Anyone Growing Your Own Pkins?

[jadewik]

I managed to get some seeds in the ground before the 100-degree weather started to kill everything. Apparently, when I read the 8 foot spacing from the back of the pumpkin seed package to my husband he said "it doesn't matter"... and I shrugged my shoulders and planted we planted a lot of stuff... really, really close together.

So... somewhere in this 6x8 square of garden is Rhubarb, zuchini (left), honeydew melon, watermelon, cantelope, and two different variety of pumpkin....

Holy geeze... we're going to have a yard full of vines. These suckers are 3-feet tall in this photo.



... and check this out-- we already have pumpkins on the way!



I think I'll have more than enough pumpkins on my vines for the whole dang neighborhood. Heh. Might have a couple carving parties! =D

[NeverMore]

• • ... and... first time I ever planted pkins. Whee! The vines are about 3 feet tall and taking over the yard.

This is my first time growing pumpkins too. It started with me busting open some pumpkins in the back of the yard and watching as the vines grew out of control. Realizing I had to take action I sat down with my good friend Google and lernt proper techniques. Basically building mounds and not watering the leaves. I started by yanking out all the wild vines and transplanting the remaining smaller sprouts to some mounds.

After about two more days of watering by hand I sat down with that clever Google again and figured out how to run drip irrigation. Had to start by running water lines to the back of the yard. That's what all the digging was about and that's where everything went wrong. Turns out that whoever replaced the water lines to the house... well before I moved in... they had a loose joint, which was leaking, and had broken a large hole in the sewer line with a pick ax. They had patched it but that was rusted away. I fixed those and got back to business.

I then built a trellis behind the mounds and trained the new vines up it. At first I wasn't getting much action but after reconfiguring the drip lines and changing the watering schedule those things danged things started going like gangbusters. Now the vines have grown about four feet in the last week. I even had to extend the trellis this weekend. I'll probably have to water more as the vines get longer and the fruits start growing since the vines are only rooted at one spot.

Since this is all experimental I also planted other mounds with different types of pumpkins. The sugar pie pumpkins are also going to be trellised while the others are gonna go across the ground. I also staggered the planting schedule so I get some right around the end of October. Hopefully! The last seeds just sprouted about a week ago. Want to make sure I get something for my efforts. Could have probably bought a bunch of pumpkins for the money I've used setting this up.

Here are the vines last Wednesday (I think, date was wrong on my camera)...

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And Sunday, after I put the top on the trellis...

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Here's my final configuration on the drip lines, before I covered them with wood chips to hold in the moisture...

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I planted sunflowers near the mounds to distract the pests and bring in the bees but I doubt they'll bloom in time to do much good. Plus they probably won't grow too well once the pumpkin leaves are blocking the sun. My roommate added the other flowers to attract the bees.

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[Murfreesboro]

Wow, I am impressed with y'all's effort!

[Morticia]

Me too! We just made our first planter box, but we just have onions, spinach, brussell sprouts, lettuce and a thyme plant in it. Not near enough space for pumpkin vines unfortunately.

[Andybev01]

I don't have any room for a garden

[witchy]

WOW!! Now thats impressive!!!!

[NeverMore]

Morticia and Andy, you could theoretically grow pumpkins in a bucket if you grow vertically like I am. Well... maybe a trash can so the roots have room to spread. You could even do it on a balcony of an apartment. Just don't let the vines get out of control and invade your neighbor's place. Probably would have to limit it to one pumpkin per vine so you could keep them shorter.

Edit: And I'd suggest a plant with smaller leaves. I was just looking at those pictures of mine. Those leaves are huge! I have no idea what kind of pumpkins those are since I grew them from existing ones. The original pumpkins were about the size of a grown persons head.

Here's some info I found useful on choosing my other varieties...

• http://www.pumpkin-patch.com/varieties.html

Doesn't have anything about the leaves though.

[Murfreesboro]

That's true, the vertical stuff is very trendy right now. My husband and I toured the Botanical Gardens down in Atlanta last summer, and we saw lots of that. Things being grown on trellises straight up a wall.

I am growing everything in pots this year, even though I have a large yard. But my backyard is overgrown and needs lots of maintenance, which I am just starting to do.

I have pots around my patio of both flowers and edibles, mainly tomatoes and herbs of various sorts.

[NeverMore]

Last Sunday (June 3rd)...

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Today (June 10th). Had to add more wire mesh to the trellis since one of the vines is almost across the top already. Time for it to head back down. There was hardly anything up top last Sunday. I'll probably trim them off when they reach the sidewalk.

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Trying to guide this dude away from the squashes. It's a 'Big Max' giant pumpkin vine which has just started to take off. If I get a 6 foot pumpkin I don't know how I'm gonna get it out of there. The sunflowers (left) seem to be doing their job. The pests are attacking those and ignoring the pumpkin leaves. I still spray them with a soap/water mixture once a week just to be safe.

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[ramaries69]

Impressive!!! I wish I had the room to grow some.

[Pumpkin56]

I would love to have a pumpkin patch. I've been told that pumpkins and watermelons are pretty tolerant and can grow like mad in various conditions.

Are there any giant pumpkin contests in your area, Nevermore? If there are and you happen to have a monster, you could probably find someone online who has the capabilities to transport it (for a fee or a piece of the winnings )

[witchy]

WOW Nevermore, this is huge!!!!

[NeverMore]

I would love to have a pumpkin patch. I've been told that pumpkins and watermelons are pretty tolerant and can grow like mad in various conditions.

Yup!

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Are there any giant pumpkin contests in your area, Nevermore?

None that I know of. If I don't get a pumpkin close to the mound I'll probably kill that vine. I don't want it taking over the whole yard. My biggest worry is what to do with the pumpkins if they ripen too early? Don't have much storage here. My first one is already the size of a grapefruit. I staggered the planting of the other mounds so hopefully some ripen right around the big day.

[NeverMore]

Still growing. The longest vine on the trellis is already half way down the other side. Half the top of the trellis is now covered with leaves with what looks like three pumpkins growing up there. I tried self-pollinating a couple more this morning including the one to the left in the pic.

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Below is the first pumpkin to start growing. It's a little over half the size of the one I got the seeds from! I'm still trying to find something to tie off the stems with. I want something wide and stretchy so that the stem doesn't get pinched. Right now I'm trying those cray paper party streamers. Figure it would tear if the stem gets constricted as it gets thicker. The red also makes it easier to spot amongst the leaves. As long as it doesn't get jerked the streamer seems like it will support the weight. My big worry is what happens if the paper gets wet from the moist night air? Anyone got any ideas on what to use to tie the stems with, to support the weight? I really don't want to do the pantyhose sling thing.

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Here's the 'Big Max' vine. I was told to only let one pumpkin grow on the vine if I want a really big one. Or I can let two grow and maybe get a couple 300 pounders. The main vine is twice as long as it was last Sunday. I'm a little worried it's going to get cross pollinated with the squash behind it.

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[witchy]

NeverMore who knew you had a green thumb, wow!!!!!!!