Patch is Prepared, Seedlings Transplanted!

Good morning, Pumpkinistas!

Yes, I know that I had made great mention that last Saturday, May 9th, was the full moon for May. I was, in Reno, on Saturday, so that made it very difficult to do any transplanting. So, I transplanted two seedlings into my mound/patch in Huntington Beach early (6:10 a.m.) this morning, watered them in thoroughly, and placed a medium size cardboard box over them since it may get warm this afternoon. I used 3 wood coffee stirrers/sticks to anchor the cardboard box to the mound. Air temperature was 66 degrees, no breeze, overcast skies.

My mound is the same as always: 4.0' deep, 3.0' tapering down to 1.5', lots of organic material and soil amendments. But this season, I created a strip of soil amendment for the primary vine to grow on/over as the plant matures. You can see what I mean by looking at the photos above. Since I had a couple of extra bags of soil amendments, and I wanted to use them, this concept was part creativity and part necessity. By the time vine starts to grow out, the amendments will have worked into the top 3"-4" of the soil.

The 2009 Huntington Beach season commences!

What about your mounds and patches? Please e-mail me images of your progress so far this season. Inquiring giant pumpkin growers want to know... Here are the e-mail addresses: sbs33@cornell.edu and interpac007@yahoo.com

Good luck!