Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 129 Entries. Wednesday, February 25 View Page If there is anyone out there interested in some of the history of northeast US genetics from the mid 2000's, I am looking to get rid of a 1000 or more seed packs that I have collected. Back in the day many clubs had seed exchanges and for what ever reason I kept them. LOL I believe I raided these for seed auctions in the past but there may be a gem from the past that I missed. Please send an email to [email protected] and we can figure out shipping. We are also getting rid of the old library card case, so if you're close enough you can take the whole set up. Thursday, March 12 View Page Kerry and I attended the GPC International Growers Conference in Salt Lake City Utah and received our growers jacket for growing 3 pumpkins totaling over 4300 pounds. We have gotten so close in past years but have lost the 3rd to a split or were just under the total needed. A big shout out to the Giant Pumpkin Commonwealth and the Utah giant pumpkin growers club for putting together a great conference. Wednesday, April 8 View Page Our 2026 season has begun today with sanding and soaking our pumpkin seeds today. We are doing 3 of our own: the 1765, 1349 and the 1416. The 1765 and 1349 were Howard Dill winners and the 1416 created the 1349. Our invited guest this year is the 2029.5 Momirov (1865 Werner x 839 Sandercock) Wednesday, April 8 View Page Let's goooooooo! Thursday, April 9 View Page Did a checkerboard subsoil today. Trying to dry things out a bit before amendments and tilling. Still hit a couple of patches of frost but was able to break it up. Here is a different prospective of the patch. Friday, April 10 View Page Amended the patch with: Kelp meal. Feather meal, gypsum, alfalfa, sulfur, potassium sulfate, manganese, and copper. All tilled in and will have a couple of weeks to get happy. Next steps are measuring out plant sites and placing walking boards. Then digging in cables and building hoop houses. Great time of year! Saturday, April 11 View Page More patch work today. First we buried in the soil heating cables. We work as a team as I am a better shoveler and Kerry is a better bender placing the cables in. Saturday, April 11 View Page Next is building hoop houses. We store them below our upper deck. These are cheap and very easy to build and store. They are 5' x 8' and roughly 4' tall. We just use regular pine 2x4's and 10' long pvc pipe for the ribs. We can get 5-6 seasons out of the 2x4's. Saturday, April 11 View Page The patch is getting there! Two planting spots will be 600 square feet each, one at 400 square feet and one at 800. The last step for the spring is to get the weed block down but that is for another day! Sunday, April 12 View Page There. That's better. Now we are just waiting for the seedlings to mature and plant out. The last piece to add is the 250 watt infrared heat lamps after the plants go in the ground. We have been using the same firewood to hold down the weed block since 2013. Wonder how many times it has "warmed" us up? The weed block is also 14 years old. Pretty good investment! Saturday, April 25 View Page Season number 30 has begun. Let's hope Mother Nature is nice to us. Sunday, April 26 View Page Today we built a new 7x15 greenhouse to replace the one the long gourd trellis took out and got that patch ready for giant tomatoes that will be started tomorrow. We will have 30'x7' covered and the rest of the 500 square foot patch open. Monday, April 27 View Page Started tomatoes today! Here is the lineup if all germ. (Fingers crossed) 16.89 Sutherland, 10.2 Jolivette, 9.50 Clayton, 9.06 Brown, 8.64 Porkchop, 8.56 and 8.52 MacDonald, 8.39 Young, 8.36 Strickler, 8.32 Tobeck, 8.22 Werner, 8.18 Young, 8.02 Greene, 7.91 Trombley, 7.50 MacDonald, 7.47 Young, 7.32 MacDonald, 7.09 Werner, 6.48, 6.13, 5.64, 5.49, 4.42, 4.14 Young, 3.21 Greene and 3 Sutherland crosses from a couple of years ago. Isn't it a great time of year! Sunday, May 3 View Page This will be my first weekly update for 2026. The weather has been pretty typical with many cloudy days low temps and a very cool north wind. Overall, we are happy with the plants as they all seem to be showing a bit of new growth. These are both 1765 Young (839 Sandercock x self) and seem to be happy. Sunday, May 3 View Page Here are two 1416 Young ( 1503 Young x 839 Sandercock). These are both doing well currently. Sunday, May 3 View Page The 2029.5 Momirov is on the right and the 1377 Young is on the left. I pulled the other 2029.5 as it was wonky and not growing. The main choice here is the 2029.5 unless it flat vines or has any major issues. Sunday, May 3 View Page Our best growers so far is the 1349 Young (1416 Young x 1503 Young). Of course it is in our 400 square foot patch which is our smallest this year. Sunday, May 3 View Page Started tall sunflowers today and started to see tomatoes emerge. So far, we have 20 of the 30 tomatoes germinated but not the 16.89 Sutherland yet. Today is just day 6 so not too worried yet. Saturday, May 9 View Page We have made it to the second weekend of the season with the pumpkins looking ok considering the challenging weather we have had including 29 degrees last night. The winds have been challenging as well and I had to secure each hoop. Always something to keep us on our toes! Saturday, May 9 View Page Well... 25 out of our 30 tomatoes have germinated but unfortunately the 16.89 Sutherland is not one of them. Definitely disappointed as I was hoping to get these genetics spread across the northeast. I have replanted the other 4 as I had extra seeds and will give the 16.89 more time but today is day 12 and losing faith fast. Saturday, May 9 View Page Playing around with hot peppers this year and will plant in 7 gallon grow bags. I will have 5 extra if anyone lives close by and wants them. The seeds are: Carolina Reaper, 7 pot chocolate, 7 pot primo, sugar rush peach, aji charpita, aji lemon drop and biquinto white. Saturday, May 9 View Page The 1765 Young's are starting to look better. By now the plants have their roots into the garden soil and are ready to take off. Just need a little sun and warmth. Saturday, May 9 View Page Here are the 1416 Young's. They are both starting to run and look good. Saturday, May 9 View Page The hopeful keeper is the 2029 Momirov on the right which is starting to look better. Not sure the plant likes our cool weather but its new growth looks decent. The back up on the left is our 1377 Young just in case. Saturday, May 9 View Page Last but not least is our 1349 Young's which are growing strong in our 400 square foot space. Sunday, May 17 View Page We finally are seeing a bit of sun and warmth in Vermont. Last fall we had a new deck built as the old one was 30 plus years old and getting a bit sketchy. Feel free to drop by for a sit as it overlooks both gardens and the beer is always cold. Sunday, May 17 View Page The hoops have been opened to the nice weather. We will probably see more growth in these 4 warm days than we did in the past 15. Even in hoops the plants did not enjoy the clouds and daytime highs in the 40's. Sunday, May 17 View Page Here are two 1765 Young plants battling it out. The current leader is starting to run and is 2 feet long. Sunday, May 17 View Page Here is the chosen 1416 Young sitting at 31". Sunday, May 17 View Page The hopeful keeper is the 2029.5 Momirov on the right at 22". It is a very thick rigid plant. Sunday, May 17 View Page Last pumpkin is the 1349 Young and here is the keeper. It figures that it is our best grower currently seeing it will be grown on our smallest 400 square foot space. Sunday, May 17 View Page The tomato patch is almost ready for 24 plants. 16 will be in the hoops that will have poly on the top. The other 8 will be planted in front. There are 24 six foot grade stakes ready for growing plants to be secured to. Sunday, May 17 View Page The tomatoes are coming along and are outside for 2-3 hours a day to start hardening them off. Hoping to plant out next Saturday the 23rd if the future forecast looks ok. Monday, May 25 View Page Happy Memorial Day and thank you to all who have served or currently are serving. Today we took the hoops down and planted out tomatoes, long gourd and hot peppers. Monday, May 25 View Page The tomato garden area has been filled up today. Let's hope we will see some decent weather. Monday, May 25 View Page Here is the 1765 Young. Currently sitting about 5 feet long. Monday, May 25 View Page Here is the 1416 Young sitting a little over 6 feet long. Monday, May 25 View Page Tall sunflowers have been planted. These are from our 16'6" and 18' from last year. Monday, May 25 View Page The 2029.5 Momirov is starting to look nice and is a little over 5 feet long today. Monday, May 25 View Page Our best grower is still the 1349 Young and it is just shy of 7 feet long today. Monday, May 25 View Page Both 159 Jutras long gourds are doing well. Let's see which one will step up and be the keeper. Monday, May 25 View Page We are playing around with hot peppers this year. Thanks to Dan Greene for sharing seeds. We have 7 going: 7-pot chocolate, Carolina reaper, sugar rush peach, 7-pot primo, aji charpita, biquinto white, and aji lemon drop. Monday, May 25 View Page We unfortunately had a few germination problems with a couple of seeds we wanted to grow including the WR Sutherland. Here are south tunnel tomatoes: 7.47, 8.18, 5.49 Young, 8.52, 7.5 MacDonald, 8.64 Porkchop, 8.32 Tobeck and 9.5 Clayton. Monday, May 25 View Page The north tunnel: 8.39, 6.48, 5.49 Young, 8.56, 7.32 MacDonald, 10.2 Jolivette, 8.22 Werner, and 7.91 Trombley. Outside the tunnels are 6.13, 5.64, 5.53, 4.42, 4.14 Young, 8.36 Strickler, Sutherland cross #3 and #4. Last year we got an 8 pounder from inside and outside. Friday, May 29 View Page The forecast for tonight and tomorrow is 30 mph wind gusts or higher and snow on the higher peaks. We surrounded plants with 36 inch silt fence. Let's hope the weather people got the wind direction correct and we did too! Monday, June 1 View Page Vermont weather and it's challenges have certainly not disappointed this year. Overall, I am happy that the plants are still green and look healthy for the most part. Monday, June 1 View Page First up is the 1765 Young. It is our slowest grower so far but looks good overall. Today it is just shy of 7 feet long. Monday, June 1 View Page The 1416 Young is growing well and starting to throw some good secondary growth. It is around 8 feet long today. Monday, June 1 View Page The 2029.5 Momirov is starting to kick in and is around 7.5 feet long. Monday, June 1 View Page Lastly is the 1349 Young who is still our patch leader. It has nice secondaries started and is 8.5 feet long today. Monday, June 1 View Page The sunflowers are slowly growing. We are finally supposed to get a little warmth this week which should get them going. Monday, June 1 View Page 159 Jutras long gourds are finding the trellis. Monday, June 1 View Page The tomatoes and the hot peppers are not happy with these cold temps but are still alive. They should bounce back with June temps showing up in a couple of days. Monday, June 8 View Page The first week of June has been a bit of a roller coaster weather wise with lows in the low 40's and highs in the 60's to highs of mid 80's. Overall, the plants look decent and secondary burying season has begun. Monday, June 8 View Page The tomato garden is finally looking a bit better and the plants are greening up. Monday, June 8 View Page The 1765 is a nice stocky plant growing at its own pace. It is just shy of 9 feet long today. Monday, June 8 View Page The 1416 Young is starting to take off and is around 10.5 feet tonight. Monday, June 8 View Page The sunflowers have dug in their roots and should start growing faster. The tallest is around 20" tonight. Monday, June 8 View Page The 2029 Momirov has settled in and behaving nicely. It is about 10 feet long tonight. Monday, June 8 View Page Last but not least is the 1349 Young who is leading the patch and is just shy of 11 feet tonight. Monday, June 8 View Page The 159 Jutras long gourd is picking up the pace and is around 4 feet long. Monday, June 8 View Page The hot peppers are starting to acclimate and we are seeing some blossoms on the sugar rush peach. Monday, June 8 View Page The south tomato tunnel is growing well. Monday, June 8 View Page Here is the 8.18 Young which is showing the first mega bloom of the season. Monday, June 8 View Page The north tunnel is growing a bit slower but plants look great overall. Sunday, June 14 View Page Happy middle of June. Already! Seems like summer goes by way too fast. All of the plants have responded well to the warmer temps. Decided to do patch photos today as we have potential bad storms and flooding predicted for this afternoon and evening. Sunday, June 14 View Page The tomato patch is starting to shape up as well. Sunday, June 14 View Page The 1765 Young is still a compact plant that is not currently growing as aggressively as the others. It is just shy of 12 feet this morning. Sunday, June 14 View Page The 1416 Young continues to be an easy grower and is behaving well. It is 13.5 feet long today. We will start looking for keepers now. Sunday, June 14 View Page The sunflowers have also responded well with the warmth. Unfortunately, the next two weeks will be in the 60's and 70's and growth will probably slow down for everything. Sunday, June 14 View Page Here is the 2029.5 Momirov who is starting to pick up the pace. Today it is a little over 13 feet long. Sunday, June 14 View Page The 1349 Young continues to be our strongest grower and is 13.5 feet long today. Sunday, June 14 View Page The 159 Jutras is growing well and stretching out nicely. It is around 6.5 feet today. Sunday, June 14 View Page Hot peppers are getting bigger. I have no clue what I am doing but so far easy and fun! Sunday, June 14 View Page The tomato tunnel looks great with a number of first truss mega blooms. Not too excited yet because I rarely can get them fully pollinated. They should be opening in a week or so and the temps are supposed to be cool which may help with pollination. Sunday, June 14 View Page Public Service announcement. Please take care and protect your stump. You only get one! Wednesday, June 17 View Page We have predicted 45 mph winds from the south east tomorrow. Up goes the silt fence to see if we can minimize damage. Never a dull moment trying to grow a big pumpkin! Saturday, June 20 View Page The plants survived the storms on Thursday but now we are having flooding in our area as we are in a low pressure system that keeps our high temps in the 60's and intermittent showers and storms. Congrats to Henry Swenson who had his weather drone video of VT tornado damage played on our local news. Saturday, June 20 View Page The 1765 is around 14.5 feet long. We will start looking for a female to pollinate in the next week. Saturday, June 20 View Page The 1416 Young is around 16 feet long and we are protecting a baby around 15 feet that should open mid next week. Saturday, June 20 View Page The 2029.5 Momirov is starting to take off nicely and is roughly 16 feet long. There is a baby in the tip that will hopefully open by end of next week. Saturday, June 20 View Page The 1349 Young is around 16.5 feet long and we have a baby set up around 15 feet that should open by mid week. Saturday, June 20 View Page The sunflowers have been tossed around with the storms. The tallest is about 3.5 feet. Saturday, June 20 View Page The 159 Jutras is growing well and secondaries are starting to stretch. It is a little over 8 feet long today. Saturday, June 20 View Page The tomatoes all got haircuts today before their photo. I filled two 5 gallon buckets with foliage trimmings. There are a couple of mega blooms that should be opening in the next week or so. Saturday, June 20 View Page Our cold climate hot pepper experiment is moving along nicely. Guessing they are growing slowly because of the weather but overall they look ok. Sunday, June 28 View Page Happy last weekend of June. Summer like temps are arriving this week finally. The patches survived the last round of heavy rains and storms. Tonight will be the first fertilizer applied this week as soil is drying out a bit. Sunday, June 28 View Page The lower patch is a bit wet still outside of the hoops but looks good overall. Sunday, June 28 View Page We will name the pumpkins next weekend when we are more sure they are going to make it and learn more about their personalities. Here is the 1765 Young x 2029.5 Momirov. Pollinated on 6/26 at 14.5 feet. Sunday, June 28 View Page Here is the 1416 Young x 1765 Young at 15.5 feet and pollinated on 6/24. Sunday, June 28 View Page Here is the 1349 Young x 2029.5 Momirov at 15 feet and pollinated on 6/24. Sunday, June 28 View Page We pollinated the 2029.5 Momirov with the 1416 Young today at 17 feet. Sunday, June 28 View Page The sunflowers are slowly moving along. Tallest around 5 feet. Sunday, June 28 View Page The 159 Jutras long gourd is getting close to the top. Around 12 feet today. Starting to see male and female blooms! Sunday, June 28 View Page The hot peppers seem to like the warmer temps although nights are still in the low 50's. We have lots of blossoms on the sugar rush peach but not others so I fed bloom booster a couple days ago hoping it will help. Sunday, June 28 View Page Tomatoes are looking healthy and will need a bit more attention tomorrow to get them cleaned up. Not sure if any first truss blooms took but will know by next week. Sunday, June 28 View Page The outdoor tomatoes are looking good as well. Monday, July 6 View Page Happy first week of July. The plants survived heat, a few bad storms and too much water but seem to be growing. We have 3 good pollinations and 1 that aborted and a new 2 day old baby started. Monday, July 6 View Page We have named our babies. Our theme follows America's 250th and these are important ladies of the Revolutionary war. Please meet Esther DeBerdt Reed 1765 Young x 2029.5 Momirov. To show her patriotism, Esther established "The Ladies of Philadelphia." The organization raised an enormous sum of $300,000 dollars for the troops by going door to door asking for donations. Monday, July 6 View Page Here is Molly Pitcher 1416 Young x 1765 Young. Mary Ludwig Hays, better known as Molly Pitcher in 1778. Hays first brought soldiers water from a local well to quench their thirst on an extremely hot and humid day and then replaced her wounded husband at his artillery piece, firing at the oncoming British. Monday, July 6 View Page Here is Sybil Ludington 1349 Young x 2029.5 Momirov. New York teenager Sybil Ludington was the female equivalent of Paul Revere, though she rode twice as far as Revere and in a driving rainstorm in April, 1777. Monday, July 6 View Page The 159 Jutras is now on top of our 14.5 foot high trellis. Hopefully we will be pollinating in a couple of weeks. Monday, July 6 View Page The hot peppers have loved the warmer temps and are starting to grow well. This is the Sugar Rush Peach which already has a few peppers growing and lots more blossoms. Monday, July 6 View Page The tomatoes have been trimmed and sorted out. It appears most of the first truss mega blooms did not pollinate but there are more options coming. Monday, July 6 View Page We have a couple decent mega blooms pollinated. This is off our 5.49 B Young. Monday, July 6 View Page Mega on 8.39 Young. Monday, July 6 View Page Mega on 6.48 Young. Monday, July 6 View Page The signs have been made and are in place. It is grow time! Sunday, July 12 View Page The summer weather has continued and we are drying out nicely. The garden is almost filled and our old backs are looking forward to that. A lot of growers choose not to bury but I feel it is important here with our smaller plants and it makes the vine more stable. If we had more disease pressure I probably would not bury. But burying sure makes plants look nice! Sunday, July 12 View Page The old patch is looking great with plants starting to grow quickly now. Sunday, July 12 View Page Here is Esther (1765 Young x 2029.5 Momirov) at day 16. The two pictures show a week growth difference she currently has an OTT measurement of 138 inches which is not big enough for the current chart. She will have an official estimate next week. Sunday, July 12 View Page Molly (1416 Young x 1765 Young) is growing nicely at 18 days and showing good color potential. She is a long barrel shaped pumpkin with an OTT measurement of 149 inches. Sunday, July 12 View Page Unfortunately, our first pollination on the 2029.5 Momirov aborted. So., please meet Abigail Adams (2029.5 Momirov x 1765 Young) born on the 4th of July. She is just 8 days old but looks good and shiny. Fingers crossed. Sunday, July 12 View Page The 159 Jutras long gourd is really starting to take off. I pollinated the first female on the top last night but probably will not keep it and let the plant put on more volume. Sunday, July 12 View Page Tomatoes are demanding attention every two or three days with crazy green growth. They seem to like Vermont heat and humidity. I took off 3 five gallon buckets of plant parts today. Sunday, July 12 View Page Here is the 1 week growth difference for the 5.49b Young. It has a 13 inch circumference today. There are a couple of spots on it I don't like but hopefully they will just dry up. Keeping all big pollinations covered from the sun. Sunday, July 12 View Page Here is Sybil (1349 Young x 2029.5 Momirov) at 18 days. She has been growing well on her 400 square foot plant and has an OTT measurement of 141 inches. Sunday, July 19 View Page This is the time of year for weekly stump checks. Don't let a leaky foaming stump ruin all the hard work you have done so far. Go ahead. Go out and check them! Sunday, July 19 View Page On July 16th we were gifted with our first grandchild from our son Parker and daughter in law Amanda. Please meet Dorothea Rose Young (Dottie). We are excited to spoil her rotten. Sunday, July 19 View Page The roller coaster weather has continued with more threats of severe storms, wildfire smoke and yesterday's high temperature of 65 degrees. We are also having low 50 degree nights that are great for sleeping but not so much for pumpkin weight. The marathon continues. Sunday, July 19 View Page The lower patch is really filling up with healthy plants currently. Sunday, July 19 View Page Here is Esther (1765 Young x 2029 Momirov) at 23 days old. She estimates at 209 pounds and added 145 pounds this week. Sunday, July 19 View Page Molly (1416 Young x 1765 Young) is 25 days old and estimates at 244 pounds. She gained an estimated 165 pounds this week. Sunday, July 19 View Page Abigail (2029 Momirov x 1765 Young) is 15 days old and is deciding whether to be a round ball or a wheel shape. She estimates at 39 pounds today. Sunday, July 19 View Page Last but not least is Sybil who is 25 days old today and estimates at 233 pounds. She has added an estimated 165 pounds this week. Sunday, July 19 View Page The 159 Jutras long gourd is about 20 feet long and we have pollinated 3 females so far. We tie a different color ribbon near the blossom we pollinate which helps us know the exact age of each long gourd. We will start measuring in a couple of days to track our fastest growers to keep. Sunday, July 19 View Page The tomatoes are reaching their max height and we will start terminating growth soon. We currently have around 10 keepers including a couple decent mega blooms but it is to early yet to know if they will be competitive. Sunday, July 19 View Page Here is our biggest tomato so far off of our 5.49b Young plant. Sunday, July 19 View Page The hot peppers all have blossoms and the sugar rush peach has around 20 peppers on it and tons more blossoms. I am wondering if I should cull a few of the peppers seeing the grow bags are just 7 gallon?