Will It Hurt My Pie Pumpkin Vine to Move It Onto Rocks Next to Raised Bed?

Question

We have a raised bed veggie garden and my pie pumpkin is thriving (good), but overwhelming the cantaloupe and watermelon (bad?). The raised bed is surrounded by 2″ landscape rocks. Is it a good or bad idea to gently redirect the pumpkin vine out onto the rocks? There is one baseball size pumpkin growing – thought I would redirect the vine after that point on the vine. We’re having trouble with pollination so I’ve been trying to do that manually. Would it facilitate bee pollination if there were more access or do the bees go under a crowded area of leaves?

Answer 1

You can lay the vine on rocks, but I would lay sections of newspaper down first to cushion the vine and pumpkin (as well as to avert a little heat). I am using raised beds for the first time, and plan on letting my ”travelers” grow on asphalt with paper to keep then a little protected from the heat and hard pavement. The bees and bumblebees will go to the blooms, if they can wiggle through.