Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 22 Entries. Saturday, April 18 View Page Time to get started. Good luck to all and stay healthy!   Saturday, April 18 View Page This is the first team. I hope to grow 2 pumpkins this year. Each will get 1000 SF.   Saturday, April 18 View Page I brought 10 yards of compost/loam mix in earlier this spring. Patches are tilled and some preliminary amendments added. Each cold frame sits on top of 100 feet of heating cable.   Saturday, April 18 View Page Hard to believe the soil temperature in there is 70 degrees. Cables been heating for a couple of days. Snow this morning. Hope to get a pumpkin in there tomorrow.   Sunday, April 19 View Page Never a good idea to listen to the weather people but the 10 day forecast for me looks pretty manageable. Soil temp over 72 degrees now. I have a nice looking plant ready at the 5 leaf stage so it's planted. One of my own 1936.   Sunday, April 19 View Page Temperature over 50 degrees at 10 PM so first day is under our belt. Plant is tucked away under a Home Depot storage box with a 60 watt Reptile heater. I have tested that setup for several cold nights and the temperature stays at 55 degrees + . LED lighting is on a timer to provide 12 hours of daytime.   Friday, April 24 View Page My neighbors want to know why my pumpkins are not pretty and orange. This will make them happy.   Tuesday, April 28 View Page This is my 1936 north patch 9 days outside today. Weather in my part of New England has been very cold, sunless, rainy and windy for the most part. Many nights in the 30's. Despite the weather, I have a nice happy plant that is down and running. I may even bury that first node tomorrow just because I've never buried one in April. Soil is heated. You can see a temperature controller that keeps things at 75F day and night. Also LED lighting goes 12 hours on 12 hours off. I made some foamcore boxes that really do an amazing job of holding the heat of the 100 W reptile heater overnight even in the low 30's.   Tuesday, April 28 View Page Foamcore and duct tape. Overnight survival. Two 3-sided boxes one cut to fit snugly over the other so the system expands in length as the vine grows. 100 W reptile heater does the trick and keeps things 70 degrees+. I started with a 60W heater which keeps the temp in mid 60's. The foamcore is amazingly light and easy to maneuver. The walls are nice and smooth and don't injure the leaves if they contact. This will get us out a few more days.   Saturday, May 2 View Page Great Saturday weather here in New England. Here is my 1936 north moving along nicely. I had to move the coldframe to squeeze a bit more room for the plant that is now over 6 ft in length. Weather looks like it will return to cold nights so need to stay hunkered down.   Saturday, May 2 View Page Next 500 SF segment of north patch amended and tilled today. Had to quickly build an "add-on" coldframe which will give my 1936 a bit more running room.   Saturday, May 9 View Page Weather was nicer in February ugh. Saturday update. Extra blocks.   Sunday, May 10 View Page This is my 1936 planted in the north patch. Despite the horrible weather here this plant has made considerable progress. The main is beyond the cold frame and growing into an annex that I added on. Only a couple of days left before I need to turn the plant loose. Weather seems to be improving early next week so we may be OK. You can see sulfur dusted around the stump where I began to remove some vines. Spots on the leaves are residual from a morning calmagmax/daconil/talstar foliar.   Sunday, May 10 View Page This 1936 plant was placed in the south patch on April 25 so here we are at a bit over 2 weeks. Just horrible weather over those 2 weeks so I view this as nice progress as this plant will be at the end of the 7½ foot cold frame in a day or so. Nice and healthy looking.   Monday, May 11 View Page Here is the 2517 Haist looking a little beat up but settling in. It was put out on Friday May 9 and Friday night the temperature hit 32.5 degrees so not the greatest first night and Saturday went downhill from there. The vine in the airpot was growing straight up and really overdue to be planted so I chose not to wait for better weather. This is my second experience with airpot and both times I found the transfer from pot to planting hole traumatic for the plant. The root system is more diffuse and difficult to hold together and the concave bottom was tough to get out. Could be poor technique on my part but someone will need to convince me to use airpots for pumpkins in the future. My hot peppers and tomatoes, however seem to love them.   Saturday, May 16 View Page This is my 1936 today on day 27 since being moved out to the North patch. It was overstuffed in the cold frame so today I set the plant free. Plant looks happy and is making nice progress. A real struggle without a greenhouse over those 27 days to keep the pumpkin warm in what turned out to be really crappy New England weather. Could be a real struggle going forward without a greenhouse. But thats the gamble. Hoping the nightime temps stay above 50.   Saturday, May 16 View Page This north patch is a couple hundred yards from the ocean. So I keep the plant tightly wrapped primarily to protect against the wind off the water.   Saturday, May 16 View Page This is my 1936 South plant on day 21 since being planted outside. It has outgrown the length of the 6x8 cold frame so I added a four foot extension to buy some time. Will remove the frame in the next couple of days.   Sunday, May 17 View Page My 1936 in the south patch here after removing the cold frame today. Plant is out around 9 feet long and the first set of secondary vines made it necessary to remove the cold frame which is 6 ft in width. Weather looks manageable but lets hope no surprises   Sunday, May 17 View Page 1936 in the north patch. I removed the cold frame yesterday. Nice sunny day today. My notes tell me that the new growth is susceptible to sunburn in the first days after direct exposure to the sun so I have sunshade in place.   Sunday, May 24 View Page Removed the cold frame to give the 811 Gerhardt some much needed sunshine. Plant looks like it's enjoying it. Vine is on the ground and ready to roll.   Thursday, June 4 View Page This is my 1936 in the south patch. Moving along nicely. There is a female right there at 15 ft. Would like to hold out another node or two.