Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 127 Entries. Thursday, January 1 View Page Happy 2026 everyone! Man where has time gone? I've got some decisions to make for the 2026 growing season Saturday, March 7 View Page Happy March everyone! My 2026 giant pumpkin lineup has been chosen! I'll be growing the 2670 Thompson with the 2731 stelts for my 11th season! Time flies. 1 month to go! Friday, March 13 View Page This is my planned patch setup for the 2026 season. For those that have followed along in the past, my patch gets limited amount of sun especially the area closest to the woods. I get about 7-8 hours during peak summer and only about 4 hours on the side closest to the woods. My layout this year gives both of the plants the same amount of sun especially towards the stumps through mid way down. The plants will be close to each other but I will have a narrow area I can walk down in the middle. The secondaries will have 10 feet on each side before I have to turn them back. The patch is about 42 feet wide and about 55 feet long. I believe that growing the plants this way will benefit me with maximizing the sun on the plants. I will throw a butternut in there at the end! Wednesday, March 18 View Page Got my soil test back from western labs. Pretty happy with it! Some things to work on but not a bad test to start the season Wednesday, March 18 View Page Hoop house frames have been built today! I'm going back to the smaller hoop houses as I feel they are much easier at keeping heat in and the green plastic on the larger hoop houses in the past have too much shade. Back to old school method which I've had a lot of luck with Wednesday, March 18 View Page Wednesday, March 18 View Page Monday, March 23 View Page Got a delivery today from Bootstrap Farmer out of Texas! Monday, March 23 View Page Greenhouse plastic for my hoop houses! This stuff is incredible and the first time I've actually invested in greenhouse plastic instead of the stuff you can get at Home Depot. This stuff definitely feels like it will last and is thicker but still clear 6 mil plastic Monday, March 23 View Page My test plants from my 1349 are looking pretty good! A little yellow but I haven't been feeding them at all as they are only tests. I've also noticed in the past that any yellow indoors just greens right up when they go outside and get the sunshine. I use pro mix to start all my seeds. Overall pretty happy with them and should be good to go for my real ones in a few weeks! Monday, March 23 View Page This 1349 is 11 days old from when it emerged. Huge leaves and stalky for 11 days old Tuesday, March 24 View Page An oxidate drench was done today where the hoop houses are. Will eventually do the entire patch. Hoping to get the heating cables in and plastic on soon once it dries out a bit Wednesday, March 25 View Page Well this is not good! Found a massive boulder in the patch right where I'll be planting. I have a friend with an excavator that will be coming next week to remove it. Just ordered a delivery of loam for next week to fill this back in. Lots of clay when you get about a foot and a half deep! Wednesday, March 25 View Page Well this is not good! Found a massive boulder in the patch right where I'll be planting. I have a friend with an excavator that will be coming next week to remove it. Just ordered a delivery of loam for next week to fill this back in. Lots of clay when you get about a foot and a half deep! Wednesday, March 25 View Page This thing probably weighs 800 pounds. I haven't even been able to get around all of it yet and it goes pretty deep! Lots of other small sized rocks in this area Wednesday, March 25 View Page Yeah this thing is big... Wednesday, March 25 View Page Yeah this thing is big and I'm not even done digging around it yet Wednesday, March 25 View Page Yeah that's a ton of clay about 2 feet down. Dug out a bunch that I'll be getting rid of. Once this thing is out I'll be filling in with loam Wednesday, March 25 View Page Now we wait till the excavator gets here next week Wednesday, March 25 View Page Now we wait till the excavator gets here next week Thursday, March 26 View Page Today's project. Working on hoop house number 1 with putting in the heating cables and the good stuff! Hoop house number two will have to wait till that big boulder gets out next week! I had some folks suggest that while the excavator is here next week, that I should have them dig up the entire patch to loosen the soil. I agree with the thinking but the problem is the tons of clay about a foot and a half down. I'd rather keep the clay down there rather than have it lifted up towards the top of the soil. Probably the best idea to keep it deeper in my option. If I didn't have the clay I'd definitely do that. I appreciate everyone's comments about the boulder! Lots of humor lol Thursday, March 26 View Page Heating cables buried! Soil is looking nice!! Thursday, March 26 View Page A significant amount of progress today. It's all starting to come together. Just need to get this boulder out! Thursday, March 26 View Page Some of you are probably wondering if there will be enough room for an excavator to get in here with the hoop house. Plenty of room coming behind the back of the patch! Thursday, March 26 View Page A drone shot before I put the plastic on the hoop house without the big boulder. Definitely a huge difference with this greenhouse plastic! Friday, March 27 View Page Pretty dang happy with how my practice plants are doing! These are all from my 1349s and more popping to really feel confident with my germination setup. Little yellow on some, not sure why but not too worried. They always seem to green up once they hit the patch Friday, March 27 View Page One of my 1349s is really going crazy. Very stalky plant at 12 days old Friday, March 27 View Page Crazy stalky! Hopefully my lineup for this season ends up like this! Monday, March 30 View Page Woody and I tried using a Feathers and Wedges method yesterday to try and split the boulder! Monday, March 30 View Page We tried! This thing is solid! It didn't want to split and we didn't want to get the wedges stuck! Monday, March 30 View Page Yeah this thing is solid Monday, March 30 View Page An excavator is coming Tuesday to get the boulder out! Hopefully my lawn doesn't get ripped up! Tuesday, March 31 View Page Here we go!! Let's get this boulder out! Tuesday, March 31 View Page Here we go!! Let's get this boulder out! Tuesday, March 31 View Page WOW! This mini excavator is a TANK. 1 shot and this thing is lifted up Tuesday, March 31 View Page Goodbye! Tuesday, March 31 View Page Not bad! The grass was pushed down a few inches so I filled in with dirt and planted grass seed. Should look back to normal in a few weeks! Tuesday, March 31 View Page That's a lot of clay! I'm removing the most I can from the 3 foot hole. Will fill back in with loam and pro mix. This is where the 2731 stelts will be going! Those roots will have a big advantage compared to the other hoop. Deep hole with loose soil! Tuesday, March 31 View Page Took me two hours to bring the super loam down into the patch! 2 yards. It was wet from the rain today! I think I got to much as I'm going to mix it in with the patch soil in the hole where the rock was but my dad said he could use some haha Wednesday, April 1 View Page Omg! 3 deer decided to join the pumpkin patch this morning and put themselves right in the hole where the rock was! They better not get used to it!! Wednesday, April 1 View Page It's been a lot of work over the last few days. I woke up this morning to 3 deer in the hole of my second hoop house! Thankfully they went away after I threw some pumpkin seeds in the woods for them. The hole was filled back in and the heating cables have been buried! Trying to get everything done before a good amount of rain tonight! Wednesday, April 1 View Page It's been a lot of work over the last few days. I woke up this morning to 3 deer in the hole of my second hoop house! Thankfully they went away after I threw some pumpkin seeds in the woods for them. The hole was filled back in and the heating cables have been buried! Trying to get everything done before a good amount of rain tonight! Wednesday, April 1 View Page Over 15 hours of patch work over the last 2 days. The hoop houses are up! Tuesday, April 7 View Page Oh hello Spring! It was dumping snow here this morning! A quick coating! Tuesday, April 7 View Page My storm chase vehicle Tuesday, April 7 View Page It was really coming down! Some of the biggest flakes I've ever seen! Wednesday, April 8 View Page The season has begun! My plants are up and growing for my 11th season. I've got a decision to make out in the patch! Growing two plants. 1 of them will be the 2731 stelts. I'm highly considering Ken's 1903.5 from last year! I really like the 2198 Sperry cross but the 2670 Thompson is solid as well. One of them on the far right came up a bit on the weaker side but I've got another on the far side left which is the one that is a bit curled up. Ken's in the front. Time will tell! Thursday, April 9 View Page A very busy day ahead in the patch. Mustard meal ready to go in and covering the entire patch with plastic to hopefully suppress my disease even more than just the oxidate drenches Thursday, April 9 View Page The plastic is on after tilling the mustard in and soaking the patch. Heating that mustard up to get the fumes to hopefully kill or at least suppress it quite a bit with the disease in the soil! Thursday, April 9 View Page The plastic will be on for 3 weeks as the mustard gets to work Friday, April 10 View Page The plants are looking good. 3 days after popping through the soil. The 2670s have gotten a bit stronger. It's going to be a tough decision between the 2670 Thompson or Ken's 1903.5 for my second plant! Sunday, April 12 View Page The plants are looking good out of the gate. They are just 5 days old. Giving them just a few hours of sun today before I bring them back inside. Slow adjustments. The 2731 Stelts in the front and the two 2670 Thompsons on the left and Ken's 1903.5s on the right! Sunday, April 19 View Page On my way to New Orleans! I have been chosen by NASA to attend their major rollout of the Core Stage Space Launch System for Artemis III in New Orleans on Monday! Only 20 content creators across the country were accepted out of likely thousands of applications so I feel honored to have been chosen for this big event representing my social media channel, Henry's Weather Channel I will also have the opportunity to tour the Michoud Assembly Facility, Tour the Stennis Space Center, and chat with their social media team, etc Tuesday, April 21 View Page What an incredible day being here for the rollout of the Core Stage Space Launch System for Artemis III! This was a historic rollout as the next chapter of history for Artemis rolls on! Touring the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility was incredible as I saw how these rockets are built with a massive 43 acre space under 1 roof! I also had the opportunity to see where NASA tests the engines before launch and even saw engines built for future Artemis missions! No pictures of that is shown on here. Thank you NASA for choosing me as one of the 20 content creators who were chosen to be here for this massive event! I definitely won't forget this and more pictures may come as I get more that were professionally taken. NASA is really moving fast here with future mission's! It was great meeting all the other creators as well! Thank you NASA! Tuesday, April 21 View Page Seriously, this was amazing Tuesday, April 21 View Page Inside of the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility! Tuesday, April 21 View Page This is where they build the Orion spacecraft. This place is massive with 42 acres under 1 roof! Tuesday, April 21 View Page This is where the Space Launch System barrel is assembled! Tuesday, April 21 View Page So crazy. This is where the Space Launch System was fully built and brought out for the rollout. Absolutely massive place! Tuesday, April 21 View Page Truly amazing Tuesday, April 21 View Page Thank you NASA for having me! Such a great and cool experience that I wont ever forget. May be getting some more pictures from a NASA photographer in areas where I could not take pictures that I will post when I get them! Wednesday, April 22 View Page It's time for a pumpkin update! Lots has happened over the last 10 days. The plants were planted on April 13th in the hoops. That was not the plan but they were doing some weird things in the pots so i went for it! Thanks to Woody and my friend for taking care of them when I was in New Orleans for a few days. Once they hit the ground they really changed their behavior. This is the 2731 Stelts! The most aggressive plant so far and i am loving it Wednesday, April 22 View Page The 2731 on left and backup 2670 Thompson on right. Clear winner here but I'll grow them out for a little while longer just in case Wednesday, April 22 View Page It's a battle between the 2670 and Ken's 1903!! Oh boy. This is going to be a hard decision! 1903 on right and 2670 on left. 1903 a little ahead Wednesday, April 22 View Page Nice thick vine forming on your 1903 Ken! Friday, April 24 View Page Clearly I'm doing something right this year with my starts! These are the best looking starts I've ever had. A nice darker green to them and the new growth looks phenomenal. Ken's 1903.5 on the right and the 2670 Thompson on the left. Right now Ken's is the more aggressive one but both look good! Friday, April 24 View Page I really like what I'm seeing with the secondary's also! This is on Ken's. Every year I seem to struggle with secondary growth. I really like what I'm seeing here with some legitimate growth this early on. Lets smash my PB of 1349 this season Friday, April 24 View Page The 2731 Stelts has some massive leaves. A little bit lighter in color than the 1903 and 2670 so I'll be working to try and green it up a bit with my next feeding but some of that is the morning light. No complaints so far! Friday, April 24 View Page Super thick vine forming on the 2731 stelts with that side growth starting! Saturday, April 25 View Page The giant pumpkins are off to some of the best starts I've ever had. I just need to keep it going. I'm going to beat my PB this season Saturday, April 25 View Page Light em up! Tuesday, April 28 View Page The plants are really going crazy this year to kick off the season. Much better than last years start. I'll be giving them a nice feeding today. 2731 stelts on the left and a 2670 Thompson on the right. Hard to tell in this pic but the 2731 is ahead with the more aggressiveness but both are really nice plants. Will need to cull soon! The lighter areas on the leaves is the light from the outside but I do need to work on darkening them up a bit. It's been cold at night so I've been blanketing the hoop houses and cranking the space heaters Tuesday, April 28 View Page Here we have Ken's 1903.5 on the right and another 2670 Thompson on the left. Ken's 1903.5 has been in the lead and has showed more aggression since the beginning right now but the 2670 is really solid and picking up. Almost time to make a decision here as well! Tough decision Tuesday, April 28 View Page Okay okay! The plants were crowding each other pretty good so I made a decision! Tuesday, April 28 View Page Ken Ken Ken!!! I wasn't planning on growing your 1903 this year until you gave me it at the fertilizer pickup. I was thinking of planting it for a backup but after doing a lot of thinking I was impressed by the amazing grow last year that you had! It was a beast of a pumpkin and a beautiful one with an awesome cross!! Thank you Ken for the seed! I can't wait to see what this thing produces! I'm super pumped! Tuesday, April 28 View Page . Tuesday, April 28 View Page The 2731 stelts is really aggressive and really starting to grow! So my lineup this year is Ken's 1903.5 and the 2731 stelts! Tuesday, April 28 View Page Foot comparison with the 2731. She's got some big leaves and requires a little bit of shading with this strong early season sun! The top picture was yesterday and bottom is today. She was looking a bit rough yesterday but made a really impressive rebound and growth surge over the last 24 hours! Wednesday, April 29 View Page Big growth surge on Ken's 1903 in the last 24 hours. This thing js starting to cook Wednesday, April 29 View Page This secondary back by the stump has surged Wednesday, April 29 View Page And these secondaries moving up the nodes are starting to take off Saturday, May 2 View Page Happy May everyone! The plants continue to look really nice to kick off the season. Ken's 1903 is the star of the patch right now. About 4 feet long Saturday, May 2 View Page Here comes the secondaries that I've struggled to get over the years! Saturday, May 2 View Page This secondary back by the stump on Ken's is gaining some speed! This plant is aggressive Saturday, May 2 View Page The 2731 stelts is looking solid Saturday, May 2 View Page The secondary's are starting to amp up on the 2731 Saturday, May 2 View Page Over the last few days I have noticed a bit of yellowing on the outer edge of the 2731. I was thinking this may be a sign of too much water so I will be backing off a bit on this plant. If anyone thinks it's something else then let me know! The 1903 doesn't have this Saturday, May 2 View Page Another view Monday, May 4 View Page Getting some sun burn on the 1903. It's a bit odd since some of the burn is coming from the older leaves. I think I'm going to back off on the fertilizer for now just in case some of it may be related to maybe too much ferts? Monday, May 4 View Page Some odd spots showing up. Could be fertilizer burn but I do wash the leaves off after I feed if I get any on the leaves. Could've missed a few spots. Will need to be better Monday, May 4 View Page Hard to tell in this picture maybe but this leaf is about a week old and just showing some burn today that is coming on Monday, May 4 View Page The secondary's have seemed to stall out on the plants. It's always something. Monday, May 4 View Page The 2731 doesn't seem to be burning and I've been feeding them the same so it could be genetic related. Will see if it starts burning. Not sure! It is odd that the secondary's have seemed to stall Monday, May 4 View Page This is a big patch for the plants to grow in. I'm sure they will eventually get kicking! Still in a much better place than I was last year at this time Monday, May 4 View Page Got the news last night that my parents are bidding on a house tomorrow, so I am not in the best mood to kick off the week. Patience with the plants and I know they will start to crank soon. They mentioned that if they get the house they won't be moving until after the growing season somehow so I am not too worried about that. The house is 20 min away in Ipswich and needs a lot of work but it's "on the water" lol for a crazy price. This may very well be my last year of growing and if they move I will be moving as well and it won't be with them. Too expensive here in Massachusetts and I need to figure out my life. Big life changes coming likely after this growing season somehow I'm going to put in all my effort this season Tuesday, May 5 View Page It's crazy how fast a season can change. A great start has now turned into a not so great start. Clearly I messed something up with only the main vine again. Brutal Wednesday, May 13 View Page My 24th birthday today. I feel like I am getting old haha Sunday, May 17 View Page These have to be some of the best looking butternut squash starts I've had. Really gorgeous plants! Need to harden them off for a day or two then get them in the ground! Sunday, May 17 View Page Well it is time for a pumpkin update. A lot has changed over the last 2 weeks. From one of the best start I've ever had to a complete crash down. I believe after two years I have finally figured out what has been going on with my good looking starts then a sudden dying of the plants. I feel very confident in saying now that it was the grow lights. I had the grow lights on for too long. Even on sunny days I had them on at night. I was trying to push them too hard and the bloom and veg setting was both on which really poisoned the plants with too much light. Plants need a break at night and i really messed up! Ken I am sorry and the 2731. The plants looked real bad and the secondary's were flowering and the main vine tip was completely fried and starting to flower. Yes they probably would've grown out of it in a month but by then you'd be dealing with a 15 foot main with no sides. I feel bad Ken because the plants were looking really good. I promise that I will be growing your 1903 again and I'll grow a monster off it and I won't screw it up! I have started completely over with a repositioning of the hoop houses which took over 20 hours of work over a 2 day period. Tom Keenan was extremely generous and gave me a 2181 masters which was grown off the 2731 stelts. Ned Sandercock had sent me another 839 about two years ago after I grew my personal best off it which is 1349 pounds so I germinated that 839 and it looks solid so far. 2181 is the bigger plant as it is a bit further ahead when it germinated. So I am now growing the 839 Sandercock and the 2181 masters. I am a month behind and will be getting July pollinations but I am not giving up!!! I didn't give up last year and I wont be this year. It's a brand new season now. I know some of you may not agree with the decision I made but I feel it was the best choice in the shape that the plants were in. Trust me I am pretty pissed. Thank you for all of the support over the years. I love getting the diary comments and look forward to making a massive comeback this season Sunday, May 17 View Page My patch setup has changed. Growing the 839 in a diamond shape pattern. Or at least I'm going to try lol. The 2182 masters will have longer secondaries. Wanted to try something a bit different. Each plant will have 1,000 square feet but that's if we can even fill the space in. I also made the hoop houses smaller to keep the heat in easier at night. They'll be off the plants in probably 2 weeks anyway. I planted some giant eggplant at the end of the patch that you can see with the butternut getting planted near the fence on the far end Tuesday, May 19 View Page It's cooking out here today! 95 degrees with no clouds. About 25 degrees warmer than average for this time of year. Record breaking. Keeping the plants a bit cooler with shade netting over them. I watered them in well this morning Saturday, May 23 View Page Man. It is what it is. I'm not going to pull anything but make this make sense. I have nice dark green plants for the first 3 weeks on my 1st set of plants this season. then boom, they go to all flowers and turn completely yellow, I plant backups and boom they turn completely yellow in less than 10 days with good feedings and now these look awful. Make that make sense LOL. I don't really care anymore to be honest. I've already had enough frustration over the last two years so it is what it is! I've spent hours a day trying to figure out what could be going on but I've come up with no answers with everything I've done to the patch the last two years. Hopefully the fertilizers that I have will still be good in 10 years when I eventually buy my own house with better soil. I guess this patch has had enough Saturday, May 23 View Page Might be hard to tell in this picture but this is the 839. Flowers are developing inside the tip. Now I need to save money so I can buy a house and get back to growing in better soil. lol Sunday, May 24 View Page Here are my soil test results from April. My zinc levels do seem to be high. My next diary post will be my test from 2025 when i took a test when my plants were doing the same thing. Sunday, May 24 View Page This is my test from 2025. I took this sample right in the area of the plants in the hoop house. Porkchop i know you asked if zinc levels were too high so this answers that question. They are high... I took a look at 2024 when i grew my PB and they were at 4.5. I took that test from Umass Amherst. Last two years i have tested from Western Labs Sunday, May 24 View Page These are my soil test results from 2024 when I grew my 1349. Notice my zinc levels are lower than the last two years Monday, May 25 View Page Wow this is just insane. Now my butternut are doing what the pumpkins have and turning straight yellow, and completely stopped growing, flowering in tip. This season is done for me Monday, May 25 View Page This is beyond insane at this point. Monday, May 25 View Page I just picked up some Ammonium Sulfate. Let's give this a try and see what happens. Little Ketchup commented on my picture of the butternut and thought maybe the lack of sulfur was the problem based on the coloring of these plants and very low on my soil test. This will be interesting. Need to figure this out! Monday, May 25 View Page I let the plants get some fresh rain yesterday. They are only getting more yellow since last week. Let's see what happens this week when I sprinkle a little bit of this around the plants Monday, May 25 View Page The 839 tip has really gotten worse over the last few days. I mean would low sulfur cause it to get this bad? We will find out soon enough Monday, May 25 View Page I just want to say that I appreciate everyone's comments on my diary over the last few days. It is very much appreciated and the people in this community are extremely generous and helpful. Crazy that this is my 11th season. Even if I don't get anything this season, my goal at this point is to get to the bottom of this and figure out what exactly is going on with my patch the last two years. I will figure it out this year! Thank you everyone for your continued support and help! Tuesday, May 26 View Page Alright, Today I was on the phone with western labs for about 20 minutes and discussed my issues in the patch the last two years. They recommended that I send them in some plants to test as well as a soil sample as well. I made the decision to send them in a butternut plant, as well as the 839 as those two were manageable size to fit in a box and send in and I wanted to at least keep the 2181 Masters as that plant at least has a main tip left. The 839 tip was completely flowered and stunted. I also included some roots from both the butternut and 839. Hoping to get to the bottom of this!!! It may be a sulfur issue but I need to be 100% sure what this is and hopefully this testing will finally tell me what has been going on over the last two years! Wednesday, May 27 View Page Here we go. The first positive post of mine in weeks. Significant improvement between Monday and today. Wow. The question is, is it the sulfur being low that was causing the issues over the last two years? I am not convinced yet until I see test results but this is a dang good sign. Little Ketchup pointed out that my sulfur was low so I added some ammonium Sulfate and two days later the plant really greened up. Secondaries still stalling but one step and day at a time with this Friday, May 29 View Page Wow. Ever since Monday of putting that ammonium sulfate down the 2181 masters really has turned around! Still need to see what these test results from western labs show. I'm not being 100% confident in anything after two years but it for sure seems the ammonium sulfate did some magic!! I'm blown away Friday, May 29 View Page The newer secondary development is looking promising! One day at a time with this. All positive signs since Monday. Thank you everyone for your help!! This community is amazing Friday, May 29 View Page The weather here in New England is going to get crazy. Only in the low-mid 40s tomorrow and again on Monday. 55 Mph wind gusts tomorrow! Not much sun. I've constructed a bigger hoop house and hopefully it holds up in the wind! Heat will be cranking Tuesday, June 2 View Page Pumpkin update. 2181 masters is looking much more aggressive compared to a week ago. Secondaries still not doing much but I believe it's only a matter of time with how the plant looks Tuesday, June 2 View Page I've been quite busy since Saturday. I run my own weather channel for New England and chase storms. On Saturday the white mountains got half a foot of snow! I had to chase it with my chase vehicle Tuesday, June 2 View Page It was quite the day! Tuesday, June 2 View Page The scenery was incredible! Tuesday, June 2 View Page 4500 feet in elevation! Mount Washington just 1500 feet higher but they didn't open the top due to icy conditions Tuesday, June 2 View Page It was a day to remember! Wednesday, June 3 View Page Lots of wilting and the edges of the leaves burning this morning at 9 AM and it's only 75 degrees in the hoop. Strange. Root system maybe just needs to catch up. I had to prop the leaves up or they would fall over Wednesday, June 3 View Page The plant is closing in on 9 feet and the longest secondary's are just a few inches at most. I will say that they seem to be moving a bit more than a few days ago which is good. It is only a matter of time. Also seeing tap roots popping up so I've been covering them back up. It's a slow work in progress. Taking it day by day but pretty happy on where I am right now with how I thought I'd be two weeks ago Wednesday, June 3 View Page 2181 masters, you can do it! Wednesday, June 3 View Page Got a call last night that Western Labs has received my plants and soil! They should be giving me a call today or tomorrow with what they see to discuss. Will keep you updated