The Pumpkin that Ate My Front Yard
Forum Archives
Screaming Eagle
Joined: Jul-16-2003
Location: Puget Sound corridor
Posted: Jul-21-2003 at 1:42pm
We have a pumpkin that started as a kid project and I decided to plant it the front yard so we wouldn't forget to water it and eventually added it to the drip system. WELLL! It's taking over which is ok for the most part because it's pretty neat and a real conversation starter. But is it ok to just cut off some of the vines/branches that are going off in directions we don't want them to? We have a few pumpkins growing so I don't want to mess anything up and have a sad kid on my hands!
DebbieTT
Location: Washington, Kitsap Peninsula
Posted: Jul-22-2003 at 12:05am
I don't know about pruning and perhaps when the rest join us here soon someone will chime in. I move the vines over when they are threatening to go somewhere I don't want them. As long as they don't have heavy fruit on them you can carefully move the vines to another spot close by.
LisaToo
Joined: Jul-18-2003
Location: Willamette Valley
Posted: Jul-22-2003 at 8:57am
I was hoping Trav would chime in. I think I asked a similar question late last summer, when my boys' baby pumpkins vines were a wild jungle. Travis
responded but darn if I can remember the answer.
Wait, maybe it wasn't on Rainy Side that I posted . . . found it! I posted my question on the Maritime email list. Same type of plant but different question. I was asking about new blossoms on the pumpkins in late September and what to do about them. That doesn't really help you, Screaming Eagle, sorry. (Hey, any thoughts about how to abbreviate your name? SE? Eagle? "Screaming" seems a little odd by itself. ;-) No biggie, just asking).
Oooooooh, Travis
?! Help!
LisaToo
trav
Joined: Jul-16-2003
Location: United States
Posted: Jul-22-2003 at 9:55pm
I wouldn't prune the plant if it were me, but if it's pretty vigorous then it probably won't hurt. But you DID plant a pumpking there, after all. :-) They aren't known for being well-behaved.
The problem will solve itself in October, remember.
Travis
DebbieTT
Location: Washington, Kitsap Peninsula
Posted: Jul-25-2003 at 11:55am
I was just looking at my Cinderella pumpkins that are threatening a path. I just moved them so the parallel the path. We shall see how it well they stay in their bounds.
Screaming Eagle
Joined: Jul-16-2003
Location: Puget Sound corridor
Posted: Jul-25-2003 at 1:29pm
It's my first pumpkin so I didn't know! I've moved quite a few "arms" trimed just a couple (there was no where to move them to) SO far we have several pumpkins and it just keeps going. There is certainly no harm done I had just hoped to enjoy the geraniums and a few of the other things that you really can't see anymore. The lavendar was early, the glads are taller, the clematis grows over it, the pansies are doing their darndest to keep their heads above the pumpkin leaves--but everything else will just have to hide for a while.
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Jul-26-2003 at 8:55am
One way to slow the spread of all vining crops like pumpkins, melons, etc. is to pinch of the "fuzzies" at the end of the vines. This will cause the plant to bush out more and may help you contain it.
Travis is right on choosing not to if you can because those leaves are the 'energy source' building the pumpkins you want.
Gary
DebbieTT
Location: Washington, Kitsap Peninsula
Posted: Jul-31-2003 at 11:58am
Well Theresa, my pumpkins are making navigating the path down to the pond an adventure. I can't move them anymore so will have to take the long way around. I am going to have a huge harvest of Cinderella pumpkins this year. So what we don't use to freeze and carve I will donate to our local food bank.
This bed they are in I finished building last fall using my own compost and lots and lots of coffee grounds that I brought home from the local espresso stand. The worms are incredible in this bed. I capped it with organic topsoil I brought in and shredded bark mulch as I was building raised beds. I decided this year it would plant it with squashes, cucumbers and zucchini and short sunflowers. Everything is growing in huge leaps and bounds. I won't be able to grow vegetables here next year as it is an allee of birch trees and by next year the trees will shade it too much. Then it will have shade loving plants in it.
It was a fun experiment using it for food crops the second year of growing the birch tree allee. I am already building next years food crop area in an entirely different area where I planted some young vine maples. Since they are slower growing I may be able to grow crops there for a few more years.
Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More
By co-authors Debbie Teashon (Rainy Side Gardeners) and Wendy Tweton