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Knopp, Germany

Well, with only about 2 more weeks to go before the season gets started, I wanted to wish everyone the best of luck this year. As well as ask for any timely advice before the season kicks off.

The off season was a very busy time. I expanded my 500 sq. ft. patch into two patches at over 2000 sq. ft. total. Had a soil test done. Added about 4 yards of compost and 6 yards of manure as well as 16 bales of peat moss to attempt to make it more acidic. I have built 4 more cold frames and tilled the patch to a depth of least 12 inches. I presently have the cold frames up trying to warm the soil a bit before planting time. Under the cold frames I have water filled, black solar tubing. It warms up during the day, retains the heat into the night, and keeps the cold frames warm into the evening. This is something very new for me, I will be testing the temperatures over the next 2 weeks to see how much of a difference it makes. I also installed 2 more water barrel to collect rain water. I will now have 1200 liters of rain water to start off the season with.

Germination tests almost turned into an obsession this winter as well. I tried everything from taking the seed coat off and putting the seed into a wet paper towel and then into a plastic bag, filing the seeds, soaking in 3% H2O2 for about 6-10 hours and then into the starter soil. After about a half dozen tests, my best results were the simplest. I filed the seeds, put them in starter soil at a temperature of 75-80 degrees and had 100% germination success in everything from 72-110 hours. This is the method I will be going with this year.

The weather has been really good this spring in Central Europe and expect to get my seedlings into the ground around 3 May, and again 8-10 May. I am shooting for pollination dates of between 28 June and 5 July which will get me anywhere from 95-100 days for pumpkin growth before our 5 Oct weigh-off.

4/10/2003 6:42:22 AM