In Giant Pumpkin Suite, Rose and Thomas find the mysterious seed their neighbor, Mr. Pickering, has started on May 1st.
May Day has long been the day I start giant pumpkin seeds—and by “long been” I mean this is my fourth year starting giant pumpkin seeds on May Day. I pull out my giant pumpkin bible: How-To-Grow World Class Giant Pumpkins The All-Organic Way: The History, The People, The Pumpkins, The Records. The title gives me great confidence. You can see all my sticky-note tabs on the pages with really important information. I follow the instructions rather religiously when the project begins. (By the end of May, the plants are mostly fending for themselves in the garden, to be honest.)
I get my seeds from the St. Croix Grower’s Association. This year I paid big bucks—$25, I believe—for my seeds. This sounds like a lot for a few seeds, but some giant pumpkin seeds go for much more. These are solid seeds from prize-winning pumpkins and the money supports a great local organization. The numbers written on them undoubtedly mean something about the parentage of the seeds. I don’t know what, however. Must investigate! But I’ve noted and kept track of the numbers just in case they wind up being significant.
First I file the edges, as my How-To book tells me to do. This helps the seed to germinate—helps the water penetrate etc.
Then I soak the seeds for a few hours—water is pretty important for germination.
Finally, when the soil temperature in the pots is above 85 degrees (this requires a bit of a set up, as you can see below–and yes, I use a thermometer to check the temperature) and the soil is just past damp, but not soggy, I plant the seeds, pointy end down. My book warns me that these seeds are notoriously fussy and difficult to germinate; hence, I always start more than I will need. But I’m hopeful—most years, most have germinated.
They will spend a couple of weeks indoors in the laundry room’s make-shift giant pumpkin nursery, then I’ll take the precious fussy little plants outside for a few hours each day for a week so they can acclimate before they go in the ground. The pumpkin patch is full of tulips right now, so it’s not ready for pumpkins anyway.
May in Minnesota is a wee bit unpredictable. On May Day this year we had snow showers. A couple of days later, we hit 70. We’ll wait for mother nature to even out a bit before subjecting the plants to the elements! In Giant Pumpkin Suite, Rose and Thomas have to build a tent over the pumpkin plant and use a space heater—I’m hoping to avoid that.
So, they’ve been started. I do not see any green poking up yet, but it usually takes a few days. Then, if we’re lucky, they’ll grow like crazy. For now, we water and keep things warm—fingers crossed!
