Friday, November 20, 2020

Late Fall Pumpkin Patch Prep

 This is the latest I believe I've ever prepped the pumpkin patch soil.   Actually I'm still not fully done.  Usually in mid-October I'll amend and till the soil.  Between work, health, precipitation, wind and frozen ground I haven't had a chance to work the ground.  I was actually getting worried, because this time of year the soil can be covered by snow or frozen where nothing could be done till spring.  I got lucky however and got a warm enough streak for a few days that ground dried out just enough I was able to put in some mulched leaves, nitrogen, potassium and sulfur into the soil.  Those leaves should be fully broken down by spring, at which time I'll send in a soil sample into the lab and then do my final amendments and tilling at that time.

You have to be a little careful when adding leaves as well as any other amendment.  With leaves it is easy to add too much and get your potassium to high in the soil.  It can sometimes take a few growing seasons to get the level back down to normal, if you aren't careful.

I still need to till the greenhouse.  Hope to get that done this weekend.



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