From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Williamsburg,KY

Are they growers out there starting seeds already? I would think it would be too early. What is everyone doing now as far as preparing soil and such. Im hoping to grow a real huge monster this year.

3/18/2005 1:16:29 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

I am watching the snow fall...The ground is frozen solid to about 48". We are stuck in January weather.

3/18/2005 1:36:14 PM

Montoursville, PA

My buddy and I made some Stihl Sunlight yesterday and today. My compost pile has been partially turned and given a dose of molasses.

The patch is still in the frozen state of affairs....but things are begining to warm up a tad.

3/18/2005 3:55:41 PM

San Diego

I've started my early backyard patch here in san diego, even here our weather has been cool and more rain expected. By cool, maybe 60 degrees and cloudy. Ben in arizona started about 5 weeks ago I think. Jimmy

3/18/2005 3:57:31 PM

San Diego, Ca.

I just finished tilling all the goodies in my patch and now its ready to plant....but not yet. I hope I can wait till April before starting seeds...it's going to be tough ;-D

3/18/2005 5:44:40 PM

Garden

Not planning to start until May1

3/18/2005 6:09:15 PM

Hilpoltstein, Bavaria, Germany

The last snow finally melted today after three days in a row with temps of 18°C! YAY! Last night it only went down to 10°C - warmer than most nights of August 2004!
Now I'm waiting for the patch to dry out before I can start working on it... and it still needs a lot of work as I had no chance to do anything in the fall due to excess moisture.

Martin

3/18/2005 6:55:55 PM

Phoenix, AZ

Well, I am aware of okpumpkingrower out of Oklahoma who started somewhere around 2 Feb. I started 31 Jan. Plan on posting on my diary but need to see the results of adding fertilizer and concluding my hunch of what was going on with my plant.

Next year I will be starting mid January. I want to be sure and have a fruit set by mid April to "beat the heat".

As it stands now I will be looking at end of April to set one.

Ben

3/18/2005 8:12:16 PM

My patch is white. However, if this spring follows normal schedule, the snow will be gone in a few weeks and I should be able to get a soil sample up soon after that. Hope to till and add any amendments a few weeks after that. Planting will be the weekend of May 1st and going in the ground the weekend after that.

3/18/2005 11:26:38 PM

No Place Special

Snow has been gone for some time now and things were very dry until last night when we got some rain. I have 3 passes done tilling on the home/ state fair patch and have erected a 15' x 30' cold frame yesterday. I got a tarp over the planting area to keep it dry and to start holding heat in. I have 2 soil heating cables on order from pumpkinsupply.com. As soon as they get here I will do my final tilling, install the cables and put the plastic over the frame. April 1st I plan to germinate my two state fair seeds. They will by my 1083 and 1125.

I have almost completed my first pass with the tiller on my repote patch. I hit a VERY large chunk of concrete that got lodged in the tiller and bent things up pretty bad. Thats ok, I am ahead of schedule on that patch.

3/19/2005 10:03:12 AM

Williamsburg,KY

Thanks for everyones reply. What is the deal with the molasses??? Im hoping to grow a bigger one this year and hope to enter it at Allardt TN. Just have to decide on my seed, I received some seeds last year from Kirk Mombert and they did ok, now to decide which ones to use this year. I did not hand pollinate last year so the seeds from my 453# may have the dill rings and exploding features of the others that grew in the patch..so many decisions....

3/24/2005 4:01:29 PM