My first pumpkin patch! So excited to watch these grow in...
My first pumpkin patch! So excited to watch these grow into the fall season!! #HappyPlants #PlantsMakePeopleHappy #NewGrowth #pumpkins #JackOLanternPumpkin #halloween #fall #jackbelittlepumpkin #pumpkinpatch #pumpkinplant
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@Rezmeck I’m excited for you! Having your own pumpkin 🎃 patch can be REALLY fun, I had a huge harvest one year, but the next I didn’t because of some issues.
If you’re open to advice, I can share the things I learned! (Or if not needed, maybe someone else could find this useful)
Plant companion plants!! They are SO important, plants aren’t meant to grow by themselves, they need their helper plants too ☺️ Don’t feel like you need to add ALL of these at once but these plants are quite helpful around pumpkins: Marigold (deters several kinds of pests), nasturtiums (deter squash beetles), borage (attracts many kinds of predatory insects), dill/yarrow (attracts beneficials like lacewings and lady beetles 🐞 and pollinators), sunflowers 🌻 (attracts pollinators), beans & peas 🫛(fix nitrogen in the soil for the pumpkins which need a lot of nutrients), corn (grows fast, and acts as a sturdy vertical pole for beans/peas to climb).
I highly recommend throwing down a layer of straw (not hay! Hay is for horses. 🐴 Straw is less likely to mold and it doesn’t have weed seeds in it) as mulch around your vines. It helps keep your future pumpkins from being stuck touching the bare earth, which can attract pests, or give you rot problems, and it helps keep the earth shaded, and moisture from evaporating too fast. Powdery mildew is also more likely to take hold if there’s not good airflow in and around your vines.
Check EVERY day for squash beetle eggs underneath your leaves!! I would take a piece of duct tape and pick off all the eggs that way, and either squish or drop in soapy water. You can soon get over run with squash beetles if you’re not checking regularly.
Here’s me, a little while back, with some of my pumpkins 🥰 (and my one very special Cinderella pumpkin, lol!) Good luck!!
If you’re open to advice, I can share the things I learned! (Or if not needed, maybe someone else could find this useful)
Plant companion plants!! They are SO important, plants aren’t meant to grow by themselves, they need their helper plants too ☺️ Don’t feel like you need to add ALL of these at once but these plants are quite helpful around pumpkins: Marigold (deters several kinds of pests), nasturtiums (deter squash beetles), borage (attracts many kinds of predatory insects), dill/yarrow (attracts beneficials like lacewings and lady beetles 🐞 and pollinators), sunflowers 🌻 (attracts pollinators), beans & peas 🫛(fix nitrogen in the soil for the pumpkins which need a lot of nutrients), corn (grows fast, and acts as a sturdy vertical pole for beans/peas to climb).
I highly recommend throwing down a layer of straw (not hay! Hay is for horses. 🐴 Straw is less likely to mold and it doesn’t have weed seeds in it) as mulch around your vines. It helps keep your future pumpkins from being stuck touching the bare earth, which can attract pests, or give you rot problems, and it helps keep the earth shaded, and moisture from evaporating too fast. Powdery mildew is also more likely to take hold if there’s not good airflow in and around your vines.
Check EVERY day for squash beetle eggs underneath your leaves!! I would take a piece of duct tape and pick off all the eggs that way, and either squish or drop in soapy water. You can soon get over run with squash beetles if you’re not checking regularly.
Here’s me, a little while back, with some of my pumpkins 🥰 (and my one very special Cinderella pumpkin, lol!) Good luck!!
Wow!!! Those look awesome!! Thanks a bunch for the advice. I did not know any of this and as a new gardener anything is helpful. You’ve given me a lot of good info that I will definitely look into more. If you were to plant some would you recommend pot or in the ground along the fence line? @DreamMachine
@Rezmeck beans/peas, sunflowers and corn are best to grow in ground since that’s where you’re growing your pumpkins. Sunflowers have deeep taproots and do NOT like to be transplanted or moved around after they sprout, so you pick their spot and keep it there. The other flowers and things don’t matter so much. In ground or pot, whatever you like! Although, they are usually pretty good at self seeding themselves. So even if you start in a pot this year, you might have a bunch in the ground next year 😜
@Rezmeck ruh roh! 🙄 I just want to check with Shannon @SuperbRaspfern but I’m pretty sure these are aphids. A good simple way to remove is to blast them off with a strong spray from the hose.
@Rezmeck I would absolutely get marigolds if you can! What is “quite a lot?” though? Or am I missing a pic?
@Rezmeck that was a fair amount of aphids 🤷♀️ But not as bad as I’ve seen it before on other plants 😅
@Rezmeck erm, some kind of bug? Haha, I’m not sure, I’m only familiar with the more common types of houseplant/garden pests. Sorry I can’t be of more help 🤷♀️
I was thinking maybe these guys were connected to the others. I thought the other ones were poop at first lol. Just wondering. @DreamMachine
So as I woke this morning, the first thing I thought of was the aphids. I’ve been spraying under the leaves a few days now, and I see it working. I took the time and rinsed every leaf and stem to clean them off. I still know there are some left that I coudnt. And I’m sure I won’t get them 100% but that’s okay. This was my first ever harvest, trial and error lol :) about the marigolds, would it be a good idea to plant a few along side the pumpkins fence area it’s 10ft wide. Or maybe 4 or 5 would be good in pots around the whole garden? @DreamMachine
@Rezmeck that is great 🙌 I’m so glad you’re doing this and that your first thought of the day was about your garden 🤗 I know it’s your first time, but I really hope you get some pumpkins this year!! 🤞🥳
I like to disperse marigolds throughout the garden organically, that way they attract beneficial insects throughout my whole garden and not just to one area. But really, it’s up to you! Experiment! See what you like best. and Marigolds will attract beneficial insects that will come help you deal with the rest of the aphids ☺️
I like to disperse marigolds throughout the garden organically, that way they attract beneficial insects throughout my whole garden and not just to one area. But really, it’s up to you! Experiment! See what you like best. and Marigolds will attract beneficial insects that will come help you deal with the rest of the aphids ☺️
So do I. One of the main reasons I wanted to grow them because I wanted to give them to my nieces and nephews this year to carve for Halloween. It might be a little late so thanksgiving will be good too to give them. And also because I was just curious to see if I myself to grow and harvest pumpkins. I’m gonna make a run to a local nursery and see if I could find some marigold this weekend. @DreamMachine
So I planted a few French marigold seeds in my front yard and a few in some pots and left them all around my garden. I planted a few in the ground next to my tree I like to call the bonsai grove. Now it’s just the waiting game to see which ones sprout. @DreamMachine
These are some of the ones I have. The last one is the dwarf jade. Do you remember that little guy lol? I’ll take a better picture of him tomorrow after I get home from work @DreamMachine
@Rezmeck oh my gosh YES!! Bahahaha, I might have temporarily forgotten your username but I ABSOLUTELY remember your dwarf jade!!! 😂😂🤩🤩 The jade looks like they’re doing really well. Such a beautiful color contrast between the leaves and trunk/branches. Wow! All of your bonsai are *wonderful* 😍🥰 10/10 bonsai grove!!
@DreamMachine haha that’s okay. My names Mario btw. But yeah I remember I posted him and you gave me some good feedback. You should see my little dwarves lol. They have a deeper red
@Rezmeck Hi Mario ☺️ Yes! I was blown away by how small he actually was! 🥹 and the babies certainly do have a deeper red. Such cuties 🥹🤏🥰 I think I actually remember commenting on your redwood bonsai now too, because that name sounds familiar. It’s simply stunning. Hopefully the marigolds bring some benefit to your bonsai as well!
Hello :) nice to meet you lol. And yeah! They grew vigorously. I think because they only get rain water. It’s been raining down here in Florida almost every day since April. I love it haha! And I recently found a bonsai nursery about an hour away from me that I buy mixed soil used for most of their bonsai trees. I’ve bought a Brazilian rain tree from there as well. @DreamMachine
It doesn’t rain in the same spot everyday but you can see from a distance Florida gets scattered showers every evening. it does rain in the same spot several times a week though too @DreamMachine
I ended up buying a spray and it helped out!! Marigolds are spouting as well. And I have an older marigold plant that was bought and shipped to me. The other 3 unfortunately didn’t survive the shipping. But that one survivor is potted into a nice bigger pot with better suiting soil. My pumpkins got a little stalled but I see new growth now. @DreamMachine
@Rezmeck that’s great! What spray is it? I’m glad at least one of the older marigolds pulled through!! 😮💨🙌
At the end of the season they should be able to give you plenty of seeds to have lots of marigolds next year too! Some people physically harvest the seeds and keep them indoors over the winter, to plant in early spring. Sometimes I might do that. But usually when I see a flower has gone to seed I will pull off the head, crumple it a bit in my hand, and then scatter seeds all around me. Or I pull off the dead heads and then toss them, whole, into certain areas of my garden. Or, I’ll chop them off and then just drop them on the ground. Just a matter of what I feel like doing at the time 😅
I usually only harvest to bring inside if I feel like there might not be enough that get past the birds and hungry critters of fall and winter. What time of year does fall start for you?
At the end of the season they should be able to give you plenty of seeds to have lots of marigolds next year too! Some people physically harvest the seeds and keep them indoors over the winter, to plant in early spring. Sometimes I might do that. But usually when I see a flower has gone to seed I will pull off the head, crumple it a bit in my hand, and then scatter seeds all around me. Or I pull off the dead heads and then toss them, whole, into certain areas of my garden. Or, I’ll chop them off and then just drop them on the ground. Just a matter of what I feel like doing at the time 😅
I usually only harvest to bring inside if I feel like there might not be enough that get past the birds and hungry critters of fall and winter. What time of year does fall start for you?
It’s a mix I got from ace hardware. I didn’t want anything too strong cause I wasn’t sure what it would do with young plants and I have a flock of ducks that I’m cautious with as well. But it helped out a lot I don’t see any more green little aphids. My spiders are gone as well, they left the trees before I sprayed so I’m sure they are off hunting in my big tree I have in the back now. I’m not sure I would be able to just toss seeds around, I have to toss them in protected areas I have fenced off from the ducks. But yeah I see where you’re going with that. I’d like to try that as well. @DreamMachine
How long have you been gardening? And for me it’s hard to tell. Fall usually starts late October. It will be hot and humid here for a while. And then we have about maybe 2 months of “fall” weather then maybe 2 weeks of “really”cold days. Maybe like in the mid 40s in late December/ January. I wanted to get into fall crops but I’d have to really figure out of what and when… do you think you could give me some pointers? @DreamMachine
