We have babies! Hundreds, probably thousands, of baby pumpkin plants!
It's been eight days since we finished planting. When I went out to the fields Friday I saw several seedlings emerging (see above), and by Sunday afternoon nearly all of our hills and rows had sprouted. The weather last week was warm, and the 2+ inches of rain we received over the weekend made them very happy. We got a really good germination rate, and it is always nice to start the growing season on a good note.
Squash bugs and cucumber beetles love the little seedlings, so diligent bug control will be our next task. No matter how many plants we have, it is always heartbreaking to lose one to bugs!
A year ago, I lost several of the honeydew melon plants to bugs and it was so disheartening (It was my first time you see) that I had to deal with tension headaches due to it. Luckily, there is always a solution to everything: vigilance and a good but natural bug killer answered my bug problems.