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Garden Gate:  Volunteer Pumpkins..how to "help" them along?  |
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FebruaryViolet
True Blue Farmgirl
4810 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4810 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 23 2010 : 07:38:39 AM
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I must have discarded our pumpkins and gourds from last Autumn into the compost pile...we have a "jack and the beanstalk" pumpkin vine that trails all over our side yard, and now has 6 volunteer pumpkins on the one vine, and another vine with 3 gourds of some sort...
They seem to be at a sort of stall...they are light orange in color, but are about the size of those new seedless tiny sweet watermelons? The ribs aren't pronounced yet, and I want to encourage growth. I've been watering the compost pile, where the root appears to have started.
What else?
Incidentally, the pumpkins I actually planted are flowering, but there is no fruit yet...the bees must just not make it down to the lower half of our yard!!!
Musings from our family in the Bluegrass http://sweetvioletmae.blogspot.com/ |
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laurentany
True Blue Farmgirl
3259 Posts
Laurie
Patchogue
NY
USA
3259 Posts |
Posted - Aug 23 2010 : 7:15:15 PM
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Other than what you are doing I dont have any other advice. I did have the same problem with my pumpkins... they started off with a bang, had tons of flowers, but never developed any pumpkins I finally gave up on them becasue I figured at this late stage I would never have pumpkins in time for fall anyway. I plan to try again next year
Good luck with yours!
Smiles,
Laurie
Farmgirl Sister#1403
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.. |
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natesgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
1735 Posts
angela
martinsville
indiana
USA
1735 Posts |
Posted - Aug 23 2010 : 9:59:05 PM
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Waterin is all you need to do. The compost is takin care of the rest for you. I have 30 volunteer tomato plants in my compost bin that are doin wonderful and we really need the extra food, so just trust that God will provide and water your little 'God garden'!
Farmgirl Sister #1438
God - Gardening - Family - Is anything else important? |
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Gloria Bonde
True Blue Farmgirl
103 Posts
Gloria
Hot Springs
SD
USA
103 Posts |
Posted - Aug 26 2010 : 06:12:43 AM
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I read that you can harvest upripe pumpkins and they will ripen indoors. Also, do not cut the ends of the vines. Squash plants need the leaves and the vines to make nutrients for the plant. You can pinch off new little squashes & flowers. You can also eat tender winter squash as you would summer squash. My planted winter squash are way behind my from the compost volunteers. I usually cut out the volunteers but it was obvious that this year the planted ones would not be doing as well.
www.DakotaGarden.com |
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Fiddlehead Farm
True Blue Farmgirl
4562 Posts
Diane
Waupaca
WI
USA
4562 Posts |
Posted - Aug 26 2010 : 12:14:25 PM
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Jonni, sometimes the seeds we throw into our compost are not heirloom's but hybrids. The hybrid seeds sometimes do not fully develop into the adult plant. I have some pie pumpkins that I grew from seed of a pie pumpkin that I bought last year. I did not know it if was an heirloom or not. The pumpkins I got from these seeds are interesting. Some grew into pie pumpkins and some were small yellowish fruits the size of a tomato. The small ones never fully developed and fell off of the vine. You may have the same thing happening to yours. Just a thought.
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farmgirl sister #922
Happy to be a "Raggedy Ann" in a Barbie World! |
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Garden Gate: Volunteer Pumpkins..how to "help" them along? |
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Volunteer Pumpkins..how to "help" them along?
