Re: First Year Growing Pumpkins

Philip,
You have done a nice job of honestly critiquing your first year. This puts you on a good path to a better one next year. You've already discovered that you need to stay off your soil but how? Have you had a soil test done? It will tell you a lot about what you need to do to improve the soil. Better pumpkin soil will in some ways resist the compaction you experienced. This is done by improving the organic matter level. So add lots this fall. The soil test will help you know when to stop adding more OM. Soil with low OM seems to compress even if you don't walk on it to much just from watering. So get it up in the teens at least. Next you need to plant your plants growth so it is easier for you to tend it and as a result you will need to walk in there less often. Less often makes using the walking boards easier. I use a few and move them around as needed. The key here is to plan the growth of your plants. A well laid out plant is easier to bury vines and weed. Start early with the xmas tree style and remove the tertiaries as soon as they appear. By August you will find that you need to venture into the patch less often.

Bart

At 09:57 PM 10/26/2006, you wrote:
Well, My first season growing giant pumpkins has come to an end. I didn't
grow the 1000 pounder like I dreamt of doing, but I did grow a 370lb Biga
that's now listed as the second largest pumpkin in Delaware. I learned a
lot from reading the emails, but I gained even more experience through the
"trial and error" method.

There's one thing I definitely did wrong, but I'm not sure what I need to do
to correct it. I severely compacted my garden soil by walking on it every
day, all season long. At first I used planks to walk on, but I had to keep
moving them around. By mid July I needed to be every where in my garden;
weeding, spraying, pruning, burying vines, etc, the boards just weren't
efficient enough. I could have covered my entire plot with walking boards,
so I just removed them. By the end of July the soil was so compacted water
would hardly absorb into the ground. It just laid on the surface, mold
actually started forming. Next the plants became severely infected with
powdery mildew. Until then the Biga was averaging 75lbs a week. It went down
hill after that. The leaves were all gone by the end of August and the
pumpkins got sun scald.

I don't want this to happen next year. How do I efficiently use walking
boards and keep my garden soil loose?



Philip Cheatham

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