Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 48 Entries. Friday, March 29 View Page Planning for three AG plants on my patch this year. (There will also be some potatoes growing in the parts where thereīs still the rye cover.)   Saturday, March 30 View Page Covered the plant sites with transparent plastic sheets today, now it is the sunīs turn to do a good job and push some heat into the soil.   Saturday, March 30 View Page On my way back from the patch I discovered an early "Easter egg" in my garden. The first little pansy flower popped open in the lawn.   Sunday, April 7 View Page Patch today ...so far it looks :)   Sunday, April 7 View Page Closer inspection of the plant sites' covers made me come to the conclusion :( ...after so many years of using that method for a first soil warm-up (and never having problems with damaged covers) some birds must have been so curios to learn how to pick some worms and critters from underneath the cover.   Sunday, April 28 View Page Patch today :) Now the exciting time begins. This year I decided to start the seeds a week later than usual, because in past years I made the experience that after transplanting weather had been cold and cloudy for a while and the seedlings were just sitting rather than growing. Good decision, this year it was cold and cloudy around April 20th, but since yesterday weīve got plenty of sunshine, nice warm weather, and forecast looks great for the next five days. Hence, today the seedlings (which are just about showing their 2nd true leaf) went into the patch. My line-up is: The usual 1007.5* Wagler squash (and my kids will be growing their 989.3* Wagler squash), my 636(uow) from last year (it is 1944 Connolly x 1908.1 Baumert, I think there should be some great potential in that seed, time will tell) and, last but not least, 2131.9 Wuersching. The latter is for both big-and-orange (hopefully) and as a reference point in terms of potential for comparison with my 636.   Sunday, April 28 View Page Here we are now, the three favorites and their back-ups (same cross in each case) in the back. The heating cables wonīt be needed for the next few days, itīs pretty warm right now. End of next week I will need them, though, to keep it cosy warm in the huts.   Sunday, April 28 View Page Thatīs what the soil temperature looks like today. The plant sites had been covered with clear plastic, and that really helped to get the soil to some decent temperature in the course of the past few days (in spite of the rather cold weather). With the nice warm weather ahead that soil temperature shouldnīt drop too much within the next five days. At least, thatīs one of my big hopes for now.   Friday, May 31 View Page Patch today :) Mustard and Phacelia are flowering, and the AG plants are doing fine. So far, each spot still accommodates the favorite plant as well as the back-up. Looks like it could become an easy decision this year, in all three cases the b/u plants are a bit behind.   Friday, May 31 View Page Hereīs my set of plants...the favorites in the left column, and the back-ups to their right.   Sunday, June 9 View Page Patch today :) Most of the phacelia and mustard cover has been removed.   Thursday, June 13 View Page Patch today :) So, today I have finally had a chance to check males on all of my favorite plants for pollen...looks like they are fine (none of them sterile). Now that was the go for removing the backup plants.   Thursday, June 13 View Page Here is the 2131.9 (and the culled b/u plant next to it).   Thursday, June 13 View Page The 1007.5* squash and (yes, you guess right...) next to it the culled b/u. The 1007.5* plant looks horribly unsymmetric, and thatīs true. At the 3rd leaf node the main vine made a turn to the right (at a 90 deg. angle) and it took quite a while to get the main back into the desired growth direction. Even more worse it gets by some bad secondaries, which were meant to belong to the left side but were so rigid and wanted to grow to the right side. It will take a while to get that plant into shape, but Iīm confident itīs worth it. Itīs not a beauty, but a beast........   Thursday, June 13 View Page Finally, the 636. The b/u was about the same size, but it had a larger section of a flat main vine and a horrible pattern of its secondaries (and no room for getting anything decent out of it). Here I decided to go with the beauty.   Saturday, June 15 View Page Today I discovered the first female in the tip of the main vine of the 2131.9, which was a nice thing. Less nice, so to say, was another discovery at the main vine tip. As shown in the lower part of the pic (red arrows pointing there) it looks like a slug has taken some bites from the surface of the main vine and from the male flower bud in the adjacent node. Additional note: Maybe I need to blame it on somewhat else...maybe earwigs. Even though there are so many slugs around this year, thereīs not any obvious amount of sluggy-slimy fingerprint left behind on the vine.   Sunday, June 16 View Page Today Iīm going to post some pics (a little tutorial, sort of) about a thing which has become routine to me the course of the past years, we can call it "Crown Cosmetics", so for those of you, who are wondering what people are talking about and what crown and adjacent parts of main vines look like (and why, and what itīs good for etc.), I thought I take some pics and explain a bit in detail. So, here we go now, here you can see what a "standard view" of an Atlantic Giant plantīs crown in my patch looks like around that time of year. Part A is the so-called hypocotyl, the part of the vine below the cotyledons. As the vine grows, both vine and hypocotyl are likely to develop superficial cracks, which easily dry and scab over. Hence, that healed scar is no issue to worry about (in my opinion). Talking about cotyledons, where are they gone? B is the section where they had been. I have removed them (together with the secondaries, which started to emerge from the cotyledonsī nodes). Finally, section C indicates the first 2, 3 or 4 leaf nodes, where I have removed the secondaries (and, in most cases, the leaf as well). Last but not least, the white stuff on the surface is some sulfur.   Sunday, June 16 View Page Crown of another AG plant in my patch, same points A, B and C, which are of interest, so you can see the systematic thing about the "Crown Cosmetics". Usually, I do that when the plant starts to develop a decent main vine (when the main is about 2 - 3 ft long). Itīs my personal choice to do that around that age or size of the plant, because I think doing it earlier has the disadvantage that removal of some leaves would mean a removal of a significant fraction of leaf surface and thus weakens the plant for a while. Doing it later has the disadvantage of progressed vine growth around the crown, the first few secondaries are getting thicker, and removal will cause larger wounds, which cause more loss of juice and which take a bit longer to heal. ...and why do I do that at all? There are some reasons: 1) You want to keep the crown part of the plant dry. Hence, there should be good air flow around the crown (not a jungle). 2) You want to let the plant know that it should push the juice flow forward to the tip of the main vine (rather than making the first few secondaries grow horribly strong). 3) You want to avoid stress to the vine. In contrast to the regular vine pattern, where the secondaries emerge perpendicular to the main in a nice horizontal way and lay down flat to the ground, the first few nodes of the vine exhibit different directions of secondariesī growth (up or down, back or forward), which isnīt helpful for the vine pattern. Also, that part of the main itself is not flat to the ground, and strong winds and the weight of the first few leaves (and tension by secondaries, which grow rather upwards) can twist that part of the main and cause cracks. The initially superficial growth cracks can then easily get deeper and can become open cracks, an entrance for diseases.   Sunday, June 16 View Page ...and the white stuff...the sulfur: Upon removal of leaves and vines, I treat the wounds with a dispersion in ethanol (some sulfur powder mixed with technical grade ethanol...like 94% ethanol), in the course of an hour some of the sulfur will dissolve in the ethanol, but most of it will remain a dispersion). Painting the wounds with this dispersion does some immediate disinfection (because of the ethanol), and it leaves behind some sulfur, which helps to keep that area disinfected and dry. In addition to the sulfur particles (the dispersed sulfur), the small amounts of sulfur which had dissolved in the ethanol will form a homogeneous thin layer of sulfur across the entire treated area and wonīt fall off upon drying.   Sunday, June 16 View Page As the AG plants are treated already, but I wanted to take some pics of "before" and "after", I will do that treatment on one of my FP plants today, just to show the procedure. So thatīs what it looks like before cosmetics. You know, parts A, B and C... A) hypocotyl (most of it buried in the ground in this case), B cotyledons (you can see only one, the other is hidden behind the vine, and you can see that a tiny secondary wants to emerge from the cotyledon node), C the first two secondaries (I will remove those secondaries and the leaves at those leaf nodes). So, before I take my small sharp knife to the plant, I dip the blade into the sulfur/ethanol dispersion to also disinfect the knife.   Sunday, June 16 View Page Now these parts (leaves and secondaries) were removed, and thatīs what the fresh wounds look like.   Sunday, June 16 View Page ...few seconds later, after painting the wounds with the sulfur/ethanol dispersion.   Sunday, June 16 View Page Two further minutes later, the ethanol is gone, the dispersion has dried, now you can see more of the sulfur that sticks to the vine and to the wounds. Crown Cosmetics done.   Monday, June 17 View Page One of the few non-pumpkin pics this year: Lately Iīve planted some frost hardy cacti into this sandy/rocky bed. Now Iīm curious to see how they will do (this year, and over winter). Hopefully, they will grow some nice flowers next year.   Tuesday, June 18 View Page Planted some of these (Nicandra physalodes) in some spots around my patch. They are supposed to attract (and then kill) whiteflies. Currently, I still see some whiteflies around my pumpkin plants (sporadically), but I guess it could be worse. Hope that my sacrificial flowers will "catch" more of them as they grow bigger.   Monday, July 1 View Page Patch today :)   Monday, July 8 View Page Hi there, This little baby is "Steinfriend" (2131.9 Wuersching x 636 uow Wagler), shown on day of pollination, 4 DAP and 11 DAP. What made me give that particular Jim Steinman related name to that pumpkin? There are at least three good reasons: 1) The intention...I want this fruit to grow like a "Bat out of Hell"; 2) The start into its young life...it was the first baby on the main vine ("You canīt pollinate forever, and thereīs nothing wrong with getting a good head start..."), and shortly thereafter it had to struggle with awfully muddy rainy weather ("Youīve been through a lot of rain in the dirt, and I know youīve got the splashes to prove it..."); 3) Honestly, who wouldnīt like to have a dear Steinfriend nearby, one you can visit every day and ask "How are you doing?"   Monday, July 8 View Page This little baby is "Big Little Sister" (1007.5* Wagler x 989.3* Wagler). Another unusual name, I suppose. Well, itīs the third time in a row that Iīm growing my own 1007.5* seed. So far, the 1007.5* has produced my personal best (back in 2022), so currently this baby is just a little sister, but I keep my fingers crossed that she will grow much bigger and become my new PB green squash. (Pic shows day of pollination, 8 DAP, 15 DAP.)   Monday, July 8 View Page Patch today :)   Saturday, July 13 View Page Dap 20 for "Big Little Sister"   Saturday, July 13 View Page Dap 16 for "Steinfriend"   Friday, August 9 View Page Dap 47 for "Big Little Sister"   Friday, August 9 View Page Dap 43 for "Steinfriend"   Saturday, August 17 View Page Patch today :)   Saturday, August 17 View Page "Big Little Sister" today. Just before I took the pic I had added this shading curtain to the hut. The direct sunlight from South and West make the fruit change its color toward a brownish green, but I would like it to stay a bit more green.   Saturday, August 17 View Page "Steinfriend" today :)   Monday, August 19 View Page Patch today...see the difference? In the background some plant is missing. Decided to remove my 636 plant, its fruit wasnīt growing at any close to satisfactory pace, and some vines showed disease problems of their leaves (all of a sudden).   Saturday, August 24 View Page "Steinfriend" today (this little fruity is a beauty...in the morning sun). Even though the plant has to deal with mosaic since mid July, both the plant and the fruit are still doing fine.   Tuesday, August 27 View Page Ordered a bag of fertilizer lately, opened the box, and the bag came with a helpful hint... Well, there might be some words missing, but I donīt want to set the meaning of this sentence by adding words and thus underlining my initial interpretation. I would find it much more entertaining to see what the great bunch of growers out there would think when reading those few words as they are (not adding any words, just playing with the meaning of whatīs there). Thanks heaps in advance, and TY to Ken for adding the comment feature.   Tuesday, September 3 View Page "Big Little Sister" today. The ribs are getting more and more aggressive-impressive-massive.   Tuesday, September 3 View Page "Steinfriend" today...finally deciding to also develop some kind of ribs.   Tuesday, September 3 View Page Patch today. Oh well, the leaves are getting older...   Tuesday, September 3 View Page Pollination time is over since quite a while, and fall is getting closer...so, for those of you who donīt wanna see fruit all the time but still wanna see some flowers...here ya go.   Monday, September 9 View Page As the question came up as to which knot to use for the rope, which goes through the pumpkin lifting straps, here is a suggestion: In the past few years I used the following method (which I picked up at the weigh-off in Görlitz-Ludwigsdorf), itīs a simple knot and bow, basically the way you would use them in the shoelace, and then (before the pumpkin was lifted) I placed the four ends (the two ears of the bow and the two simple ends, red arrow) under one of the lifting straps (sketch drawn in red), so that upon lifting the lifting strap would press the four ends against the wall of the fruit and thus prevents the bow from losening. This is especially helpful when youīre alone while lifting your pumpkin. Once the pumpkin has been lowered onto a pallet or scales, the pressure is gone and you can easily take the ends and open the bow. Alternatively (if there are more than just one person), you can hold the ends of the bow in your hand while the fruit is hanging in the lifting straps and is moved.   Thursday, September 12 View Page Last night little "Steinfriend" got equipped with a belt. Weather got cold now, and the daily gains dropped horribly. Moreover, because of the shape of the fruit, measuring CC is so much prone to error depending on some slight deviations of the positions where you place the tape. Hence, regardless of the exact CC data, this "belt" (a string attached to the circumference of the fruit with the aid of some sticky tape) will tell me the gains in CC, I just need to check how far the markers in the lose ends of the string (two knots) have moved from each other.   Sunday, September 15 View Page Steinfriendīs belt works. The first day was a bit disappointing, it looked like the fruit had stopped growing, but in fact the string had to develop some tension first. Thereafter, it was possible to watch the fruit grow. Here you can see the spacing between the first knots (3 days in between and, because of the aforementioned reason, worth two days of growth), and it was fun to check the knots again this morning to see that growth continued nicely overnight.   Wednesday, September 18 View Page September growth, I like it :) Itīs so good to see that the fruit is still doing something like 6 lbs a day, and itīs so sad to know that in three days I will have to cut a still growing fruit off the vine.   Friday, September 20 View Page Guess what, "Steinfriend" did and does what I want this baby to do...growing until the end...at least until close to the end, and then slowing down a day before I need to pick the fruit (which actually makes the decision so much easier, when you see that another week on the vine wouldnīt make any great difference any longer).