Issues with delayed germination of Atlantic Giant Pumpkin Seeds and other summer vegetable seeds.

We have seen some very strange weather conditions this year and its our Spring planting that has copped the biggest hit...  

With temperatures so low, then and up and down, and more rain than we have had in a long time, these La Nina conditions have made it hard for most of the country to germinate our summer loving seeds, especially our Giant Pumpkin Seeds.

As we have discovered ourselves, it seems its a later than usual season this year, and the best way to germinate your seeds we have found after much trial and error is....  Place them in a medium container with a few holes and half fill with worm castings from our worm compost bin (and a few worms for company) then place the seeds on their sides on top of the soil.  To finish the job put it near the fireplace for that constant warmth that pumpkin seeds need to germinate.

After 4-5 days we finally saw a root heading out of the shell, however we also had some that still did not germinate for up to 10 days...

After reading the November issue of the Gardening Australia magazine (specifically page 79 as shown in the photo), it seems a lot of people across Australia who are trying to germinate a pumpkin at the moment are having trouble....

They have also added a few tips on growing pumpkin seeds in the hope we all have better luck, however sometimes it seems that the weather has different ideas.

Good luck trying the above ideas and hopefully you can grow a giant!