Hi, Russell. Welcome to the forums :) You might want to pop over to the Giant Vegetables forum. The people over there are very knowledgeable in this area and will most certainly be able to answer all your questions. Good luck on growing a big one! Here is a link that might be useful: Giant Veg Forums

Book II is the best I feel for a new grower. Book III gets more indepth to the specifics. Heck find a experienced grower near you to help mentor you is better than any book out there. What do you have for seeds this year? Shannon

Oh, I can relate to that. (Not having time to plant.) I have seeds that are five or six years old that I'm sure will have at least a 10 percent germination rate left in them, if I can ever get them in the ground. This summer, I planted almost all of my old pumpkin seeds directly out in piles of aged manure -- and got a really miserable germination rate. But the seven plants that made it (out of nearly 70 seeds, I'm sure) grew really well -- we were blessed with great weather this year. Next year, I'm going to start the pumpkin seeds in pots where I can keep an eye on them. And maybe I'll even get the blueberries in the ground (they've only been in a pot for two years -- I hope they survive one more winter in the green cellar). Thanks for the tip -- I'll take a look at Douglas's thread. Good luck next year! M.

This might be more appropriately asked onteh Giant Vegetable Forum http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/giants/ Or maybe the irrigation and watering forum http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/water/ On this forum, people are more concerned with how to to preserve the plants bounty after harvest.