What Time of Year Do You Plant Pumpkin Seeds?

Pumpkins help celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Brightly colored pumpkins help to bring in the fall harvest, Halloween and Thanksgiving. With relatively fertile soil, a long enough growing season and enough open space, you can grow your own pumpkins for jack-o'-lanterns and edibles, says Cornell University Home Gardening.

Planting Time

Plant pumpkins for Halloween from late May in northern locations to early July in extreme southern locations, the University of Illinois Extension says. The best soil temperature is about 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Growing

Use pumpkins as ornamentals to celebrate the harvest.

Grow pumpkins in soil of at least average fertility. Avoid wet, poorly aerated soils. Plant seeds in an area where they will get full sun and vines have space to spread out. Colorado State University Cooperative Extension recommends adding nitrogen for fertilization to the soil before planting. Plant pumpkins seeds in rows 4 to 6 feet apart. Dig holes about 2 feet apart and place two seeds in each hole. When plants have three or four leaves, thin to one plant every 2 feet.

Watering and Harvesting

Jack-o'-lanterns make a colorful display.

Water plants deeply but infrequently to encourage good vine and root growth. Keep plants watered in late July and early August, when they bloom and set fruit. Harvest pumpkins when they are a deep, solid color and rinds are tough, recommends the University of Illinois Extension.

References

• Cornell University Home Gardening: Pumpkins
• University of Illinois Extension: Pumpkins and More
• Colorado State University Cooperative Extension: Spring Is the Time to Plant Pumpkins
• North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service: Growing Pumpkins and Winter Squash

Resources

• Oregon State University: How to Grow a Monster Pumpkin