Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 191 Entries. Friday, February 23 View Page It has been a mild winter except for that week or two in January where it flirted with temps below -40. We got our only real snow just before that. Made it easy to put up the shacks. This is the melon patch.   Saturday, March 9 View Page The snow arrived and we really need it. Temps have warmed to melting.   Friday, March 15 View Page Lots of melting.   Friday, March 22 View Page The melting stopped and the highs are about -8°C. I plugged in the soil cables.   Saturday, March 23 View Page Meanwhile in the big greenhouse, the cable was plugged in a week ago and the soil is to temp.   Saturday, March 23 View Page Outside the temporary cold-frame,inside the greenhouse, the soil is still chilly but making good progress.   Saturday, March 23 View Page Checked to make sure the hydronic heat system will still work. Apparently had enough glycol in the mixture because it flows. I turned it off now but if the soil temp falters during the season it will get turned on.   Saturday, March 23 View Page This is a field pumpkin at about 22 days after planting. It’s part of an experiment to see if I can tell if the 191 Kapelari offspring that go bushy can be revealed as such. It’s probably easier to just double plant because by the time you can tell they are fairly rootbound.   Monday, March 25 View Page Time to start melons and tomatoes. Cooler has a heat mat and thermostat.   Wednesday, March 27 View Page Watermelons have sprouted. I plant them on their sides about 3/4” down. Most of the time that lets them shed their coats. I don’t file or soak them.   Wednesday, March 27 View Page Meanwhile outside… it snowed. Again. We achieved a temp near melting but more snow is forecast. Soil temp is 14 ish. Celsius.   Monday, April 1 View Page Baby melons doing fine.   Monday, April 1 View Page May have started the rutabagas too early.   Monday, April 1 View Page Snow really melted today. Warm and Windy.   Saturday, April 6 View Page Going in. A little early but it’ll give me time in case one doesn’t come up. 1088 Miller 2365 Wolf 2037.5 Crews   Saturday, April 6 View Page I’ve been planting seeds on their sides for years. They shuck the seed coat well most of the time.   Wednesday, April 10 View Page Morning of day 4. 3 pots have some soil movement. Pumpkin growers know the stress level is dropping to acceptable levels.   Wednesday, April 10 View Page The patch is looking better now. Added the automatic openers last night and will check temperature tonight.   Wednesday, April 10 View Page Soil temp in the big greenhouse, in the area outside of the heat cable,is rising nicely. Near the surface is excellent.   Thursday, April 11 View Page Baby pics. All are doing fine. Left the seed coat underneath. Not in pic is the other 2037.5 Crews   Friday, April 12 View Page 2365 24 hours later   Saturday, April 13 View Page Transplantation of one of the melons. Hopefully it smartens up a bit. Looks a little tired.   Saturday, April 13 View Page Step one - the small jar gets buried   Saturday, April 13 View Page Step two - pull the jar out   Saturday, April 13 View Page Step three - drop the peat pellet and sad looking plant in, push a little dirt around it. This works well for the next transplant stage. Just use the present pot as your mold instead of a little jar.   Sunday, April 14 View Page Bad weather is expected later this week so it pushed my transplantation schedule ahead by a few days. Here is the 1088 Miller.   Sunday, April 14 View Page 2365 Wolf is in the big greenhouse patch.   Saturday, April 20 View Page 2365 Wolf Wanted to lean the wrong way. Fixed it a brick. There wasn’t much light this week. Cloudy with a little snow.   Saturday, April 20 View Page 1088 Miller It was reaching straight up. Again, the brick is used. Next week some above 0°C temps and some sun might smarten things up.   Saturday, April 20 View Page 202 Crews watermelon Looking better. I have an urge to fertilize this plant.   Wednesday, April 24 View Page This is just here to help me figure out how the plant start dates work out.   Saturday, April 27 View Page Had a less than prime spot to plant one of the backup 2037.5 Crews plants. This one will be a genetic cross plant. This also will show why we need a greenhouse here.   Saturday, April 27 View Page 2037.5 Crews backup plant.   Saturday, April 27 View Page Long gourd. Hopefully I can build something for it.   Saturday, April 27 View Page Long gourd. Hopefully I can build something for it.   Saturday, April 27 View Page Long gourd. Hopefully I can build something for it.   Saturday, April 27 View Page Triple score!   Saturday, April 27 View Page 202 Crews watermelon. Truthfully I’ve had better plants at this stage.   Saturday, April 27 View Page 1088 Miller. Doing better with some sunlight.   Saturday, April 27 View Page 2365 Wolf Looking good. Watered the soil because it’s going over soon.   Wednesday, May 1 View Page Some things are learned the hard way. It took me a long time to figure out that I need to keep the soil moist around the crown area to allow the vine to tip over easily. Now I can let the top dry out some.   Friday, May 3 View Page Looks like it’s going to be one of those cold damp years. Snowed yesterday. More today. Working on 2” of rain/snow. -1   Sunday, May 5 View Page 202 Crews watermelon. Doing pretty good now.   Sunday, May 5 View Page 1088 Miller Pumpkins did ok this week considering there were almost no sunny days.   Sunday, May 5 View Page 2037 Crews Right. Just because it rained almost 2” doesn’t mean it can rain inside the little cold-frame.   Sunday, May 5 View Page 2365 Wolf Doing well. Hopefully it’ll land safely. Pretty full greenhouse. That’ll have to change.   Sunday, May 5 View Page Almost at the time of the year we don’t have what is defined as night. Say goodbye to snow until May long weekend. lol. So many times I’ve had a sunburn under my winter coat.   Sunday, May 5 View Page Oh. Forgot this weekend forecast.   Saturday, May 11 View Page 2037.5 Crews This is the first day with the bigger shack. Doing pretty good in the back patch. Maybe I should have gave this the north greenhouse   Saturday, May 11 View Page 1088 Miller This is the North greenhouse patch. Down and moving. Not much sun this week. Overnight s are still low single digit °C   Saturday, May 11 View Page 202 Crews watermelon Filling the shack nicely.   Saturday, May 11 View Page I have another back up plant i just planted. 321 Crews from about this same spot. No heat cables. This will probably not be able to be pollinated until late July   Saturday, May 11 View Page 2365 Wolf Reached the end of the shack which means it’s now naked. Filled up the torpedo heater. Like I said before overnights are still around 4°C   Sunday, May 12 View Page Planted some field pumpkins on the 9th Had a couple extra peat pellets so I stuck a seed in. I’ve done this before and you can tell when it’s germinating…   Monday, May 13 View Page All but one of the Field pumpkins are up and it was pushing soil up so reasonably sure.   Monday, May 13 View Page Yes. I’m attempting a long gourd. I’m still trying to come up with the trellis for it.   Tuesday, May 14 View Page It’s been pretty cool this May. Not the greatest for growing pumpkins.   Saturday, May 18 View Page Field pumpkins love bright light. Ag’s long gourds and melons do very well. Tomatoes , peppers cabbages prefer less bright. Transplanted into bigger pots because it’s winter outside. Going to be a tough season if this continues.   Saturday, May 18 View Page Not a great forecast for a grower of things.   Saturday, May 18 View Page 202 Crews watermelon. Hoping to keep it in the shack until next week. Just too cool to erect the next stage of greenhouse.   Saturday, May 18 View Page 1088 Miller Hopefully it will make a couple more days in here. Don’t want to take this down until it warms up a bit.   Saturday, May 18 View Page 2365 Wolf Filled the heater. Still not growing really fast but the weather may change.   Saturday, May 18 View Page 2037.5 Crews Well. Frost forecast tonight so this could be tense. Can’t take it down yet.   Saturday, May 18 View Page The long gourd really took off which is great but I’m running out of height. Going to hope that light makes enough heat to save it tonight.   Sunday, May 26 View Page 2037.5 Crews Backup patch. I’ve had to keep it in because the night temps are flirting with 0. Hopefully thats over. Woke up to sunshine.   Sunday, May 26 View Page 122 Butler Long gourd needs to be free.   Sunday, May 26 View Page Of the 6 (?) 191 Kapelari Field pumpkin plants I started 2 look like this. One of mine did this a few years back. Produces a large orange zucchini gourd like fruit.   Sunday, May 26 View Page 202 Crews watermelon. Oh boy I need to build the greenhouse soon.   Sunday, May 26 View Page 1088 Miller Doing as well as can be expected without sunshine.   Sunday, May 26 View Page 2365 Wolf Stretching out nicely considering the lack of light.   Monday, May 27 View Page Long gourd has been freed   Tuesday, May 28 View Page 235 Razo field pumpkin-main patch   Tuesday, May 28 View Page 144.1 Crews Field pumpkin main patch This was a dmg fruit off of the 110 Wursten. 110 Wursten x 158 Crews It almost made it, kept it on the vine a day too long when it was cold.   Tuesday, May 28 View Page 151 Young field pumpkin main patch All these field pumpkins were a little late transplanting because of the weather. Soil is definitely too wet but you have to do what you have to do.   Tuesday, May 28 View Page 191 Kapelari field pumpkin back patch Looks like it’s vining so thats good.   Tuesday, May 28 View Page 235 Razo field pumpkin back patch Soil is saturated.   Tuesday, May 28 View Page 151 Young field pumpkin back patch Plant dried out a bit when it was under my bright lights. It doesn’t take long to damage it. Should be ok.   Tuesday, May 28 View Page Also got the greenhouse up for the watermelon. It was a busy Sunday and the few hours Saturday evening when it stopped raining. It was Sunny most of Sunday and part of today. I have seen some evidence of extra growth already.   Thursday, May 30 View Page Installed the IRT film in the watermelon shack that I managed to get up on the weekend. Had some time because it’s raining again. The black stuff is a cornstarch film that biodegrades and also lets secondary roots through. It is biodegrading right now unfortunately.   Sunday, June 2 View Page 2037.5 Crews Plant took a beating from 60k wind gusts that seemed to be everyday this week. 24-7. We get a lot of wind here, this isn’t abnormal.   Sunday, June 2 View Page 235 Razo Field pumpkin Doing well, being in the big pot that long didn’t seem to stunt it too much.   Sunday, June 2 View Page 144.1 Crews Field pumpkin Leaning a bit the wrong way. It’s in the middle of nowhere so no problem. Sure.   Sunday, June 2 View Page 151 Young Field pumpkin Looks promising. My soil isn’t in the best shape because of the excessive amount of rain we got and my need to till when I shouldn’t have.   Sunday, June 2 View Page 122 Butler long gourd Really need to complete the trellis. Two more posts and some more wire.   Sunday, June 2 View Page 1088 Miller Looking fine but its going to be a little while yet before a fruit is ready for pollination.   Sunday, June 2 View Page 202 Crews watermelon Looks like it needs water which in watermelon land means the soil is dust dry.   Sunday, June 2 View Page 2365 Wolf Really want a few more secondaries but the plant really stretched out. There’s a female under that shade that I’m watching.   Sunday, June 2 View Page I’m watching my back from now on.   Tuesday, June 4 View Page It only took 20 years or me to figure out all I had to do was put down the board and let the vine grow over it instead of lifting it and shuffling it under at great risk to fruit and vine. Thats how I know Im smart. The next fruit to pollinate is going to be wayyyy down the vine.   Friday, June 7 View Page Frost warning for tonight. Flower isn’t showing orange petals but I’ve been fooled before. I’ll crank the heat and add some co2 to the atmosphere. Inside and out.   Saturday, June 8 View Page Ha. Perfect 5 lobe on the 2365 Wolf.   Saturday, June 8 View Page The deed is done 2365 Wolf x 1088 Miller Bending the vine slightly with bricks.   Saturday, June 8 View Page Inside temp 19°C. Pretty cool and rainy outside with a temp of 3°. Probably won’t get much warmer inside. Hopefully it takes.   Saturday, June 8 View Page The 2365 spent the day at a good temp.   Saturday, June 8 View Page 2365 Wolf Really growing vines now.   Saturday, June 8 View Page 1088 Miller Somewhere in that vine tip is the first female to get pollinated.   Sunday, June 9 View Page 1088 Miller vine tip. I’ve carefully taken the tendril and leaf away from the fruit. Going to be pretty close to the end of the greenhouse.   Sunday, June 9 View Page 122 Butler long gourd Survived the week of 75 kph wind. Few holes in the leaves. Plan was to expand the trellis. Little behind.   Sunday, June 9 View Page 144.1 Crews field pumpkin Needing a little directional control   Sunday, June 9 View Page 151 Young field pumpkin Weeds are winning this week   Sunday, June 9 View Page 235 Razo field pumpkin Looks like it’s having a tough time nutrient wise.   Thursday, June 13 View Page 2365 Wolf 5 Dap   Friday, June 14 View Page There are going to be a considerable amount of Fossil fuels consumed in my greenhouse over the next week and if anyone thinks that someone that has to worry about frost in mid June cares about warming the planet they are an Idiot.   Saturday, June 15 View Page 1088 Miller Not much sunshine this week but it’s getting closer to pollination time.   Saturday, June 15 View Page 122 Butler long gourd   Saturday, June 15 View Page 202 Crews watermelon Have 2 pollinations. One on May 31 ish and the other June 8 The June 8 fruit looks much longer but it doesn’t have the head start.   Saturday, June 15 View Page June 8 melon   Saturday, June 15 View Page May 31 melon   Sunday, June 16 View Page 151 Young FP   Sunday, June 16 View Page 144.1 Crews FP   Sunday, June 16 View Page 235 Razo FP   Sunday, June 16 View Page 235 Razo FP in the back patch Yes thats a heater.   Sunday, June 16 View Page The 2037 Crews in the back patch has taken a beating from the wind.   Sunday, June 16 View Page 2365 Wolf Filling in good.   Monday, June 17 View Page Closed the FP shacks back up because of the frost warnings. Yup. This is nuts.   Monday, June 17 View Page Couple of mornings with 3, which is optimistic as many a day I’ve seen frost on my windshield while they swear it’s 2 and never went lower, and then the weekend is 30.   Wednesday, June 19 View Page 2365 Wolf 10 DAP I’m doing the best I can but overnight temps are in frost range, +2°C and I can’t keep the greenhouse as warm as I’d like it. I’ve never had to go more than 90000 btu before. At least it didn’t snow here.   Wednesday, June 19 View Page 1088 Miller Finally ready. I’ll see her tomorrow morning.   Thursday, June 20 View Page 1088 Miller 4 Lobe. Looks nice Pretty cool in the greenhouse yet. 13° C   Thursday, June 20 View Page 1088 Miller x self   Sunday, June 23 View Page 2365 Wolf plant Almost full on the right side. A bit to go on the left.   Sunday, June 23 View Page 1088 Miller plant. Hopefully the pollination took. Have one more chance.   Sunday, June 23 View Page A Little sunshine would be nice. The lack of will explain the disappointing 15 Dap on the 2365 fruit coming up in a few hours.   Sunday, June 23 View Page 2365 Wolf 15 Dap Sunny day helped it grow last night. Not disappointed.   Monday, June 24 View Page Went with the first pollination on the 202 Crews. 25 Dap   Tuesday, June 25 View Page 1088 Miller x self 5 lobes This is the second pollination. Hopefully it took because…   Thursday, June 27 View Page 1088 Miller 6 Dap Pretty sure this pollination took though I pollinated the next one too. I usually skip one, that gives me enough time to tell if the pollination took. I like to build the main sink as soon as possible. No additional fruit is allowed to grow. I wasn’t sure because of the morning temp that the first one was set.   Thursday, June 27 View Page 1088 Miller I removed the earlier pollination because it was asymmetrical. Pretty sure this one took. If not I’ll need someone to slap me.   Saturday, June 29 View Page 2365 Wolf 20 Dap 63” cir Not exactly great number but we only have one sunny day out of five. Some years are like this.   Saturday, June 29 View Page 202 Crews Watermelon 30 Dap 49” cir. Trying to find a real long one to pollinate. Might have one but until then this is it.   Saturday, June 29 View Page 2365 Wolf greenhouse is almost full. Crisscrossing secondary vines in the left front corner. Pumpkins are on the difficult side of the vine this year.   Monday, July 1 View Page 202 Crews watermelon This is why the biodegradable mulch isn’t very good for melons. I should have raised the vine a bit over the hole in the mulch. Cleaned and treated with fungicide. The vine with the melon of course.   Monday, July 1 View Page 1088 Miller 6 Dap Pretty sure it’s set and it’s the last possible fruit. The first pollination didn’t have ribs on 60% of the fruit. This one has it everywhere.   Thursday, July 4 View Page 2365 Wolf 25 Dap 91” cir I was hoping for well over 100”. On pace for 1500 instead. Every time I think I know what I’m doing I get served a dose of humility.   Friday, July 5 View Page 1088 Miller 10 Dap looking good.   Friday, July 5 View Page Temperatures are smartening up   Sunday, July 7 View Page 2365 Wolf Vines are fully terminated.   Sunday, July 7 View Page 1088 Miller Has a couple of vines that are a day or so from being terminated. Both the 2365 Wolf and this one have fruit that are very round and look like they have a very high chance of being very orange. Might not be the biggest but they should be good looking girls.   Monday, July 8 View Page 2365 Wolf 30 Dap 121” cir Sunshine does wonders   Monday, July 8 View Page Thermometer in the 2365 greenhouse   Wednesday, July 10 View Page 1088 Miller Think I have it fairly perpendicular to the vine now. If you look closely you can see where I’ve built some extra slack into the vine. Its has a short loop way back. I moved the board closer to the crown. This part always terrifies me. Glad it’s done.   Wednesday, July 10 View Page 202 Crews watermelon. 40 Dap 56” cir Have few other pollinations I’m thinking about.   Wednesday, July 10 View Page 1088 Miller. 15 dap 45” cir Already showing orange around the blossom.   Sunday, July 14 View Page 2365 Wolf 35 Dap 135.5 “ cir   Sunday, July 14 View Page 202 Crews watermelon 45 Dap 56.5” Only grew .5”. The leaves on the vine look good but I’m sure of what’s wrong.   Sunday, July 14 View Page The watermelon vine dried out where it was infected. The damage was done.   Sunday, July 14 View Page 202 watermelon #2 pollinated sometime around July 2. It was done by bees.   Monday, July 15 View Page 1088 Miller 20 Dap 67.5” cir   Friday, July 19 View Page Our thermometer in the shade says it’s still 30° out at 10 pm. First it was to cold and cloudy and now it’s 40° in the greenhouse. Supposed to hit 36… so anyway. 2365 Wolf 40 Dap 146” cir It’s tall and ott is might be a better guide. Needs to be 20% over chart too.   Friday, July 19 View Page Well, it’s not the greatest place but here we go.   Saturday, July 20 View Page Ok. This time there were males. Most of the pollen sticks to the flower I see. Hot and smokey today.   Saturday, July 20 View Page First field pumpkin pollinated. 235 Razo x self Back patch. Not getting irrigated.   Sunday, July 21 View Page 1088 Miller 25 Dap 83” cir It’s a big wheel. Going to be an interesting big orange wheel. Ok then.   Sunday, July 21 View Page Here is the 2nd fruit on the 202 Crews melon. Is it 20 days? I’ve gone through some pics of watermelon development and I would now say it’s probably 25 dap. I’ll go with how I started but just keep that in mind.   Tuesday, July 23 View Page Pollinated the 144 Crews field pumpkin in the competition patch. Field pumpkins are still wayyyyyy behind.   Tuesday, July 23 View Page 2365 Wolf 45 Dap 166”cir That’s into 4 digit weight now.   Saturday, July 27 View Page 202 Crews watermelon #2 Doing pretty well.   Monday, July 29 View Page 2365 Wolf 50 Dap 173” cir Warm and smoky. Not catching too many breaks this season.   Monday, July 29 View Page The 90k winds did a number on the field pumpkins. Got them sort of back in shape.   Wednesday, July 31 View Page 1088 Miller 35 Dap Sadly this one just isn’t going to amount to much.   Thursday, August 1 View Page 202 Crews watermelon 30 Dap I was tired and didn’t go get the proper can. Looks nice and long and is growing well.   Friday, August 2 View Page 2365 Wolf 55 DAP 402” OTT   Thursday, August 8 View Page 2365 Wolf 60 Dap 183”? Getting tough to accurately measure.   Thursday, August 8 View Page 202 Crews is growing well now. Taking a risk and trying to keep the soil wet. Didn’t take the blanket off this time.   Tuesday, August 13 View Page 2365 Wolf 65 Dap 187” ish cir   Saturday, August 17 View Page 122 Butler long gourd pollinated around Aug 1 maybe 50”-60”   Saturday, August 17 View Page Let’s check in on the 1088 Miller. Orange, check. Wheel, check. Still growing well, check.   Saturday, August 17 View Page We had some actual rain today. It’ll help the plants I watered and give me enough water in my tanks for another week.   Saturday, August 17 View Page 144 Crews field pumpkin added some size the last few days. 26 Dap   Saturday, August 17 View Page 202 Crews watermelon #2 46 Dap Sprayed the second miticide . No sign of mites after the first one but I’m going to be vigilant with the rotation. Yes there’s a stray in there but I can’t get to it. Have another one as a spare so there are presently 3 melons.   Monday, August 19 View Page 1088 Miller 55 Dap 313 Ott so 700lbs ish   Thursday, August 22 View Page Sprayed plants with fungicide because I noticed powdery mildew. Mid August just like the last few years. Apparently this is a thing now.   Thursday, August 22 View Page 2365 Wolf 70 dap 194” cir   Saturday, August 24 View Page I don’t have to point the camera up to take a pic of the 122 Butler long gourd.   Saturday, August 24 View Page 144 Crews field pumpkin is starting to turn colour but it’s also cooling down quickly now. Week or so to frost. This summer was short short.   Saturday, August 24 View Page The 235 Razo in the garden patch is throwing these odd looking fruit.   Saturday, August 24 View Page 151 Young FP is throwing very nice fruit. Too bad that this season was so delayed by the cold May and June. Lucky if we get 2 more weeks before frost.   Monday, August 26 View Page 202 Crews watermelon 55 Dap Crawled in and remove a bunch of small melons. Still have 3 big ones. This is the biggest. The rest are much younger.   Tuesday, August 27 View Page 2365 Wolf 75 Dap This thing never kicked into high gear but it’s stayed in 3rd for a long time. 440 OTT   Monday, September 2 View Page 2365 Wolf 80 Dap. Added a few inches of circumference. It’s well over 200” now. Probably. It’s past the end of the tape.   Saturday, September 7 View Page 2365 Wolf 86 Dap appears to still be growing. I’ll take a measurement at 90 I let all the tertiary vines grow after about 60-65 Dap. They were just controlled a bit before then. After I pruned them fruit growth always slowed. So no more pruning.   Saturday, September 21 View Page 2365 Wolf About 105 Dap and growth has slowed to almost nothing. More than 450” Ott. Need it to go heavy.   Saturday, September 21 View Page 202 Crews watermelon. This is from earlier this week and it has grown some since. Cool temps are causing condensation and humidity problems so vines are going down. The end is near.   Saturday, September 21 View Page Harvested the pumpkin on the 144 Crews last weekend before the rain. No splits.   Saturday, September 21 View Page Long gourd. Some splitting. Still solid and dry.   Tuesday, October 8 View Page Smoky Lake weigh-off winner! 2137 lbs Yup another 37. Charted just over 2000 so Heavy to chart. Going to really have to reassess when in the process growth peaks. Seems to not fall off very fast anymore either.   Tuesday, October 8 View Page The 202 Crews watermelon was charting just over 206 so I was hoping it would be a new personal best. Alas not to be but still a very fine melon,198.5 lbs Special thanks to Les Dunford for the weigh-off photos.   Tuesday, October 8 View Page Field pumpkin was 113 lbs, pretty fair.   Tuesday, October 8 View Page Dane Suchan won the Howard Dill award on a beauty grown from my 2037. 637 lbs.   Tuesday, October 8 View Page The 1088 Miller was weighed on my own scale. Estimated 939 lbs Scale weight 972 lbs   Tuesday, October 8 View Page Alas I deemed the crack on the long gourd too extreme to bring. 102”