Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 126 Entries. Wednesday, June 3 View Page I have hesitated to start a diary this year because I haven't known exactly where to start. My brother and growing partner, Bruce lost his dog, Dakota (pictured) who was more like a family member than a pet. They ran tens of thousands of miles together on trails. They truly had a special bond. Dakota lost his fight with cancer this spring and our father also passed in May from cancer. We hope the pumpkin patch will be good therapy for us this year. You know you are a true pumpkin fanatic when you build a pumpkin instead of a snow man. Bruce and Dakota are in the picture with the snow pumpkin. Oh yeah, he didn't just make a snow pumpkin, but also taped it and estimated its weight at just over 1500 lbs. I hope that is an omen.   Wednesday, June 3 View Page This is my friend, C L Hyatt. He recently lost his wife to Alzheimer's. I gave him a pumpkin plant this year. If the fascination of growing these giants takes hold, it can be good therapy. C L is starting to really take an interest in growing his plant. i think he'll be hooked if we can keep it healthy and a pumpkin sets and starts putting on about 25 lbs. a day. The plant is a 1077 LaRiviere (1080 LaRiviere x 1676 Daletas). Thanks for the seed, Gene. Your generosity may help heal a broken heart thousands of miles away. We'll see how the season goes.   Wednesday, June 3 View Page This is my 1381 Tobeck (1985 Miller x 1409 Miller). It is my late plant. That's buckwheat growing around the pumpkin. It will be tilled in as the plant grows. Thanks for the seeds, Cindy.   Wednesday, June 3 View Page 1719 Daletas (1676 Daletas x 2009 Wallace).   Wednesday, June 3 View Page 1426 LaRiviere (1676 Daletas x 2009 Wallace). Growing in the same patch as the 1719 Daletas. Both plants are the same cross. They are grown at right angles to each other, so I would have several weeks to make the decision on which would get the nod. Decision time is fast approaching, as they are about to grow together. Thanks for the seeds, Gene.   Wednesday, June 3 View Page 2008 Neptune (1730 Werner x 2009 Wallace). So far it seems to have a more open growing habit than the other plants.   Wednesday, June 3 View Page 1846 Daletas (1676 Daletas x 1495 Stelts). It is growing at a right angle to the 2008 Neptune. It got broken at the stump when it was very young. It was only connected by a thin sliver. I don't know how it survived. It is definitely a fighter. The 2008 will probably get the nod, though.   Saturday, June 6 View Page Our *1159 Kline growing in Virginia.   Saturday, June 6 View Page Our 1530 Gehweiler growing in Virginia. We had good luck with the 1530 last year, but we're off to a rocky start this year. The plant keeps wanting to run in a direction other than we intended. We just go to the patch once a week, since it is so far from home. It's tough to train a vine when you just have one day a week to work with it. It flat vined and split down the middle. We'll see how the season goes, but right now she doesn't look too promising.   Saturday, June 6 View Page Our 1426 LaRiviere growing in Virginia. It is the back-up to the 1530, but may get the call with the issues the 1530 is having. She is growing slower than the 1530; she was planted a week earlier.   Saturday, June 6 View Page Our 1614 Swearingen growing in Virginia. The plant looks healthy, but is slow to put out side vines. It is the back-up to the 1834 Daletas.   Saturday, June 6 View Page Our 1834 Daletas (2009 Wallace x 1495 Stelts) growing in Virginia.   Monday, June 8 View Page Had the tough decision of pulling the 1426 LaRiviere yesterday to make room for the 1719 Daletas. They had received virtually identical treatment and both had grown similar plants. The 1719 is on the left with the 1426 on the right.   Saturday, June 13 View Page Nana Rea, this one's for you. They say misery loves company. The picture really doesn't show the damage very well, but I've done something to make my 2008 Neptune very unhappy. The new growth leaves are mottled with light and dark green and are crinkled and deformed, and all the growing tips are growing straight up in the air. There is an old pumpkin saying that goes something like, "There are 12 things that can happen to these giants. ONE of them is good." Some times one of the 11 bad things that can happen is me.   Saturday, June 13 View Page Another picture of my ailing 2008 Neptune with a late back-up plant to the left. The late back-up may get the call if the Neptune can't pull out of the tail spin it's in. I'm flooding it with water to try to dilute any nutrient imbalance I've created. It was looking great one week ago today when this started.   Saturday, June 13 View Page The 1381 Tobeck in the foreground with its back-up, the 1717 Fulk in the background. The 1717 is growing at a better clip at this point.   Saturday, June 13 View Page The 1719 Daletas is looking pretty good to this point. I pollinated the 2008 Neptune to a four lober at 9 feet on the main today, 6-13-15. Ideally, I'd like to get one going a little farther out on the main.   Saturday, June 13 View Page I think we who keep diaries on BP hope they are inspirational at times, entertaining at times and at times helpful. With that in mind, I found this hoe at a local lawn & garden store that has quickly become my favorite garden tool. I have nicknamed it the bat hoe for obvious reasons. It is about 2 inches wider than a normal hoe, so it covers more ground on each push & pull. You can weed with precision right up next to your garden plants, but it will flat cut off a good plant in a hurry if you're not careful. You can turn it on edge and it will dig deep into the soil.   Saturday, June 13 View Page I look rough in this picture after a long hot day working in the garden, but I wanted to show that the "bat hoe" has a long slender handle which makes it easy on the back and easy to manipulate in your hands. So far it appears to be well made, but I've only had it two months, so I can't speak to its durability yet. There are several pumpkin growers in my area, and if any of you want one, they are $19.99 at Lexington Farm and Garden.   Sunday, June 14 View Page Today I had the pleasure of visiting the patch of a fellow pumpkin grower, John Wayne Brooks. He has two plants growing in his greenhouse.   Sunday, June 14 View Page John has a pumpkin started on his 798 Brooks from last year. The 798 was his 2nd place entry at the NC state fair. He has crossed the 2008 Neptune into it. The plant looks nice and healthy.   Sunday, June 14 View Page The 2008 Neptune is the other plant growing in the greenhouse. John is kneeling near the stump.   Sunday, June 14 View Page John is growing his outside plants with buckwheat. He mashes the buckwheat down as the plants get to it and lets them grow on top of the buckwheat. His patch is full of buckwheat and he din't plant any of it. He says he grew it there last year, and it reseeded this year.   Sunday, June 14 View Page John and me with his mustard patch in the background. He is already preparing for next year.   Sunday, June 14 View Page John with his guard "dog", Pete. John assures me Pete's bite is worse than his bark.   Sunday, June 14 View Page Pete with the patch he guards in the background. John tells me there is a squash growing in there amongst the buckwheat. I'll take his word for it. Thanks for the tour, John.   Monday, June 29 View Page This sums up my last two weeks of pumpkin growing. Pictured are the remnants of my 2008 Neptune and the 1381 Tobeck that was the back-up to it. Now, I'm pretty sure I have been hit with a mosaic virus that has spread like wildfire through the patches. This obsession gives us the highest highs at times and flat kicks us in the gut at other times.   Monday, June 29 View Page This is damage on the growing tips of the 1719 Daletas. It appeared to be a healthy thriving plant up until a week ago. The new leaves are deformed and mosaic in appearance. The growing tips shrivel and may shoot two feet or more into the air.   Monday, June 29 View Page A classic symptom of mosaic virus is the fruit starts out green. This is the 1719. When the vine was healthy, the fruit that came on were yellow. I haven't taken it out because I have an ag agent coming in the morning to take samples to send to NC State University to confirm what has attacked my plants.   Monday, June 29 View Page The mottled light & dark green damaged leaves. This hit in patches that had been lawn for thirty years. I think I probably brought in the disease in manures. The patches were amended with cow, chicken and horse manures in the fall.   Monday, June 29 View Page This is straight neck yellow squash. Two plants are growing side by side, one is healthy and throwing yellow squash. The other has become infected and is now throwing green squash and the new growth is deformed. No amendments have been added to this area in three years. The ag agent tells me mosaic virus can be spread by insects and especially cuc beetles.   Monday, June 29 View Page My only plant that is not showing signs of the virus, YET. It is the last plant planted, my second 1381 Tobeck. I have little hope at this point that it will remain healthy. Time will tell. Oh pumpkin gods, don't toy with me long. Be merciful and finish me swiftly if it is to be.   Wednesday, August 19 View Page i haven't posted in a while because i lost all my pumpkins here at home to mosaic virus. My ag agent sent tissue samples to NC State and their lab confirmed it. My ag agent told me the most likely source of the infection was from a field next to me that is farmed. The farmer let it grow up in weeds, then sprayed it with weed killer. Insects eat on weeds that carry the mosaic virus and then spread it to garden plants. When every plant in the field died, all the insects flooded my garden and pumpkin patch. I share this so others may learn from my experience. It is beneficial to keep weeds under control near your patch to the extent you can.   Wednesday, August 19 View Page It has been a tough year in the pumpkin patch. We started 11 pumpkins with the intent to cull down to 5. Disease has culled us down to 1 lone hope. The 1530 Gehweiler is growing well for us. This picture was 11 days ago. The pumpkin was taping 632 then. This past Friday she taped 764. Bruce and I started this year "chasing the quad" (1000 lb mark). Now we're just chasing a scale. We're flying on a wing and a prayer, but if we can hold her together we might make 1000 yet. We've been fighting all kinds of issues all season with this plant, but it's late August and we are still in the game and that's something to celebrate. If she tapers down slowly, Bruce and I are going to start losing sleep over this one in a couple of weeks, and that's a beautiful thing. If it all falls apart on us, two brothers will have grown closer by sharing a struggle together, and that ain't so bad either.   Wednesday, August 19 View Page Bruce and me with one of our *1159 Klines. The plant never took off, so the fruit is growing very slowly. She is more white than green at this point.   Wednesday, August 19 View Page Our other *1159 Kline. Same seed, but this one is growing green for us. The other fruit is white and round & smooth with a short stem. This one is green and has all kinds of wrinkles and ribs with a very long stem.   Saturday, August 22 View Page Our 1530 Gehweiler slowed dramatically this week. She went down to 11 a day. Not good news. We are fighting some ooze at the junction of the stem and vine. I have a suspicion that's the main reason for the drop off in gains.   Saturday, August 22 View Page She has a nice color and is wide and long, but not very high.   Saturday, August 22 View Page She has nice length. She is taping about 853, but has slowed dramatically. 1000 is looking doubtful unless she goes heavy.   Thursday, September 3 View Page Our 1530 Gehweiler, now taping at 353". After growing it for two seasons, I believe the 1530 is a special seed. It grew our PB last year, and has now grown our biggest pumpkin by volume this year. Many people have had success with this seed. Chad was very generous to share it with us. Thanks, Chad.   Thursday, September 3 View Page The 1530 Gehweiler is our lone hope for reaching our 1000 lb goal Bruce and I had set as this season started, and it appears she is going to tease us to the end. She is taping somewhere in the mid 900's but has slowed to about 6 lbs a day. We are keeping our fingers crossed that she will hold on for a weigh-off. We had some "ooze" issues recently where the stem and vine meet. They appear to have dried for the time being. Bruce and I are both a little high strung to be in this nail biting game. I can't say its been a fun ride this year, but its September and we're still on the ride, and we're grateful for that.   Thursday, September 3 View Page The 1530 Gehweiler has good length and width, but not a lot of height. One thing about growing a 1530 Gehweiler two years in a row, you learn how to spell Gehweiler without having to look it up. lol.   Thursday, September 3 View Page View from the top. Hold on baby! What a crazy game we're playing. In just over three weeks we're either going to have one of our best years of growing, or it will be the final blow in a very frustrating year. I don't like having all my eggs in one basket, but such is the hand we've been dealt this year.   Thursday, September 17 View Page My buddy Sam Lovelace sent a reporter from a local TV station our way. David Weatherly with Fox-8 came to the patch to shoot some footage to help promote the Yadkin Valley Pumpkin Festival which will be held September 26th. David is interviewing my brother, Bruce in this photo. Bruce is a doctor, but he will work like a dog in the pumpkin patch. We both cut our teeth in the tobacco fields of NC where we would start at 7am and go until 10pm some days, then get up and do it again the next day. Those old tobacco fields taught us the value of hard work. Bruce gives a pretty good interview also.   Thursday, September 17 View Page My friend CL Hyatt and me with the pumpkin in the background. CL grew a pumpkin this year that got to about 300 lbs, but it split on him when a big storm came in late in the season and dumped too much rain on the plant. CL enjoyed watching the pumpkin grow and says he wants to try again next year.   Thursday, September 17 View Page My old growing partner Gail Newsome is having a good year, so we took the reporter to visit his patch. I like this picture because it captures Gail's pure unadulterated joy when he is in a pumpkin patch. Gail in a pumpkin patch is like Pop-Eye eating spinach. Gail is 71, but he truly does become a kid again when he's in his patch.   Thursday, September 17 View Page David Weatherly was a real trooper. He took a nasty spill on his mountain bike the day before. He had road rash on half his face, 4 stitches in his lip, a sprained wrist, bruised ribs and a busted knee, but he made the trip to our patches.   Thursday, September 17 View Page Hooking up one of Gail's pumpkins to take to the Stokes County Fair. It was taping 444 lbs. but went heavy at 529 lbs. Congrats, Gail.   Thursday, September 17 View Page CL and Marshall Whitt in the background with the pumpkin on the truck. Marshall and his wife, Tammy own the land Gail grows on. They have a beautiful place with a breathtaking panoramic view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The little fellow poking his head out of the truck is Gail's constant patch companion, Cody.   Thursday, September 17 View Page Gail has several nice pumpkins growing. This one is closing in on 800 lbs. and is very young. Gail is very excited about this one, and rightly so.   Thursday, September 17 View Page Gail with Tammy Whitt and her grand-daughter and one of his pumpkins. If the cool nights don't slow it down too much, it could be the biggest Gail has ever grown.   Thursday, September 17 View Page Hope to be needing this in a couple of weeks. It is my privilege to serve as MC for the Yadkin Valley Pumpkin Festival and the NC State Fair weigh-offs. If anyone reads this and is planning to come to either of those events, I would appreciate if you would contact me with any information about how you got started growing or with any interesting stories about your growing season or with anything interesting about yourself in general. Those weigh-offs take about three hours and it is nice to have some interesting things to talk about while watermelons and pumpkins are being loaded on the scale. e-mail: rakeburch@gmail.com Phone: 336-906-4341   Sunday, September 20 View Page Getting the 1530 Gehweiler ready for lifting. She shut down on us two weeks ago, so we decided to get her in a cool dry spot.   Sunday, September 20 View Page Up, up and away.   Sunday, September 20 View Page Some tense moments.   Sunday, September 20 View Page Baby safely on board.   Sunday, September 20 View Page Many thanks to my neighbor, Wayne for helping us load the pumpkin.   Saturday, September 26 View Page The line up at Elkin. It's been a tough growing season in NC, so the turn out was much better than expected. Messy day, but a great celebration.   Saturday, September 26 View Page "Sambo" Sam Lovelace and his pumpkin. Sam and the crew do a great job of organizing the weigh-off.   Saturday, September 26 View Page Myra and Natalie from the Yadkin Valley Chamber of Commerce with Sam. The ladies with the chamber did a great job of everything except ordering the weather.   Saturday, September 26 View Page Another view of the line up.   Saturday, September 26 View Page Al Davis with his 208. He's been at this a long time, and is still very competitive.   Saturday, September 26 View Page Chris Kent with his 238 pig.   Saturday, September 26 View Page Don Murphy with his 245. It was an extremely long melon.   Saturday, September 26 View Page Larry and Ann Boyette with their 257 1st place melon. Larry took the ribbon and Ann took the money. Smart man, Larry.   Saturday, September 26 View Page The top three at Elkin, 2015. Chris Kent-238, Don Murphy-245 and Larry & Ann Boyette-257. Congrats all.   Saturday, September 26 View Page Jesse Adkins with his 10th place 435. Jesse is one of our un-sung heroes that bring the fruit to the scale at Elkin. He, Sam, Brad and the two Joshes do a great job. Never lost a patient yet.   Saturday, September 26 View Page Elijah Meck with his 9th place 583.   Saturday, September 26 View Page "Sparcmat" with his 8th place 607.   Saturday, September 26 View Page Artie Phillips with his 7th place 683 beauty. Howard Dill Award and a deserving recipient.   Saturday, September 26 View Page My old growing partner, Gail Newsome with his 6th place 699.   Saturday, September 26 View Page Michael Hefner with his 4th place 953.   Saturday, September 26 View Page Bruce and me with our 3rd place 972. A little short of our goal, but still a celebration to get it to a scale in one piece after this crazy year.   Saturday, September 26 View Page HC Williams with his second place 1024. He is well known in the watermelon world. He had the winning melon at Elkin last year. This was the FIRST pumpkin he has ever grown.   Saturday, September 26 View Page Jason Terry in a familiar place this year. First place at a GPC weigh-off. His 1318 is his SMALLEST pumpkin this year. Congrats on an awesome year.   Saturday, September 26 View Page Me, doing what I do best; running my mouth.   Saturday, September 26 View Page The leader board.   Saturday, September 26 View Page Elkin's top ten, 2015. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to put this together, and to all who braved the elements to bring their fruit.   Saturday, September 26 View Page I finally became a premium member, so my diary entries are posting immediately. Woohoo! I wanted to become a premium member to support Ken for giving us this wonderful forum, but more importantly, Ken assures me that as a premium member my pumpkins will appear larger when I post next year.   Wednesday, September 30 View Page Bruce and me getting our pumpkin ready for the fork lift at the Dixie Classic Fair. It was a tough year for growing veggies in NC, and it showed in the turn out at the Dixie Classic.   Wednesday, September 30 View Page Bringing her to the scale.   Wednesday, September 30 View Page Touch down.   Wednesday, September 30 View Page Ready for the fair.   Wednesday, September 30 View Page Our wives are occasionally "pumpkin widows" to our crazy hobby->fascination->obsession->mental illness, but truth be told they are very supportive. We are both very lucky men.   Wednesday, September 30 View Page My old mentor, Al Davis with his two grandsons and the four watermelons they brought to the Dixie Classic. The melon on the far left was picked July 30th. Notice how dark green and shiney it still is.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Stopped off at the candy store for some pumpkin fudge on our way to the state fair.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page The holding pen for the watermelons and pumpkins.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Another view of the line-up.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page TJ and Marina Lovitt watching the judges at work. Gary has some truly adorable kids.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Chris and Sam talking shop.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Susie Zuerner and BDP. Susie was the driving force who made this state fair GPC weigh-off a reality. She knows how to get things done.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Susie and her 7th place 116.5 melon.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Brad Holder and Wallace Simmons hard at work. The crew of Brad, Wallace, Wes Simmons, Matt Craps, Susie Zurener, Sam Lovelace, Gary Lovitt and Danny Vester kept things running smoothly. It says a lot about the character of people like Danny, Brad and Sam who had nothing to show but came anyway to help put on this nice weigh-off for others.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Travis Birdsell, first time grower with his 6th place 149.5.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page John Brooks with his 5th place 178.5.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page HC Williams with his fourth place 215.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Artie Phillips with his third place 221.5.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Donald Murphy with his second place 233.5.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Chris Kent is up to his old tricks. He brought this fat hog to the fair. 302 pounds. Largest weighed this year that I am aware of. Congrats Superman!   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Vance Craps, Matt's son led us off with the pumpkins.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Vance's pumpkin weighed 138. Well done.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Next was George Richmond with his 163.5. George was one colorful character.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page George's wife Hattie came in at 320. I can tell from their lively interaction that there is never a dull moment in their household.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Marina Lovitt with her 330 pumpkin. She was rightfully proud. Nice job, Marina.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Wes Simmons with his 343. He was our Howard Dill award winner. Congrats Wes.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Susie Z with her 350.5.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Wallace Simmons with his 375.5.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Elijah Meck with his 476.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Matt Craps with his third place 527.5.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page TJ Lovitt with his second place 611. TJ is a born entertainer. Congrats, TJ. That's an awesome pumpkin.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Gail Newsom with his first place 948, a new personal best. Gail has been at this game for 25 years and has paid his dues through some lean years in the past. Congrats Gail on being the 2015 NC State Fair champion! Well deserved.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page 2015 NC State Fair top ten.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Watermelon leader board.   Tuesday, October 13 View Page Pumpkin leader board. Well run weigh-off, gang.   Thursday, October 22 View Page I promise this is the last picture of the 972 you will have to endure. We had a tough season with all the disease issues this year. This season had me expecting the next disaster every time I went to the patch, so I can't say it was one of my more enjoyable years of growing. We have savored this pumpkin after growing it. My wife has taken it to a local nursing home and to the elementary school she used to teach at. A 972 doesn't even make a ripple in the pumpkin world, but it is still an amazing thing to see in person for most people. We love to drive it through parking lots and see peoples' reactions when they realize what they just saw. It's also fun to go out to eat and get a table where you can watch people reacting to the pumpkin. It's probably on a lot of peoples' Facebook pages, judging by how many times it has been photographed. Thanks 972 for the memories, and for taking several years off my life.   Thursday, October 22 View Page We recently took a trip to Stone Mountain. Here we are doing two things we enjoy most, eating and laughing. Pictures of the mountain to follow.   Thursday, October 22 View Page My gang on Stone Mountain.   Thursday, October 22 View Page The big rock in the background. The next pic will be from the top of the mountain.   Thursday, October 22 View Page View from the top. The view is of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Several people have fallen off the side of this mountain to their death.   Thursday, October 22 View Page The original water slide.   Sunday, October 25 View Page The view of the fall leaves from our pumpkin patch area in Virginia.   Sunday, October 25 View Page The leaves were about at their peak this weekend.   Sunday, October 25 View Page A cherry tree near the pumpkin patch.   Sunday, October 25 View Page The creek we irrigate the pumpkins from.   Sunday, October 25 View Page Patch prep is underway for next year. We are going to grow next to this year's patch. It was weeds and briars yesterday.   Monday, November 30 View Page Notice the name of this candle. When you have been growing pumpkins since 1984, you acquire a lot of pumpkin memorabilia. I've been to a bunch of pumpkin festivals in my years and let me tell you, when our lifting crew has been loading watermelons and pumpkins for three hours straight, the pumpkin festival doesn't smell anything like that candle. Just kidding guys, you know I appreciate the thankless job you do.