 10 View Page The winter project is coming along but it is a lot of work. I really hoped that they would be finished by now but as usual a fairly simple project evolved and will now look like a work of art. The next entry should give the game away as to what it is   Saturday, May 10 View Page Yes it’s a BBQ; well more of a MAN- B-Q. It is actually going to be a full on reverse flow Pit smoker and I’m looking forward to putting the first piece of brisket in.   Saturday, May 10 View Page And one more photo.   Saturday, May 10 View Page All the covers are off and were very happy.   Sunday, May 18 View Page I had a couple of long days fishing last week and as there was no one to take a photo of the fish here is one of my rods ready for action.   Monday, May 19 View Page All of the plants are still looking great and this is the 2009 in the annex.   Friday, May 23 View Page After last year’s problem with overwatering we now have a separate pump and a load of old water butts. We now know exactly how much water our plants are getting along with being able to apply tiny amounts of amendments. We started taking our regular two weekly soil and leaf samples today and are still piling in all the good stuff   Saturday, May 24 View Page We have changed the whole of the watering system this year and have drip hose that is very accurate. The only problem we have at the moment is that the filters are very fine and it is struggling with compost tea so that is going on by hand.   Saturday, May 24 View Page We have also gone back to our original way of burying the vines with fresh peat. Dropping the vine into a trench and covering was just leaving the plants in danger of rotting. We feel that all we really need to do is encourage the root out of the vine and then the peat can be washed off if need be.   Saturday, May 24 View Page It’s well worth looking back just fourteen days ago in my diary to see the vast amount of growth.   Saturday, May 24 View Page This is the 1985.   Saturday, May 24 View Page I know quite a few other growers are following this plant in my diary to see how theirs compare so here is a photo of the first 1985 fruit we will pollinate. It’s certainly looking like it will be a very long pumpkin. Because our patch is not as wide as we would like I prefer the pumpkins to be at least 13ft out. We have not seen any pumpkins on the main vine of one of the 1623’s so are just going to keep our fingers crossed.   Wednesday, May 28 View Page I don’t normally bother putting photos of pumpkins being pollinated but I’m off on holiday for a couple of weeks and our first two pollinations are to die for. The 1985 got pollinated with the very vigorous 2009 at the far end of the Twin span. 1985 was actually when my son was born so perhaps it’s a good omen. This 2009 in the West dock got sibbed with the also very vigorous 2009 in the middle of the twin span. I only had one flower to work with but it should be fine.   Wednesday, May 28 View Page I just like this photo   Friday, May 30 View Page Micheál has been staying with us doing some work experience and I have to say this is the future of our hobby. You couldn’t meet a nicer young lad (don’t tell him I said that) and he is already asking searching questions about how growing giants can move forward.   Friday, May 30 View Page I always like to see root's growing out of the top of nodes.   Friday, May 30 View Page Along with all the good stuff we’ve been putting on we gave all the patches a light Calcium nitrate. I would certainly put this as a top tonic for most plants and you will see the difference very quickly even after a couple of days. Your plants will look fresher and have a bit of attitude about them. In the commercial world we often use it so I’m surprised how few growers use it.   Saturday, May 31 View Page Stuart had last week on holiday and I’m away for the next two weeks so the patch will look very different the next time you and I see it. We got the first soil and leaf samples back and on the whole they look very promising. The only thing we need to add for this patch is some Manganese and Sulphur. It’s not the finest photo but it is a very fine plant. (2009 in West dock)   Saturday, June 14 View Page Well I just got back from holiday and I must say as usual I have been itching to see our patch. Luckily for me I have Stuart to look after the plants and fill me in each day on the phone. I was not disappointed – the plants look absolutely stunning. Great big fat main vines and the leaves look ridiculously green. He’s been struggling to keep up with the day to day work so it’s my turn to muck in and I can’t wait. This is the six plants in the twin span with the covers over the young leaves to protect them.   Saturday, June 14 View Page This is the 2009 in the anex and Stuart has set her up ready for her final possition. We just have to move her a little every day now to get her perfect.   Saturday, June 14 View Page This is a close up of the 2009 at a guess she is about 16days old and a great shape. Although in the picture it is not easy to see Stuart has carefully lifted the root at the back of the plant and re potted it so to speak. We are cutting the bottom of 5L pots, turning them upside down, filling them up again with peat and replanting the roots. This means that we have a little more adjustment in the coming weeks to position the pumpkin but we will hopefully be able to keep a water and food source right next to the fruit.   Saturday, June 14 View Page Stuart got us 7 new 55gall water butts last week, one for each plant. Were up to around 30gall a day but that will be a lot less than last year. We have a hose to each plant and bags of peat ready for vine duty.   Saturday, June 14 View Page This is the 1985 still looking nice and long.   Saturday, June 14 View Page If looking after the pumpkins is not enough to do we are finally starting to build our new nursery. It’s taken 14 or 15 years to get planning for both sites and I won’t bore you with the details but I will keep you up to date with the 2016 GPC Big show awards venue.   Monday, June 16 View Page I worked out that these seven plants are taking at least 16hrs a week of work so no wonder he’s had his hands full. He noticed last week that some of the roots that come out of the top of the stem were not developing if the stem did not have enough compost on. So with that in mind we are now putting more compost on and watering it with a rose just to get the root to sprout. This is the 1985   Monday, June 16 View Page And this is our keeper and were very happy with her shape   Monday, June 16 View Page Although we still think there is a lot more room for improvement, we both do feel were getting there. We’ve been trying to work out this way of keeping the roots nearer to the fruit and it’s not as easy as it looks- anything is better than nothing. We’re lucky as we’ve had loads of experience and seen many big pumpkins but I was thinking about Rookie’s and how the hell do they even start to grow pumpkins. You know what; the GPC “Rookie of the year” award is one to be proud off. This is the back of the 1985   Tuesday, June 17 View Page This is the keeper on the 2009 in the middle of the Twinspan,not a bad shape and crossed with one of the 1623's. She's 16 days old today.   Wednesday, June 18 View Page Our photo of a keeper today is the 2009 at the front of the twin span and it was crossed with the 1985 14days ago.   Friday, June 20 View Page We saw this problem last year and put it down to overwatering. I think it is “Gummy stem blight” and have got some Prestop which is a naturally occurring fungus that controls it on order. I know from working on tomatoes it is not the easiest problem to control so if anyone has any experience I would welcome it.   Friday, June 20 View Page The photo of a keeper today is the 2009 at the end of the Twinspan which was sibbed with the 2009 in the Westdock. It's actualy very similar in shape with the other two in the twinspan being a little rounder and higher.   Friday, June 20 View Page After quite a few years of thinking I have worked out that this is the best way of keeping your leaves up and out of the way of the path.   Friday, June 20 View Page Before   Friday, June 20 View Page And after   Thursday, June 26 View Page Were waiting for the lab results to see if they can identify the rot problem but touch wood it’s not too much of a problem at the moment. (Famous last words and all that) We are giving all of the patches now 50 gall of water a day through the drip irrigation and an extra 30 gall watered on top a couple of times a week. Here’s me getting down and dirty.   Thursday, June 26 View Page The 2009 at the front of the Twin Span   Thursday, June 26 View Page Outstanding   Friday, June 27 View Page All our plants look better than usual for this time of year. This is the 1985   Friday, June 27 View Page And the pumpkin. We will probably get the tape out on Monday.   Saturday, June 28 View Page I wasn’t a big fan of the shape of this 1623 and was not surprised to see this today.   Saturday, June 28 View Page This is the other 1623 which was sibbed with the 1623 on the 16th June. At 12 days old it looks like it may have a more promising shape. Some of the other pumpkins continue to show great potential and the 2009 in the Annex is beginning to rock.   Monday, June 30 View Page The roots on the 1623 were fine and as soon as they were cut water started dripping out.   Monday, June 30 View Page The roots under the side vines are good but I do think there is room for improvement next year. Where we started to put more compost over the top of the nodes and water in we have much better roots. If you have spray lines perhaps there is no need to water in but with the drip tube you really do need to water in to help encourage the roots out. Anyway here's the good bit and if you can follow which 2009 is which your a better man than me. In the Anex the 2009 x Sib (2009 in the middle of the twin span)on day 32 is 368lbs   Monday, June 30 View Page The 2009 x 1985 just inside the door of the twin span on day 26 is 245lbs   Monday, June 30 View Page The 2009 x 1623 (not the one that split)in the middle of the twin span on day 30 is 262lbs   Monday, June 30 View Page The 2009 x 2009 (in the Anex)at the far end of the twin span on day 27 is 209lbs   Monday, June 30 View Page The 1985 X 2009 (in the Anex) on day 33 is 293lbs   Monday, June 30 View Page So here we go, the fun begins. Here is the 1623 which is a very nice shape - at the moment.   Wednesday, July 2 View Page We pulled the 1623 today and found some beautiful fibrous roots under the pumpkin board.   Wednesday, July 2 View Page Micheál dug a few roots up.   Monday, July 7 View Page On the whole were not too unhappy with the numbers for this week and all the plants look fine. The 2009 in the Annex on day 39 is 575lbs up 207lbs for the week. She does have some netting on her and we don’t think she will be the biggest in our patch this year. That said she is a great shape and will still be a very respectable size.   Monday, July 7 View Page All of the five pumpkins in the Twin span have no netting. This is the 2009 just inside the door and on day 33 is 442lbs up 197lbs for the week.   Monday, July 7 View Page I think the star this week has to be the 2009 in the middle of the house.On day 37 she is 500lbs up 238lbs for the week and is pure white.   Monday, July 7 View Page The last 2009 on day 34 is 386lbs up 177lbs for the week. Weve seen these slower growing pumpkins go heavy in the past so are not unhappy.   Monday, July 7 View Page The 1985 on day 40 is 514lbs up 221lbs for the week.   Monday, July 7 View Page On day 21 our 1623 is 138lbs   Monday, July 7 View Page So all in all a fairly ok week and our list for improvements next year as always continues to grow. Stuart has the levelling of the new nursery well in hand but it is a 7 day a week 14 hours a day job.   Saturday, July 12 View Page Our little 35 Massey got to play with the big boys today   Monday, July 14 View Page All nice and steady in the Paton patch this week and were fairly sure that we are on our way to giving our PB a good kicking. (About time) On Day 46 the 2009 in the prop house is 774lbs up 199lbs for the week.   Monday, July 14 View Page Just inside the door of the twin span the 2009 is 674lbs up 232lbs for the week with no netting.   Monday, July 14 View Page I think the Star of the week will have to be the 1623. On day 28 she is 360lbs up 222lbs for the week. Were not quite sure where that came from but “there you go then”   Monday, July 14 View Page The 1985 is the only one in the twin span to show some netting and is 720lbs up 216lbs this week.   Monday, July 14 View Page The 2009 in the middle of the twin span had a great week and on day 44 is 740lbs up 240lbs this week. I just love shape shifters and this could be one of the best. Pure white, outstanding   Monday, July 14 View Page The 2009 at the end of the twin span on day 41 is 600lbs up 214lbs for the week. It is a little slower than the others but that could be just down to thick walls. Cracking shape and no netting.   Monday, July 14 View Page Three 2009's in a row, who would'nt be happy with that?   Thursday, July 17 View Page I was trying to tease the stem up on the 2009 in the middle of the twin span on my own yesterday- small mistake. I managed to put a small crack in the main stem which yes I know happens but I’m very annoyed with myself. With no netting on the pumpkin she has huge potential so fingers crossed and I will not know until we tape for the next two Mondays what damage has been done.   Friday, July 18 View Page Here’s a photo that just about shows how soft the 2009 in the middle of the house is and on Monday she will hopefully be around the 1000lb mark   Friday, July 18 View Page The 2009 in the front of the Twin Span is equally as soft and needed some smart new covers.   Saturday, July 19 View Page I finaly got our leaf sample back.   Monday, July 21 View Page A nice steady week and if all goes OK we could have five over 1000lbs by this time next week. On day 53 the 2009 in the prop is 948lbs up 174lbs which is great but she is no longer the biggest in the patch.   Monday, July 21 View Page Just inside the door of the twin span the 2009 on day 47 is 881lbs up 207lbs this week.   Monday, July 21 View Page On day 51 the 2009 shape shifter is 979lbs up 239lbs for the week. She is now our biggest pumpkin in the patch and if any of our pumpkins give us a Pb this year I hope it’s this one.   Monday, July 21 View Page On day 48 the 2009 at the far end is 823lbs up 223lbs for the week.   Monday, July 21 View Page Day 54 and the 1895 is 925lbs up 205lbs this week and were happy with that.   Monday, July 21 View Page The 1623 on day 35 is 624lbs up 264lbs for the week. This is actually our biggest week ever so very happy. I can however see a more normal week coming up as she is quite high with an empty space under the front which will probably squidge down at some stage.   Saturday, July 26 View Page I thought I might just share a little of our growing information. This is the time we are all looking at the pumpkin and rightly so. However we don’t want to drop the ball and actually the plant is more important at this moment in time. First of all at the moment we are putting 50gall of water through the drip tubes every day. On top of that, as it’s been extremely hot we have been putting just a little water on, by hand underneath the plants leaves. First of all, where we are putting water on through drip tubes we tend to get little dry spots on the surface in between them, a little watering will just help those surface roots. Also it makes you have a good look underneath the canopy to see what’s going on.   Saturday, July 26 View Page Here is our soil sample from last week in the Twin span.We are getting them every two weeks and on the whole they look very good. The Calcium is being ripped out of the soil which is exactly what we want to see.   Saturday, July 26 View Page To give a full picture of what’s going on we are getting a leaf sample every two weeks as well and you can see why the Calcium stocks are going down.   Saturday, July 26 View Page On the whole were not too unhappy with all of our plants but there are some huge improvements to be made in the future. One in particular is that at the moment we can only cover the young leaves on hot days and we need to covering all of them but certainly don’t want to be covering them all day every day. The plant that shows this most of all is the 1623 which had very thin growth at the beginning at the year. This is showing now in the old leaves as they are getting backed in the sun. With few other leaves the poor plant has been suffering.   Saturday, July 26 View Page The 1985 is a beautiful plant.   Tuesday, July 29 View Page All of these figures are from yesterday but I got back late from work. Were fairly sure that the 2009 in the West dock started to net over early because it was getting stressed due to a very hot period when it was around 300lbs. The plant gets blasted from sun coming through the south side of the glass and although the watering was ok probably shading the whole plant would have made a big difference. All sorts of plants try to reproduce if they get under stress and good examples are Hellebores. We get young plants in spring and around now we have to pick off any “stress flowers”. These are just random flowers that the plant has made to try to reproduce. Not the best description but I’m sure you will get the idea. Anyway on day 60 she is 1057lbs up 109lbs for the week.   Tuesday, July 29 View Page The 2009 in the frount of the Twin span on day 54 is 1089lbs up 208lbs for the week and just a very small amount of netting   Tuesday, July 29 View Page The Shape shifter had another good week and on day 58 is 1203lbs up 224lbs for the week. She also has a tiny bit of netting.   Tuesday, July 29 View Page The 2009 at the end of the twin span on day55 is 1018lbs up 195lbs for the week and she thumps heavy I’m sure.   Tuesday, July 29 View Page The 1985 is not the prettiest pumpkin ever but will be a good banker if we lose any of the other pumpkins. On day 61 she is 1081lbs up 156lbs this week.   Tuesday, July 29 View Page The star in the patch is again the 1623. She is 100% living up to her name a being a fast grower and on day 42 is 888lbs up 264lbs for the second week running. That is the fastest we have ever seen a pumpkin grow two weeks on the trot in our patch and our conditions. She will be over 1000lbs this week and give us all 1000lbers.   Monday, August 4 View Page I’m not quite sure what to think this week as some of the weight gains were less than we expected. We’ve had a good old dig around to look at the roots and the roots at the front of the plants are much better than the ones at the back of the plants. We will be much better off in the new pumpkin house as the plants will be a lot wider giving us younger growth behind the pumpkin. That said at the moment we are thinking we have a way to go on our soil structure which is all very good news for the future. On day 67 the 2009 in the West dock is 1138lbs up 81lbs this week On day 61 the 2009 in the front of the Twin span is 1220lbs up 131lbs this week On day 65 the Shape shifter is 1364lbs up 161lbs this week On day 62 the 2009 at the end of the Twin span is 1098lbs up 80lbs this week On day 68 the 1985 is 1220lbs up 139lbs this week And on day 49 the 1623 is 1121lbs up 233lbs this week Realistically we are going to be giving our Pb a good kicking. This is the Shape shifter.   Tuesday, August 5 View Page Meet the new nursery. I think it’s taken about 14 years to get all of our planning sorted out but at last we are on the way. The best part is in the bottom left hand corner as it is our new PRD unit (Pumpkin, Research and Development). It’s going to have room for six 26ft x 31ft patches which are about 7ft wider than the patches we have now. Our patches are only 19ft wide at the moment and have always been too narrow. The patch will have automatic heating and shading and I can’t wait to start planting.   Sunday, August 10 View Page Oh Dear (The boys were showing some real concern)   Sunday, August 10 View Page The air con work much better now   Monday, August 11 View Page This morning on measurement day we found that the 2009 at the end of the Twin span had gone down with a soft area on the front end. (Est. 1129 Paton 2009x2009) The good news is that we still have five out of seven over 1000. On day74 the 2009 in the west dock is 1162lbs up 24lbs On day68 the 2009 in the front of the twin span is 1338lbs up 128lbs The shape shifter on day 72 is 1484lbs up 120lbs The 1985 on day 75 is 1313lbs up 93lbs And the 1623 on day 56 is 1296lbs up 175lbs. This is the stem of the 1129 Paton   Wednesday, August 20 View Page Two days late but on Monday we had On day 81 the 2009 in the prop was 1179lbs up 17lbs On day 75 the 2009 in the frount of the twinspan is 1398lbs up 60lbs for the week. On day 79 the Shape shifter is 1562lbs up 78lbs On day 82 the 1985 is 1347lbs up 34lbs And the 1623 on day 63 is 1415lbs up 119lbs for the week. I found a small hole about 1inch wide and I'm not sure how deep on the stem of the Shape shifter today so we have a fan on it and fingers crossed. Here's a nice load on Summerinas ready for market.   Monday, August 25 View Page Here we go then and we not to unhappy with a better week than last week but you know how difficult it can be to tap these beasts. The 2009 in the prop house is still 1179lbs but there is still some netting going on and she thumps like a rock. We won’t bother to tape her in the next few weeks.   Monday, August 25 View Page The 2009 in the front of the twin span on day 82 is 1502lbs up 104lbs. Again she thumps like a rock and could be a very heavy pumpkin.   Monday, August 25 View Page The 1985 is still plodding on and would make a very nice Chaise longue. On day 89 she is 1398lbs up 51lbs   Monday, August 25 View Page The shape shifter is still OK so finngers crossed and all that.On day 86 she is 1623lbs up 61lbs.   Monday, August 25 View Page The 1623 on day 70 is 1536lbs up 121 this week and still has plenty of growing left in her. I don't think she thumps particulary heavy but she could be very big.   Saturday, August 30 View Page We lost the 2009 in the anex this week, it just went down and probably explains why it stopped growing a little early. The red weeds are filling the glass house   Sunday, August 31 View Page I’m away for the four days so I won’t be able to post this week’s results but we have 1 x 1400lbs 2 x 1500lbs and 1 x 1600 lbs in the patch. Now that’s not too shabby out of seven plants. Here is one of our leaves for Mark and Lynn.   Monday, September 8 View Page The pumpkins are all but done now and I just hope that the shape shifter stays OK. The 2009 is 1528lbs The Shape shifter is 1649lbs The 1985 is 1398lbs And the 1623 is 1614lbs We have to have a new PB out of that lot and get our UK record back. Sorry Mark but we were more than happy to let you have it for a year lol Here's one of the new ponds Start is digging foe the new nursery, I think it's big enough.   Monday, September 22 View Page Well, here goes, in the last three days we have lost the Shape shifter, the 2009 and the 1985. Two of these would have between the UK record with ease and to be honest things look a little bleak in the patch right now. On a brighter note the 1623 tapes 1675lbs which is about 25lbs over our best and up about 60lbs over the last two weeks. Right now plenty of F words and the like are appearing but one thing is for sure, next year we will be as excited to start growing as this one. No wonder Sarah and my kids think I’m nuts. And you don’t even get a photo.   Wednesday, September 24 View Page Thanks for all the emails of support on a difficult time in the patch. It happens to all pumpkin growers, but to lose what we thought were two solid pumpkins in one week was a bit of a shock. We pulled the 1985 today and it was a real beast. The pumpkin walls were thick and just check out this main vine; it’s ridiculous. Needless to say it will be in the patch next year. It’s a little ironic that the 1623 is the only pumpkin left in the patch as it was such a roller coaster ride for growers last year but fingers crossed.   Friday, October 10 View Page We could do with a bigger door but after turning her around she just got in. I really think she will go light but fingers crossed she is bigger than 1520lbs. Looking forward to meeting all the growers.   Sunday, October 12 View Page Well what a day, you just never know what these beasts weigh and we should have expected the 1623 to excite. It took ages to weigh all the pumpkins as we had an amazing turn out, it looks like this show is just going to get better and better. Mark Baggs set the scales on fire with a 1582lb new UK record beating his last years record by 62lbs.It was way heavy and a very nice surprise as she was only tapping around 1400lbs. To be honest when our one went on the scales we were all expecting it to be a close run thing. To say we were Gob smacked when she weighed 1884lbs would be an understatement. If there is a competition for the friendliest show in the world we would win it for sure. Thanks to all of you that came and made it an amazing day. 1623 sib 1623 = 1884 Paton 14% heavy. Sweet   Monday, November 10 View Page Now that's a Pike. I did a talk for Medwyn Williams Masterclass weekend and I have to say it was fantastic to meet so many amazing growers. Swapping ideas is the way forward and I'm a better grower for going that's for sure.   Sunday, November 16 View Page Not a great photo on a very grey day, but on Monday we start the new build. You can just about see the three wooden posts in the bottom right corner which are the corner of the pumpkin area.   Saturday, November 29 View Page The new patch is taking shape   Saturday, December 13 View Page This has taken over a week to get this photo up on my diary so you can imagine how fast it's going.   Sunday, December 14 View Page Stuart gets the biggest so far with this monster 25lb Kipper. Check out the 16lber in the net,they can be like buses, wait all day and then two come along at once.   Sunday, December 14 View Page The glass house is really taking shape   Sunday, December 28 View Page I have spent four years trying to catch a carp from this huge lake and last July I caught this stunning 30lb common carp. She will never have been caught before and will go down as perhaps the best fish I have ever caught. I couldn't get the photo on before because of the MB thing.   Wednesday, December 31 View Page Well it's goodbye to the old pumpkin house but it's real cool that it helped us grow the 19th biggest pumpkin ever in the world. Happy New year to you all