Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 13 Entries. Sunday, July 15 View Page Hello! I am new here and my interest in giant pumpkins is new and mostly inspired by my five year old nephew who likes to garden with me, which drew me to watch Growing Giants YouTube channel. I am not new to gardening and growing vegetables. When I was in High school/College I worked for a local nursery doing everything under the sun :D ! Horticulture has always been an interest of mine, I've focused toward food crops not much interest in flowers. For the past 7 years I maintain a 45' x 45' vegetable garden in zone 6a. I've grown mostly everything, not specializing in anything. The soil is amended with 4 inches of horse manure yearly. Each year the soil is tilled down 8 inches in between walkways. A cheap at home soil test is done each spring. The soil has been meticulously screened of all rocks larger than a cherry. This year I added landscaping fabric to repress weeds in the rows. I also broke down cardboard boxes and with landscaping staples anchored them to the ground. This year I purchased two round pots of Howden seedlings (2 vines in each pot) one for my neice the other for my nephew. My neice didn't care (she's 8) but my nephew (5) could not wait for a pumpkin. He named it his "pumpkin pie" plant, his intentions with the pumpkins are clear! I am new to growing pumpkins, having only grown them once or twice in the past with poor results. Growing these Howden's will be a learning experience that I plan to help me grow the Ron Wallace 1767 seed I purchased for next year. As I said I'm just beginning and do not know the genetics or the disease resistence, etc that I need for my environment. As stated above I didn't/don't know much about growing pumpkins so I started the howdens in not the best places. I have some images of them growing up until this point and will upload them.   Sunday, July 15 View Page Picture taken 6/18/18. This is my nephews "pumpkin pie". This is two Howden vines grown together out of a hole in a broken down cardboard box. The other two plants are growing in a row covered in landscaping fabric. I quickly realized I didn't give these vines enough space. As they grew I had to make twists and turns to give it the best light, air circulation, and room. Next year I will grow the vine straight in the Christmas tree pattern.   Sunday, July 15 View Page Picture taken 6/18/18. This is my nephews "pumpkin pie". These are two Howden vines grown together out of a hole in a broken down cardboard box. The other two plants are growing in a row covered in landscaping fabric. I quickly realized I didn't give these vines enough space. As they grew I had to make twists and turns to give it the best light, air circulation, and room. Next year I will grow the vine straight in the Christmas tree pattern.   Sunday, July 15 View Page Picture taken June 26th 2018. This was the first female flower. This grows into a decent little pumpkin. You can see that since the vine was growing on top of cardboard it couldn't anchor a root at the joints. I cut holes in the cardboard at specific joints. I made mix of compost, sand, and soil mixed with water til muddy and covered the joints where I cut through.   Sunday, July 15 View Page Picture take June 30th 2018. Getting bigger!   Sunday, July 15 View Page July 7th.   Monday, July 16 View Page Picture taken July 9th 2018. This is the same pumpkin in the previous pictures. Getting bigger. I have been feeding with 15-15-15 every three weeks, using very small amounts. It is the only fertilizer I had on hand. This pumpkin I believe had 3 lobes and was hand fertilized but it was before I learned to look at the lobes.   Monday, July 16 View Page July 11th 2018. The garden is looking good. The pumpkin vines are growing well.   Monday, July 16 View Page July 11th 2018. This pumpkin doesn't look like it will get much bigger but it sure has a nice shape.   Tuesday, July 17 View Page Out of four Howden plants, this is the best pumpkin this far its name is C1.   Tuesday, July 17 View Page This is B1   Wednesday, July 18 View Page Got my seed(s) for next year! Ordered two seeds from the 1767 Wallace. Opened the packet to find one seed from the 2015 wallace 1975! I was looking at this seed before getting the 1767! I am happy with the mix up. The howdens are battling powdery mildew from the last two days of rain. Neem or copper for powdery on pumpkins?   Wednesday, July 18 View Page C1.