This was going to be a year off for me to give me and the soil a break but somehow I found a way to grow one pumpkin along with Phil and Jane Hunt. This was the only way I could be involved in this since I injured my left shoulder back in December and I am limited in my abilities to do things that I would normally have no problem with.
Saturday was the best day so far this year and I was able to take advantage of It. I added all the soil amendments to the growing site including compost, peat moss, bio-char, K-mag, sulfur, kelp, humic, 46-0-0 and some 19-19-19.
After that was done Phil tilled up entire patch and I installed the heater cable and got a 8' x 9' hoop house built. I really hope that this was the hardest day for me this season.
There will be two plants started in hoop house which is large enough to walk into. Aiming for a planting date of May 9th. Would be sooner but the pumpkins won't be ready until then.
The fodder beets and kohlrabi plants have to go into the ground sooner. I started them in January which was too early but I was off work for two months and I had lots of time on my hands. The ones that I transplanted into large pots are all larger and more robust than the plants in the 6" pots.
Getting them out of here will give me room to start some tomato plants soon.
This is how the carved 1939.5 turned out. Another amazing carving by Andrew Munro.
The patch has been long cleaned up and tilled for 2021. I put down a cover crop of winter wheat but....
It soon became chicken feed to the neighbours flock.
The 1597 Hunt/Lyons was all dressed up for the times.
It was carved by Andrew Munro today. He usually does chain saw carvings but he did an amazing job on this pumpkin. Due to the cold and snow the 1939.5 will be done soon. His facebook page is The Carving Chef. The work he does is absolutely amazing.
The Woodbridge Fair weigh-off went smoothly thanks to the organizers, sponsors and volunteers. The rain showers held off until everything was weighed or measured.
The 1984 Barron is now the 1597 Hunt/Lyons 2020. It weighed right on the charts and was good for Fourth place.
My Mangelwurzel (Fodder Beet) came first at 53.8 lbs.
My Kohlrabi came first at 33.4 Lbs.
This is the 60.38 Mangelwurzel that I weighed at Port Elgin last week. I was awarded this amazing plaque on behalf of Port Elgin Pumpkinfest by Bob and Elaine Mackenzie.
Both of our pumpkins are now resting in front of the Hunt's home on Hwy 35.
The 1939.5 looks amazing and it really looks that big. Traffic began stopping for photos right after it was stood up. It will be an awesome jack o lantern.
I will provide updates on that soon.
We took advantage of the sunny dry conditions to begin cleaning up the patch. The weeds really took over the place in September. Not my favorite thing to be doing but it's important to get the ground cleaned up.
Good luck tommoro you guys !
Loading day part two at the Hunts. The 1984 Barron somehow survived the season with no issues. Even the ribs on the bottom are lumpy but feel solid.
Safely loaded on my truck for the trip to Woodbridge. It still measures around 420 " and unlike last year it actually feels heavy unlike last year's "air bubble".
I managed to squeeze it into the underground parking at home with about 1" to spare.
My crazy looking kohlrabi looks like it will be over 30 lbs. Just taking it to get an official weight. Usually I grow these just for the Royal Winter Fair.
I finally got a group picture of the 1939.5 pumpkin. It will become a jack o lantern over the next few weeks. It should be spectacular
The 2005 Haist is now the 1939.5 Hunt/Lyons 2020. It was great to finally win At Port Elgin after a 26 year drought. Unfortunately I did not take many photos due to the rapid nature of our weigh-in so I don't have any of us with the pumpkin on the scale.
My 6.76 lb. first place tomato. The tomato competition was the best I have ever seen at a weigh-off before.
There is nothing like celebrating with vintage Giant pumpkin wine. Thanks so much Dave McCallum.
Good looking stuff Chris. Good luck tomorrow. I'll be watching online
Loading day at the Hunt's. My newly acquired but old ring worked very well because of it's large diameter.
Phil and Jane Hunt and our loader extraordinaire Matt Leach. Everything went well and the pumpkin did not get too much strap scuff. Kind of important if the pumpkin has smooth skin and you are competing for the HD award.
My biggest tomato ever. It will easily break my previous PB with a CC of 28". Hoping for three Personal Bests tomorrow. Good luck everyone.
The pumpkins are still alive and still growing slowly. The 1984 Barron is sitting at around 420" and surprised me by outpacing the 2005 Haist considering the condition of the plant. I have no idea how either pumpkin will actually weigh.
The 9.71 Lambchop tomato is still green and growing despite being hit with blight. My biggest three tomatoes are all green.
This tomato on the 9.65 Porkchop plant is growing very well and could catch up to my other big one over the next few weeks. At this time the plant is much healthier so I have a chance with it.
I gave the fodder beets a haircut so I could get a better look at them. My personal best is around 48 lbs. so I am hoping to top that this year.
Nice tomato Chris. 4.91 lbs.
Another one for the team. 4.90 lbs. off the 4.28 Spazani.
My first tomato in a hammock. Growing on the 5.71 Lambchop, it is still growing well and will easily be a PB. for me. There was some freezing damage to the tomato plants but most of the plant was not damaged.
For the most part, both of the pumpkin plants survived three nights of freezing nights and cold days. They both are continuing to grow at a late September rate. The ribs on the 2005 Haist are slowly filling in as it is marks day 85. It measures 73 inches wide and 57 inches long.
I spent Friday covering and wrapping anything that needed protection. Both pumpkin plants had hoops put in around the plant to keep the fabric off the leaves. It was just in time because it was a crisp -2C this morning with lots of frost.
Phil took a look under the cover and it appears that there was little or no damage to the plant. Any leaves that were outside of the cover are toast. It is very cozy underneath especially on a cold day and since the pumpkins are still growing at about 8 lbs per day for the past week I would like to keep them going on that trend.
The Kiss of Death or Frost as we know it was so close last night. The temperature was hovering around 1C with frost on the roof tops but not on the ground yet. I think of this as a practice run with colder temps expected late in the week and on the weekend with a possible deep freeze.
The 1984 Barron at day 85. It is still intact and growing exactly as I would expect it to. It is doing about 9 lbs per day and is estimating a little over 1500 lbs now.
The 2005 Haist at day 79. It has slowed up more than I had hoped it would and although it is now the largest pumpkin ever grown in this region it will fall short of what I was hoping for. The plant's leaf and disease issues along with the cold weather are the main reason for it's decline.
We will be doing everything possible to get it through the upcoming weekend as the long term forecast is showing great conditions for the following week.
Another one for the team. 4.49 lbs off the 9.65 Porkchop
The flip side
Hoping for something special with this one on the 5.71 Lambchop.
Tomato plant ghosts? No, wrapped plants with Agribon row covering to protect them from cold nights or frost. I have been doing this for many years now and it seems to help.
The month of September can be a real challenge now. The often comfortable days are often followed by some cold nights. Other than the health of the plants, frost is a very serious possibility in the Kawartha Lakes region. It can happen quickly with very little warning and ever since I started growing here there has only been one September that did not have at least one hard frost.
Keeping our fingers crossed.
Jane and Myself with the 1984 Barron on day 76. It has slowed up a little to 14 lbs per day and was estimating about 1450 lbs. The main thing is that it is still holding together especially with the frequent rain storms and yo-yo temperatures.
The 2005 Haist at day 69. Still growing well averaging about 19 lbs. per day over the past week. The plant has been really beat up and has some powdery mildew and gummy stem blight but so far has not effected the pumpkin's growth.
Friday was tomato day in the Kawartha Lakes region due to ripening. All tomatoes today are over three pounds.
I only want my top two weights for now. This is now the 3.61 Lyons 2020. It was grown from the 5.71 Lambchop.
This is now the 4.70 Lyons 2020. It was grown off the 4.28 Spazani.
This is the rear view of the 4.70. It's not a beauty contest for sure. I have not registered this one with the GPC for a number of reasons. The main reason being that Friday in Fenelon Falls on a long weekend is crazy busy and I am hoping that I will have a heavier one soon that is showing a little colour now.
The other ominous reason is that our go to scale at the local co-op is out of bounds. They only do curbside transactions and I need to find another scale to have any early ones weighed.
This is one of my two best fodder beets. This one is about 24" tall and about 32" in circumference. This one has a few large protuberances that should add a little extra weight.
The 2005 Haist is a beauty Chris best of luck too with it !!!
The 1984 Barron at day 69. Lumpy averaged 16 lbs per day over the past 8 days and now sits around 1350 lbs.
The 2005 Haist at day 62. It averaged 25 lbs per day over the past 8 days. It is now larger than any pumpkin that I have ever grown and it appears that it could keep going well if the weather holds up and I can keep the plant relatively healthy.
Three inches of rain in two days is a little problematic and it could be a few more days to see what effects it will have.
The patch from the water tank cam. Plants have taken a few hits but if the leaves stay green the pumpkins should keep growing.
This is the largest tomato on the go now. It is on the 9.65 Porkchop. I will be weighing some ripening ones soon. If I get another week's growth on this one it will be a heavy tomato for Team 5.
This past week brought out some very cool nights. This along with shortening days and the age of the fruits the expected slowing growth really tells you that the season is beginning to wrap up.
The 1984 Barron on Day 61. It has thankfully slowed up to about 20 lbs per day this week and sits a little over 1200 lbs. It is only growing ribs and there are so many places where a failure could occur now. Just waiting to see what happens now.
There was an undetected leak in a drip line that was attracting amphibious wildlife to the 1984 pumpkin area. It has been repaired. Frogs are not happy.
The 2005 Haist at day 54. It has eased off to about 30 lbs per day for the past week and is now sitting at over 400" OTT. Still trying to keep the plant healthy despite it's state of canopy damage.
I like to think of this as my happy place. I'm also thinking Howard Dill award contender.
Lots of big tomatoes over 20" in circumference now but most of the interesting mega blooms are young and I hope will be ready for weigh-off season in October.
The month of August has been kind to us in the Kawartha lakes region. Except for a few cool nights we could not ask for better conditions. With a little luck we can ride the good weather until the end of the month.
The 1984 Barron on Day 54. It continues to become more lumpy but it is still holding together. It averaged about 28 lbs per day last week and is estimating near 1100 lbs.
The 2005 Haist at day 47. It averaged about 43 lbs per day this past week. Despite the condition of the plant it continues to grow incredibly well and still looks like a young pumpkin. Phil has been adding compost tea with a few additives and that is all the plants are receiving for drench feeding.
This is my largest fodder beet, a.k.a. Mangel Wurzel. If it does not go to seed or rot out it could be close to a PB for me.
The wind damage and a few days of cloudy wet weather does not appear to have affected the growth of both pumpkin plants. It could be a problem late in the season as the downed leaves may become prone to disease.
We are hoping that good weather for the rest of August helps the pumpkins to pack on as much weight as possible.
The 1984 Barron on day 49. Still very orange and lumpy. Still growing at about 30 lbs per day over the past 9 days. It estimates around 940 lbs. The pail in front of the stem has a fan in it to keep the stem dry since I was unable to build my structures over the pumpkins.
The 2005 Haist at day 42. Still orange and beautiful. Still growing at 45 lbs per day for the past 9 days and estimates over 1,000 lbs now.
The bag in front of the stem also has a fan in it to keep the stem dry. Should have an aero-cannon in by next week.
The main vine and stem on the Haist pumpkin are big and thankfully problem free.
My Kohlrabi plants are big and apparently delicious for cabbage worms. I think that they are under control now but damage done.
I still have a few mega bloom tomatoes that I am watching. This is another one on another 4.28 Spaziani plant.
After an epic struggle, Phil and myself managed to get the unused half of my patch covered with a double layer of greenhouse film to start solarizing the soil. This should help reduce weeds and soil disease for 2021. Bring on the Sun and heat!
The 2005 Haist plant took a thrashing over the past few days with high winds and more than enough rain. Things have started to dry out but how much this will effect the growth remains to be seen especially with the cooler overnight temps forecasted for the next few nights.
The past week provided ideal growing weather and the pumpkins were taking advantage of it. Another inch of rain early in the week really helped out.
The 1984 Barron at day 40. Still growing well with a 7 day growth rate at 33 lbs per day. It is sitting at about 670 lbs to start August and it continues to become a blocky but really nice orange pumpkin.
Both plants are maxed out at about 800 sq ft in size. So far I have not been able to detect any serious pathogen that would hamper their future growth.
We have been trying to maintain an average soil moisture level around 40% this season and so far it has been close to that although it varies throughout the plant.
If we get the expected rainfall amount this Sunday it will be saturated for a few days.
The 2005 Haist at day 33. It has rapidly accelerated to over 45 lbs per day and well over 600 lbs. over the past 7 days. The colour and shape is as good as it gets. We are hoping for something special from this one.
After weeks of drought a prolonged thunderstorm brought significant rain along with strong winds. The much needed rain was great but the wind added to an already existing problem with leaf blow down. It was caused when the high temperatures caused sections of both plants to produce leaves closer together and taller than normal. I am hoping that the large size of the plants will compensate for the amount of canopy that is effected.
The 1984 Barron pumpkin at day 33. It is doing well averaging 30 lbs per day over the last week and is around 450 lbs. It is an interesting looking pumpkin with a blocky shape and a strange looking stem that blends into the fruit.
The 2005 Haist at day 26. It averaged 32 lbs per day over the past week and is around 300 lbs. It has great shape and colour and appears to be the one to watch. By far it is the best growing pumpkin as it has really taken off after day 19.
Starting to see a few potential tomatoes. This one is on the 4.28 Spaziani. The plants are all looking very healthy for a change and I am confident that this should be a good season for my tomatoes. We will see.
The fodder beets are looking good so far. Not trying to push them too hard as they were being stressed by the hot weather. I like the wide shape of the two best ones. A tall skinny one fell over and pulled it's roots out of the ground. It's still alive but won't amount to much now.
The on-going heat and drought has led to serious water woes as we don't have any available. The last delivery arrived after the water tanks had run dry which was cutting it too close but everything worked out in the end.
The 1984 Barron at day 26. Starting to pick up the pace as the OTT has been a little slow but still on track with past years. It is growing at about 25 lbs. per day over the past 5 days.
It has become a blossom in shape very quickly leading to the trimming of the blossom in case it becomes swallowed up inside.
The 2005 Haist at day 19. Growing OK at over 60" but it is picking up the pace.
Still not sure how it will shape up as the top is larger than the bottom. We won't be able to do much more adjusting in a few days when it becomes too heavy to move .
Both plants have just about filled out their allotted spaces and Jane should be done with the vine burying by next weekend.
The 1984 Barron x 2005 Haist at day 21. Not huge at 71" but it's right on pace to last year's pumpkins and it has great shape and colour.
The 2005 Haist x 1984 Barron at day 14. About 40" now but more important, it appears that it survived the heat and is accelerating as well. Still not certain about how it will shape up yet.
So far the only thing I can do with one hand is weeding. Still not easy but since I hate seeing weeds it is a perfect fit for me. The access boards allow me to carefully walk into the plant and get as much done as possible and hopefully not puncture the drip lines.
Good going Chris and friends. I had my shoulder done last year and had to be pretty careful for several months. Don't think you can lift something, let someone else do it. I did and had to pay for it with a longer recovery and more therapy. Still growing things..Dave
Things are really cooking at the patch and it's not just the growers roasting in their own juices. I underwent my shoulder surgery shortly after my last post and I have found the short term recovery to be a little more challenging than I was expecting.
If it wasn't for Jane and Phil taking care of all our plants I would have to seriously consider pulling the plug on the whole season. For that I am so grateful to have friends that will help me get back to growing especially with the extreme heat that already makes working in the patch a difficult task.
This is the 1984 Barron at day 17. It is growing well and overall has good shape. It was crossed with the 2005 Haist. All of the fruit on this plant had had the double rib feature so it was not a factor in selecting the chosen one
This is the 2005 Haist on day 10. It was crossed with the 1984 Barron and was at 25" which is still better than all of my pumpkins last year. Keeping my fingers crossed that it and the Barron pumpkins keep going because they are all there is on both plants. If there is one thing that I can say about pollination is that foliar spraying of TKO once a week helps assure a successful pollination and so far this advice seems to be paying off for the past two seasons that I have been doing this.
I really miss the rain. We have been watering the plants twice a day so far. I roughly calculated, based on how much water was used that each plant is getting about 125 gals of water per day through the drip lines and it may have to be increased if we don't get a break in the heat or drought. So far it has been enough and the plants are doing well and look good.
There has been no nitrogen in the feeding program for a while now and the leaves look healthier than usual with no bloating in the leaves.
Time for the first tomato shot of the season. This is a 5.71 Lambchop which wasn't even on the plant last time I was at the garden. It is a double fruit and is sitting in a good position to grow out without any obstruction to hinder it's growth.
Summer in dry gulch can be a trying time for giant vegetable growers. Despite a small splash of rain during the week it has become apparent that this is already a hot and dry summer. Already had to buy the first load of water for our nearly dry water tanks and it looks like this will be the trend for the rest of the summer.
the 1984 Barron plant is quickly filling out it's space. The plant's growth picked up this past week in the heat and so far there has been no leaf burn from the high UV and heat. That's always a bonus.
This is the first pumpkin on the 1984 plant crossed with the 2005 Haist. It was five days old on Saturday and it looks like it was a successful pollination. It is sitting at about 15' on the main vine.
The 2005 Haist plant is also doing well and I am somewhat hopeful of a pollination by June 30th. This will be the first pumpkin on this plant and it will be around the 15' mark as well. A bit of a mystery why there are no other females on this plant yet.
There was no frost this past week and it has become very hot and humid during the past few days now. The cold snap seems to have slowed the plant growth during the past week so I would expect the plants to take off again with the hot weather settled in now.
The 1984 Barron plant is looking good. Lots of females showing now and I pollinated one on a rear side vine just for fun.
It looks like Phil Hunt will be on a double date with these two pumpkins on the 1984 Barron plant.
The 2005 Haist plant is doing good as well. It is still a few days behind the 1984 and it looks like the first female will be ready before the end of the month.
The fodder beets and kohlrabies are bulking up well.
This is the junction for all the watering lines. All plants are being watered by drip lines and are on timers so the plants are watered automatically . So far the system is working well. It would be nice to get some actual rain on the garden soon.
The wild and wacky weather swings are keeping things interesting but everything in the garden is moving forward. With a pollination date coming soon I can only hope for some stable conditions in the coming weeks. Presently the Kawartha Lakes area is under a frost advisory for two more nights and then followed by daytime temps reaching the low 30's.
The 1984 Barron plant is really looking good and both plants were relatively undamaged by the high winds this past week.
This is the growing tip pumpkin on the 1984 plant. It should be ready to go in about 8 days or so and will be at about the 13 -14' mark.
The 2005 Haist plant is trying hard to catch up with the 1984 plant. There is a tiny pumpkin hiding in the growing tip and should be ready later in the month.
Phil and I put in their drip lines around both pumpkin plants. A little more time consuming than setting up a sprinkler but they will do a better job at putting water down in the soil than the sprinklers do. With a possible hot and dry summer coming it should help keep the watering more efficient.
The tomato plants appear to have survived the transplant phase and are growing without any issues. This is a plant off the 9.65 Marley.
It's finally all out and go time. That being the protective covers are all off the plants and it's time to spread out and grow in the great outdoors.
Unfortunately it also brought the dreaded cucumber beetles which came back in the form of an infestation this past week. This was kind of expected after they took last season off.
The fodder beets and kohlrabi are growing well now and the tomatoes are all in now. The tomatoes should all be out of the shade structures by next week.
Despite the newly installed wind break the plants took a bit of a beating from very strong and gusty winds on Saturday. There were several near miss thunderstorms that kept passing by but the wind gusts from them caused some leaf damage. In other words I opened up the hoops a day too early.
The 1984 Barron plant is out to about 10' now. The 2005 Haist plant is at about 7.5 feet now as well. The growing tips of both plants are kept out of direct sunlight with the shade screens so they don't get damaged from the high UV levels and high temps forecast for this week. Unfortunately no pumpkins spotted on the plants yet. Hope that changes soon.
wow
This Spring has been a bit of a challenge and I would like to see the challenge part of it go away now. After high heat and humidity we had another cold snap with two nights of frost advisories over the weekend.
The 1984 Barron plant is out the end of the hoop house with a main vine of about 7' now. Unfortunately due to cold and windy weather it has to remain inside the hoop house for another day. The side vines had to be pushed back so it can stay inside a little longer. It will be out next weekend.
The 2005 Haist plant is smaller with a main vine of about 4' but the main vine is down and running and it looks like it is ready to really kick in and get going.
I only planted two of my tomato plants this past weekend so I could keep them protected from potential frost. The fodder beets and kohlrabi plants are looking a lot better now. The tomato plants will be grown at least 2 meters apart to allow for social distancing and prevent the spread of tomato blight.
It appears that spring was quickly replaced by summer even though I don't remember much of a spring season. Working at the patch was just like a hot day in July with the temperature around 30 C.
I decided to take advantage of the heat and extreme UV readings to till the entire patch and hopefully keep the weeds down for a while. I'm only using half of the patch this season and I want to clean up the soil in the unused half.
The old Honda tiller still amazes me at how well it works but I am really glad that is over with as it is a tough job to operate it with one arm.
The 2005 Haist plant is this season's problem child. It was growing up and back and required some lower leaves to be removed and some coaching to start directing it to grow forward. Two years ago I broke off the main vine under the same circumstance so a lot of caution is needed while doing this.
On the other hand the 1984 Barron plant despite also growing upwards last week dropped and began vining on it's own. The vine is about 3' now and I did my first vine burying and I would think that it will be out the back of the hoop house by next weekend.
Every plant I grow is kept in partial shade until they are fully acclimatized and with the hot weather hanging on for the week it helps keep the hoop house temperature from becoming excessive during the day.
The water pump is hooked up but we need more rain to help get the big tank filled. Only got 5-600 gals in it so far. If adequate rain does not come soon I will have to buy a load of water.
The tomatoes are growing very well and will be ready to go in the ground by next weekend. Go GVGO team 5. and go team "We the North"
It appears that the weather has finally broke and Spring conditions are here at last. Now I can concentrate on growing plants, not trying to keep them alive in the cold.
The pumpkins are still alive and are growing as well. This is the 1984 Barron which is looking very good after the past week's cold weather. It along with the 2005 Haist has it's growing tip stuck up in the air but I should be able to slowly coax it down and get it vining.
The fodder beets look a little rough from the repeated freezing weather with one that did not survive. The Kohlrabi plants look a little better and with the warmer weather I would think that they should start to grow now.
The tomatoes are up and looking good. They were planted directly in the soil with one seed per pot and the germination rate was 100% for a change.
Watering young plants can be a challenge now. After breaking through the ice the water jugs are filled and left inside the hoop house so the plants are not getting ice water on the roots
Polar vortex and gardening do not go together. Despite this I have had to push on and try to keep the garden on schedule since the plants don't like to wait.
I finally decided to start a second site and get the heater cables in and get the hoops up before the snow flew.
Not sure what was worse, the cold or the wind or the snow. I decided to tear down the first hoop house and replace it with a smaller one that is much sturdier. The old one was being beat up by the frequent high winds.
Thankfully Phil was around today to help me out on such a tough day.
The fodder beets and kohlrabi are for the most part alive but the -6C nights are really doing a number on them. Only one more night forecasted to be that cold this week. Will be keeping my fingers crossed that they make it.
Pumpkins are in. This is the 2005 Haist.
This is the 1984 Barron in the new hoop-house. Nice and cozy inside. Hopefully the heaters keep running for at least the next four days. There is another plant being kept in a safe location in case of a catastrophic failure.
I finally got the fodder beets and kohlrabi plants in the ground. Four beets and 2 kohlrabi should keep me occupied this season. No idea at this time if there will be a venue to weigh them at this fall but I like to grow them for the sake of gardening and the challenge of setting a personal best.
Now that there is lots of room on the germination table I am starting some tomato plants. Being on two tomato growing teams will be interesting. On one team I am growing as a team mate with Phil and Jane and I will be competing against them on the GVGO team.
Two AG plants should be going in the ground next weekend despite the not so great weather forecast. The three AG's I have started are the 1959 Hunt, 1984 Barron and a 2005 Haist.