It looks like 2021 will be an interesting season for me and I have been keeping a low profile until I was cleared to work in the garden again. My shoulder has improved significantly over the past few months and although it won't be 100% I think that it is good enough for me to grow a few pumpkins this season.
I was able to get the planting sites and hoop houses up early although my cover crop was really sparse after the chickens spent weeks eating the seeds. Only two AG's this year for me and maybe a field pumpkin tomatoes and some other vegetables
The heater cables have been tested so everything is a go. The soil PH is at 7.6 now so the patch will need a major application of sulfur to bring it down a bit. The wind fencing needs a lot of work but I am still not ready to pound in "T" posts yet and I am concerned about potentially damaging winds on Friday.
I suddenly found myself with more space at home due to a change in my life so the plants were brought into my living room from the usually hot solarium. In the past there was a problem with them becoming leggy from the heat and it looks like it is working. The 1450 Fifolt plant on the left is one of the best starts I have ever seen and the 2226.7 Boonen/Herman beside it is looking good as well. There are several mangel wurzels and a few kohlrabi plants that are ready to go in the ground now as well. I am tempted to plant the pumpkins this weekend but I need a reliable heat source in case of a deep freeze in the coming weeks.
As the 2021 growing season rapidly nears an end I can look back and look at what an unusual growing season it was. I would like to blame something other than myself for the final results with the pumpkins and I think I found it.
The weather roller coaster this past season with extreme heat, cold, dry and wet as well. I was not able to capitalize on the great September conditions due to the health of the plants but I feel fortunate to still have my two pumpkins still intact at this point in the season.
The 2226.7 Boonen/Herman at day 90. Not surprising that it is barely growing now with most of the plant gone. I have not had much luck in this part of the patch and it is the largest ever grown here. It is heavily shaded now in the morning until almost 11:00 am.
The 1450 Fifolt at day 93. It's doing better, probably because it still has some of the plant still working. I really did not think it would still be in one piece at this time in the season.
This is my 103 lb. field pumpkin that won at the Bracebridge weigh-off. It was grown off the 174 Mackinnon and is one of the best looking field pumpkins that I have ever grown.
I picked four ripening tomatoes on Tuesday. They were all over four lbs. and one was over five.
This is now the 5.21 Lyons 2021 UOW grown off the 5.36 Lyons.
Bottom side of the 5.21 UOW.
This is the third and last tomato on the 5.70 MacDonald plant. It has a small pink spot on the top but is still growing. I am not sure how all this late season rain is going to affect the tomatoes but it's probably not going to be good.