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Garden Gate:  Da Pumpkin Patch  |
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Rosenwalt
True Blue Farmgirl
77 Posts
Rose Marie
NY
77 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 18 2006 : 10:48:04 AM
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I'm a pumpkin patch girl wannabee. I am seriously going to give Lumina (Ghost Pumpkins) a shot. And also some Baby-Boos, Jack-Be-Littles and regular orange-y pumpkins.
Anyone have any success with these or stories to share? I've got lotsa lotsa room for them.
Rose Marie,
Central New York
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happymama58
True Blue Farmgirl
1210 Posts
Patti
Missouri
USA
1210 Posts |
Posted - Feb 18 2006 : 11:05:15 AM
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Very little experience here. We grew pumpkins when the kids were little and the only thing I can remember is that dh added sand to the soil and worked it in real well. Or was that just for the watermelon? It's been about 10 years so I don't really remember. I do remember, though, that I didn't walk in among them without heavy boots on -- in our part of the country snakes like to lay in among pumpkins and watermelon. I think it's cooler there on the scorching hot days we get. Enjoy and good luck!
Some people search for happiness; others create it. |
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DaisyFarm
True Blue Farmgirl
1646 Posts
Diane
Victoria
BC
Canada
1646 Posts |
Posted - Feb 18 2006 : 11:49:57 AM
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I'm growing three kinds this year...Atlantic Giant only because they awe the little kids that come here with their parents...nothing else to do with a 300 lb punkin except feed it to the chickens! I'm also growing Bush Spirit..nice uniform 7-8 lb pumpkins perfect for sales for jack-o-lanterns and baking, and lots of them, and Snack Jack which is a new variety to me and is supposed to produce hull-less seeds...anyone tried this one yet??
I just give them a good shovel full of manure and compost when I transplant them to the garden and lots of water while the pumpkins are forming. I mulch around the plants before they get too big...helps maintain moisture, keeps weeds down and gives the pumpkins a clean place to grow on. Also, mulch gives the garter snakes a nice place to hide to scare the bejeezus outta me... lordy I hate snakes!!
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Mari-dahlia
True Blue Farmgirl
269 Posts
Marianne
Hoosick Falls
New York
USA
269 Posts |
Posted - Feb 18 2006 : 1:37:32 PM
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Rose Marie,
I grew the jack be littles,regular size, pies and the cinderella pumpkin that has a fancy french name, last year. All did great, they take alot!!! of space. So this year I am moving them. I will also mulch with newspaper with clippings on top early so that I do not have to weed. Weeding in a pumpkin patch is rough. Everyone loved the cinderellas. They took a little to get going. They will not start to grow until it gets warm and the squash beetles did a job on them. I tried Neem oil spray but insecticidal soap worked better. I make my own with murphy's oil soap. |
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Libbie
Farmgirl Connection Cultivator
3579 Posts
Anne E.
Elsinore
Utah
USA
3579 Posts |
Posted - Feb 19 2006 : 08:42:11 AM
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The second year we lived on our farm, we grew 9 acres of pumpkins - I have to say, aside from manuring the field before planting and cultivating and watering, we did very little to these guys - it was a pretty big project for us "green farmers," and we haven't tried it since! However, it was really fun, too.
I'm excited to grow a garden-size plot of pumpkins this year, and I'm going to try some of the varieties you all suggest - Diane, how long until maturity/what zones grow Atlantic Giants? That sounds like a fun one to have around - I have chickens, too, to take care of the aftermath!
XOXO, Libbie
"Nothing is worth more than this day." - Goethe |
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DaisyFarm
True Blue Farmgirl
1646 Posts
Diane
Victoria
BC
Canada
1646 Posts |
Posted - Feb 19 2006 : 09:33:13 AM
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They are fun Libbie. I'm not really sure the exact days to maturity, but I start mine indoors in peat pots about April 15th and set them outside the first week of May. They were ripened by mid September. I planted three this year and got six BIG pumpkins, averaging 200 lbs and one monster about 300. The world record is somewhere around 1400 lbs so you could probably do better than I did. They really are fun and folks that come here always stand in awe. I tell folks they are "cash and carry" which always gets a chuckle. I did sell two of them which we loaded into their vehicles with the dumpcart on my little tractor. One guy was an artist and he relief carved a cowboy into the side of it. He brought me a picture and it was amazing. I really need to figure out how to load pics onto this site so I can share some of the photos.
Di |
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Rosenwalt
True Blue Farmgirl
77 Posts
Rose Marie
NY
77 Posts |
Posted - Feb 20 2006 : 5:24:17 PM
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I keep remembering the Little House on the Prairie book series, especially the one called "Farmer Boy". He made a slit in his pumpkin and stuck a string in it. The other side of his string he had put in a bowl filled with milk. He would milk feed his pumpkin this way and his grew to be the biggest, although it was a little lighter in color. I just gotta try this to at least one of em.
Rose Marie,
Central New York
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Feb 20 2006 : 8:28:09 PM
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I love to grow pumpkins. My second son, Casey, used to try to grow the giant ones and did pretty well..I will never forget the "year of the gophers". This was in CAlif and we had them bad. Casey was about 20 and still living at home and determined that he was gonna grow some big ones that year and one by one the gophers were pulling the whole plants down ..he had traps and poisons and gas and everything and still one by one they dissapeared. One day I caught a loose chicken (one of my own..gasp) out there eating the pumpkins and pulling up the vines..I had to quick hide the chicken and get rid of the "evidence". CAsey never knew..and he did end up with a couple pretty big ones.
I usually grow the sugar pie or jack be littles but last year the kids and I planted some fairly big ones (can't remember the name) and one grew through the fence..half on each side. I am so sorry I didnt get a picture of it before the goat ate it. He got out and destroyed our fun. Oh well. We had a hard time with squash bugs last year but still had plenty for fall decorating..not like I would have liked though....but we will be planting more this year for sure!
Jenny in Utah
Inside me there is a skinny woman crying to get out...but I can usually shut her up with cookies
http://www.auntjennysworld.blogspot.com/ visit my little online shop at www.auntjenny.etsy.com |
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Whimsy_girl
True Blue Farmgirl
576 Posts
USA
576 Posts |
Posted - Feb 21 2006 : 08:02:20 AM
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We did fantastic with our pumpkins, we started late in the season so they were a little small, but they were round and orange and pumpkiny. I grew Jack-o-lanterns and the sweet ones for baking... sugar something or other.
That will be the plan for us when we get settled at the new place. I plan to have a pretty large pumpkin patch and "sell my pumpkins for fun and profit"
you can be oh so smart, or you can be oh so positive. I wasted a lot of time being smart I prefer being positive. |
Edited by - Whimsy_girl on Feb 21 2006 08:03:38 AM |
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Rosenwalt
True Blue Farmgirl
77 Posts
Rose Marie
NY
77 Posts |
Posted - Feb 23 2006 : 7:40:58 PM
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Me too Whimsy_girl...selling for profit and fun. There was a whole article in the newspaper last year about a guy who grew luminas and he was sold out of about 1,000 of them. You know how everyone loves "something new" and so that's why I'm trying them. You can paint them (for the kids) so it's not as dangerous. Also in the advertising I am picturing my signs reading "Ghost Pumpkins" "Baby-Boos" and "Jack Be Littles". Looks catchy to me. And of course a sign saying "YES....we do have Ghost Pumpkins" What fun, what fun!
Make your own kind of music, sing your own kind of song...even if nobody else sings along
Rose Marie,
Central New York
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Garden Gate: Da Pumpkin Patch |
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Da Pumpkin Patch
