Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 114 Entries. Sunday, July 27 View Page I decided to try a diary again. So I'm pretty much assuring that my year is jinxed. As soon as I start writing about these pumpkins, my luck goes south. It's already been a roller coaster of a ride this year, but I've decided to just enjoy the ride until I get kicked off, which can happen at any time with these magnificent, fickle wonders of nature. Been growing most years over a 30 year span now. This is the 1149 Reid (1381 Checkon x 1725 Harp).   Sunday, July 27 View Page I planted the 1149 Reid and 1245 Berard in soil that had not grown plants in about ten years. It was a sand volleyball court I built for my daughters who played volleyball in high school. They've moved on to college now, so the court has been converted to a pumpkin patch. I figured the sand would compliment the heavy clay soil. You may still be able to see the volleyball net. Very few amendments were added at first, because I have lost all my recent plants at the house to foaming stumps and eventual wilting of the plants. I wanted to avoid this if possible, so the plants started out as low energy plants.   Sunday, July 27 View Page This is the 1245 Berard (2009 Wallace x self). The plant is large enough to be able to push this one if it remains healthy. Both plants had foaming stumps in early June after five straight days of rain. Thought both were goners at that point. Treated both with powder fungicide and it dried up. This one set 5 days after the 1149 Reid. The 1149 Reid was open pollinated on June 30th and the 1245 Berard was pollinated with the 1149 Reid on July 5th.   Sunday, July 27 View Page 1245 Berard with the 1149 Reid in the background. Volleyball net in the middle. June was brutally hot, but July has had some nice breaks with highs in the mid to upper 80's. Growing pumpkins here in the south is often a war of attrition. We feel very fortunate when we battle the oppressive heat all summer and have something to put on a scale come fall.   Sunday, July 27 View Page Don't know if this photo clearly shows, but the 1245 Berard is not filling out on the stem end. She has me concerned. All pumpkins that started on this vine had the same shape. They start out looking like footballs and the blossom end swells, but the stem end doesn't.   Wednesday, July 30 View Page The 1149 Reid on day 30. She is at 105"cc. The plant has small low growing leaves. That may be a result of growing in a low nutrient, high sand (converted volleyball court) soil more than the genetic predisposition of the plant.   Wednesday, July 30 View Page The 1149 Reid has a sunken blossom end, that may be problematic as she gets bigger.   Wednesday, July 30 View Page The 1245 Berard has a cc of 91" on day 25. It's slightly ahead of the pace set by the 1149 Reid on its day 25 measurements, but she has a deformed shape with a constricted stem end. The 1245 is the more robust looking of the two plants.   Sunday, August 3 View Page 1149 Reid. Ah, morning in the pumpkin patch. It is truly one of the special places on earth for those of us with the fever. The dew is still fresh on the leaves, the vine tips are tender with new growth, bees are buzzing all around the flowers with their intoxicating aroma and a two or three hundred pounder is just starting to take off. The world is full of possibilities and like Linus from Charlie Brown we believe that maybe, just maybe this will be the year that the great pumpkin comes to visit our patch.   Sunday, August 3 View Page 1245 Berard with the 1149 in the background. The 1245 is not really taking off like it should with the plant it's attached to. it's doing about 22 a day.   Sunday, August 3 View Page Our vegetable, herb and flower garden.   Sunday, August 3 View Page Another view of the vegetable garden. Our garden has fed us well this summer.   Saturday, August 9 View Page My brother, Bruce with our *918 Dill in our Virginia patch. It's at 97 "cc and just starting to take off. The patch is about an hour and fifteen minutes from our homes, so we just go to the patch once a week and we alternate weeks. This was the first time we were both at the patch at the same time since the pumpkins were planted in mid-May. There are some advantages, but some definite disadvantages to growing long distance. You really have to depend on mother nature to partner with you, when you see the plants once a week.   Saturday, August 9 View Page Another view of the *918. She is looking light but we have had her covered with a sheet. We'll let her get a little more light as she gets older.   Saturday, August 9 View Page Bruce with our 1530 Gehweiler. She tapes at 428 lbs. on DAP 34. The plant is on the small side, but from the time the pumpkin was the size of a basketball the plant just terminated all end vine growth. It's like all the energy was focused on growing the fruit. The squash plant is in the background.   Saturday, August 9 View Page Another shot of the 1530. Thanks Chad for donating the seed and Tina and Frank for distributing it through the club. We had the soil too "jacked" last year in this patch and grew huge vines that worked us to death with pruning. They developed foaming stumps early and we worked feverishly to reign in the powdery mildew, and only produced a 509 and 661 pounder. We didn't add anything to the soil this year, and planted winter rye that grew to 7 feet tall before we cut it in. The difference is like night and day. Our vines are not impressive to say the least, but to this point we have no foaming stumps or signs of powdery mildew and the vines seem to be focusing their energy into the fruits.   Saturday, August 9 View Page Gene, thanks also for donating your 454, but we haven't done it justice. When you grow long distance you have to have some luck on your side. It was not in our favor with the 454. The vine broke when it laid down as it started to run and never recovered. The pumpkin is shaped nicely. if anybody gets a 75 square foot contest going, count us in.   Sunday, August 10 View Page I had the privilege of visiting John Wayne Brooks' patch today. He has some very nice pumpkins going. This one is taping at 659 lbs, grown from a 1085 Van Hook. It was started in the greenhouse, but the majority of the plant is growing outside of the greenhouse. John has lost some nice pumpkins in the past, but he's a tough old bird and keeps picking himself up, dusting himself off and jumping back in for more. He has grown some nice pumpkins and watermelons in the past, but is especially known for his squash. He has won the Allardt squash competition 4 times.   Sunday, August 10 View Page This is a beautiful dark green squash he had growing on his 641 seed. It was last taping at 550 lbs when he lost the vine. Hope she holds on for a competition.   Sunday, August 10 View Page This is the pumpkin John has going on the 1791 Holland. It's taping at 697 lbs. John is willing to go to any length to grow these giants and all his hard work is paying off this season.   Sunday, August 10 View Page This is a pumpkin growing on his 362.5 from last year. It is taping at 539 lbs.   Sunday, August 10 View Page The pumpkin from the last picture is growing down the hill from the hog pen, so every time it rains it gets fertilized.   Sunday, August 10 View Page John has a beauty growing on the 1498 Holland. It is taping at 959 lbs. If he pushes it over 1000, he'll join an elite club in North Carolina.   Sunday, August 10 View Page A view of the 1498 Holland from the stump. The 1791 is in the background.   Sunday, August 10 View Page John with the pumpkin on the 1498. Thanks for letting us tour your patch, John. Enjoy the ride. You've paid your dues in the past and deserve a year like this.   Thursday, September 4 View Page I would like to introduce everyone to the love of my life…Oh yeah, my wife is in the picture also.   Thursday, September 4 View Page Just kidding, Babe.   Thursday, September 4 View Page I've got to get a softer shovel … or a slower wife.   Thursday, September 4 View Page Here we go again. It was only a joke.   Thursday, September 4 View Page All kidding aside, my wife and daughter worked tirelessly on a 90 degree day to haul buckets of water out of the creek for the pumpkins. It was hot, sweaty work. They sang and joked the whole time and kept a wonderful attitude.   Thursday, September 4 View Page Let's try this again. The love of my life…and the 1530 Gehweiler is also in the picture. She tapes about 750, but has slowed to about 10 per day.   Thursday, September 4 View Page Our *918 Dill. The plant is suffering from a lack of water. The picture was taken before we hauled the water from the creek and gave it a drink. Mother nature had taken pretty good care of us until this week. it turned hot and dry and the plants suffered. It is taping about 650.   Thursday, September 4 View Page Ah. The roller coaster ride of a pumpkin season. My 1245 Berard had quit growing about ten days ago. It's last estimate was 504 lbs. I noticed the tarp over it had sunk in and when I removed it, this is what I found. It had a strong plant behind it, but it's potential was never realized.   Thursday, September 4 View Page Can anyone estimate the weight of my pumpkin with only a SS of 94", because that's all the information that is going to be available. Let me explain. I have been growing pumpkins for about thirty years now, and I had a new experience this afternoon. After taking the side to side, I was going to take the end to end. The 1149 Reid is growing back on the stem somewhat, so the stem is partially recessed under the pumpkin. I saw where something had dug some sand out from under the pumpkin and I was brushing it back when all of a sudden, POW! A copperhead snake hiding near the pumpkin struck at my hand. I jerked my hand back and got a stick and flashlight, but could not find the snake. There is a tunnel going under the pumpkin, and I think he is living under there. When you have that close of a call with a copperhead, you ain't right the rest of the night.   Thursday, September 4 View Page The 1149 Reid has never had impressive gains, but she has kept chugging along. At least I think she's still growing. I may have to just guess about that from here on out. One thing's for sure, I'll never stretch a tape around a pumpkin again without seeing where my hand is going.   Thursday, September 4 View Page I have been remiss by failing to mention that my brother Bruce and his wife and daughter also hauled buckets of water to the 1530 and *918 from the creek on Labor Day. Both my brother and i are blessed to have wives and children who love us enough to do such hard, nasty work to help us grow the pumpkins.   Saturday, September 27 View Page The 1149 Reid finally taped at 338" or about 840 lbs. I did see the copperhead twice more under the pumpkin after my initial encounter when it struck at me. How many other growers have a real live guard snake for their pumpkin. I don't think there will be a mouse problem with this one.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Side view.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Stem end of the 1149 with a view of the snake hole. The copperhead poked its head out and looked at me then retreated back under the pumpkin.   Saturday, September 27 View Page The 1149 developed about a two foot long split after an unexpected large rain. It did not go through to the cavity, but I decided to cut it up and weigh it piece by piece. The total came to 841 lbs. It's a hollow feeling to baby her all season and not get her to an official scale, but I did enjoy the process of growing this pumpkin this year.   Saturday, September 27 View Page My brother and growing partner, Bruce loading the 1530 Gehweiler for Yadkin Valley.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Me and my daughter's boyfriend, Zach with the 1530 on the back of the truck. That big joker could move the pumpkin around the bed of the truck with one hand, making me think she was going to go really light.   Saturday, September 27 View Page The two proud growers.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Now for the fun stuff. An impressive line up at Elkin. Between the pumpkins and watermelons, we had about 40 fruit to weigh in. Jerry Rose's pumpkin is the closest and Danny Vester's is right behind it. It was a beautiful fall day for a weigh off.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Let me apologize up front, because I don't have pictures of everyone, but I was depended on my daughters to provide the photos as I was MCing. They got most but not all. I'm sure I'll probably also butcher some names. This is my friend and pumpkin growing mentor, Al Davis with his 207 lb. watermelon and great grandson. Al tells me he has been growing pumpkins and watermelons for 40 years. If you ever wrote a history of giant pumpkins in North Carolina, you would have to devote the opening chapter to Al.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Chris Kent brought a 251 lb. entry, which was good enough for third. H.C. Williams won the watermelon competition.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Gary Lovitt and his daughter with our first pumpkin of the day. Her pumpkin went 190. Great job.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Susie Zuerner and her 476 grown from the 1985 Miller. Susie has done an amazing job of organizing our new GPC state fair weigh-off.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Gladys Holder had a 510 lb entry. Sorry Gladys that we did not get the pumpkin in the picture.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Big Brad Holder and his 601 lb entry. Brad, Sam Lovelace and their crew did a great job of getting all the pumpkins and watermelons safely to the scale.   Saturday, September 27 View Page TJ Lovitt is telling me about his pumpkin grown from the 2009 Wallace. He was so excited to see what it weighed. Gary tells me Ron donated the seed personally to TJ. Ron, it wasn't the largest pumpkin grown from a 2009 seed, but you would be hard pressed to find one that brought more joy to the grower.   Saturday, September 27 View Page TJ proudly stands beside his 549.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Jill Smith and her 587. Jill is a regular at Elkin.   Saturday, September 27 View Page My lovely assistant. Good help is so hard to find.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Al Davis with his 669.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Jessie Adkins with his 709. He was one of our tireless lifting crew.   Saturday, September 27 View Page My old growing partner, Gail Newsom with his 701. Gail has a pure unadulterated love for growing pumpkins. He is like a kid at Christmas when he is in a pumpkin patch. He seems to draw a boundless energy from growing pumpkins. He is like Pop Eye on spinach when he's in the patch.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Jack Bacheler with his 878. He always brings a rock to the scale.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Elijah Meck with his 743. If I have bored you up to this point, pull your chair a little closer because you've got to hear his story. First, he grew long distance (about an hour away) so he visited his pumpkin once a week. It grew in his in-laws FLOWER bed. And when I asked what seed he grew it from, he told me it came from a seed packet he bought at WAL-MART!!! You heard right. That has got to be the record for a pumpkin grown from a Wal-Mart seed.   Saturday, September 27 View Page My buddy, John Wayne Brooks with a new personal best of 833. Congratulations John.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Michael Hetner had a 741. Sorry we did not get your pumpkin in the shot, Michael.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Bruce and I with our 906. I have a history of weighing balloons, so we were pleasantly surprised when this one went a little heavy. It was grown from the 1530 Gehweiler. Thanks Chad and Tina and Frank for making the seed available to us.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Chip Bigger. I apologize we did not get a picture of his pumpkin. It went a little light on him, but was a beauty and won him the Howard Dill award.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Now we move into quadruple digits. Jason Gagne with his 1111. Jason was last year's winner.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Sam Lovelace and his 1050 grown from the 2032 Mathison. Thanks Sam, for all your hard work to put this weigh-off on.   Saturday, September 27 View Page It was an honor and pleasure to meet Jerry Rose and his son, Jerry III. His pumpkin tipped the scales at 1320, and it was the "baby" of the patch. That was the heaviest pumpkin ever weighed in at Elkin for about 10 minutes.   Saturday, September 27 View Page We had heard rumblings of this monster coming out of the east, and it didn't disappoint. Danny Vester and his 1404 new NC state record! Congratulations Danny.   Saturday, September 27 View Page Top ten at the Yadkin Valley Pumpkin Festival. Congratulations to all! That was so much fun, let's do it again next year.   Sunday, September 28 View Page As I looked back at my diary entries from last night, I realized I hadn't attached the picture of the pumpkin Bruce and i grew. So here is the 906 grown from the 1530 Gehweiler.   Wednesday, October 1 View Page The *918 Dill.   Wednesday, October 1 View Page Another view   Wednesday, October 1 View Page *918 from the top.   Wednesday, October 1 View Page *918 from the stem.   Wednesday, October 1 View Page The stump of the *918. We had heavily amended the soil last year and had stumps that were 4 times bigger and foamed like crazy, so we added NO amendments this year and had small stumps which had no foaming and we grew larger fruit.   Wednesday, October 1 View Page The line-up at the Dixie Classic Fair.   Wednesday, October 1 View Page Another view of the pumpkins at the Dixie Classic. It was a good year for pumpkins. They give ribbons to the top 7, and unofficially it looks like 632 was the smallest pumpkin to ribbon.   Wednesday, October 1 View Page Bruce and me with our pumpkin. Bruce had bagged it after Elkin and they weighed it at 911 at the Dixie classic.   Wednesday, October 1 View Page Gail Newsom with his pumpkin at the Dixie Classic.   Sunday, October 5 View Page The line-up of some of the pumpkins and squash at Allardt.   Sunday, October 5 View Page The watermelons at Allardt.   Sunday, October 5 View Page The clash of the titans. It was a truly impressive line-up. According to the latest census, Allardt has a population of 642 and they put on this incredible festival. They have a nicely run weigh-off, hundreds of craft and food vendors, dozens of antique tractors, hundreds of classic cars with a parade in the afternoon and fireworks at night.   Sunday, October 5 View Page Our squash waiting its turn to be weighed.   Sunday, October 5 View Page Chris Kent was on familiar ground, winning the watermelon competition with his 251.1. He also brought a 224.2. Sharon Bertram beat out husband, Freddie. Hers was 226.1 and his was 222.7. Allardt's native son, Kevin Garrett took 4th with his 207.2. Remember that name, you'll hear it again.   Sunday, October 5 View Page Susie with her beautiful squash. It was third and weighed in at 436. She also won the field pumpkin category.   Sunday, October 5 View Page Jeremy Terry's squash entry. It was second and weighed over 600 lbs. I apologize, but I can't remember the exact weight.   Sunday, October 5 View Page Bruce and me with our squash. It was taping about 875, but went light at 778. The other two *918 Dills that have been weighed went light to the chart also.   Sunday, October 5 View Page The top three winners in the squash category.   Sunday, October 5 View Page Malissa Bess with her beautiful Howard Dill award winning pumpkin.   Sunday, October 5 View Page Jimmy Sauers with his 703. He won the pumpkin competition 2 years ago.   Sunday, October 5 View Page 841. That's just an insignificant number to most people, but not to this man. You see, I know what that number means to Gail Newsom. He grew an 820 ten years ago, and has been trying to best that ever since. Today I saw years of frustration, disappointment and frustration at falling just short of that mark melt away in an instant, and suddenly all that pressure that had been building for ten years was gone. That night when Gail's head hit the pillow he either slept a deep peaceful contented sleep or he stayed awake half the night thinking of things he could try next year to best the 841. Either way it was a VERY good night's rest. Congratulations old friend!   Sunday, October 5 View Page Next up was John Wayne Brooks, Gail's growing buddy. They make the pilgrimage together to Allardt each year. John weighed in at 842. One pound over Gail's pumpkin. There was a lot of good natured ribbing over that. John has set another personal best every time he has gone to a scale this year, 810, 833 and 842. Great year John!   Sunday, October 5 View Page The Terry clan had three entries to be weighed in a row. First was Jordan Terry with his 1011.   Sunday, October 5 View Page Bruce Terry with his 1124.   Sunday, October 5 View Page Jason Terry with his 1254. It looked impressive, very tall and wide.   Sunday, October 5 View Page The last two to be weighed were from two hometown boys, Christopher (son) and Kevin (father) Garrett. Or maybe I should say hometown heroes, because after Saturday they should be quite the celebrities in Allardt. Christopher had the Tennessee state record for about 5 minutes with his 1337.   Sunday, October 5 View Page Kevin Garrett with his Tennessee state record 1405!   Sunday, October 5 View Page She was a beauty.   Sunday, October 5 View Page Bruce and me getting ready to ride in the parade with our squash. It was great fun.   Sunday, October 5 View Page Our view of the parade route. The Garrett pumpkins are in front of us.   Sunday, October 5 View Page That night at dinner after the festival. Renewing old friendships and making new ones.   Sunday, October 5 View Page Good times with good friends.   Friday, October 10 View Page Kids, I don't recommend you try this at home.   Friday, October 10 View Page For those of you who have followed my diary, you know that "Matilda" gave me quite a scare earlier in the year. She returned tonight, but sadly her pumpkin house was no more.   Tuesday, October 14 View Page And presto change we're back to playing volleyball.   Tuesday, October 14 View Page We can't decide whether we have a very sandy pumpkin patch, or an extremely fertile volleyball court.   Tuesday, October 14 View Page The line-up at the NC State Fair.   Tuesday, October 14 View Page Susie's pumpkin weighed in at 634. She did an amazing job of organizing our first GPC weigh-off at the state fair.   Tuesday, October 14 View Page Sam brought a pumpkin grown from his 813 seed. He said it taped at 600 lbs. It went 700.5. That seed is gaining quite the reputation for going heavy.   Tuesday, October 14 View Page Danny Vester won the Howard Dill Award with his pumpkin grown from a 1498 Holland.   Tuesday, October 14 View Page John Wayne Brooks finished his amazing year with a 798 lb pumpkin that was second. My crew didn't get pictures, but Chris Kent was our watermelon winner with a 258 and Stephen Wright was our pumpkin champion with his 808. Congratulations to all.   Sunday, November 2 View Page I was in Virginia working on the patches for next year and the fall beauty was in full display. Just wanted to share some pics of the fall colors.   Sunday, November 2 View Page This is a shot of the trees along the creek that we water our plants from.   Sunday, November 2 View Page The sunset was beautiful also.   Monday, November 3 View Page One of the joys of growing these giants is getting to meet some truly unique and extraordinary people. I had the pleasure of meeting one such individual today. Laura Mitchell is a reporter and free-lance writer who had seen our pumpkin at the farmer's market and wanted to do a story about giant pumpkins. Laura is a true dyed in the wool pumpkin FANATIC. We sat in our kitchen and talked giant pumpkins for three hours, and it was rejuvenating to see someone so excited about pumpkins who is just starting their journey. She is planning to grow a pumpkin of her own next year and if she can focus that crazy frenetic energy of hers long enough to nurture a plant, watch out! She has a passion for these giants that even unnerves me a little.