Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 168 Entries. Monday, February 19 View Page Always behind getting the diary started so time to get caught up before the season gets too busy. Giant onions were started in January. Had some old potting soil from previous year that I recycled into the new mix that had some tomato seeds that had failed to germinate last year. Ended up with some year old tomato seed that germinated with the onion seeds. Since there were a few of competition seeds and regular tomatoes have no idea what they are at this point. Lesson on if you're going to use soil from previous germination attempts to make sure you're using a different seed type all together in case an old seed germinates to prevent misidentifying what plant you are growing, lol.   Monday, February 19 View Page Giant onions and mystery tomatoes after uppotting into 1/2 gallon pots. Have a few aisla craig and glazebrook variety giant onions for the two different types we're growing this year.   Sunday, February 25 View Page Heat wave in February has me considering silly things for an early fair pumpkin. Laid down some clear plastic to start warming the soil.   Tuesday, March 12 View Page Is this what I think it is? Looks like the seed exchange package has arrived!   Tuesday, March 12 View Page It is, Christmas in March! Always something in the mix that's fun to try each year. Thanks Andrew for your hard work on this.   Friday, March 22 View Page Seed has emerged for our early fair pumpkin. Chose our 1655.5 from last year for this for a couple of reasons. First is want to see if the % heavy will carry through another generation. Second is if things go south with the early start have plenty of seeds for backups.   Saturday, March 23 View Page 24 hrs after emergence, roots were already starting to come out of the bottom of the pint sized germination pot. Uppotted into a half gallon pot. Would like to go larger off the start but the indoor germination greenhouse is a little cramped until I can get the outdoor greenhouse that's used for hardening off plants fixed from previous hail damage.   Wednesday, March 27 View Page Four days later time to uppot the 1655.5 again. Love the aggressive root system so far. Outdoor greenhouse repaired and early spring garden plants have been moved outside to clear space. Uppotted into a 3 gallon pot this time. Planning on the pumpkin plot being ready for this to go in the dirt by the time it outgrows this pot.   Friday, March 29 View Page In the outdoor greenhouse have some giant kohrabi and cabbage plants that don't look too bad. Giant onions look a little sad, need to get these to the garden once the weather starts to behave. Have a flat of marigolds started as well. Mystery tomato plants growing like weeds and starting to blossom.   Friday, March 29 View Page The 1655.5 has found it's way outside as well to start hardening off to prepare for its permanent home.   Friday, March 29 View Page Weather got cold again right after putting down the plastic on the plot. Soil temp under the plastic a little over 64 degrees, which isn't bad compared to the ambient temps. Can see the difference in growth in the weed cover crop between the plants under the plastic vs the weeds outside that aren't covered.   Friday, March 29 View Page Soil temp outside of the plastic checking in at 57. Plastic cover making a difference as an alternative to soil cables, although the seven degree difference shows they're probably not as effective in cooler weather. Needed the sun to cooperate more over the last month than it did.   Friday, March 29 View Page Time to get the fair pumpkin plot ready. Can see the difference here in weed development between those covered with plastic and those that were uncovered.   Friday, March 29 View Page Amendments applied based on previous years soil test as I haven't got back this year's results yet. Been pretty close to the same amounts of needed nutrients the last two years so don't think we'll be too far off of what was added. First till done and will let this mellow overnight before doing the second till to finish off the weeds. Can see the refurbished cheap greenhouse frames in the background waiting to go into place once the plot is ready. Both of these frames were wrecked by high winds in previous years so had to reinforce and replace these two with parts from another wrecked one. Hopefully it's enough to make it through this spring.   Saturday, March 30 View Page Final till done, now for the next step of laying the fabric for weed control   Saturday, March 30 View Page Fabric down, and frames put into place. Going to stake the frames down with fencing T-posts this year to help stabilize and hold in place. Seems like the spring winds we get here are a lot more intense than what they used to be years ago. Will add more fabric at a later date as the plant fills in the space.   Saturday, March 30 View Page Frames staked in place, and plastic installed. Half of the plastic is the original greenhouse cover, the other half is just plastic sheeting. A lot of clamps in place to hold the plastic and the skirt was weighted down after the pic was taken. Going to hold off planting the pumpkin for a few days as a big storm is forecasted with high winds and hail followed by freezing temps. Don't want the plant in there if this thing fails to hold together.   Wednesday, April 3 View Page As feared the greenhouse didn't hold up to the 50+ mph winds we had with the storm. More wind coming, so think at this point will just close in the remaining half to start reheating things. Will add the other half back if the plant outgrows this part and the weather is cool enough that it still needs to be enclosed.   Sunday, April 7 View Page 1655.5 hanging out in the outside transition greenhouse hardening off and waiting for better weather to get planted in it's permanent home   Sunday, April 7 View Page Other items in the outside greenhouse. Can see a pretty good change in the kohlrabi, cabbage, and onions from 10 days ago.   Monday, April 8 View Page Went to the top of one of our buildings at work to take in the eclipse. Wasn't in the totality zone, we were at 93%. Just shows you how powerful the sun is as with only 7% uncovered we just got down to an eerie shadowy light out and the sun still appeared round unless you zoomed in with the camera. Pic is with the cell phone zoomed all the way in taken through a pair of the eclipse glasses.   Monday, April 8 View Page After work had to check to see if the morel mushrooms had started popping yet. Found enough to have a skillet or two. One of my favorite times of the year with the mushrooms, spring fishing, and turkey hunting.   Wednesday, April 10 View Page 1655.5 Finally made it to it's permanent home today. Seed was planted on St. Patick's day and now planted in the garden on my birthday. Time will tell if these lead to good luck or if I have jinxed it, lol.   Wednesday, April 10 View Page 1655.5 all tucked in after transplanting.   Monday, April 15 View Page Five days later 1655.5 seems to be taking to its new home well. Another round of big storms with big hail predicted for the area tonight so wanted to take one last before pic in case it doesn't make it through the night.   Monday, April 15 View Page In the meantime, the morel mushroom harvest is getting bigger and better each day.   Thursday, April 18 View Page Got a big long-spurred tom for the first turkey of the year.   Thursday, April 18 View Page Tradition to get a harvest pic in front of the blooming lilacs in the yard   Friday, April 19 View Page Main has developed and started working its way out on the state fair plant   Tuesday, April 23 View Page This is a new one for us. Guessing a rabbit decided to sample the brassicas. Giant kohlrabi and cabbage took a hit of varying degrees. These two kohlrabi suffered the most damage. This one was taken down to ground level, don't know what it will do even if something sprouts back from the leaf nodes. The one in the upper left at least still has the grow tip so think it will recover even though it will be set back quite a bit.   Tuesday, April 23 View Page This is typical of most of the damage where the plants lost 1-3 of their bigger leaves. Installed so chicken wire around these to try to protect from further damage.   Tuesday, April 23 View Page Main on the 1655.5 is about half way down now   Wednesday, April 24 View Page The other four players for this year all germinated as well. Have the 2030 Tobeck squash, 2517 Haist, 1911 Urena, and 2469 Daletas.   Saturday, April 27 View Page First round of watermelons are out of the healing chamber. This group has the 299 Dawson, 341.5 Vial, 210.5 Zappa. and our 202.5 from last year. Half are on bottle gourd rootstock and the other half are on bushel gourd. The AG's are looking good after being up for a couple of days, and the 159 Jutras long gourd has joined the party.   Saturday, April 27 View Page Second set of watermelon plants going in the healing chamber. This group has the 284 Dawson, 146.5 Young, 140.5 Cantrell, and 308 Kent in it. Half on bottle gourd, half on rampart gourd rootstock. Was a late decision to do a second set of melons this year but wanted to play around with the different rootstocks some.   Sunday, April 28 View Page Had a text from the neighbor this morning where we keep one of our hives asking why the bees were grouped up on the outside. Filled up the box a little quicker than I anticipated this spring. First time I've had a swarm actually stay on the box though instead of a nearby tree. Made collection easy and they have now been moved to their new home.   Sunday, April 28 View Page The AG's have been uppotted and moved outside to the transition greenhouse. Been in a rainy pattern last week or so making patch prep a bit of a challenge. 2469 Daletas in the top left seems to be a little ahead of the others so far.   Monday, April 29 View Page First group of giant watermelons are responding well to their time in the transition greenhouse and starting to take off.   Monday, April 29 View Page 1655.5 starting to pick up the pace as well, main vine between 3-4' long now.   Monday, April 29 View Page Noticed a little female in each of the first secondaries.   Monday, April 29 View Page Closer inspection revealed a female on the main as well but way too early to think about a pollination   Friday, May 3 View Page Been a wet spring here. Need the moisture to get the ground caught up from the last few years summer droughts but it's making it hard to get any garden work done. Had close to 10" of rain the last 3 days.   Friday, May 3 View Page Too wet to garden means play time for mushroom hunting. Always fun to keep your eye out for other wildlife. This was a pretty good-sized bull snake. Been a few years since I've seen one around here.   Saturday, May 4 View Page Heard the unmistakable sound of baby raccoons chattering from a low knothole as I walked by this tree. Held the phone up over it to see what was in there. Looks like mamma was covering the litter so didn't get to see the little ones.   Sunday, May 5 View Page Second round of watermelons coming out of the healing chamber. The 146.5 Young looks like it's struggling a little bit but should recover.   Sunday, May 5 View Page Other plants in the greenhouse looking good but getting too big for their pots. Still been too wet to get the garden ready so will have to figure out a plan to get them in without mudding things up too bad.   Sunday, May 5 View Page 1655.5 still making progress, between 5'-6' now. Really haven't had to water much so far even with this being in the enclosure as the deluges are seeping through the soil enough to keep it moist inside.   Monday, May 6 View Page Second turkey of the year! This one came in right off the roost and was done by 6:13 in the morning.   Wednesday, May 8 View Page Not the text you want to receive first thing in the morning. Beehive at the neighbors got knocked over when his cows got out. Bees weren't very happy when I arrived and went in full defense/attack mode when I was putting it back together. One made its way into the suit and got me above the eye which was pretty swelled up for several days. Several others stung right though the gloves I was wearing. Ended up taking several hits during the process while trying to do them a favor, lol.   Friday, May 10 View Page Northern lights from our porch. Couldn't really see them that well until you used the night filter on the camera. Saw some better pics taken in Iowa then what we got here. Still pretty cool to see them this far south though. Had only seen them on a couple of Canada fishing trips before this.   Sunday, May 12 View Page Finally got some other plants in the garden this week. Originally thought was going to have to build a mound of potting soil to plant in as the ground has just been too wet to work with all the rain we have been getting. Finally got a 3 day window with no moisture so took the approach of just scratching the surface with the tiller to start the drying process. Was able to do this each morning and evening dropping the depth an inch each time until I was able to hit full depth by the end of the 3rd day. Got these in before the next big rain later that night. Pictured are the 2517 Haist in front, 2469 Daletas in the middle, and 1911 Urena in the back.   Sunday, May 12 View Page Here's the 2030 Tobeck in her new home for the year   Sunday, May 12 View Page 159 Jutras long gourd. This plant has been amazing so far and has been an aggressive grower   Sunday, May 12 View Page 384.5 Terry bushel gourd. Had planned on crossing this with the 470.5 Connolly this year, but both germination attempts for that seed failed so looks like this will be the only BG for us this year.   Sunday, May 12 View Page 341.5 Vial in front, 299 Dawson in back   Sunday, May 12 View Page Second round of watermelons starting to take off in the transition greenhouse. Hopefully get some more dry days soon to get these out.   Sunday, May 12 View Page 1655.5 Around 9' now. Starting to train the secondaries around in the waterfall pattern. Started using this pattern last couple of years as it seems to be easier to access the vine nodes if you work from back to front when burying and you know it's time to terminate when each vine hits the edge of the patch. Side benefit is it will save space in the narrow greenhouse until it's time to take the cover off. More severe storms on the way so using the greenhouse for weather protection more than temp control at this point.   Sunday, May 12 View Page Other half of the first round of melons that the post didn't show up with the others. Our 202.5 in front with the 210.5 Zappa in the back.   Tuesday, May 14 View Page Knew the cucumber beetles would show up at some point, but didn't figure it would be during a rainstorm. Treated the root area when planting with some systemic insecticide but didn't have time to absorb before the attack. Didn't apply foliar because figure the rain that was coming right after planting would wash off before it could absorb. Either way quite a bit of damage in a short order. Plants fully treated now but hopefully they're not infected and a ticking time bomb for YVD as we've experienced the past few years. Pictured is the 2517 Haist which had the worst damage of the 3 AG's.   Tuesday, May 14 View Page 2030 Tobeck took even more damage than any of the other plants.   Wednesday, May 15 View Page Got home from work and stepped outside of the garage into the middle of a bee tornado. Recognized it as a swarm on the move so was going to follow it to see where they landed.   Wednesday, May 15 View Page Didn't have to go far, only around the corner of the garage where they seemed to be gathering in front of a hive that had died out this winter. Had left it out for the neighboring hive to clean up and was just thinking it was time to put it away before the wax moths took over.   Wednesday, May 15 View Page Closer inspection confirmed they were moving in. First time I've had a swarm move into an empty hive on their own vs having to capture and relocate them. Wish they were all this easy, lol   Wednesday, May 15 View Page 1655.5 has stretched out to 10' on the main vine and still doing well. Looking at other diaries looks like using soil heating cables would have it further along, but we are well ahead of what we have ever been on this date with the methods documented. Not sure how much the cables would add to the utility bill. I'm guessing some growers have tracked it to know for sure.   Wednesday, May 15 View Page By comparison here is the 2287 Sadiq which was our early plant on this date last year. Was just starting to run at this point and we ended up pollinating it on June 6th. Looks like we should be a couple weeks ahead of that if we get females to show up in the right place.   Friday, May 17 View Page First walleye trip this year on the lake was a success!   Sunday, May 19 View Page Seems like about the time I get close on getting caught up with the diary, fall a few weeks behind again. AG patch looks a little ragged after the beetle attack, especially the 2517 Haist, but they're starting to get some replacement leaves. There was also a discussion a little while back about plants growing straight up instead of laying down. These plants wanted to do that as well. From past experience seems like when my plants spend a little extra time in pots in the greenhouse, they tend to do this. Think the plant wants to grow upward instead of sideways in that situation and the alignment of the vine gets slightly off. By rotating the vine to the side slightly seems to realign and the vine starts dropping fairly quickly. These were turned slightly earlier in the day and by evening they were well on their way down to the ground.   Sunday, May 19 View Page Got the second round of watermelons in this week. Shown are the 140.5 Cantrell grafted on bottle gourd root stock in front and the 284 Dawson grafted on rampart gourd rootstock in back.   Sunday, May 19 View Page Other half of the second round of watermelons. 308 Kent Grafted on bottle gourd in front with the 146.5 Young grafted on rampart gourd in back   Sunday, May 19 View Page Now that things are starting to dry out a little really need to finish cleaning up the patches and get the rest of the amendments in. First round of melons look OK so far. 341.5 Vial in front with the 299 Dawson in back.   Sunday, May 19 View Page other pair of first round melons with our 202.5 in front and the 210.5 Zappa in back   Sunday, May 19 View Page Growing three cantaloupe this year. Trying something different by growing one under the long gourd trellis. Seeing if the shade might extend growing days, but most likely won't have an effect. Pictured is the 64.7 Terry. In the background is the 159 Jutras long gourd. This has been a good aggressive plant up to this point but something doesn't look right with it at the moment. Bottom leaves seem to be crisping up and top ones are spotting. Sprayed this plant with the same stuff as the others the day of the beetle attack. Wouldn't think that is the cause as none of the other plants that were sprayed with that insecticide are showing any ill effects.   Sunday, May 19 View Page Other two cantaloupe are the 71.6 English and the 53.15 Howell/Jolivette   Sunday, May 19 View Page 384.5 Terry bushel gourd starting to bush up a little   Sunday, May 19 View Page First field pumpkin in the patch is the 117 Caspers. 2030 Tobeck squash in the background   Sunday, May 19 View Page Our 52.5 butternut from last year. This was an open pollination so we'll see from the fruit if it selfed or crossed with one of other nearby squash last year.   Sunday, May 19 View Page Going to try and advance some squash x AG hybrids another generation along with these plants. They're not going to get much room or care. Goal is to get something in the 200-300 lb range and there should be enough nutrients in the ground for that. Shown are the 1133 Yohe, 1326.5 Young/Rhodes, and far in the background is the 1028 Mace. Had also planned to grow the 601 Mace but two germination attempts failed. The Young/Rhodes isn't a hybrid, but a 2145.5 McMullen x Self that exhibited as a squash so curious what it will become as well. All will be crossed with the 2030 Tobeck unless the 1326.5 looks like a pumpkin. Might cross it with something else if that's the case.   Sunday, May 19 View Page Also trying two AG squash hybrids at the other end of this strip to see what they look like. One is the 130 Soner/Boner AG x Buttercup and the other is the 100 Ciesielski AG x Red Kuri   Sunday, May 19 View Page Close to pruning the first couple of secondaries at the back of the hut on the 1655.5. There's a blossom at 12 ft that we're going to pass as there's another showing at 15' which will have more secondaries behind it.   Sunday, May 19 View Page Wet weather was rough on our brassicas. Only one kohlrabi and cabbage in the group that's showing any potential at the moment.   Sunday, May 19 View Page Giant onions are around the size of baseballs now. One has split so won't be show worthy but will use it to make some onion rings on our upcoming Canada fishing trip   Sunday, May 19 View Page Last thing added this week are two of our 12.06 zucchini   Monday, May 20 View Page There was a discussion earlier on what to do with vines at the end of the year. Here's a spot I threw a diseased AG last year. Can see how much greener and taller the grass is there from the nutrients leeching out.   Monday, May 20 View Page First tomato of the year from the early volunteer plants is starting to turn. Didn't grow much from when the plants went to the garden as the wet weather about killed them. Had to dig a decent hole when planting these larger plants out and our clay became a pond around the root balls about drowning the plants. Hopefully the tomato will have some decent flavor when it finishes as the first one of the year is always a treat   Saturday, May 25 View Page Picked the first tomato of the year from one of the early volunteer plants. First one is always a treat, then by the end of the year I'm thinking what am I going to do with all these tomatoes, lol   Saturday, May 25 View Page Looks like all three of the early volunteer tomatoes are giant varieties, probably domingos. They all are throwing mega blossoms, but unfortunately haven't recovered enough to grow anything serious yet. Might try for a larger one from these later on when the plants are filled back in.   Sunday, May 26 View Page Got a couple of the areas cleaned up a little better this week so we can actually find our plants. Only a rough till as 4' tractor till was having issues keeping the back door in place so finished the job without it before the upcoming rain. Will come back through later with the smaller tiller and knock the clods down a bit before I finish with landscape fabric. First round of melons starting to vine out some.   Sunday, May 26 View Page Second round of melons taking off good after transplanting as well   Sunday, May 26 View Page Most of the giant tomatoes went in this week as well. In the mix in no particular order are the 9.06 Brown, 7.88 Butler, 7.69 Clayton, 6.81 Gantner, 6.39 Gantner, 5.48 Greene, 2.72 Greene. 7.44 Jolivette, 7.06 Jolivette, 8.157 Lai, 8.355 Strickler, and 8.48 Sutherland   Sunday, May 26 View Page AG's starting to stretch out some now. Starting to see the B gene really starting to express itself on the 2517 Haist. Was a little surprised to see some of it on the 2469 Daletas. Don't remember it showing it the first time I grew it a few years ago.   Sunday, May 26 View Page 2030 Tobeck mostly recovered from the early beetle attack for now and running. 117 Caspers starting to bush up after transplanting.   Sunday, May 26 View Page First pollination of the year on the 1655.5 at 15'   Sunday, May 26 View Page Not the best looking blossom and a little funky with the vine attached to the stem of the pumpkin. It was also facing a little downward as opposed to being straight up like they normally are. There's another blossom at 18' that will be ready in a few days if this one doesn't turn out.   Sunday, May 26 View Page Hard to get a good angle that shows off all of the 1655.5, ends up looking smaller than it actually is. Plenty of sides to push this one if it does become the keeper   Sunday, May 26 View Page Not much change in the 52.5 squash since last week   Sunday, May 26 View Page Still need to get the cantaloupe patch cleaned up   Sunday, May 26 View Page First 159 Jutras died off so has been replaced with a hastily germinated backup. It's still small so under the jug for protection for a few days.   Sunday, May 26 View Page The 384.5 Terry bushel gourd starting to run this week   Friday, May 31 View Page Second pollination on the 1655.5. Never have had a May pollination before and now have two to work with this year.   Friday, May 31 View Page The deed is done, 1655.5 x Self. Somehow got a little dirt in there when pollinating.   Sunday, June 2 View Page Long day getting caught up in the garden today so most pics will be group shots. AG's are vining out, seeing some babies in the tips, but way to early to pollinate. Haist plant just doesn't seem to be doing well with most secondaries missing. This patch also has the second round of competition melons.   Sunday, June 2 View Page This patch has the Tobeck squash, Caspers FP, first round of competition melons and the giant tomatoes at the bottom of the patch. Seeing some babies show up on a few of the melon plants. Although the plants are a little small may try pollinating a couple to see what happens.   Sunday, June 2 View Page 64.7 Terry cantaloupe under the LG trellis has struggled early on. What fried the first 159 Jutras LG plant also seems to affected the first several leaves on this cantaloupe as well. Second 159 Jutras LG plant out from under the jug, but looks like something has taken a couple nips out of the plant stem.   Sunday, June 2 View Page Got a couple fabric strips down for the squash genetic plants to help with weed control. Their growing area will be pretty much limited to this 8' wide prepared area and any weeds/grass to the outside of the patch   Sunday, June 2 View Page Will be the same for the two AG hybrid plants   Sunday, June 2 View Page 12.06 Zucchini are starting to bush up. Seeing some female blossoms but too early to let any of them grow.   Sunday, June 2 View Page Bushel gourd and squash patch got cleaned up this week. Also added the 55.5 Brown butternut, 204 Hebb Lunga, and 61 Stang marrow to this patch.   Sunday, June 2 View Page When cleaning up the patches, lifted the fabric for the 1655.5 plant to weed the edges before adding the next runs. Lots of roots on the surface under the fabric and could see pretty clear how far from the plant they were reaching   Sunday, June 2 View Page First pollination on the 1655.5 seems to have taken and is swelling up some. Will have to see how the second pollination does before deciding which one we're going with.   Sunday, June 2 View Page Giant cantaloupe patch cleaned up this week as well. These two look a lot better than the Terry plant. Having issues getting field pumpkins to germinate this year. The 3rd FP plant will occupy this patch also once i can get the last one to come up.   Sunday, June 2 View Page Giant onions don't seem to be getting a lot of top growth but the bulbs are getting bigger. Around the size of a baseball now.   Saturday, June 8 View Page Working on getting the ground cover down this week before we leave on our annual fishing trip now that the ground has been amended and most of the plants are in the ground. This brown snake was hiding out in one of the pieces and was trying to be intimidating by flattening itself out. Wasn't sure of exact species and looked it up. Couple different varieties of brown snakes in Iowa, think this is the Texas brown snake. Looks like they're good guys to have around the garden.   Sunday, June 9 View Page First round of fabric down and plastic snow fence for grip added for the 53.15 H/J and 71.6 English cantaloupes. In the background, but hard to see the 168.7 Baggs FP has been added to this plot.   Sunday, June 9 View Page Fabric and plastic poultry fence down for the first melon plot   Sunday, June 9 View Page Same for the second melon plot. Some marigold and nasturium plants were added between melons as an attempt to reduce pests   Sunday, June 9 View Page Second pollination on the 1655.5 looked like it was aborting so decided to cut and dissect for inspection. Not a clean cut, but looks like decent wall thickness.   Sunday, June 9 View Page First pollination will be the keeper by default. It's swelling up but doesn't look like it's growing real fast. Tomorrow will be DAP 15. Usually don't measure until day 20 or 25 but will be gone on the fishing trip for both of those days. Will probably sneak in a measurement on Thursday DAP 18 so that we have something to establish growth rate when we get back.   Sunday, June 9 View Page Main vine has been repositioned for the chosen pumpkin   Sunday, June 9 View Page 2517 Haist chose its own replacement main vine this week by growing the secondary forward. Goal for this patch is to get some fabric down and vines buried before leaving on vacation.   Sunday, June 9 View Page Same goal for the 2030 Tobeck squash plot this week   Sunday, June 9 View Page 384.54 Treey BG not growing the greatest but adding secondaries   Sunday, June 9 View Page Second 159 Jutras long gourd died as well, not sure what's going on. Third seed in the germination greenhouse, but pretty sure this will eliminate us from having one ready for the state fair. Started some sunflowers around the trellis, a mix of tall and big head. 64.7 Terry cantaloupe hanging out in the back. It looks like it's growing out of whatever set it back early on.   Sunday, June 9 View Page Fabric down and giant tomatoes are caged except for the 8.355 Strickler in front. Don't know what happened to it but was cracked in two places early on. Maybe stepped on by a deer. Buried the lower crack but the upper injury has it growing sideway. Plan is to either train a sucker below injury to be main plant and prune the top or to root a sucker and start from scratch. One of these years will trial using fence and alternative pruning technique but running behind this year. Looks like Ned is trying something different so may be able to steal from some of his ideas if any of those work out for him.   Sunday, June 9 View Page Butternut/Lunga/Marrow plants coming along   Sunday, June 9 View Page Main garden cleaned up as well this week and looking good. This is usually the point where I start to lose the battle with weeds when we leave for vacation and the focus when we get back is to get caught up on competition plant needs   Tuesday, June 11 View Page Clearing out the outside greenhouse of remaining plants before vacation. Had some rhubarb sets that still needed planted. This tree frog was hanging out in the tray taking advantage of the wet pad   Tuesday, June 11 View Page Liked how he was just laying there with its front legs crossed all relaxed.   Thursday, June 13 View Page Last update before the fishing trip. More work to do but have all the work I'm going to get done before we leave. Watermelon patch one has a couple early pollinations.   Thursday, June 13 View Page Prospect on the 299 Dawson   Thursday, June 13 View Page One on our 202.5 from last year   Thursday, June 13 View Page Watermelon patch 2 has some females showing up as well but will worry about those when we get home   Thursday, June 13 View Page Fabric down and tomatoes caged. There's a few megas showing up already   Thursday, June 13 View Page This one will open while we're gone   Thursday, June 13 View Page Kinda hoping this one takes   Thursday, June 13 View Page Might miss a pollination opportunity or two on the other AG's while we're gone but shouldn't hurt the plants to get a little bit bigger anyways. 2469 Daletas still the biggest plant with the main right at 15'   Thursday, June 13 View Page 1655.5 DAP 18   Thursday, June 13 View Page Giant zucchini plants looking good. Will start pollinating on our return.   Thursday, June 13 View Page Giant onions are the size of softballs now. Culled the big double for some onions rings to go with the fish on our trip.   Friday, June 14 View Page Heading North for a week of fishing!   Saturday, June 15 View Page Snapping turtle laying its eggs on the sand volleyball court at the hotel we stayed at in Dryden. Never seen so many turtles-painted and snappers- on the road on the way up between Fort Frances and Dryden. Their egg laying season is about a month behind ours in Iowa it appears.   Saturday, June 15 View Page Nice smallmouth on the first day   Sunday, June 16 View Page Nice mixed bag today. Although we concentrate on walleye for most of the trip, pike are fun incidentals. Over the years have found a couple decent perch spots on the lake and usually spend at least one morning each week chasing those.   Monday, June 17 View Page This morning was a hard rain with high winds so decided to drive down to one of the local dams to fish instead of going out on the lake. This wolf crossed the road in front of us and sat there as we drove by. Backed up to take a pic and it started to walk back out to the road towards the truck. Wasn't acting quite right and noticed when looking back through the pics its eyes were shut in about all of them so seems it had something wrong with it.   Thursday, June 20 View Page One of the many nice walleye caught on the trip   Thursday, June 20 View Page The week goes too fast. Looking out over the lake from the cabin porch on the last night at camp   Friday, June 21 View Page Started a new tradition last year where we stop and fish somewhere different the last day other than the lake we were on all week. Put in the river below the lake this year. Ended up with my biggest pike of the week.   Sunday, June 23 View Page Back from vacation, time for a patch inspection. Was hot, dry, and windy at home while we were gone. Weather pattern here for last several years is once we get to May/June rains just don't make it to our area. Still get all the negatives that come with storms (high winds that tear things up) without the moisture payoff. Vine growth that occurred while we were gone is a bit of a mess along with some scorched leaves on vine tips from the high heat. Looks like most of the automatic watering system worked though so overall patch is in decent shape. 1655.5 starting to look like her momma while we were gone. Blossom end growing under and starting to appear a little lumpy on top. Day 27 was yesterday and snuck in a measurement last night when we got home. Averaged a little over 19 lbs/day while we were gone, so no where near what we would like it to be but hopefully she's like here momma and growing on the inside as much as out as well for some hidden gains. Will measure again in a couple of days at day 30 to see current growth rate. Will also start foliar feeding to see if we can pick up the pace some.   Sunday, June 23 View Page Doesn't look lie any of the megas on the tomatoes took while we were gone. Don't seem to have much luck with the early first truss ones over the years but still have some showing decent candidates if any these take. These two are on the 7.06 Jolivette.   Sunday, June 23 View Page 7.88 Butler has a nice one as well   Sunday, June 23 View Page Giant onions still growing well despite the lack of leaves   Sunday, June 23 View Page Made a mistake and bought a sprinkler with a built-in manual timer. Kids were supposed to reset each day but didn't happen so dirt on the main garden is pretty dry after last week's weather. Plants with good roots pulled though ok, but smaller plants struggled. Had 3 variety of potatoes planted. The red potatoes, which were just out of range of the neighboring sprinkler all died while the next few hills of the next variety are still barely kicking. The 3rd variety looks fairly healthy still. First sweet corn planting starting to tassel. Seeing some coon tracks on the fabric around the garden so time to break out the traps to protect the patch.   Sunday, June 23 View Page The two 12.06 zucchini plants did well despite the dry conditions. Will start pollinating this week for the state fair.   Monday, June 24 View Page First pollination attempt on the 2030 Tobeck squash.   Monday, June 24 View Page Starting to work on the raccoon population that's snooping around the garden before the sweetcorn gets ready. Normally they raid the patch 2-3 days before it's ready to be picked.   Tuesday, June 25 View Page Some pollinations in the hybrid plant patch this morning. First up is the 601 Mace AG x Squash.   Tuesday, June 25 View Page Fruits have been a green/yellow mix so far. Crossed with 2030 Tobeck   Tuesday, June 25 View Page Next up is the 1326.5 Young/Rhodes which was a 2145.5 that was exhibited as a squash.   Tuesday, June 25 View Page So far the fruits on this one have been yellow. Crossed with 2030 Tobeck as well.   Tuesday, June 25 View Page Finally was the 130 Soner/Boner AG x Buttercup   Tuesday, June 25 View Page Fruits on this one have been small and green. Selfed this one.   Tuesday, June 25 View Page Raccoon customer #2 this morning.   Tuesday, June 25 View Page Day 30 on the 1655.5. Daily gains slightly higher than the last measure, but still hasn't ramped up like it should. Averaged a little over 20 lbs/day for the last 3 days.   Thursday, June 27 View Page #3 This morning. Normally have to work through a momma bringing her litter up to the patch but so far it's been solitary big ones.   Thursday, June 27 View Page First pollination on the 1911 Urena. 1911 x 2469   Thursday, June 27 View Page First pollination on the 2469. Main vine self-terminated so this is on a secondary. Placement isn't ideal so will try to get one on a different side that's a little further down the main when one shows up. Placeholder in case that doesn't happen. 2469 x 1655.5   Friday, June 28 View Page First pollination on 2517 Haist. 2517 x 1911   Saturday, June 29 View Page 100 Ciesielski AG x Red Kuri collapsing. Noticed a little leaf droop on this plant yesterday but looked good again this morning. By evening looks like it's done. No noticeable disease on leaves and don't see any insect damage around the crown/vines so not sure what happened. Seeing a couple drooping leaves on the 130 Soner Boner AG x Butternut so it's most likely heading for the same fate. Guessing it's root related with total sudden collapse unless it's spray drift from neighbor's bean field. Other garden plants in the vicinity don't seem affected if it's spray drift though.   Sunday, June 30 View Page Littke better numbers on the 1655.5 Day 35. Still not where it needs to be but averaged a little under 25 lbs a day for the last 5. Will still make a nice fair pumpkin early August if it can maintain this pace.