Re: New Grower..needs help
- To: pumpkins@mallorn.com
- Subject: Re: New Grower..needs help
- From: B* R*
- Date: Wed, 04 Nov 1998 09:13:51 PST
I can speak from experience. This is exactly what I did this year. We
need to sell our house soon, and I wanted "nice yard" as a selling point
rather than "pumpkin patch". Had we been planning to stay here long
term, I probably would have plowed. I think, as Barbara Kincaid
suggested, growing over grass is not the best thing, although it does
have a couple of advantages, and there are some things you can do to
compensate for the disadvantages.
Firstly, tilling and working in organic matter would be my first choice.
If that isn't an option, at least do two separate soil tests - one for
your base plot where the main stump will be, and one for the yard area.
I only got one test - for my 8x12 raised garden, and improved the soil
there, but I suspect I would have had a larger pumpkin had I done a more
complete analysis of its entire growing space. You can water in or
foliar feed to get the nutrients in that are lacking in the lawn area.
Second, if you are letting the vines trail out over the grass, I believe
it is more important than ever to cover the vines with topsoil/composted
manure. I did this and got the extra tap roots at the leaf junctures.
Even so, those tap roots were thinner than the ones that developed over
the garden plot. Also, when I got behind and didn't cover the vines
right away, the roots didn't develop much at all over the grass; they
only started when I covered the vines. In contrast, over the garden
plot with the rich wonderful improved soil, the tap roots were coming
out all over and reaching for the dirt, even if I didn't cover
immediately.
You can still grow a respectable pumpkin using your lawn. The grass
acts as mulch and you won't get a lot of other big weeds. Cleaning up
the yard was a chore (and worse because I had covered all the vines),
but doable, and three weeks after harvest we had 140 people there for a
carving party. I made a bunch of mistakes (plus I work full-time
and have two small children, so time was limited), and grew a
261-pounder. Another went down at about 190. I had two plants in about
400 square feet and culled all but one on each plant. I KNOW I didn't
give them enough water, plus I battled mites, cucumber beetles, drought,
heat, rot and mold from frequent overhead watering. Late in the season
there were borers (when I got too too far behind in covering vines) and
powdery mildew.
You aren't likely to grow a world champion like this, but you can grow a
great and very lovable pumpkin and have a grand time doing it. I
recommend it highly.
Good luck!
Beth Rado
(rhymes with playdough)
p.s. for Rick: A dank sad nap - eels sleep and ask nada.
Cigar? Toss it in a can. It is so tragic!
-------------------
>>...Can you plant in say a 6' x 6' area and let the vines run out
>>onto grass
>
>As a new grower myself, and making plans for "just how much backyard
lawn to rototill under?", I'll second this request...
>
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