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Entry Date
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Nick Name
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Location
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Friday, May 13, 2022
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ARrOoster
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Little Rock, Arkansas
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Entry 1 of 71 |
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This 2022 diary will serve as a record of the year's efforting and events.
It has been 8 years since I last grew a giant pumpkin. That first year growing a giant, I achieved 215 lbs using generic seeds from ParkSeed.com.
Since that time, I have applied and fine tuned the growing skills learned from that experience to my general gardening practices in the vegetable garden. Automated irrigation, cover crop timing, lasagna layering practices, compost tea and soil biology, fertilization and foliar feeding timing have all produced fine vegetable crops year on end. Love your soil, and the soil will love your plants; end of story!
Now, it's time to revisit this experience with the help of my step son. After seasons end in 2012, I acquired some good genetics from a generous grower on this fourm, and planned to make my second try in 2013. After germinating 2 seeds, the plant went wonky 15 days in and was damaged by winds so I scrapped the grow in favor of vegetables. Never to be revisited. Until this year.
When I saw a Dill's Atlantic Giant seed package at Home Depot. I felt the itch. Thinking about how I overwintered my garden bed with a good cover crop of Austrian Pea's, smothered by old fall leaves in the spring, how worm rich that side of the garden is..... I impulsively bought the seeds.
Came home and started germinated them, underwhelmed by their size and coloration. Sowed them anyways, but then remembered that I had saved those seeds from 8 years ago still!! Excitement growing, I sanded the edges down, soaked, and into the quart pots they went.
The size and difference between proven genetics and store bought seeds is significant.
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