I first got interested in this idea when I was pretty young and was reading the 'Little House' books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The actual event I got stuck on was in 'Farmer Boy', where Almanzo grows a milk-fed pumpkin for the county fair and wins first prize. It took me ten years to figure out how it was done, even with my Dad and Grandpa's help.
The idea is to directly, continuously feed a pumpkin vine which makes the pumpkin double, even quadruple the normal size for the variety. My biggest was a 60 pound pumpkin from a variety that was supposed to make 10 lb. fruit! It also shows the kids a bit of science, since osmosis is the method.
You start off with a normal, healthy pumpkin vine, that is mature enough to have one fruit forming. Prune the growing tips to make the plant focus its energy into the one fruit. Let it recover from your pruning for a couple of days.
You will need a small, sharp knife, cotton (unwaxed) candle wicking, or some other natural fiber cording that is soft. A mason jar with a small hole punched in the top. And some kind of wound dressing: pine gum and duct tape are my favourite, but commercial wax pruning paste and a strip of cotton, old panty hose, etc. will do fine.
In the mason jar, we usually make up skim milk powder for the feed, but half-strength organic fertilizer works, even compost tea or a blend of all three have worked for us. The mason jar must never be allowed to go empty, and the wick must always stay wet with the feed.
Select a point on the pumpkin vine right where the stem comes out of the ground. Next best location is right before the fruit.
Put the wicking into the jar and pull out a bit once it is wet, through the whole in the lid.
Carefully slice a diagonal cut 1/3 the way through the vine stem. It is better to make a too shallow of a cut than too deep: cut the vine all the way through, and you'll have to wait until the vine puts out another pumpkin!
Wheedle the end of the cord into the slice so that the exposed plant tissue is in contact with the wet cord. Don't spread the slice open - that will crush the stem cells.
Once the cord it tucked in, close the wound with dressing of your choice- mine is pine tree gum and duct tape, but sealing wax and a clean band aid were once my tools.
A successful graft has the plant tissue closing the wound with the wicking still inside.
My kids slice open drinking straws and wrap around the cord to reduce evaporation, and the two older kids have the responsibility of keeping the jar filled. Shading the jar also reduces evaporation.
Continue to treat the pumpkin as you usually do for water and pest defence. Milk-fed pumpkins grow much bigger, of course, but also tend to have a lighter colour in the rind and in the flesh.
I haven't done a milk-fed pumpkin for two years myself; we moved, then I broke my heel last year. I am commited to doing it again this year, and will take photos of the technique. Right now, the vines are too young to attempt it (zone 5 Central Ontario) Besides, I was careless this spring and didn't label all my seed starts, so I'll have to wait until fruit sets. I have no idea what a milk-fed watermelon would do!

I remember that "Farmer Boy" story very well. I was/am a huge fan of those books. I get a kick out of the fact that one of Pa's brothers mentioned in "Little House in the Big Woods" moved just a few miles away from where I now live sometime after the time period that book covers. Many of the businesses in town have photos of him working at his logging camp. A direct descendant of that man is one of the town doctors and the family still has the name Ingalls. I understand that is the closest living relative to Laura, who has no direct descendants left.

Since you too are a fan, any chance you remember which book mentions gathering wild ground cherries? I am growing them this year and someone said Laura mentioned them in one of her books. I thought I knew her work, but that one has me stumped!

Thank you loamlump-
You are patient with newcomers. I didn't bother to go back and search prior posts.
Now, how would these fruits fit into the Kosher laws?
jo

Rhode Island should give you a long enough season for pumpkins. You can put black weed barrier fabric down around the root zones to heat up the soil - that'll make the pumpkin go faster. Just make sure it gets enough water.
And I don't think I'd like to find out what the milk-fed technique would do to a zucchini!

Laura Ingalls Wilder had only one child, Rose Wilder Lane, who in turn was a writer. I don't know if she had any children. She was a war correspondant. Laura did give birth to a son, but the child didn't live much past six months. In the book that covers that period of her life, his name isn't even mentionned. There are two half-books Laura wrote, and Rose added bits in to the last. When Almanzo died, Laura lost interest in finishing her books. There is one about the first four years of their marriage, and one about the wagon ride back East and where they settled at Rocky Road Farm in the Ozarks. I found these last works much more adult-targetted.
The ground cherries are in the Long Winter, I think. They make preserves out of them. There might be something in On The Banks of Plum Creek on ground cherries as well.
My books are still in storage. I'll have to go on a hunt; my daughter is the right age. I always found the series to be fascinating; how the pioneers survived - they got quite creative, and we never afraid of hard work.
I went to the library a few years ago and found a biography on Laura Ingalls Wilder. It had all the stuff that didn't get into her books, for she was writing for a young audience. It had alot of photographs, maps and family trees in it.

Geez, jofang! How would I know?! I profess ignorance on Kosher Laws. I do know it really tweaks kids' interest in gardening, science. These pumpkins usually are marked for Hallowe'en carving - I guess if you don't eat it, it doesn't matter if it is Kosher or not?

I believe that it was On the banks of Plum Creek

Her daughter also had a son but he died in infancy. Then later Rose got divorced and never married again. Did you know that they are putting out books about her daughter, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. I guess it's about how popular the American girl series is. However her grandmother lived in Scotland and was the daughter of a laird. If they did thier reasearch right.

jofang - I've only got a month more time in here than you!

Jofang,

I don't think it would affect kosher laws since it is meat that you cannot mix with dairy. Pumpkin, I believe is Parve which is neither meat or dairy so you should be able to combine, just not with steak, not on the same plate anyway.

I am sorry Lady Loam, I didnt mean to annoy if I did, and I didnt even necessarily mean for you to answer yourself. I am just interested in these sorts of things.
Take good care of yourself,
jo

Thanks kamartin98-
But a milk-fed pumpkin would now contain milk, right? So would it still be Parve, or would it now be dairy? Certainly you are right; one couldnt serve it on the same plate as steak. I have recently read that a microscopic crustacean has been found in the water in New York, so the population that keeps Kosher is being urged to drink only filtered water, and they are trying to get the city to filter this critter out. Im not Jewish, but these issues interest me. Ultimately, what does the creator really want of us, if anything? Doesnt mean a thing to the pumpkin, though. Happy pumpkin, as long as the milk doesnt upset its digestion.
jo

jofang, you just asked the question that I have wondered about all my adult life. What does the creator really want of us anyway? And the idea that the creator might really want nothing of us is mind-blowing!

I wouldn't say the pumpkin now contains milk, just the nutrients it gets from the milk. You can use compost tea, half-strength seaweed, fish or any other bio fertilizer. I have done it alternating what I put in the feed jar; it doesn't seem to affect the results.
jofang - I meant my shoulder-shrug answer to the orginal Kosher question, no slights intended. I really don't have a clue!

Don't forget that all milk products are excellent beneficial fungal foods for compost piles or in aerobic compost tea recipes.