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Re: kids gardens & other stuff]


> Hi:
> Anyone gardening with children might like to look at the "Victory
>Garden
> Kids Gardening Book"  It gives lots of great ideas, and even makes a
> good beginning garden manual for adults--though of course it doesn't
>use
> square foot techniques.
>
> I am thinking about trying pumpkins again. The last time I did so I let
> them sprawl across one of my 4X5 beds. That worked fine until our
> community garden was overrun by rats, who thought my pumpkins were
> dee-licious!
> Has anyone tried trellising pumpkins? I'm talking about small, 4-5
>pound
> types like "Baby Bear", NOT the giant types of course! I am also
> thinking about trellising the teeny tiny Jack Be Little pumpkins in the
> hopes of having a batch for my daughter to take to pre-school at
> Halloween.
>Thanks for any advice anyone can offer!
>
> Lisa Springer


Lisa,

Pumpkins can be trellised very easily.  Once started, they climb and spread
very rapidly.  Last year my kids and I tried the baby bear with good
success.  We also trellised Howdens and had several vines with 20 to 25 lb
pumpkins hanging.  They held on great, and we only had one drop out of 11
large pumpkins.  The trellis was made from EMT conduit, 5 feet high and
strung with trellis plus (a 7 inch netting material).  Only towards the last
part of summer when one trellis, which spanned 12 feet, had 6 pumpkins on it
did it need some bracing in the center.

The best part of the trellised pumpkins was the perfectly round shape and
the even ripening.  This was something we struggled with in past years using
the same varieties.

Cliff Parker
Longview Farm
Holden, ME
zone 4

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