November is here
The plan was to write a second half of October post to follow the first half of October post, but not much happened.
I was down in Wellington for a week for a school camp. It was pretty full on and I sometimes wondered if it would be easier to herd cats, but everyone seemed to have had a good time, myself included. I felt the full force of late nights, early starts and the constant supervision of children when I got back, but no time to rest. Also had a visitor that wants to help out around here.
Scarecrow Festival
The Sunday after I got back was the Scarecrow Festival at Hamilton Gardens, lots of people, lots of scarecrows and lots of windy conditions.
We talked about pumpkins to a whole bunch of people and for the first time we actually sold all the seedlings we had with us, which was pretty cool.
I keep meaning to make a scarecrow for this event, but I keep running out of time. If I want to enter next year I will need to start making it now and working on it through the year and as I wrote this I came up with a great idea for one.
More Supplies
I got some vege mix for the miniatures, some seed raising mix and another chair as you can never have enough of those to provide very early shade protection and handy for when you are videoing something.
Starting Seeds
I started some seed before I went away on the school camp. I started a 1969 Haist and a 1743 Hazeltine.
My ultimate goal is to have a pumpkin that doesn’t rot out like last years one. As for size, I’ll take what I can get out of the tiny patch.
So far the Haist seed is growing a lot faster than the other one, I’m hoping to get it into the patch on the weekend.
I started a bunch of different miniatures and sunflower seeds as well. I currently have the go pro set up doing a time-lapse as they emerge, hopefully that turns out OK. I was surprised by the amount of moisture in the seed raising mix, but they seems to be growing with no ill effect.
I’m growing the miniatures in pots upstairs, I’ve grown in pots before and it worked quite well. Being upstairs they will get a good amount of sunlight.
Last year I thought growing in the small garden down near the garage door would be good, but I think the soil down there is bad and while the plants did produce some pumpkins, nothing like previous years efforts.
Other bits and pieces
I’m still working on updating bits and pieces throughout the website, and I am bit behind where I wanted to be at this point in the year. But if there is something you have a question on, flick me an email.
I still need to get some more hose connections for later on in the season and also bags of compost for vine burying.
How’s things going so far this season for you? Leave a comment and let me know.
Growing giant pumpkins is a passion that I love sharing. 🎃 If you’ve found my content helpful or entertaining, why not say thanks with a coffee? ☕
It’ll fuel my next giant pumpkin adventure!
