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New Brunswick

The snow has finally left my pumpkin patch and I was wondering if anyone has used layers of loose oat straw around each plant when it is set out and also over the entire growing area? It sure would help to keep the weeds down..... It is so cold here yet that I haven't even planted my seeds...sigh How long would one dare keep a plant in a peat pot?

4/27/2003 11:33:44 AM

Amherst, WI

Storm, you should put up a small cold frame over each spot you will plant a pumpkin. This will help to heat up the ground. 7-10 days in a 4" peat pot would be about as long as I would go.

4/27/2003 10:10:39 PM

Montoursville, PA

Many are suggesting using half gallon ice cream boxes. One is showing in my diary if you care to see how they are made.
This give you a couple of more safe days in planting pot should bad weather get into the picture at the last minute.

4/28/2003 9:32:26 AM

New Brunswick

Regarding the cold frame....I have a large outdoor wooden pen for my poodles...about 2 1/2 foot high sides. What if I set this over much of my patch and covered it over the top and round the sides with heavy plastic? What thickness of plastic is recommended? (Some is more clear than others). Would this substitute for a cold frame? I also plan on putting black plastic on the soil in the exact planting spots. My soil is 100% decomposed horse manure...supplied happily by our Norwegian Fjords. I plan on putting 6 plants in this pen (3 to be culled) If you think this pen will work...just how cold can it get before my newly set out pumpkins would be chilled? Our last frost date is June 10th. I have not started my seedlings yet. Docqipe... when you set out your plants (I looked at your icecream containers...great idea!), do you set pot and all in the ground, to be removed later so as to avoid planting shock?

4/30/2003 9:36:58 AM

Montoursville, PA

I gently remove the pot at the time of planting. If you are at the two true leaf stage the roots should be nicely filling the larger 1/2 ice cream boxes. By having the larger potting boxes you may have a day or two to leave a bad weather front pass you by. My thinking as advised by others is that these babies do not like to be stopped and handled more than is absolutely needed. The tape will pull off after you are in the potting hole or just before you sit it in the hole. Throw away the containers. No second use!

4/30/2003 9:48:28 AM

porterville, calif.

Storm, last year was my first year growing AGs. I did use straw like you have asked about. I did this to help keep the weeds down also to help keep mosture in. It worked really good. I will be doing it again this year. I had no weeds at all. I wish i had taken some pics of last years plants. i will this year. I will also take a pic of area after straw is laid down. Greg

4/30/2003 7:06:59 PM

New Brunswick

That is great. I shall use straw then. What is the simplest type of cold frame to build? I am a gal and I hit my fingers more than the nails when building something.LOL My hubby is laughing at me trying to figure out what I am going to build. I am trying my durndest to get him to build something. Other years I just rigged up plastic bags on tomatoe baskets turned upside down and anchored to the ground...but I want something much bigger this year. Will these plastic "greenhouses" keep out much cold and frost? Our frost date is June 10th (full moon) and I really would like to set the plants out the 25th of May. How well will plastic protect??

4/30/2003 10:42:15 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Here goes a simple cold frame
Go to your Local Hardware Store or Home Depot
1. Get 5 10 foot 3/4" pvc pipes
2. Get 8 pieces of rebar that are 2-3 feet Long.(they use them here to hold Landscape Timbers in place.
3. No gets some 6mil clear plastic atleast 12 wide( I find 12X 15 is just about perfect.
4. Now measure out a 6 foot line pounding the rebar in
every 24 inches.
5. Now place one end of the pvc pipe over the rebar, then bend it to make a hoop. Mark the spot where the curve is where you like it.
6. Now pound the 4 remaining stakes in every 24 inches to make a square.

4/30/2003 11:39:24 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

7. Now dig a small trench about 6 inches deep on the outside of the square(this is to lay the plastic in)
8. Place the pvc pipes over the rebar stakes. Connect pipes to other side.
9. Get your plastic ready to throw over the hoops.Throw over hoops and center
10.Lay edges of plastic in trench cover with dirt
11. Leave one end so you can lay a board on the plastic and have access.
12 I then take the extra piece of pvc and make a center support, and use cable ties to secure it to the pvc pipes inside the plastic.

4/30/2003 11:45:55 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

13.Now look around for an old piece of hose, that you can cut into 10 inch pieces. Split these down the middle and place them over the plastic, so they hold the plastic in place. Or Go to an Office supply Place and Buy Some Large Metal Paper Folder Clips.(they are big and black)
14. Your are done now. Remember to open up your coldframe in the morning as they will heat up to above 100 degrees very quickly.

5/1/2003 12:24:30 AM

Utah

Wallowater works well for small areas. you can usually find them at walmart.
http://www.wallowater.com

5/1/2003 11:15:45 AM

Pulaski Tn blkcloud@igiles.net

hey storm, cant get your hubby off the couch??? maybe you ought to give him one of those "looks" like my wife gives me when i dont jump to her every command..that will get him up and going..

5/1/2003 1:15:59 PM

New Brunswick

Hi Rainydays...Ya lost me with the split pipe and large metal metal paper folder clips.... I just can't seem to picture where they go....I have a "duh" spot. LOL.
qit...what is Wallowater????? Boy I sure am dumb tonight...sheech....
Ha,ha....blkcloud....he's off the couch...but is cleaning up a bunch of brush around the yard and hauling it away. I am fighting him for possession of a particular patch of soil that was under an old building he tore down and moved. He wants to grow normal squash in it! It is right next to the manure pile and is in a sheltered sunny spot. I have to have it...I have to...I must!!!!
I started my seeds tonight. Tomorrow it is off to the store to get the plastic and maybe the pvc pipe. I have all kinds of rebar...all ready to drive in the ground. They used to be pasture fence posts till we shifted to pagewire.

5/1/2003 10:35:20 PM

New Brunswick

A lightbulb has lit up! You must slide the hose down over the pvc pipe, trapping the plastic...right???? There is a pice of that plastic hose stuff here too. So all I need is the plastic and the pvc. I think I will use the poodle pen and completely surround it with plastic, for the three plants I put in the main patch. We get winds here like you would not believe! That is why we call our place "Windy Hill Stables" (: I think I will just build the one green house like you suggested and see if I can keep it from blowing away before I make more of them. LOL It does sound wonderfully simple...thanks so much. I had my pumpkin growing book shoved right under hubbys nose tonight...he practically had to order me out of the room....I am such a pest...he asked me if pumpkins are all I think about. I of course said yes...the garden with our actual vegetables comes second...as does the house work....LOL My seeds are happily sitting on our Tim Horton coffee maker to sprout. It makes a perfect incubator as well as great coffee. Well its off to bed...

5/1/2003 10:53:48 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Desert Storm you have to find a way for your Hubby to accept your new "Pumpkin Fetish". He will start to envy the attention you pay to your plants. He may even threaten to put weed killer in with your fertilizer. Give him some time and when the Pumpkin starts get Huge it will be "Our" pumpkin in the back yard. The little hoop house hold up well in the wind, we had a thunderstorm wip through last year. The bigger greenhouse was in the neighbors yard the hoophouse were fine the bend with the wind. Shannon

5/1/2003 11:48:09 PM

New Brunswick

Hi...Oh he is helping out if reluctingly. He says my little green houses (I am up to building two now) should last till he takes our Fjord ponies out for excercise on the drag. He is teasing...but just in case I will have the gun ready. ROTFL.(: Two years ago I entered a 192 pounder in a local contest. He was so sure that I had lost, that after I had weighed in, he loaded the pumpkin and went home and I came home with a friend. It was a great laugh on him. I took 3rd.! and won a Veseys bug jacket! We went to town and got a 100 foot roll of 3/4 inch p.v.c. today He rummaged around behind the barn and found some hose to clamp on the plastic over the pvc. The plastic at Canadian tire was too light weight so we still have to get that. Now....When I cover with the plastic, what do I do with the ends? Let it drape down and weight it to the ground? I am sooo confused.

5/2/2003 3:22:55 PM

Pulaski Tn blkcloud@igiles.net

whats a fjord pony???? is it similar to a djodge or cjheverolet???? did you mean ford mustang??? hehe...

5/3/2003 10:32:45 AM

New Brunswick

A Fjord Pony is a wonderful means of transportation naturally built "Fjord Tuff." Ours are resplendent in a Brown dun colour....with Black and white trim. There is some striping which sets them off. LOL. In case you don't "really" know what a Fjord pony is, it is a breed of horse....the type that turns grass, hay and grain into the most wonderful substance for a punkin' patch, known as manure...horse style. Ours are young and are just being broken to harness.

5/3/2003 2:33:36 PM