Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 21 Entries. Sunday, January 12 View Page 2025 is the year of the white pumpkin! I think I'll be planting the 1296.3 Akatsuka (Nicolas) which is this 1688 Paton x self. It checks all the boxes for me: genetics, color, and it did well in 150 sq ft. But I also want to grow my 1677 squashkin '23 in an attempt at a big squash. But that project might have to wait. I can only spend an hour a day or so on gardening stuff.   Sunday, January 12 View Page What if I crossed these two pumpkins? No one has ever bred a pumpkin to be a "150 sq ft. winner." Its probably just silly but there's always something new to try. Who really knows what is or isnt going to work.   Tuesday, January 14 View Page Now, for a grand total of $40 I've got seeds from all the top 150 sq ft pumpkins. http://bigpumpkins.com/displayphoto.asp?pid=8013&gid=87   Thursday, January 16 View Page I took a bit of soil out of one area to do a soil test. But I know that with my lack of self discipline I might throw fertilizer on later without measuring it. And this would negate some of the value of a soil test. A soil test would help me be a better guesser but I should decide if I want to stop guessing altogether and start measuring. Hmm. Its possible I could get better results by guessing than by measuring but probably not. The last thing to think about is whether I might ask for the lab's recommendations for potatoes rather than pumpkins... Just to throw another wrench in the machine, because why not, right... Things that make no sense on the surface, might have another lower level where they do make sense. And I want to become a top potato grower even though thats not a real category! Im just endlessly silly... But you just never know. Maybe one thing would lead to another.   Thursday, January 16 View Page This is the soil from 6-10" down. The soil texture in this zone is actually enviable, perhaps very enviable, its a sandy loam with some pumice up to 1" but most of the pumice is 3/4" or less. This combined with the sandy loam gives a perfect airy soil texture. I dont have great soil depth, however. There's nothing of value to the roots deeper than about 12"... its either coarse pumice, or fine pumice or clay, and its different combinations of inpenetrable and/or infertile. I have thought about mixing the clay and the pumice layers deeper than 12" but its possible that would make things worse and sort of wreck what I've already got... Don't try to fix what aint broke. Once I mix it all up I know there's no going back to the way it was before. I could do a small trial, or I can just be thankful for what I've got rather than meddlesome.   Friday, March 7 View Page 2388.5 Liggett and 2459.9 Olsen and maybe another will be in the lineup as pollinators. Might try to cross these kins with each other, also.   Thursday, March 13 View Page Pumpkin seeds are not perfectly bilaterally symmetrical. I forget which side the first leaf usually comes out.   Thursday, March 13 View Page ??? I think 90-95 % the first leaf would come out of the short side of the tip, or was it the long side. After the cots separate? Hmm... I guess I'll repeat the experiment.   Thursday, March 13 View Page I set up an experiment to show leaf direction. Unless they twist a bunch as they sprout, all these should have first leaves pointing the same direction. The 'male' side of the seed is pointing towards the tab that opens the food tray. (Yet another food tray. I have plenty of plant pots, but... I also have plenty of various food containers. I dont see much difference, yet.)   Thursday, March 13 View Page This is also an old seed experiment, will see if the 1195 Kaminski '13 sprouts. Its in the middle. A brief bath in warm dilute h202 then into the miracle grow potting mix that smells like beauty bark than soil. A seed starting mix would be better for starting seeds but nevertheless this stuff might work.   Monday, March 31 View Page Pumpkin diary update. The WR 1448 Bongers x 2. The 3rd died because my terrible homemade potting mix rotted it. Replaced with 1334 Sestak, which is a nice Rodebaugh cross, too.   Monday, March 31 View Page Previous post I meant to mention that the miracle grow potting mix (middle) is outperforming the dollar store potting mix. I'm not trying to prove or disprove anything. I'm just playing around, trying to get a sense for things. Eventually I would like to get acceptable (or exceptional) results from my own home made forest-product-based mix. I probably need to put a bit more care into it to get it to turn out right.   Monday, April 7 View Page The least amount seed sprouting voodoo here, just put a seed in the ground! I had plastic on the ground so the ground got hot, almost hot enough to kill them, but nevertheless all 4 direct seeded 1677's germinated...   Monday, April 7 View Page "Hey you tricked us!" They all sprouted, but then today I took the plastic off and now theyre getting some cold 55 degree rain. I'll put the plastic back on after nature does #1 on them for a bit.   Monday, April 7 View Page I think the yellow leaf margin here is a manganese deficiency. Add this to the list of nutrients that the plants can struggle with in cold wet weather. Maybe its a longer list but its at least nitrogen and phosphorus, too. Another pdf download said MAP fertilizer could be applied (banded) with manganese to get better uptake of the manganese. Supposedly. But that would hit all three. I'm sure there are other organic approaches which are better. "Soil temperature and moisture – cold soil temperatures cause more severe manganese defciencies. Cold, wet soil reduces root growth, manganese uptake, and manganese solubility. A research study showed that a temperature increase of 15°F caused manganese to increase 54 percent, zinc 15 percent, iron 30 percent and copper 24 percent. Plant uptake of most micronutrients is reduced in cold, wet soil but none more severely than manganese."   Monday, April 7 View Page The 1448 Bongers pumpkin loves the miracle grow potting mix. Sometimes I'm dissatiflsfied with their products, but I'll give them a solid 'A' this time. The dollar store mix gets a D. My mix... not sure yet... it was started at least 10 days behind the others. Probably a 'C'. I cut Dan's mix here about 1:3 with promix to create an economy version (& pumpkin friendly?) of his mix. I could do a product review... Not sure I will. But if I did, I'd probably compare miracle grow, promix, Sutherland's mix cut 1:3 with promix, and pure Sutherland's mix. Might be interesting.   Monday, April 14 View Page Biggest saved for last. 1448 Bongers WR I might try something very different with this plant, (and fail to qualify for the 150 sq ft competition). This was the one in miracle grow. A robust plant...   Saturday, April 19 View Page The 1938 Mathiowetz's got frozen in the last frost. I went out at 3 a.m. and the plastic cover was not on them Everything else survived. Best plants ranked so far: 1448 Bongers 1334 Sestak 1296.3 Akatsuka The 2054 Stricklers have been dissapointing so far and my 1677's are not doing amazing either. I might start a bushel gourd or watermelon as a backup???   Saturday, April 19 View Page After much trial and error using various setups I think I will try using both a barrel of water and a barrel of compost in the plastic tents. This is to provide thermal regulation and CO2. The plastic huts are getting both too hot and too cold. Because I happen to have both white and black barrels, I'll put the compost in the white barrel and the water in the black barrel. Also I want to try fertilizing with things that stimulate the soil biology... Not sure any chemical fertilizers do this well enough. I'm not against chemical fertilizers but maybe they might be more useful in the summer... Also, might move towards my own broardforking method. Also, thinking of trenching (regularly?) around some of the patches to cut back some tree roots. I could make the trench farther out each time, to cut fewer pumpkin roots.   Tuesday, April 22 View Page The 1448 Bongers plant is aggressive. I started 3 of these. One died in germination and the other is at my moms house. If all goes well this could be an early June pollination, and maybe reach 1k?   Thursday, April 24 View Page Not much ahead or behind my previous best year but the 1448 plant could get huge, if I let it. Culled one of the 1677's that showed a little yellow pumpkin about 4' out. I wonder if any of them will be greenies like I was hoping. Eight more chances. I tried flood irrigating a row of garlic with 20 gallons if water. It was a failure, the water poured straight into the ground about as fast as if I had poured it onto pea gravel. I really love the idea of flood irrigation! But... it requires the water to flow across the ground briefly, not straight down into it.