Your Backyard Garden Information Source
Houseplants have many benefits, from reducing depression and anxiety to purifying the air… provided that you don’t kill them. Here are some of the top mystery causes of houseplant death. Overwatering By far the most common cause of death in houseplants is simple overwatering. Stick to the instructions given when you buy a plant to avoid drowning it. Most plants […]
When you live in the south, there’s nothing quite like St. Augustine Grass to give you a lush and beautiful front lawn. Its durability helps it stand up the rigors of a southern summer, and its resistance to salinity means it’s appropriate even if you have a home on the coast. For those who live a bit further north and […]
For many of us, fall means a bounty of pumpkins for pies and jack-o’-lanterns, along with a gathering in of the rest of the autumn harvest. But for thousands of backyard gardeners, fall is the time of reckoning and – for a lucky few – glory. These are the growers of the heavyweights. For them, pumpkin growing is a competitive […]
How to weigh a pumpkin To calculate your pumpkin weight, you need to obtain three measurements. If you have a large pumpkin, get a measuring tape longer than 100 inches. If you only have a metal measuring tape, be sure to get some string to be used as your measuring tape. Now let’s begin. Be sure to use the graphics […]
The first 9-10 days of the giant pumpkin plant’s development requires special attention to ensure a good start of a properly grown seedling. An understanding, by the grower, of the development and growth of the pumpkin seedling (and the entire plant & fruit) is necessary in an effort to eliminate any variables and set goals. This is most often gain […]
Compost Feeding Your Pumpkin (supplement) – by George Brooks(Note: Click on the small images to view a 400×296 image) The first Stage of Pumpkin Mound building, broad tapered sides are formed to capture the Spring sunshine. Next, an area in the middle is hollowed out and a heating cable, (optional), is laid in the bottom. It is then covered […]
Web Alert: Porky Pumpkins Tip Scales at 1000-Plus Pounds By NANCY STEDMAN & STEVE DITLEA October 11, 1996 To the four-minute mile and the eight-foot high jump, add yet another legendary performance barrier, shattered just last Saturday: the 1,000-pound pumpkin. Paula and Nathan Zehr from Lowville, N.Y., set a new record last weekend with their 1,061 pound pumpkin. Credit: Associated Press […]
Hand-Pollinating Pumpkin Plants PROBLEM: My pumpkins keep flowering and setting fruit, but the fruits (pumpkins) keep withering up when they are an inch or two long. I’ve tried putting wood under them, thinking they were rotting, but that hasn’t worked. Now I am wondering about soils, too much water, insects? Any suggestions? LIKELY ANSWER: Do you have bees (pollinators)? Sounds like […]
Compost Feeding Your Pumpkin – by George Brooks This article was originally written for a September time frame especially the Compost Section. Keep this in mind and adapt it to what ever time of year you are starting. Start planning for next year to improve your chances of growing a big one. The following article is about one method that […]
I first developed this method approximately nineteen years ago for growing squash and have been refining it ever since. It is intended to produce the largest vine possible (12’+) by the ideal fruit setting date of June 20 to July 10th (based on my growing season). The second benefit is to obtain 80 to 90% of the pumpkin’s growth by […]