Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 92 Entries. Tuesday, March 15 View Page This years lineup was started today. Maybe one of these seeds have a state record in it! � Thursday, April 7 View Page We are growing a few plants this year. This is tomatoes, herbs, and of coarse watermelon. � Thursday, April 7 View Page Got a package in the mail yesterday. Thanks Mark! � Thursday, April 7 View Page This seedling has the largest cot leaves that I have ever seen on a watermelon plant. Hope that means something down the road. This is a 251 Kent. Thanks for the seeds Chris! � Thursday, April 7 View Page Early watermelon plants started 2 1/2 weeks ago. Getting true leaves now. Root Keeper has roots at the bottom of the cups already! Bout time to pot up to a one gallon container. Still a couple of weeks before planting time. Thanks to everyone who was nice enough to provide us with seeds. � Saturday, April 16 View Page Trying something different this year. Growing all of our vegetables and herbs in grow bags. � Saturday, April 16 View Page 290 Mudd in back and 302 Kent in front. Growing like crazy! Will be planted next week. � Saturday, April 16 View Page 251 Kent, 255 Mitchell, 274 Mudd, and 229 Edwards. Growing good. Temps warming up so these will hit the ground next week. � Saturday, April 16 View Page 228 Bentley, 350 Kent, 267 Edwards, and 238.5 Holloway. All 10 of these plants are competing for the 8 available spots. Going to be a tough choice with some. The roots of all of these plants are screaming to be put in the ground! � Saturday, April 16 View Page 290 Mudd and 302 Kent. Forgot to add pic on earlier post. � Monday, April 18 View Page All main melons planted today. This is the 229 Edwards. � Monday, April 18 View Page 302 Kent � Monday, April 18 View Page 251 Kent � Monday, April 18 View Page 290 Mudd � Monday, April 18 View Page 255 Mitchell � Monday, April 18 View Page 255 Mitchell � Monday, April 18 View Page 276 Mudd � Monday, April 18 View Page 238.5 Holloway � Monday, April 18 View Page 267 Edwards � Monday, April 18 View Page We also have (2) 228 Bentley, a 251 Kent, and a 350 Kent as backups. � Thursday, April 21 View Page First ever attempt at grafting melons. Today I grafted a 296 Barber, a 274 Mudd, and a 260 Clementz. All grafted to Shintosa rootstock. We will see in a few days if they take. � Thursday, April 21 View Page Correction from earlier post. This is a 274.5 Mudd not a 276 Mudd. � Wednesday, April 27 View Page 350 Kent. Still a little small but I couldn't pass up growing this one. Thank Chris! � Wednesday, April 27 View Page 228 Bentley. This one and the 350 are planted in virgin soil, never grown anything here. Only amendments are compost and lime. These are more of a test than anything. � Monday, May 2 View Page All melons have been in the ground for 2 weeks today. This is the 229 Edwards. All melons just starting to vine out with a 1 foot long main vine. � Monday, May 2 View Page 302 Kent � Monday, May 2 View Page 251 Kent � Monday, May 2 View Page 290 Mudd � Monday, May 2 View Page 255 Mitchell � Monday, May 2 View Page 274.5 Mudd � Monday, May 2 View Page 238.5 Holloway � Monday, May 2 View Page 267 Edwards � Monday, May 2 View Page We planted 4 fuzzy kiwi 5 years ago and they are FINALLY blooming! Can't wait to harvest these little things this fall. � Tuesday, May 31 View Page 229 Edwards. This is by far our slowest growing plant up till now. It started kinda slow last year and picked up growth later. Still got a 170 lb melon off of last years plant so I will be a little more patient with this one. � Tuesday, May 31 View Page Some of our fuzzy kiwi growing on the vine. Won't be ready till around November. Maybe I can trade Chris Kent some of our kiwi for some of his lemons.lol � Tuesday, May 31 View Page This is our 228 Bentley. We planted this one and the 350 Kent later than all others hoping to make some later weigh offs. � Tuesday, May 31 View Page 350 Kent. Planted later and vines are just starting to grow � Tuesday, May 31 View Page 267 Edwards � Tuesday, May 31 View Page 255 Mitchell. Thanks for the seeds Marv! � Tuesday, May 31 View Page 290 Mudd. Thanks for the seeds Frank! � Tuesday, May 31 View Page 238.5 Holloway. Great seed from a super nice guy and great grower Jake Holloway. Thanks Jake! Hopefully I can make you proud this year in Cullman with a big ole melon off of this plant. � Tuesday, May 31 View Page 274 Mudd. Growing good with great weather. A little rain wouldn't hurt though. � Tuesday, May 31 View Page 251 Kent!!! I completely agree with Jeremy Terry-- the 251 is a absolute BEAST!! I can't wait to get a melon growing on this plant after some of the melons that Chris has grown from this seed. � Tuesday, May 31 View Page 302 Kent!! Probably growing a little better so far than its momma, the 251 Kent. Hoping for a HUGE melon off of both of these plants. Thanks for the seeds Chris! � Tuesday, May 31 View Page 274 Mudd � Saturday, June 11 View Page First pollination attempt this morning on 302 Kent. This cross is 238.5 Holloway x 302 Kent. � Saturday, June 11 View Page Another pollination on 302 Kent. Cross is 302 Kent x 290 Mudd. � Saturday, June 11 View Page This is on our 267 Edwards main vine. Double male at the same node. This is the 2nd node in a row with double males and double leaves. The third node back from the end has 3 leaves at the same node and it looks like 3 or 4 males. I think it has to be Marks Special Tea! � Sunday, June 12 View Page Pollinated this female on our 267 Edwards. About 9-10 feet out on main vine. A lot of odd growth on main vine on this plant so maybe this melon swells up fast. Cross is 267 Edwards x 290 Mudd. � Monday, June 13 View Page 302 Kent x 238.5 Holloway 2DAP � Thursday, June 16 View Page This is the set I've been waiting on now maybe it will grow. 302 Kent plant throwing out some huge blooms and big ole baby melons. It is a big plant already though. This one is a 302 Kent x 290 Mudd. 1DAP � Thursday, June 16 View Page 302 Kent x 238.5 Holloway pollinated this morning. � Thursday, June 16 View Page 251 Kent x Open. I was hoping for a controlled cross on this one but the wind had other plans! Oh well as long as gets big I don't care! Not as lucky on this plant as I was on the 302. Can't get anything good on main. � Saturday, June 25 View Page 251 Kent@ 10 DAP � Saturday, June 25 View Page 302 Kent@ 10 DAP � Monday, June 27 View Page Good looking culls from 274 Mudd and 290 Mudd. Would have liked to have grown these two but they didn't make the cut on these plants! Just received a quart of Marks Special Tea this weekend. Now it's time to start growing! � Sunday, July 3 View Page 274 Mudd x self. This one is growing talllll and widdddddde but no length! � Monday, July 4 View Page Happy July 4th to everyone in BP land! All plants have their keepers set, racks in place, and hoops up. Good luck to everyone this season. � Wednesday, July 6 View Page 302 Kent @ 20 DAP. Big ole pig charting right at 56 lbs � Wednesday, July 6 View Page 251 Kent @ 20 DAP. Speaking of pigs.lol. This one charts right at 59 lbs � Wednesday, July 6 View Page 274 Mudd @ 20 DAP. What this lacks in length it makes up for in tallness and width. Charts at 58 lbs � Wednesday, July 6 View Page 290 Mudd @ 20 DAP. This one almost became rabbit food early on. I covered it enough to give it a fighting chance and it has started growing good. Charts at a little over 56 lbs � Friday, July 8 View Page Day 20 on our 267 Edwards. Pollinated with the 255 Mitchell. 128.5 OTT. This is going to be a LONG melon!! We are calling this one "Michigan Melon #2" since the two seeds in this cross were grown in Michigan. "Michigan Melon #1" is a different cross that is a little YOUNGER than this one and ALOT bigger so far! Stay tuned!! � Saturday, July 9 View Page Today is Day 20 on the 238.5 Holloway x self. This one is growing like crazy and is starting to look like a scud missile. 134 OTT. I had the pleasure of meeting Jake last year in Cullman and talking growing with him. Jake is a super nice guy and any new grower would greatly benefit from asking Jake as many questions as possible about melon growing because he has ALOT of knowledge about it. As good as this one is growing it's just not growing fast enough to be the 20 day leader in our patch. � Thursday, July 14 View Page 267 Edwards. 25 DAP � Thursday, July 14 View Page 238.5 Holloway. 25 DAP. The 267 Edwards on the previous post is actually 26 DAP. � Thursday, July 14 View Page This is the baby of the patch on our 255 Mitchell plant. It's only the baby because it is the youngest. It's definitely not the smallest!! � Thursday, July 14 View Page 255 Mitchell side view � Tuesday, July 19 View Page 267 Edwards(AKA Michigan melon #2) 30 DAP yesterday. Long melon charting just over 100 lbs. it's got about 38 days to make its case for going to the Cullman weighoff. I think it will grow good but I don't think it will catch its "brother"(Michigan melon #1) � Tuesday, July 19 View Page 238.5 Holloway. 30 DAP. Growing good just have to keep it going now. Big plant and big melon. Charts over 100 lbs now. Wish the plant would grow slower and the melon would grow faster though.Lol � Tuesday, July 19 View Page 251 Kent. 33 DAP. Charts right at 100 lbs. If you ask me this seed is well on its way to being one of the best ever. Is it just me or do a lot of the really good seeds have that "Kent" name at the end.Lol � Tuesday, July 19 View Page 302 Kent. 33 DAP. Charts just under 100 lbs. the 302 and 251 were same OTT at 20 DAP. Momma is showing who the boss is now though.Lol � Wednesday, August 3 View Page 267 Edwards. Picture doesn't show how long this melon is. And it has that rounded top that I like to see. � Wednesday, August 3 View Page 238.5 Holloway. This one is long, tall, and getting wide too. � Thursday, August 4 View Page 255 Mitchell x self. One of our top 2 growing melons right now. The youngest in the patch this year also. Should soon be our 2nd biggest if growth rate continues. � Thursday, August 4 View Page Everyone is posting pics of their best melons so here is our bell cow for this year. 229 Edwards x 255 Mitchell(AKA Michigan Melon #1). I finally talked her into having her picture taken Lol. Not knowing for sure if we can make it to another weighoff has made me decide to take her to Cullman. She will be 68 DAP the day of the weighoff. We will see how big she can get by then! � Monday, August 8 View Page 255 Mitchell x self. If we are able to make it to the Kentucky weighoff it will be because this little baby got BIG! She still the youngest in the patch(almost 40 DAP) and taping right at 175 lbs. had to make an "adjustment" this morning cause she outgrew her rack. It is not fun to make adjustments when they are this size. � Monday, August 8 View Page This should make loading melons much easier and safer this year. � Monday, August 8 View Page Top view of 255 Mitchell--AKA Baby � Tuesday, August 9 View Page 267 Edwards. 50 DAP. � Tuesday, August 9 View Page 238.5 Holloway. 50 DAP. I don't think this one will quite end up as big as its mama but it will be very close. � Sunday, August 21 View Page This is our 238 Holloway melon that we took to Russellville yesterday. It taped right at 170 lbs but actually weighed 187 lbs. So this is now the 187 Bentley. � Sunday, August 21 View Page This is a pic of our 229 Edwards x 255 Mitchell melon on August 2nd @ 43 DAP. It taped just under 200 at this point. We will see what it actually weighs this Saturday in Cullman! It will be 68 DAP on Saturday. � Friday, August 26 View Page 255 Mitchell x Self. Still growing good at 57 DAP. It's funny how much better it has grown since I found that 40 lb cull hiding under the vines and removed it Lol. We still have 22 days for this one to prove its case for a trip to Kentucky! � Friday, August 26 View Page Wish I would have had this one at the end of June instead of the end of August Lol! � Monday, September 5 View Page 255 Mitchell@ 74 DAP. This is the by far the biggest and healthiest plant I have ever grown. Melon is growing slow but is growing steady. It did gain 3 lbs by the chart today though. I did try something fairly extreme on this plant considering the size of the melon on it. I am hoping the 3 lb gain today is a sign that our extreme efforts are about to work but we will see. One of two things are going to happen: this melon is going to grow or this plant is going to die! Right now, this plant is showing no signs of decline though. Jake Holloway told me that he didn't pull his 238 until every leaf on the plant was dead and that is exactly what I'm going to do. � Monday, September 5 View Page 255 Mitchell stump � Monday, September 5 View Page 255 Mitchell plant. Almost all leaves and vines are still very green and healthy. We are also getting a lot of new growth as well. � Monday, September 5 View Page This is the rest of the 255 Mitchell plant. It's Big! Too big to get in one picture.Lol � Friday, September 9 View Page This is the hole in the 255 Mitchell stump. I have cleaned it out as much as I can and applied sulfur end the heck out of it. � Friday, September 9 View Page This is the 302 Kent stump replanted beside the 255 Mitchell stump. The vine coming from the 302 is the main vine that I grafted to the vine on the 255 that the melon is growing on. This is an part experiment and part backup just in case the 255 stump goes down. � Friday, September 9 View Page This is the two vines after being connected together. I didn't want to wrap it with tape just in case it caused rot so I just tied them tightly with twine. It appears that the inside of both vines are aligned so hopefully it takes and keeps growing. If not then we've probably got a 230 lb melon. �