The technical term for the first leaves are called cotyledons, though many people just call them seed leaves. All pumpkins "rest" for about 10 days after they get 4 or 5 true leaves. It is at this time when the root system is becoming established to get ready for rapid growth. You should try your best to keep the plant from wilting since this puts stress on the plants and can affect pumpkin formation. It is normal for the cotyledons to fall off at some point so don't worry about that. If you haven't already I would recommend some sort of mulch around the base of the plants to keep them from drying out too quickly. Also once the plants start to grow again at the base of each leaf, along the vine, roots will form. If you keep the vine along the ground these secondary roots will also help prevent wilting, as well as making the plant much stronger in case squash vine borers should attack your plants. You should plant those pumpkins out now and not wait for the true leaves to form. Pumpkins don't transplant well and the sooner you plant them the better off they will be.

Hi Jyearout Your plan sounds ambitious and complicated. Here is my advice. Try to put plants together with the same needs Herbs would be better in containers or by themselves in different spots in the garden, they live longer than fast paced vegetables Different herbs in containers on the east side of the garden where I also have basil and rosemary in the ground Go according to the planting calendar for vegetables. Tomatoes are always put in containers in my garden because of nematodes and other diseases, need to be sprayed. Flowers are put in borders when I use them Make a note of the size of the crops when mature and give them room I plant usually one bed of greens, other of carrots, or summer squash or beans Bush beans in 1 bed When I was asked in the community gardens about planting tomatoes and lettuce and flowers, I told them it is not going to work in the same spot, they are better off planting the tomatoes in 1 bed and the rest of the things they want in the other beds and going according to what can be planted now, when the crop produce they will have to rotate and put something different. Try to visit local and successful veggie gardens in the area if you can. I wish you the best of luck with your new garden! Silvia

Azura, last year was my first real veggie garden, and I learned a lot. There were successes and failures, but I enjoyed it so much. Skybird is right about you wanting to make it bigger next year. I created a separate bed for the herbs this year, just so I could plant more veggies in veggie garden. So far, I planted onion sets and peas (twice). I also have five kinds of lettuce, and broccoli sprouts that were wintersown, that I might plant out as soon as the crazy winds die down. Plus there are tomatoes and peppers in my kitchen windowsill, and tomatoes that were wintersown but haven't germinated yet. I'm also direct sowing carrots maybe this week, but the cucumbers, canteloupes, and beans won't get planted for another month or so. My goal is for as much variety as possible, even if it means just one or two plants of each - 5 kinds of beans, 4 kinds of canteloupe, 5 kinds of carrots, 4 kinds of cukes, 7 kinds of peppers, and as many different tomatoes as I can cram into the space that's left, and the Earthbox I just bought. I'd rather have too many plants and have to give some away, than to realize I have empty space in the garden, and not enough time to start something else before the end of the season. The bed and soil look great, and I wish you a bountiful harvest. Bonnie

MrChip, nice video... I am following in your footsteps this year myself, so it is good to know what to expect. I haven't had much luck so far trying to grow bulbils in the ground when Fall planted (too much winter kill) so starting them indoors seems to be the best option. I will be using a 6-bulb T8 High-bay fixture as the light source; I had great results when growing onion seedlings from that set up. My main reason for growing bulbils is not for multiplication, but to (hopefully) leave behind some of the soil-borne diseases which, over time, decrease bulb size. Artichoke varieties are particularly hard to "clean up", since they do not send up scapes. Last year was unusual, however, in that most of my artichoke varieties formed stem bulbils... I'm taking advantage of that, and attempting to grow them for fresh stock. Redsun, you seem to have mastered bulbil culture. I hope to replicate your results for hardneck varieties in future years, again as a way to prevent the gradual accumulation of soil-borne diseases. I planted bulbils from several hardnecks last Fall, so it remains to be seen if they will survive... there is cause for optimism, since some of the bulbils I planted were from volunteers, in the field where I have been tossing over-developed scapes over the years.