I help gardeners grow
& beginners blossom.

No seed left behind,
no soil unturned.

Together we can have lots of fun growing
great gardens using simple practical tips.

- Featured in -

Start saving & storing your garden seeds for a more more sustainable future
SIGN UP to get the FREE Seed packet PDF

X CLOSE

Magical Pumpkin Patch

by Donna Balzer | Jul 13, 2013 | Food, Gadgets, GARDENING, Soil | 0 comments

My book writing partner Steven Biggs (No Guff Vegetable Gardening) thinks I am hung up on technology. I am thinking he only wishes he had thought of it first.

This season I am bragging about my bigger than yours pumpkin patch. The patch is in the front yard where a view-blocking hedge was ripped out this spring. The “patch” is now spilling over the bank and threatening to cross the road. And just to set the record straight it is not all pumpkins. There are butternut squash, spaghetti squash, watermelons and zucchini as well as pumpkins in one giant – by town standards – patch.

In late June the patch was protected with plastic deer fencing . I wasn’t worried they would be a deer favourite but I was worried the baby deer wouldn’t know not to eat them yet and perhaps do a bit too much tasting. The deer fence went down June 24.

Three weeks later the pumpkins had grown 8′ past where the fence had been.

Every day people stop by to ask questions.

Q “Do you think you’ll get pumpkins?”

A. “Yes – There are already forming – and squash too.”

I then explain how I used the IRT mulch(From William Dam seeds) to boost the heat by holding in the infrared light (this is the part I suspect Steven won’t like). I also water every morning and in the last two weeks it has been hot. My husband wants to cut the plants back so I have been asking the people who stroll by and they unanimously say “Leave it grow”. So that’s what I am doing for now. In my magical pumpkin patch.