Day....13 Ok, so here's the update on my giant pumpkin: no germination. What?! This is why I write the blog- and you guys read it. So you can NOT do what I did. Right? Right.
So as you may have read, I tried germinating one of my two gigantic pumpkin seeds in some potting soil on top of the fridge. After a couple of pretty gloomy days (remember last week?), I decided to move the pot near our south facing window when we were expecting some sunny days (finally!). Another couple days go by and...nothing. I knew the soil temperature probably wasn't the ideal warmth that pumpkin seeds prefer, but I figured a week and it would get there. Day 7, still nothing. This is when I decided I needed to get a little more serious about this. So I decided to give in and do what the President of the Utah Pumpkin Growers Association (Andrew Israelsen, one of his seeds I am growing) does with his seeds- put the pot inside a cooler with 2 quart jars of warm water to get the soil temperature up and encourage faster germination. I even added a home made heating pad for extra warmth (you know those been filled bags you put in the microwave?). This would surely work!
The 4 " pot is the pumpkin seed, the other two are some herbs I started germinating the same day.
I used this method for two days and still....nothing. How could this be possible? Not being scientific enough I am sure. What can I say, I'm more intuitive than scientific, I admit it. Well, I couldn't take it any more, so decided to dump the pot(literally) and try the elementary school method instead: wet paper towel in a zip lock (unsealed for air flow). When I looked at the seed it had not begun to sprout at all! Okay paper towel, don't fail me now. I decided to add my second pumpkin seed in the same damp paper towel, about 3 inches apart. It's been 3 days since the I've done this...Andrew's take 4 days to germinate so maybe tomorrow is my lucky day? My plan is to transplant them both outside once they germinate. I will warm the soil around them with milk jugs filled with water to create a mini greenhouse effect. Maybe I'll even cover them with some clear plastic.
In the meantime, I still have the new garden space to deal with...So this is what I did on Sunday:
I dug up the other half of my "garden space" (the other side of the wheelbarrow in the picture). The weather was actually perfect for the pick axing, shoveling, hauling and raking required- ominous rain clouds in the distance, overcast skies, and a cool, gentle breeze. Ahh, nothing like pick axing rocks for three hours on a sunday morning, i don't think it would be accurate to call it rocky "soil." Some sand and lots of rocks is more like it. :)
To be honest, it kind of made me feel like one of the dwarves in disney's Snow White.
Except where they were in fact digging in rock to find sparkly gemsI was just trying to make soil out of rocks. Most of the time I felt like grumpy. Now I understand why grumpy was so grumpy- blisters on your hands, back breaking swings, dirt down your back, rock dust in your eye...This pick axing business is not easy. So maybe a tiller would've been way easier- but I think it would've broken in about 5 sec. Maybe if I had a tractor...Since I don't...
The chickens decided that they wanted to help, so while I was swinging my pick axe with all of my strength, I had to dodge chicken heads that were racing each other to eat the worms in the earth I had just loosened. Brave chickens. Or maybe just stupid. More likely. They do scratch around a little and add some fertilizer here and there, so I suppose I'll give them some credit for helping right? I'm just glad I didn't gouge one with the axe.
Once I did all the loosening I could do (which ended up probably only being about six inches deep, if even), I sifting out fist sized rocks, some left over asphalt crumbles, big roots, and misc. trash like strips of plastic bag, candy wrappers and pieces of rotting boards (if you ever see our house, you will accept that it has an unusual history and pieced together landscaping design at best). Anyways, once I raked it out all the "soil" into a long rectangle shape and leveled it out, I measure it. About 8' x 25'. That should do it eh? The bigger question is: does this soil have enough nutrients and root space to grow a gigantic pumpkin? Guess we'll find out. I added 6 bags of top soil (1.5 cubic feet) and 1 bag of eco compost that I got from Home Depot. This is a constant balancing act that I am doing- how much am I willing to spend to grow a giant pumpkin? Seeing as I work two part time jobs and don't make an executive's salary, as little as possible. So far I've spent about $20 on soil and compost. For the size of the space, I could've spent 4 times that plus delivery fee. The soil could use a lot more love, but I'm hoping that once I add the compost from last year's compost pile (rich with year old chicken manure, egg shells and veggie scraps) that should be enough to grow a plant. Maybe even a giant plant?
I've got to fix the flax tire on the wheelbarrow first. Then empty the rocks. Then shovel compost.
After that I can:
-Add on new irrigation tubes
-Fix the timer wire that I pick axed through
-Build a hoophouse, buy some wall-o-waters, or drink a lot more milk
-Plant the seeds (which hopefully will have germinated)
Did you know that today's Friday the 13th? Day 13?! Am I jinxing myself?
Watch for next week's update!
Krystal
