Vegetable Gardening (56 page)

The seeds of this all-purpose pumpkin are slower and more finicky about germinating than other pumpkin varieties. So wait until the soil is 65 degrees to plant; you may even want to start it indoors for 3 to 4 weeks before planting outside.

To find out how to grow giant pumpkins and for details about yearly competitions, visit The Pumpkin Patch at
www.backyardgardener.com/pumkin.html
or Big Pumpkins.com at
www.bigpumpkins.com
.

Growing Those Vines

Warmth, water, and proper pollination are the keys to growing cucumber-family crops. In the following sections, I explain how to plant, feed, water, pollinate, and harvest your viners; I also provide tips on how to keep pests and diseases under control.

Planting and feeding

Because vining vegetables love the heat, you don't need to rush the season and plant early. Wait until your soil temperature is at least 60 degrees at seeding depth before planting these vegetables. Here are some guidelines for starting viners, based on your climate zone (see the appendix for more about these zones):

Zones 3 and 4:
If you live in zones 3 or 4 and have a very short growing season, you may want to start cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and squash indoors 3 to 4 weeks before your last frost date. Or consider buying transplants at a garden center. To get a jump on the season in cool areas such as zones 3 and 4 (though zones 5 and 6 can also benefit), lay black or dark green plastic mulch on your soil 1 or 2 weeks before planting to heat up the soil (see Chapter 15 for details).

Any other zone:
If you live in other climate zones, sowing seeds directly in your garden should work fine. In warm areas such as southern Florida and Texas, you can even start a fall crop of cucumbers or summer squash. Pull out the first group of plants when the summer heat, insects, and diseases become too intense; then plant a fall crop in August to mature 3 or 4 months later.

Plant seeds about 1 inch deep in the soil, and space them far enough apart so they have room to ramble. For vining varieties of cucumbers, melons, squash, and pumpkins, plant hills at least 6 to 10 feet apart. For bush varieties, plant seeds about 2 to 4 feet apart. Follow the spacing guidelines for individual vegetables in the appendix.

Planting in
hills
is really a misnomer. It means planting four or six seeds in a 1-foot-diameter circle. After germination, you thin these seedlings to two plants per hill.

You also can plant cucumber-family crops in rows, but the hill method is better with the vining types because it enables you to thin the weakest plants and not throw off the spacing between the remaining plants. However, if you're using black plastic mulch (which is necessary in cool areas), your best option is to plant in rows (see Chapter 13 for details).

If you don't have a lot of room in your garden (viners require 4 to 6 feet), but you really want to grow pumpkins, melons, and vining varieties of cucumbers and squash, try these space-saving techniques:

Pinch off the tips of the vines after the fruits have set to keep them from extending too far (see Figure 8-2).

Physically pick up the vines and direct them back toward the plant.

Plant along the edge of your garden so that the vines run into your lawn. That way you don't have to mow as much lawn either.

Grow cucumbers and melons on an A-frame trellis (see Chapter 15 for trellising options), which helps plants grow straighter and stay cleaner. You may need to support melons with a nylon or fabric sling, shown in Figure 8-3, after they form.