Hurrying to Plant Pumpkins
My husband tilled the future pumpkin patch Saturday! Yay!! I bought 5 bags of organic humus with composted manure which Jesse and I will be mixing into the soil if it ever stops raining. The short-season pumpkin seeds have been ordered, so after the soil is mixed with the humus/manure all we can do is wait.
This garden area is pretty big, I’m wondering if I should divide it into 3 very long, 3-foot-wide beds, or just keep it one big area for a real-live pumpkin patch. I don’t let anyone walk on my gardens so the soil won’t get compacted because I never want to till again. If this becomes a large pumpkin patch, it’ll have to be all tromped on to plant and harvest the pumpkins. But if I do the narrow beds, who will tell the pumpkin vines to stay off the paths? 
It is a no-brainer really, I never again want to wait on someone to do tilling, so I’ll make long, raised beds. I’ll just share the paths with the pumpkins for a while. And early next spring the beds will already be ready for planting watermelons.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m planting pumpkins that are supposed to mature quickly. One variety, Neon, is a semi-bush type, with 8 to 10 lb fruit, that claims to mature in 60 to 80 days. The other, New Rocket, produces 14 – 22 lb fruit that matures in 86 days. What odd measurements 14 to 22 lbs, and 86 days. Why don’t they just say 15 to 20 lbs, and 85 days?
This is a photo of the garden as it was in spring, on March 30. The bed along the left now contains bush green beans, onions, and several squash & zucchini. The right side, farthest away are the blueberry bushes, then the right corner that you can’t see currently has the lima beans growing like crazy. It really hasn’t been used in a few years, except the outer raised beds which used to have tons of daisies. The drought of summer 2007 and the goats of 2008 killed them all though.
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All that gardening sounds like so much fun! My son brought home 2 pumpkin plants from school so we planted them. Whoa are they large plants…I had no idea! And now we’re pollinating them with q-tips because the flowers never fully open. Such an adventure.
Have fun with your plants! I agree on those measurements…funny!
Erica:
I just wish the seeds would get here already! It’s supposed to rain all week– that’s perfect for planting ’cause I won’t have to get out and water every day.
Cool site, love the info.