Pinch me I must be dreaming! pls view as full page or print out
- To: "'Pumpkins'" <pumpkins@mallorn.com>
- Subject: Pinch me I must be dreaming! pls view as full page or print out
- From: "* C* <c*@chmc.org>
- Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 12:22:08 -0800
Last week I received a package of seeds in the mail from the PNWGPG
and now I have the wonderful problem of not knowing what too plant. When
these seeds are added to those I was able to obtain over the winter, and
those I had left over from last year I am sitting fat for good seed for
the next few years. It just goes to show what joining a growers group
and a well timed letter to a generous successful grower can do to
improve your outlook for the new growing season. Since I can't seem to
make up my mind I thought maybe some input from the group would help me.
I will once again be growing in the county weed patch garden and can
only afford to rent three 10X40 foot plots side by side. this will give
me 1200 sq. feet of garden space. I plan to grow two plants in this
area. Last year I grew two from the same hill on 800 sq. feet and I
intend to do things a bit differently this year. I will again grow two
plants, one will be the mama I hope to grow three or four pumpkins on,
and the other will be the papa plant I intend to use as my pollinator.
I will keep the size of the papa plant in check and remove it after I
have set pumpkins on the mama plant. Unless someone can relate to me
any experience growing very large pumpkins in a crowded patch. Now to
my dilemma, I have so many good seeds I can't decide what to grow. I
have at least one of each of these seeds.
697 Ciliberto 94
845 Ciliberto 95
1016 S. LaRue 97 725 Richart 96
676.5 S. LaRue 96
567.5 Mombert 92
697 Ciliberto 94
563 Geerts 95
916 J. LaRue 97 701
est. S. LaRue 97
567.5 Mombert 92
676.5 S. LaRue 96
560 J. LaRue 95
897.5 LaRue 96
868 S. LaRue 97 604 Miley 97
563 Geerts 95
1061 Zehr 96
1006 Greer 96
808 Mombert 96
854 Emmons 97 538 Emmons 97
866 Mombert 96 887 Orr 95
697 Ciliberto 94
560 LaRue 95
817 S. LaRue 97 500est. S. LaRue 97
560 J. LaRue 95
563 Geerts 95
563 Geerts 95
615 Wilson 96
812 J. LaRue 97 499 M. Popp Jr. 97
567.5 Mombert 92
386 LaRue 94
887 Orr 95
827 Holland 92
761 S. LaRue 97 469 Hester 97
560 J. La Rue 95
850.5 LaRue ?
722 Holland 92
742est, Holland 96
827 Holland 92
The ones in bold type are the seeds I have. The ones listed above
that are the pollen parent and the one below is the pumpkin parent. I
could hardly go wrong with any of these seeds but I would really love to
produce a monster this year. Knowing what my experience is though I
think I'll hold onto the 1016 S. LaRue until I have another year of
experience under my belt and have had a chance to see what sort of
offspring that pumpkin produces. I grew my 221, 203, and 141 from the
742 Holland last year and I really like its parents. I have family trees
for most of these pumpkins and those two show up repeatedly in every
one. Especially the 827. I'm leaning toward using it again this year
as the pollen parent for this year, although the 604 Miley looks real
good too. For the pumpkin parent I am torn between the 916 J. LaRue and
the 854 Emmons. I'm leaning toward the 916 for that one as the seed
casings are cracked and I'm not sure how long I can keep them viable.
The 854 Emmons on the other hand weighed 70 lbs. heavier than it measure
out for. I like the idea of thick walled heavy pumpkins. I have all
the seeds sealed in a glass jar with silica gel dessicant packets in my
refrigerator.
So fellow pumpkineers what would you do? Other than sell the house in
the burbs and buy some bottomland so I could plant an acre or two. I
also need some advice on weed control. The soil in the county pea patch
is wonderful stuff. The parks department will have a soil test done and
I'll get the results but not a lot of time to make amendments prior to
planting. Last year the soild tested very high in organic matter and I
am convinced the reason for that is the extraordinarily high volume of
weed seeds in it. I will combat some of that with black plastic early
in the season, but I want to know if anyone has any experience using
Preen around their pumpkins? I believe the active ingredient is
casaron. Will this inhibit growth of the secondary roots at the leaf
axils if I use it in my patch? I would love not to use chemicals but I
just do not have time to pull weeds at the rate that this soil can put
them out.
I'm looking forward to the answers to these questions. They're
playing baseball in Arizona and Florida, pumpkin season is just around
the corner. I'm pumped and looking forward to the '98 growing season.
Last fall my wife said I had a choice, I could garden at the pea patch
or I could get a boat. I decided I wanted to get the boat. When she
saw how much of the back lawn I figured I needed for growing pumpkins
she began to soften on the idea of growing at the pea patch.
So I scraped off some lawn behind the house and added a couple dozen
rose bushes for her in a new raised bed and now she talks more about the
boat than I do. I just hope she doesn't plan on me going fishing from a
cucurboat.
Good growing everyone,
Chris Michalec
Covington, WA
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