I have learned that to grow a big pumpkin, you should prepare your pumpkin patch in the fall. This year I made a mental note of what I planned to try next or lessons learned. I have included my list here:

Water daily 20 minutes with the sprinkler 30 minutes when it’s hot.
2. Lots of Nitrogen early and stay with the Nitrogen throughout
3. Check the PH level often
4. Don’t cut the main vine if at all possible
5. Buy KDL Agro-K’s KDL (potassium carbonate).
Agro-K has this nice 0-0-6 which is K2S04 blended with seaweed.
http://www.agro-k.com/upload/Potassium_0-0-6_1.pdf
6. Lower the PH with elemental sulfur in the fall.

I applied the elemental sulfur this fall, but learned I might have applied way too much! I was planning to just mulch with leaves, but I kept reading blogs on grower diaries where they were using manure. I was having trouble obtaining leaves, so I was able to get some manure from singletree stables. They were very generous and gave me all that I could take. The downside is I applied it too fresh. Tomorrow, I plan to use the rototiller one more time and get everything mixed together before the ground freezes.

If you have any suggestions for me, please post them here.
Best,
Andy