A good book...

Last Saturday I went and got another load of compost, and then did some deep subsoiling on the new patch. I'm going to continue getting compost whenever I can find the time. This stuff is quite good, and will do wonders for the soil in the new patch.

I like to read gardening books over the winter. This year I found a great one. "The Vegetable Gardener's Bible", by Ed Smith. Ed teaches the reader his method for wide rows and deep raised beds. I always thought that my garden would be better if I could quit walking on the same soil that is housing my roots. This book teaches you how. I'm still not sure with regard to the giants, but I now have some ideas.

The author will challenge your thinking with regard to using fertilizer, other than seaweed and fish. The plan is to start with good soil amended with compost, and then not to shock the plant with fertilizers. There is a lot of material that challenges our thinking as gardeners. I'm not sure that all of it translates to giant pumpkins, but, most of us do a lot of conventional gardening and this book is surely beneficial.

Finally found some compost

Last Saturday I actually found two free hours, and I checked out a manure pile that a friend said he had. Wow, I got the best compost I've ever seen! This fellow said that the pile was once 5 or 6 feet high, but now it's only about 2 to 2.5 feet tall. No stink, no smell, except for a nice earthy smell. In the center of the pile is the softest, best looking compost one can imagine. I got half the pile with one truckload Saturday, and hope to get the rest this coming Saturday.

Sure, I still do need to find several more goldmines like this one. But it's a good start.

Did I mention that I'm moving my patch after about 7 years at the old site? The soil on the end of the garden that I've been using is really nice now. So I may be crazy, but I'm moving to the other end to concentrate on that soil for a while.

The annual list...

Here we go on the annual list of things that I need to do differently next year. I hope you slept well last night because this is going to be boring.

Every year I make this list, and then I mostly abandon it as things get busy. I forget the same battles I fought last year. So, in order to further anchor my life in tradition, here is the list:

1. Prune more, including at least one of every three secondaries. Perhaps more. Every year my plants grow more thickly than I want. This prevents light from getting through the canopy and warming the soil. Also, some pruning of the secondaries may help in getting a longer main. My best, the 779, was grown on a 13 foot main which is more than my usual 10 (or less) foot main. I'd like to see what I can do with 15 to 18 feet on the main!

2. Watch that stem!! Every year I mention this. And every year I have problems. I've got to figure out a way to manage the vine and the stem. Another thing, a longer main is going to help with this. A good section of the main vine cannot "root" into the ground when it must be raised to go with the stem.

3. Leaf health. Wow, I really do have terrible leaves by the end of the year. I figure that the "lifetime" of one of my leaves is about 90 days. That means that the first leaves are dying by mid-year. By September, only the newest leaves are healthy. This is going to take some research. I don't know if Daconil, or something like Agro-K is going to help.

Those are the easy things. The heart of the matter is.......... drumroll please.........

4. Heat. I've been pondering ways to get more heat into my soil. Of course the key number one thing to add heat is to use a hoophouse, something that I've finally become proficient at. But I'm considering a change in my approach. What I want most is heat in the root zone. Hoophouses, give lots of heat in the above ground, where the plant is. They can turn a 60 degree day into a 90 degree day, and a 70 degree day into 110 degrees. This also warms the soil, of course, but...

My studying on this subject suggests that a clear plastic sheet laid directly on a raised bed is going to provide significant soil temperature warm up. In conjunction with this, I will bury a soaker hose to provide moisture. I'm thinking of a 3-foot radius (6-foot diameter) piece of clear plastic around each plant. And then, just leave it there all year long!

So with this in place, would I still do a hoophouse or cloche? I don't know. Here's what I'd like to do: Use something like a "wall-o-water" (for tomatoes), but larger, and made of hard plastic so that it has no chance of collapsing on the plant. (We spend too much effort on this to have it ruined by a collapsing wall-o-water!) I've seen these. They're like an igloo that can be filled with water. But if I could find such a thing that is about three or four feet in diameter, that would be perfect.

Final look

I cut up and moved away the 779 today. It's interesting how orange this one really was. I still have in my mind that it was vanilla, because it was that color until the end. It doesn't have the pretty orange skin, but in it's heart it's all orange.

This photo also demonstrates just how solid this fruit was. No cracks! You can see the black spot on the end where we gouged it at the weighoff about six weeks ago. That wound didn't go anywhere, it's still solid. Well, until today.

The seeds are nearly dry. I will be sending them to those who request, and also I hope to send a bunch of them to the NYSGPGA.

OK, back to pumpkins....

n/m

Hmmm...

So, where's my tax cut?