Taking Down the Canopy and Adding Blankets

As you may have noticed in earlier posts I have had a canopy over the pumpkin since the first part of July. I didn't plan on leaving it over the pumpkin for so long but with the high temperatures that we had in Denver the entire month I decided to leave it on. When I pollinated my pumpkin it was 95 degrees, which isn't ideal. To cool the newly pollinated flower I put the canopy over it to shade it and cool it down. It seemed to work quite well. I planned on taking it down after 10 days but with temperatures near 100 degrees I decided to leave it up. We have dropped down into what looks to be a long string of 80 degree days with the nights slipping into the high 50s. Now that the pendulum has swung the other way I will be putting a blanket on the pumpkin at nights to try to hold the heat in the pumpkin so it will grow better after dark.