Dear Pretty Pumpkins,
Please don’t die. We’ve had all our other squash die. Every last one of them. The sugar pumpkin seedlings died before they got established. We bought some more. They died too. We bought acorn squash. One died really early on and the other died when it was half-mature. The butternut squash died.
So you see, you can’t die. You just can’t. We grew other flowers nearby so the bees would come and fertilize your flowers. We’ve given you water and organic fertilizer and even gently moved you around so you got air on all sides and didn’t rot on the bottom. Your stems are over 30 feet long, and I know they have mildew on them, so I know you feel a bit sick. We’re trying our best. The non-poison spray we used didn’t do anything, your stems just kept getting sicker, while your fruit stayed strong.
So please? If not for Keith or for me, then for the blog? Try. Try to live. Stay away from the light.
September 29, 2011 at 1:12 pm
Not much you can do when the mildew gets that far, the sprays only work when the mildew just starts to show up. The spores released are extremely hard to contain once it gets going.. and poof.. all over the garden.
Along the vines, where the leaf nodes are.. that’s where the squash vines try to set out additional roots if they are laying on the ground. With some of the large, heavy feeding squash.. you can run compost tea over the vines as well to help get them going during the growing season.
Squash are shallow rooted, super easy to start from seed (they sprout quick and grow fast.. really fast.) You might want to give that a try next year. Seriously.. you’ll wonder why you ever bought transplant squash (which tend to be root bound, not good with shallow rooted plants.)
October 3, 2011 at 11:36 am
We absolutely will! We started the pumpkins from seed this year, but they died after transplant. That is the one thing I love about gardening- it isn’t like I am carving a sculpture and one mistake ruins the whole thing. I can try new things next year. I also love the community of it. Thanks for your help.
October 24, 2011 at 10:56 am
[…] 2 F***ing Pumpkins. TWO! […]