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Halifax, Nova Scotia

I have a small garden, I’m planting 2 plants, and each will get a space that’s 20 by 15. I was planning on planting at the back of the garden, running the vine straight out the 15 foot length and across the lawn, which leaves 10 feet of room on either side of the main for the secondaries. My question is, is there any advantage to running the main on an angle from one corner of the garden to the other to get more of it in the soil and buried before it gets out on the lawn, even if I have to shorten a lot of the secondaries to keep them within the space I have to work with? I can only let the vines grow outside my space on the front edge of the garden, the other 3 sides are bordered by a marshy area that can get really soggy after it rains.

4/6/2005 9:34:50 AM

Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

I've been wondering the same thing as I have a similarly sized area to work with. But, I imagine that you want to consider where the fruit will end up. I'm guessing that it's better to have the fruit sitting on the aerated soil rather than the grass. But, I am not sure.

4/6/2005 1:37:15 PM

Montoursville, PA

Where ever the fruit may be positioned it would be better to have something under the pumpkin. Two inches of sand under the fruit is a good way to start. There are other ways to protect the fruit from rodents and pathegons.

4/6/2005 3:44:58 PM

Utah

I don't think it matters to much which way you go, either way you will have the same amount of vines with the same amount of node roots in the given patch space ... maybe the main vine node roots would be a little bigger but personally I don't think you could tell the difference between one way or the other.
what I do think makes a difference is where your stump
is located in the patch ... if you draw a 6 ft radius
cirle around your plant base ... this is the main root zone. some would say draw a 10 ft radius cirle ...
if you put your seedling in a corner of your patch then you are cutting out 3/4 of that zone... if you plant right on the edge of you patch then you are cutting out 1/2 of that zone. of course we don't plant right in the corner or right on an edge ... but in some distance from them ... but still we are cutting out some of the poteintial root zone.
So it is something to think about. pull out some graph paper and draw up a few different possiblities ...
hope this helps
gordon

Doc ???

4/6/2005 4:15:09 PM

Utah

*circle !

4/6/2005 4:15:56 PM

Utah

How is your patch oriented ? so I assume are your two plots back to back ? and your total patch is 15 x 40 ?

4/6/2005 4:29:07 PM

Halifax, Nova Scotia

It's not perfectly square, but it's about 15 by 45. If the secondaries are contributing basically as much as the main vine, then I think I have some modifications to do to keep the stump in a good spot. I understand the thought behind leaving at least a 6 foot radius for the stump, that's the reasoning behind asking the question. I like your answer though, good enough for me to rethink stump positioning!

4/6/2005 6:06:59 PM

Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

A six foot radius? Is the root zone really 12 feet wide? Isn't that as big as a tree?

If I were to plant in a mound, would the mound need to be as wide as the whole root zone? Or, could I have a 3 foot radius mound as long as it was six feet from the edge of the patch?

4/6/2005 7:02:38 PM

Utah

here is a patch design that I thought up.

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/displayphoto.asp?pid=3597&gid=-3085

it is just one idea I'm sure you can come up with a good one on your own.

4/7/2005 9:43:26 AM

Utah

crammed-
yes the root zone can easily be 12 ft wide. If you have nice light fluffy soil, which is what you want, then the roots will spread out a long way.

4/7/2005 9:45:42 AM

Utah

opps forgot to answer your question ... I think your mound does not need to be 12 ft wide ... a 3 ft mound 6 ft from the edge of the patch should work just fine.

4/7/2005 9:48:24 AM

Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

Is that 3 foot radius or diameter? Thanks

4/7/2005 2:17:44 PM

Utah

If you can do a 3 ft radius mound then I think that would be better ... but you just do the best you can.

4/8/2005 1:04:22 PM