What's your secret ingredient?

[Trillian]

Pumpkins and pototoes are mortal enemies of each other LOL. Seriously, they aren't companion plants so you have to keep them apart otherwise they wont grow properly. If they were sprung from compost scraps, then I would say that they are not fertile. The plant will still grow just fine, but you are unlikely to get any fruit as the original plant was probably a hybrid or bred as a single use plant and any saved seeds would be sterile. If you do happen to get a fertile seed self sow, any fruit can be a bit hit and miss in quality. I remember a few years ago FIL had a pumpkin plant shoot in the chook pen and it grew the most bizarre looking pumpkins but they were 100% edible.

[Gigi]

Keep the potatoes in their OWN section of the garden. Potatoes are part of the deadlynightshade family, and are real greedy guts vis a vis gobbling up the nutrients of the soil. so best keep them by themselves (even though they may pop up in amongst other veggies willy nilly, be strong, weed them out, so your other veggies get a fighting chance.

i have "helped along" some pumpkins. The boy ones have a stamen (like a little stick shape) inside the flower, the girl ones have a frilly bit inside the flower, so if you tickle the two together (LOL), you "help them" have a pumpkin ha ha. The sex life of plants is pretty funny. I'm sure there's a technical name for it, but really, it's putting the boy bits and the girl bits together.

i just remembered what i got told about tomato plants. Pretend you are growing a standard rose, or a shady tree.
As your little tomato plant grows, BE STRONG and pinch off ALL new horizontal growth, you are being cruel to be kind.
So that the plant grows with a nice, strong, VERTICAL upright, and only ONE of them.
then when it's a few feet off the ground, THEN let a few horizontal branches start doing their thing. And do stake them. Cos it's the branches lying on the ground (and they will when loaded with fruit) that will get fungal diseases happening, waste precious tomatoes etc. So grow the plant with good clearance. Then when you water the plant, it will be easy to get water to the roots, and nOT on the leaves.

this is all stuff i heard, when part of a big permaculture group, lots of garden working bees, based on "no dig" gardens, sheet mulching etc.