How to Grow Pumpkins for a Jack O'Lantern

For Jack O'Lanterns, chose a pumpkin seed variety like Autumn Gold, Ghost Rider or Howden.

Pumpkins are warm-season vegetables that have been grown in all parts of the United States for centuries. Early settles and modern growers alike have used pumpkins for food and decoration, and certain varieties of pumpkin, such as the Autumn Gold, make excellent Jack O'Lanterns. With the correct planting and care, you can grow pumpkins that will be excellent candidates to carve into Halloween Jack O'Lanterns.

Things You'll Need

• Pumpkin seeds
• Garden shovel
• Planting soil
• Garden hoe
• Garden shears

Instructions

1. Start your pumpkin seeds where there is no longer any danger of frost, because pumpkin seeds will not germinate properly in cold soil. In most locations in the United States, plan on starting your seeds outdoors in late May if you want to harvest the pumpkins in time for Halloween. In very warm locations, such as in the Deep South, you can wait as long as early July to plant.

2. Form mounds, also known as "hills" for planting the pumpkin seeds. You may need to add additional planting soil to your garden soil in order to form the mounds. Make the mounds 1 foot high and approximately 3 feet in diameter. Space the hills 3 feet apart from each other, and in rows that are 4 to 6 feet apart from each other.

3. Plant the pumpkin seeds 1 inch deep into the hill. You can plant four or five seeds into each hill. Monitor the pumpkin seeds. When the seeds are established and you begin to see seedlings sprouting up, remove everything but the two or three strongest looking seedlings.

4. Water the hills only when there are extended periods of drought in the early summer. Spring and summer rain should provide adequate water for the pumpkins. If the soil feels very dry to the touch, then water. But be careful never to flood the soil by overwatering.

5. Remove weeds with a garden hoe whenever you see them spring up around the plants. Try to avoid using insecticides, as they can kill bees that are necessary to pumpkin and squash pollination. If you do need to use insecticides, only use them in the early evening when blooms on the plants are closed and the bees are not visiting the flowers.

6. Harvest the pumpkins in September or October when the color is solid orange and the rind is hard. You can harvest the pumpkins by cutting them off of the vine with pruning shears, making sure to leave 4 inches of the vine intact.

References

• North Carolina State University Extension; Growing Pumpkins and Winter Squash; Jonathan R. Schultheis; January, 1995
• University of Illinois Extension: Pumpkins and More: Varieties
• University of Illinois Extension: Growing Pumpkins