Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 37 Entries. Monday, April 23 View Page A clean slate - 75' x 150' - ready for new adventures, challenges, disappointments, and some big orange successes! To you, reading my diary........May your successes outweigh your disappointments, and may your 2018 pumpkin outweigh your PB.   Monday, April 23 View Page This year's players are three of my own.....1) 1404 Rea (1297.5 Young x 1327.5 Rea) and 2) the reverse cross, 1275 Rea. 3) Last year's Howard Dill winner 1374.5 Rea. 4) will be Quinn's beautiful pumpkin from last year, 1676 Werner. 5) and 6) are made in Ohio......2112 Skinner and 2150 Skinner.   Monday, April 23 View Page Thank you to those growing my seeds this year, and for sharing my hope and anticipation of what they can do!   Monday, April 23 View Page Along with 6 AG's, I will be tending 40 plants of jack-o-lanterns and specialty pumpkins to share with family and friends. Thanks to Tom Swain and Joe House for the great seeds!   Monday, April 23 View Page There's nothing better than having a friend who is really really smart AND willing to share. Thank you, Jerry Snyder, for putting such an effort into trying to steer me in the right direction!!   Monday, May 21 View Page The Rea Patch started on a sorry note! Even though I used several precautions, I lost 4 plants to seed corn maggots. Fortunately, I had a backup for each plant.   Monday, May 21 View Page The wood frames are covered with shade cloth, offering the usual sun, wind, and heavy rain protection, including safety from critters that may come out of our nearby woods at night.   Monday, May 21 View Page The plants are all about the same size, except for one, undisclosed, scrawny, crinkled, sorry looking thing! But it is still smiling, so I decided to NOT pull it! However, the one left-over backup is big, beautiful, and also smiling. So......I planted it too! That's what can happen when you have plenty of space and not enough sense!   Monday, June 25 View Page This is the 1404 Rea. 5 of my plants look the same.......same plant size......same leaf size.......same healthy look. My other 2 - The Skinners - got off to a shaky start, but are now looking healthy. Still smaller than the rest, but growing fast.   Monday, June 25 View Page There are pollinations on 5 plants. This is the 1275 Rea, 6 days old. It will be a shock if she isn't orange!.........being a blend of the 1297.5 Young - 1327.5 Rea - 1000.5 Gansert - 1498 Werner. And for good measure, a dash of 1912 Carter to hopefully give the size a boost! The 1275 is the reverse cross of my 1404. I'm expecting great pumpkins from both plants!   Monday, June 25 View Page So you think you've got a good patch dog! Meet Annie.........9 week old Golden Doodle. She was determined to help dig holes for planting our specialty pumpkins!   Friday, July 27 View Page SISTERS - 1374 Rea (1810 Werner x 2058 Rose). Sissy at 35 days is approximately 570 lbs.   Friday, July 27 View Page Sassy at 35 days is approximately 580 lbs.   Friday, July 27 View Page COUSINS - It's been fun to watch these reverse cross pumpkins growing side-by-side. 1404 Rea (1297 Young x 1327 Rea) and 1275 Rea, the reverse cross.   Friday, July 27 View Page 1404 Rea - "Yabba" at day 35 approximately 540 lbs.   Friday, July 27 View Page 1275 Rea - She's not a perfectly normal shaped girl, so her name is "Abby". Named after her grandpa, Abbynormal! At day 35, approximately 500 lbs.   Saturday, July 28 View Page Here is most of the Rea patch. I couldn't get all 7 pumpkins in the photo. "Sassy", 1374 Rea, is in the foreground. 1676 Werner is way down on the end.   Thursday, August 2 View Page SKINNER & SKINNER - Both were slow out of the gate, but soon became beautiful big plants. 2150 Skinner is 35 days, approximately 529 lbs. and averaging 34.6 lbs/day the past 5 days.   Thursday, August 2 View Page My granddogs, Charlie and Annie, posing with the baby of the patch, 2112 Skinner. Approximately 439 lbs. at day 30, and gaining 31 lbs. per day the past 5 days. I was going to use Annie as this year's size comparison model, but I think she is growing as fast as the pumpkins!   Sunday, August 5 View Page 1676 Werner was supposed to be orange! She has a mind of her own and at 755 lbs. decided to be mellow yellow!   Friday, August 10 View Page In my first diary entry, I said I was ready for this year's disappointments. So far: 2 foaming stumps, both finally had to be cut off - 3 plants with disease - 1 rotting stem - 1 blossom end split! The split is on the 2112 Skinner, day 40 and averaging 39 lbs./day. I didn't want to show you a photo of the split.......just what a pretty pumpkin she was!   Saturday, August 11 View Page A beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon, and a trip to the pumpkin graveyard in the woods. 1404 Rea - smelly juice, leaking from the bottom!   Saturday, August 11 View Page 2112 Skinner - blossom end split. The agony of defeat!   Saturday, August 11 View Page 1676 Werner - rotting stem with small deep hole and no growth for 5 days!   Sunday, August 19 View Page Here is Abby - 1250 Rea. She is a slow grower, on a stumpless plant, that also had to fight off some disease. But there's a good chance that she will turn orange!   Sunday, August 19 View Page Sissy and Sassy, the 1374 Rea sisters, look like twins. This is Sissy. She has more vivid color and is growing faster.   Monday, August 20 View Page 2150 Skinner is sleek and smooth, with interesting body contours! "Penelumpy" is just 55 days old and gaining about 20 lbs./day.   Sunday, September 16 View Page Annie and Charlie with the 2150 Skinner. She is just sitting there, waiting for the OVGPG weighoff!   Sunday, September 16 View Page Sissy, 1374 Rea, is about the same size as her momma. She's oh so pretty!   Monday, October 1 View Page Not as exciting as growing a 2000 lb. pumpkin. But I'm pretty excited about this. Garden tools left out during the summer got rather rusty. They were soaked for one week - 9 parts water to 1 part molasses.   Monday, October 1 View Page Voila! Rust completely gone!   Friday, October 19 View Page Story of the 2018 Rea Patch........7 AG's - one by one, they bit the dust, leaving just the smallest one to march on to the weighoff. 2150 Skinner, now the 1269.5 Rea. Giant pumpkin growers' most famous words: "Next year.....next year.....next year!   Friday, October 19 View Page Pumpkins make us smile!   Friday, October 19 View Page Patch guests love to wash their favorite pumpkins. Little guys..............   Friday, October 19 View Page And big guys!   Friday, October 19 View Page This was Annie's first year to harvest pumpkins!   Monday, October 22 View Page Look closely at the display, for a beautiful little 3 week old pumpkin!