Several days ago grandson Liam and I embarked on our first major gardening project. We planted a small patch of pumpkins.

I'm sure that all the commercial pumpkin growers will say that we are too late, but then we don't need to pick, grade, box, ship, unpack and sell our Great Pumpkin. It just has to be ready a week or so before the big day.

Besides, I have planted enough pumpkins, and a lot of planting dates have given me wonderful August pumpkins. For some reason, a ripe pumpkin at the end of August just doesn't cut it like one in October. I also drove past one of Lancaster County's premier seed stores a day or two earlier, and their sign said that now is the time to plant pumpkins.

My guess is that there is still time, but I would not hesitate much longer.

The other side of the sign said that now is the time to control grubs. We all know that Japanese beetles will emerge in about a month. Most likely we know that the young beetle larva burrow into the soil in the fall. As colder weather advances they dig toward China only to reverse the process with the warming of spring and summer.

Now they are much bigger and sturdier than in the fall. Chemical control now will have some effect but will not be nearly as effective as in the fall. Organic measures need more time than we have now.

Another now is on tap for those of you who manage to keep hardy mums happy in the garden. To prevent early blooming, and to get a fuller plant for the fall, they need to be pinched. You can do it by hand or -wow- maybe I just discovered a good use for the hedge trimmer. If the neighbors are not looking and you can get at them, the highest setting on the lawn mower works, too.

You might do a touch up pinching at the beginning of July for best results. This one should be by hand.

Speaking of mums, I have written about a new series of mums called Igloos. The goal with these was to make the hardy mum hardy. My experience for years with what has been sold as hardy or garden mums is that they have a survival rate of less than half in a normal winter.

I can report a near 100 percent survival with this new series last winter. Now I admit that last winter was not that wicked, but it is still encouraging. New colors, including purple, have been added to the series this year.

Grandson Liam is still short of age three, but in the last month or so has discovered that Pop-pop has some uses and virtues. I'm not in the big three of his mother, grandmother and four-year-old friend. I trail his dad too, but being number five and a rising star is pretty neat.

My goal is to offer him what my grandmother did for me. After nearly 60 years, the time I spent with her, mostly in the garden, are among my fondest memories.