First let me say how honored I am that the five of you should look to me for advice - with all of you as a group you must be full of wisdom - and how practical to grow food for the food bank - fresh produce is much needed as you know. As for pumpkins, I have found that smaller varieties that can be trained up a trellis (Jack-be-little) will be less likely to suffer from mildew as they will be away from the often wet soil. The very rainy September really softened the pumpkins this year. You can even make a tee pee or lean-to out of old sections of wire or cyclone fencing and train the young vines up the metal support system. The other tip is to plant all squash on hills or mounds and cover the mound with black plastic. Then poke holes in the plastic mulch for your seeds or young plants. This way the plastic will absorb extra heat and help to keep the fruit, stems and leaves dry. If you want full-sized pumpkins the simple answer is to use varieties sold by Ed Hume seeds - he offers the best varieties for our cool summer climate. Keep growing, Marianne Binetti