I added 100 bales of barley straw, 500 bags of leaves, and 100 bales of hay to the patch. These were spread out and left to mulch and decompose. No manure was added nor will it be. I have added too much potassium with the manure that I put on last year and my soil is now suffering for that.
Right now it is a cold February morning with not much better to do then to play on the computer and update my web page. In two months from now the work will begin in earnest. There is always so much to do in so little time.
Things that I plan on doing a little different
1) Getting a rototiller attachment for my tractor. Tilling a 6' swath at a time should cut down considerably on the time spent.
2) Dig planting pits. These are 3x3x3 or 4x4x4 pits to be dug where I will plant the plants at. The pits are then filled with alternating layers of compost, peat and soil. It is a bit of work but I think they do help.
3) I'm going to grow large plants again this year. I now the trend is to reduce the size of the plant but I had my best season when I grew two main vines on a 1200 square foot plant and then set twopumpkins and culled down to one pumpkin sometime in August. This will the be plan again this year.
4) Start additional plants to give away. I end up giving away alot of seeds but then people complain that they can't get them to start. I think I will start 20 or 30 extras to give away. I will probably do them a couple of weeks after mine as most people aren't as extreme as I am about early season protection.
So many to choose from what should I do????
This is a list of possibilities. The bold ones are very likely to end up in the ground. I will only have 4 plants this year as I am increasing the size of each plant.
670 Daigle 1233 Reiss 846 Jutras
1225 Jutras 961 Daletas 604 Jutras
1048 Companion 1101 Northrup
As usual this year I will plant backups of my own seeds so that if one fails I will still have something to grow.
It's been a very wet winter and spring. I'm getting the itch to get into the patch but it's still too wet. I did purchase a rototiller to go behind my tractor. It should make quick work of a big job. On the bright side I dug about two or three shovels full of dirt out of the garden just to see how wet things were. There were worms in every shovelful. There was hardly a worm to be found last year. Amazing what feeding the soil does.
My son wants the state record squash so he is growing two squash plants. Most likely the 552 Sherwood and the 848 MacKenzie.
My 8 year old wants her share of the action as well. Whe wants big and orange. She will be plating the 1273 Howard. Its a new seed but is great looking pumpkin with good genetics. This no doubt will turn into a team project.
My 14 year old has no interest in growing pumpkins so the spot that was for her will give me room for five plants. The 670 Daigle, 1101 Northrup, 1233 Reiss will be planted. Other considerations for the remianing two spots are the 1016 Daletas, 1225 Jutras, 1069 Ligget, 604 Jutras, 846 Jutras, and 1048 Companion.