deadlypeanutboy

This year, we are trying to learn form our mistakes and have made few changes. For one, we have waited until the end of May to start our seeds. This should push our harvest period a little closer to Halloween. With our crazy long growing season here in Arkansas, frost won’t be a problem until well into November. Last year, everything was way too close together and resulted in a lot of damaged plants (see previous post). This year we have spread things way out, putting between 8 and 12 feet between rows. Here is a picture of our current layout:



The kiddo in the foreground is my big helper. She has that goofy look on her face because she is trying to figure out why Daddy is taking pictures of dirt.

All of the mounds on the left side of the garden are pumpkins. As you can see, this year we switched from 4 mounds per row to just 3 for our larger varieties. The first row contains three hills of Howden Biggie pumpkins. The second row contains one hill each of Musque de Provence, Jarrahdale, and Great White pumpkins. The next row of four contains one mound of Jack Be Little, one mound of Baby Boo, and two mounds of Sugar Pie.



Each mound was planted with 3 seeds and will be thinned to two plants. This should leave enough room for the vines without all our plants choking each other out.



These pictures were all taken on 6/7/10, one week after the seeds were planted. All the hills look basically the same as this one. As you can see, the seedlings are starting to grow their first true leaves already. It is really amazing how fast these little guys will grow. Last year, we had vines that grew nearly a foot a day! These little guys look cute right now, but they will soon explode all over the garden.

I plan to post picture of their progress periodically so that you can all see just quickly these pumpkin vines can take over your yard. Anyone who is planting their own patch at home will soon see exactly what I am talking about.