How to Grow Pumpkins

By eHow Home & Garden Editor

Grow Pumpkins Grow Pumpkins

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Who could help loving a vegetable that can be baked into pies, carved into outrageous faces and pressed into service as fairy-tale coaches? Pumpkins are a long-season crop, but with a little planning you can grow them anywhere from USDA zone 3 south.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Step1
Buy pumpkin plants at the nursery. Otherwise, start seeds indoors about three weeks before the last expected frost (see "How to Start Vegetable Seeds Indoors"). If your growing season is long and warm, sow seeds directly in the garden when the soil temperature has reached 60 degrees F.
Step2
Choose a site that gets full sun and has soil with a pH of 6.0 to 6.8. Pumpkins need light, very rich soil that drains well. Dig in large amounts of compost and well-cured manure to ensure the right combination.
Step3
Till your pumpkin patch deep and wide: Both roots and vines can spread as far as 15 feet in all directions.
Step4
Harden off the seedlings, whether store-bought or homegrown, and transfer them to the garden when all danger of frost has passed. Plant them in hills, setting them at least as deep as they were in the pots. Spacing varies with the variety (check the seed packet), but in general allow at least 5 feet between plants in each direction. (See "How to Plant Vegetable Seeds Outdoors.")
Step5
Mulch with organic matter once plants are established to conserve moisture and deter weeds, and use cloches or floating row covers to protect young plants from chilly winds.
Step6
Make sure the plants get 1 to 2 inches of water a week, especially when they're blooming and setting fruit.
Step7
Feed plants with compost tea or seaweed extract every two to three weeks.
Step8
Pinch vines back to limit their growth once fruits appear.
Step9
Rotate pumpkins once in a while to keep them symmetrical, but take care to move them only a little at a time to avoid breaking the brittle vines.
Step10
Place boards under large pumpkins to keep them from rotting.
Step11
Harvest orange pumpkins after the vines have shriveled and died, but before the first hard freeze. Cut white varieties when their skins are still streaked with green (if they're allowed to ripen outdoors, their shells turn pale yellow).

Tips & Warnings

  • Miniature pumpkins can sprawl just as far as their larger cousins, but you can train them up trellises to save space, provide shelter for shade-loving flowers and add vertical interest in an ornamental kitchen garden.
  • If your goal is to have the biggest pumpkin on the block, plant 'Atlantic Giant'. These babies regularly weigh in at 200 lbs. and up. At the other extreme are 'Jack Be Little', an orange miniature that tips the scales at 3 to 6 oz., and 'Baby Boo', a 6-oz. white variety. If it's pie you're craving, go for 'Small Sugar', also known as 'New England Pie'. For classic Halloween decor, look for 'Connecticut Field', 'Ghost Rider' or (yes) 'Jack O' Lantern'.
  • Squash bugs and cucumber beetles love pumpkins. Petunias or nasturtiums planted nearby will repel the squash bugs. To fend off the beetles, avoid planting cucumbers near pumpkins. Instead, plant a circle of radishes around each hill a week before you plant the pumpkin seeds (or at the same time you set out plants).

Comments

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Anonymous

Anonymous said

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on 6/30/2006 When the fruit is about 6 inches across, insert an IV drip (50/50 water and sugar) into a vein 4 inches above the pumpkin. Keep on with the IV drip for 2 weeks, sit back, and watch them grow.

Anonymous

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 I use plenty of blood meal at planting time for a nitrogen kick that lasts all year. I do this because pumpkins are nitrogen lovers. Also, avoid wetting leaves when watering. Use soaker hoses.

Anonymous

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 You can grow a square pumpkin by placing a young pumpkin in a small, square-shaped box or carton. Makes for very interesting Jack-o'-lanterns for Halloween.

Anonymous

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 After Halloween has passed and your pumpkin begins to rot, toss it into your compost pile. Next year watch it grow and produce pumpkins like crazy. I put my pumpkin over the side of our front porch and it took.

Anonymous

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 When fruit is about two inches across, pinch off to one pumpkin per vine stem, or one pumpkin per plant. More plant energy will go into making that particular pumpking bigger.

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eHow Article:  How to Grow Pumpkins

eHow Home & Garden Editor

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Category: Home & Garden

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