Planting pumpkins query

[Tororider]

Thanks guys. Makes things easier for me. In a bit of research that I did last night it sounds like sometimes it is fun to keep some of your seeds and see what kind of monstrous mutation comes out. May do that along with buying new seeds.

 

[Highbeam]

Now I am almost certain that in my childhood gardens we would occasionally get the pumpkins and zuchinni too close together and get pumpkinni. We only used purchased seeds. Is it true then that the berry (or fruit) grown is only dependent on the seed purchased and not by the pollenator? Long skinny pumpkins and yellow zukes.

 

[Perdido]

Plant your seed about 4-6 feet apart, but have plenty of room for your vines to grow --- usually 15- 25 ft. Seed are cheap - $1.50 worth of seeds will make all of the pumpkins you will need. Save some of the seeds from your pumpkins and plant them next year.

 

[cityfarma]

I am able to plant the the different varieties about 100+ metres apart so I will try that and hope for the best. I will also sow them a month or so apart and hope that the earlier pumpkins will be true to seed.

My biggest problem in the garden is water. Although I have a 5+ acre dam, it is in a gully 20m below my garden. I do not live on the property so have to pump water up to a 23,000 ltr tank and use gravity to move the water to the plants. I use a number of hardware store timers that use batteries and a small motor to operate the water valve. There is not enough pressure to operate the normal reticulation valves. I set them to water twice a week. I also water them if necessary every two weeks when I visit.

This year I have planted a considerably larger area than before (not as large as on some other posts!!) so it will be interesting to see what happens. It is all seeds or seedlings at this time so not much to see. I will post some photos when it actually looks like a vege patch!

I have also noticed signs of rabbits (such as one hopping away ) so I hope they are not going to become a problem. I have found that the FEL is good for removing their holes


Cityfarma

 

[Georgia Boy]

A while back I set out some cucumber plants under a pecan tree and they crossed, I had pecans ten inches long and the cucumbers were good too but you had to crack them open with a hammer!

 

[charlz]

We don't have deer or rabbits right around the place so I have not had problems with those. I do have problems with mice, one pumpkin I pulled this year looked like swiss cheese!

So do you water the plants with a drip irrigation system? Is twice a week enough? I water twice a day in the peak of summer via drip irrigation.

Charles

 

[jinman]

A while back I set out some cucumber plants under a pecan tree and they crossed, I had pecans ten inches long and the cucumbers were good too but you had to crack them open with a hammer!

Glad you didn't plant watermelons under that tree, huh?

charlz: I have trouble with squirrels getting my cantaloupes, but I've never had anything but squash bugs and cucumber beetles get on my squash and pumpkins. We did have one female rabbit that kept trying to build a nest in our hay mulch this year. I never saw any damage from her though.

 

[charlz]

charlz: I have trouble with squirrels getting my cantaloupes, but I've never had anything but squash bugs and cucumber beetles get on my squash and pumpkins. We did have one female rabbit that kept trying to build a nest in our hay mulch this year. I never saw any damage from her though.

Those squash bugs are a pain. They do seem to prefer certain plants over others though. They like the Lumina pumpkins best and can do some damage there so I use Sevin. Next they seem to like the yellow straight neck squash, those plants are so prolific that the 'bug tax' doesn't really seem to bother them. That pretty much keeps them out of the jack-o-lantern's etc. until the end of the season when the yellow squash are gone.

Next year I am going to try using plastic mulch on some of the rows, mainly for weed control. With that I may try some of the tricks like laying shingles here and there for them to collect under for easy killing early in the morning.

Charles

 

[cityfarma]

So do you water the plants with a drip irrigation system? Is twice a week enough? I water twice a day in the peak of summer via drip irrigation.

Charles

Not a chance for me. The trip is 200Km each way. I have used the drip irrigation on melons previously and they grew ok. My soil is loamy clay and holds the water well. I do not water my fruit trees after the first few years. They are only given approx 20 -30ltr each 2 weeks (when I visit) in the first few years. To quote from My Name is Sue (Johnny Cash) "Ya gotta get tough or die". So far , so good as I still get plenty of fruit for my use.

My other potential problem is kangaroos. They already tear my fruit trees apart. I just hope they don't want to get into my fenced vege patch. I am happy (well sort of) to share with the parrots and 'roos but they don't appear to care much about sharing with me

This is also a sad time of year as it is time to cull surplus stock. Fortunately we have many who are prepared to assist in this task. Unfortunately poachers also think they can help themselves to the stock.

Cityfarma

 

[tallyho8]

And I thought we had large crayfish in Louisiana! You better hope that not many of our neighbors see that photo or you will have a sudden influx of crayfish-craving cajuns in your neighborhood.