Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 21 Entries. Sunday, March 22 View Page This year, there was a record amount of snow. Sunday, March 22 View Page The layer of compacted snow is more than 1.2 meters thick. Friday, March 27 View Page Today, I grafted a smiley watermelon onto a special rootstock, Ruth Power. It's exactly one week since the seeds were soaked. Friday, March 27 View Page I'm launching the second batch of watermelons today. Saturday, April 4 View Page I'm starting to plant pumpkins today. Tuesday, April 7 View Page After the vaccination, the watermelon began to grow. Wednesday, April 8 View Page 2257.4 Vangel and 2136 Chusov sprouted very quickly. Tuesday, April 14 View Page The watermelon was too crowded in 2 liters. I transferred it to a 5-liter pot. Tuesday, April 14 View Page 2096 Chusov didn't want to come out for a very long time. The cotyledons were slightly rotten. Wallace never came out. Monday, April 20 View Page Today, the watermelon was transplanted to a permanent location in the greenhouse. There is a heating cable at the bottom. It is additionally covered with a film. Tuesday, April 21 View Page 2557.4 Vangeel Tuesday, April 21 View Page 2136 Chusov is developing faster than anyone else, ahead of the others by one and a half liters. Wednesday, April 22 View Page Today, the first male flowers unexpectedly appeared. The plant is doing very well after the transplant, growing two inches per day. Tuesday, May 12 View Page The watermelon has grown. After a week of warm weather, it's been cold with nighttime frosts. The heater is running 24/7. It's snowing today. Friday, October 16 View Page I decided to take stock of the 2026 season. This year, I grew a lot of giant crops. The most unexpected thing for me was a tomato weighing 6.69 pounds. The variety is "Giant Farina". At the time of weighing, it was a Russian record. But this year, Russia has made a real breakthrough in terms of tomato production. The record was broken repeatedly, without stopping. Friday, October 16 View Page Photo of a tomato Friday, October 16 View Page I made a big step in growing giant watermelons. I fell just short of my goal for this season. The watermelon weighed 215 pounds. Friday, October 16 View Page This season, I planted two bushels of pumpkins for seeds. The care was minimal. I hardly watered them. As a result, we set a Russian record. The first bushel was sent to Moscow for the "Battle of the Giants" competition and took first place. At the time of harvesting, its weight was 249 pounds, but after traveling several thousand kilometers, it had lost weight to 236 pounds. The second one was harvested a month later, and its weight was also 249 pounds. Friday, October 16 View Page This season, I planted giant marrows for the first time. The first harvest all burst, and in early August I pollinated them again. There was still a month left before the competition, and I had almost given up hope. But one marrows started growing very rapidly. In 32 days, it weighed 136 pounds. I took first place. I didn't expect anything like that. Friday, October 16 View Page I also still have a few marrows that continued to grow. One of them surpassed the 187-pound mark, but unfortunately, it turned out to have a crack. Friday, October 16 View Page This season, I've had a complete fiasco with my pumpkins. All three of them burst. The largest one grew faster than any of my previous records, and I had high hopes of breaking my personal record. But after reaching 1,190 pounds a month before the competition, it burst.