Posted by ltilton ... Aside from winning contests, I wonder what is commonly done ... I once grew a 275 pound pumpkin, scrawny little thing, nothing of note really, and a woman of our acquaintance decided she would like to eat the whole think. It took her about a year. She has never asked for another pumpkin in the succeeding 25 years. Do you want to get into the record growing headlines? I think strawberry's are ripe for your attention. Get one of the varieties that produce all year and see how big a strawberry you can grow. Guinness needs a new category.

It's been "interesting" to say the least this year. I lost no trees. I've lost more trees to the floods from the last 3 years. My Seckel pear lost most of its leaves, but all other fared pretty well--even the one and two year old newbies. Our Asian pears fruited for the first time, giving us a taste of what's to come, and I'm pretty impressed. A lot of local Asians I've tried have just been insipid. These were the opposite--juicy, flavorful, and a nice crunch--perfectly shaped and sized except for a couple stinkbug scars. My young apples are loaded w/good looking fruit--a little scab and some stinkbut scars. ' Early peaches were riddled w/curculio and mostly unusable. Later peaches small but good. We even got a good sampling from all of our two-year-olds. Plums did not set, nor did any of the cherries. Apricots did not flower. Blueberries are toast. I have 12 left out of 55. We lost half of our young currants and an entire 100 feet of both gooseberries and rhubarb. All grapes, new and old, survived and put out some new growth. Grape harvest has been impressive though very prolonged. The raspberries are confused. I have been picking both summer and everbearers since May from 200 feet of each. Small harvests of 1-2 pints a week, some weeks giving up a gallon or more. Blackberries were very disappointing for what should have been a record-breaking year. Only 25 gallons picked when there should have been over 200. We were picking some in June. I had ripe pumpkins in July, and watermelons are setting a whole new crop instead of dying out. The cantaloupes are covered in blooms. Another weird thing about blooms is that they have never shut down. I've got a restaurant that wants between 400-500 squash blossoms a week, and I've met that quota all year and am still meeting it. Amazingly, that's from all one planting, not a succession.

I don't know - that long cucumber looked pretty heavy. But that same site also has a page with the Largest Organic Cucumber at 28 pounds. This Cucumber FAQ says the record is 59 pounds, Australia, 1988. No other details or picture. This page of records lists the grower as Mrs. Eileen Chappel. 59 pounds. And you thought there wasn't much competition!

Tom, your plants still look great. Mine have lost a lot of foliage. Not disease, just yellowing and dropping. Maybe the cold? Too old? Not enough sun? Still some left to ripen, but nothing like before, and nothing like yours look now. My best this season: Beefmaster Black Cherry Sungold Manitoba Bonny Best- did better in spring, but did pretty well. Not great: Legend Empire Bloody Butcher Has anyone tried Black from Tula, Rutgers, costoluto genovese and arkansas traveler? How did they do and what about the taste? I've been thinking about trying a few in ground in spring. Which are the nematode resistant ones that might have a chance? Anyone have any luck? Is fall a better time to try that? Anna