Pumpkin Patch Prep is Done

I did my fall patch prep yesterday. I added old leaves, humic acid, sulfur, blood meal, gypsum and alfalfa pellets and then tilled it all in. What you do in the fall and in the spring to the soil probably means more in regards to how big your pumpkin is going to grow then anything you do after planting the seed. Making sure your soil is balanced and with the right amount of nutrients in place is what is going to power that pumpkin in July and August.

After a cold spell moves through mid-week I'm going to put in a cover crop on Thursday. I'll be adding a mixture of 50% winter rye, 40% winter oats and 10% hardy vetch. The rye and oats produce tremendous organic matter and the vetch is a legume that fixes nitrogen from the air into the soil for free! Winter oats help suppress harmful nematodes in the soil.

In the Spring I'll get a soil test done and then probably add some compost and other amendments to the soil, depending on what my soil test says, a few weeks before I plant the pumpkin plant.