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Garden Gate:  Ideas for pumpkin planting please?  |
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farmeratlast
Farmgirl in Training
35 Posts
Jana
OR
USA
35 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 20 2009 : 07:43:54 AM
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At our new place we have a traditional garden. In this space I am planting vegetables but there is not room for pumpkins.
I just received my seeds (oh the joy) and it occurred to me that I have no where to plant these where with bare land.
I am in Oregon and there is tons of grass or pasture on our property which will grow and cover the pumpkin vines while young and then as they get bigger and the grass longer I forsee a huge unattractive mess on some part of my yard.
Do you think I could just throw some out in a pasture amending the soil with the seeds and let them go?
I over bought in the seed department in my unbridled enthusiasm.
Jana |
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NudeFoodFarm
True Blue Farmgirl
433 Posts
Heide
Benton City
WA
433 Posts |
Posted - Apr 20 2009 : 08:05:00 AM
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so I have a ton of experience with this. I love pumpkins (and all kinds of squash). So there are two methods that come to mind.
One is going out to the pasture (is it irrigated?) and shoveling a huge mound, like 3 ft wide and 2 feet tall. Then you dig a hole in the top and plan 3 seeds (sorta looks like a volcano). Then all you need to do is weed around where the plant comes out of the ground, but the vines can grow in the grass, might even help keep it down.
Second is do you have any old bed frames or anythin you can use as a trellis? Pumpkins will grow upright! The little sugar pie ones or the tiny little pumkins, grow great trellised. I have even taken chicken wire and put up a hoop around the plant (stake the wire down) and it will grow up the inside.
Another thing I have learned is to never water the pumpkin greens, makes for mildew and mold. If you can run a hose over and just pour it on the roots (or drip system) it makes for a healthier plant.
Ok best of luck,
h
Nude Food Farm
~Grown so good,
Dressing is Optional. |
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FebruaryViolet
True Blue Farmgirl
4810 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4810 Posts |
Posted - Apr 20 2009 : 08:52:34 AM
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I'm in agreement with Heide about trellising. We found this out quite by accident last year. When we threw away our halloween pumpkin seeds, some fell to the ground and by summer, we had a beautiful pumpkin vine that trailed along our old fence and wound it's way up naturally. It looked wonderful by fall because we had sunflowers planted there, too!
VERY carefree!
Musings from our family in the Bluegrass http://sweetvioletmae.blogspot.com/ |
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
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DearMildred
True Blue Farmgirl
223 Posts
Amanda
Tulsa
OK
USA
223 Posts |
Posted - Apr 20 2009 : 12:05:41 PM
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I think they'd be ok in half-barrels. At least I hope so, because I'm in the same boat as Jana! So many seeds, so little space! I plan to trellis two of them, but the others are going in my barrels.
Heide, thanks for the watering tip!
Jonni that sounds quite lovely. :-)
~~~Amanda in OK~~~
There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves. ~Will Rogers |
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windypines
True Blue Farmgirl
4190 Posts
Michele
Bruce
Wisconsin
USA
4190 Posts |
Posted - Apr 20 2009 : 12:26:13 PM
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I plant my pumpkins in the middle of my sweet corn. Supposedly it helps keep the racoons out of the corn.
Michele |
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ddmashayekhi
True Blue Farmgirl
4739 Posts
Dawn
Naperville
Illinois
USA
4739 Posts |
Posted - Apr 22 2009 : 07:02:35 AM
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Michele, I'm going to give that a try. I bought some organic sweet corn seeds for my garden this year and am quite worried about the raccoons coming over to dine. I do plan to border around my oval shaped bed with tomatoes and their cages to try to deter the raccoons as well. I sure do hope this will prevent them from bulldozing their way through my vegetables.
Dawn in IL |
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Farmers Daughter
True Blue Farmgirl
90 Posts
DiAnn
90 Posts |
Posted - Apr 25 2009 : 10:23:37 AM
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I had heard too that planting pumpkins with the sweet corn would help keep coons out. Never really made sense to me. Coons live in the woods and they encounter way more prickly things to go through then pumpkin vines.
The one thing that we did was to put a radio out in the patch just before the corn was ready. Seemed like for some reason they know a day or so before you want to harvest. We would change the station each night and move it to different spots in the patch. Not a sure cure, but does help some.
They are such smart and clever animals. |
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Suzan
True Blue Farmgirl
659 Posts
suzanne
duncannon
pa
USA
659 Posts |
Posted - Apr 27 2009 : 08:18:16 AM
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| I have some space along the back wall of our foundation so I am going to add some soil there and put in the pumpkins, they can vine out into the lawn that doesn't grow grass...we'll see how it goes... |
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DearMildred
True Blue Farmgirl
223 Posts
Amanda
Tulsa
OK
USA
223 Posts |
Posted - May 01 2009 : 11:40:39 AM
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How big do you all let your pumpkin starts get before you plant them out? How many leaves, etc? I'm trying to decide if mine are ready or not and I sure don't want to murder the little guys!
~~~Amanda in OK~~~
There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves. ~Will Rogers |
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Garden Gate: Ideas for pumpkin planting please? |
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Ideas for pumpkin planting please?
