October is an exciting month. It is the time of the year when we get to see the results of all the pumpkins grown in the Northern Hemisphere. As I write this 19 pumpkins weighed in over 2000lbs which is pretty exciting.
October also means it is time for us at the bottom of the world to start growing.
For myself it means sorting out things I need for the Tiny Patch and other bits and pieces.
So far this month I have the pots I want to grow miniature pumpkins in (30 litre in case you were wondering) and pots for giants. The LED grow light turned up from China. It pumps out a lot of light and it makes me feel a bit sick if I happen to see any of the light, even with the special glasses on.
I’ve organised timers for the LED light and also for a fan and all that works well.
Not related to pumpkins as such, I’ve worked out how to do long time lapses with the GoPro plugged in all the time, turns out you need to take the battery out of it for it work for many hours.
Mill Fabric
I’ve had this sitting in Hamilton for a while now, and I was going to bring it back to my place to sort out. In reality that would have been crazy as it is super heavy, and hard to cut. When I worked out different shipping options including renting a small truck, it was cheaper for me to go to Rotorua, borrow a van and trailer, pick it up and drive back and pay for a tank of gas.
Luckily Mum and Dad have the space to roll out the Mill Fabric, I had a bunch of helpers to do that.
After using a whole bunch of tools, the two that were the best for cutting the Mill Fabric was a super heavy duty pair of cutters, which tired out your hands but could cut it, and a corded multi tool with the half round attachment on the end. It is best to cut it on a hard surface.
Vlog Stuff
I put together the first episode of this seasons vlog which you can see here. I’m back in the swing of filming stuff, but won’t be sticking to a schedule, will be doing them when I have something to show. I’ve also been working on my editing, it’s amazing how little footage you need to tell a story and to also keep people’s attention.
Tim and his award
I shot out to Tim’s place, he got awarded Southern Hemisphere Champion for the 2017 season by the GPC. We didn’t know it was coming and was a great surprise, but we have been holding onto it for a while to use it in our publicity to get people to grow for the Carnival. Read all about Tim’s getting ready for season in the Waikato Times here.
He also said that he feels his soil is at the best level he’s ever had it at, so I am expecting great things this season from him.
When you are at the level Tim is at growing giants I feel the only real thing that will have a great influence is the weather, so I am hoping it will play ball for everyone, no matter where you are in the country.
Carnival Stuff
Talking about newspapers, I’m doing the publicity for the Carnival this year as well as being the president, you sometimes have to wear many hats. I’m not sure how people do it for a day job.
As well as emailing a lot of people, I’ve got a radio interview coming up on a nationwide gardening show to get people excited about pumpkins. I picked up a bunch of printed items, and we are getting ready to sell seedlings in early November at a Scarecrow Festival also… we have a committee meeting next week.
Next Update
In the next blog post I’ll cover what I’ve been up to in the second half of the month, and I’ll have some seeds started when I get back from the school camp.
What have you been up to? What are you doing this year? How are you? Let me know by leaving a comment below.
