Pumpkin P H N
Cucurbitaceae:  Cucurbita spp. (pepo, moschata, mixta, maxima)
2014
April 12: I bought a packet of seeds of the Lumina variety from Stokes. This is a novelty pumpkin. The packet says: 85 days. Medium sized creamy-white, 2-25 cm 4.5 kg fruit have orange flesh. Harvest immature to retain white colour. I bought them for friends to try as they said they would like to try growing a white pumpkin.
May 4: I planted 4 seeds in 4 pots.
11: 2 sprouts today.
14: No more sprouts yet so I planted 3 more seeds.
31: I put two plants into a large red tub of soil that is on the driveway. I have given 4 plants away, and still have some seedlings.
June 20: I put one more plant on top of the mound in my raised bed. The plants in the tub now cover about 40% of the tub area.
27: Now 75%, taller, and spilling over at one place.
July 31: The plant on the mound is flourishing, with 2 longs vines going out that have rooted in a couple of places themselves and at least one small pumpkin. However the plants in the pot remain yellowish and not very large.
 

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1999
May 10: I planted 3 pumpkin seeds today, for Jean. They are of the Atlantic Giant variety (Cucurbita maxima, actually a squash, not a pumpkin) from T&T. I planted 2 in a 4 inch square pot, with the soil surrounded by 2 layers of newspaper, and 2 in a small peat pot.
20: One shoot is coming through this morning.
21: I dug the 2 other seeds up, and neither had sprouted. I replanted them, and put the peat pot into the warming box.
22: The shoot was quite bent over, without any apparent cause. I put it into the sun, expecting it to straighten up.
23: The shoot is still bent over. Eureka! Pumpkins grow sideways, not up!
24: I planted 2 more seeds.
June 3: One sprout was coming through, when I gave the pot to Mac.
16: The first plant is doing well, and there are 2 seedlings coming from the second batch, in Mac's garden.
20: The first plant died, perhaps from its stem having become compressed where it crawled over the edge of the pot. The other 2 are doing fine.
August 10: Mac says there are several small pumpkins on the vines.
28: There are, but they look like squashes, not pumpkins. They are long, yellow, very smooth, and lying on their sides.
October 11: Mac says he has 3 pumpkins, but they are not pumpkin shaped, and are a disappointment.