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Here are my four pumpkin plants. Sugar Pie cultivar. As you can see they look extremely happy here. It's been just over four weeks since seed (planted evening of July 31). All four of them sprouted within the first week. The middle two came out simultaneously at about 4 days, the leftmost one came out next at 5 days, and the rightmost one came out exactly on day 7, iirc. Kept them safe and sheltered until they each had about four true leaves growing to allow them to establish themselves without disturbance. Late summer really is the best time to grow. No fucking bugs besides the bee bros (and some mosquitos too)
For the first two and half weeks or so, I was watering the ground twice a day. The reason is two fold - first, August is a hot month and they need the water, and second, the soil is sandy-loam which means it drains pretty quickly. For those first weeks I had to ensure they were getting water until their roots were sufficiently deep enough. Starting about a week and a half ago, I started watering only once a day to allow the roots to grow more, but also because they're deep enough to reach the water lower in the ground now. I understand the nutrient drainage happening here, so that's why I'm really trying to limit the water amount, but pumpkins need a lot of water, so I'm not too worried about it.
In any case, it's been almost exactly one month and I've just noticed the very first flower stems popping out of the vines. First male flowers will be here no later than weeks end, and first female flowers will be here no later than a week after that. When the first female shows up, my plan is to give the plants a mild potassium boost with some banana water in order to help the pumpkins along.
