What to do in your Pumpkin Off Season

There’s nothing like having a break after a giant pumpkin growing season. But the question is how much of a break do you have before being back into the pumpkin world?

I guess if I was to sum an answer up to that question it would be it depends on how seriously you are taking this giant pumpkin growing thing. And out of everything you could take seriously, giant pumpkins is high on that list.

What to Do In Your Pumpkin Off Season

I was thinking about this topic and two main categories came to mind, these two categories complement each other and I think form the basis of what giant pumpkin growers do, during the season and during the off season.

Learn

This is a big part of when people start as new growers and gradually grow bigger pumpkins. It’s all about learning about areas you don’t know much about.

The thing I have learned about learning over the years is you need to work out what works for you.

If your over 30 you’ll remember school was school. A teacher talked at the front, you took notes and you might have a textbook to refer to as well.

This method doesn’t work for everyone. And the key to retaining information and learning effectively is to find out what works for you. You could be a visual learner, one that does better with audio, or you could be what they call a kinesthetic learner, like me you learn by doing things.

What Areas to Focus On
If you have plenty of time and money, why not learn everything there is about giant pumpkin growing and do it all at once. That is an option.

For a lot of people I think incrementally trying new things and applying different practices is the more common way of approaching giant pumpkin growing and any type of gardening.

Plan What you Need

This could include:

  • Products
  • Tools
  • Knowledge
  • Testing

In fact it could include things you haven’t even thought of yet.

This is where learning and planning go hand in hand. You need to learn about the things you want to plan, and you need to plan about the things you need to plan.

What things could make life easier for you? As a grower (giant or otherwise)

For example, would a watering system help free up your time, provide more water and be a good investment?

This is where the planning comes in. Here’s some things to think about in that scenario:

  • What type of watering systems are there?
  • What would fit in and work at my current location?
  • What are the costs? Upfront and ongoing.
  • What are the benefits of different set ups or systems?
  • Who sells this stuff, and who has the best price and service?

After going through all of that, learning and planning and researching you might not do any of it. Being more informed before making decisions is important.

And I think during your off season this is an ideal time to work things out.

Make Lists

I’m a fan of lists.

So I’m going to suggest you make a list. Make it somewhere you know where it is. Either on your phone, notebook, computer, or somewhere. Just as long as it is accessible it doesn’t matter.

I’d start off with broad headings. For giant pumpkins I’d have a look at the How To page right here. It gives you areas of growing a giant pumpkin you can learn and plan.

Under each heading write down as many ideas as you can, doesn’t matter if they are crazy, weird or strange, just write them down.

Do this for each heading and write as many as you can think of. Once you’ve done that, leave it for a couple of days.

Come back to it, see if you have had any more thoughts around any of the topics. Then prioritise the areas you want to work on this upcoming season.

What caused you problems this season? What do you think you could have done better? Start getting a bit more detailed and granular.

My Planning

For myself, if I am still here growing in the Tiny Pumpkin Patch next season, this is my current thought process:

I want to get more organic matter into the patch

Close up of the soil in the tiny giant pumpkin patch

  • What can I add to achieve this?
  • Where can I get this product from?
  • How much would I need?
  • When is the best time to apply this?
  • How much will this cost?

That’s just one area I will probably be looking at this season, but it gives you an idea of how planning and learning are key things to do in the off season of growing giant pumpkins.

What areas will you be looking at?

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Amanda
3 years ago

Love this post! We’re just setting up for our growing season! We spend allllll winter long discussing our next growing season time to put our new theories to the test!!

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