Pumpkins are easy to grow. Someone told me you can plant them and forget them, but they aren't quite that easy. Pumpkins can take up a lot of space, so I planted most of them in our little orchard rather than in the garden.
I started by digging up an area about three feet around and shaking the dirt from the clumps of grass. The grass went to the compost. In the center of the area I dug a hole about eighteen inches around and twelve inches deep. Pumpkins require plenty of nutrients, so I mixed two shovels of finished compost and two cups of Nature's Care plant food with the soil and overfilled the hole to form a mound. Next, I planted five pumpkin seeds about one inch deep in a rough circle in the prepared soil.
After watering thoroughly, I covered the tilled area around the mound with wet cardboard and then a four inch layer of good mulch. As the vines grew, I put down more cardboard and mulch to keep them out of the grass. Unfortunately, my neighbor's ducks, chickens, guineas and goose thought the mulch and cardboard were a good place to look for food. My mulch ended up six feet away and my vines ended up growing on top of the grass. I could have banned the birds, but they do such a good job of controlling insects that I decided I would rather have them than the mulch.
The tall grass made a good hiding place for squash bugs and other evil beasts, but they couldn't hide from the neighbor's birds. I haven't had any insect problems in the pumpkin patch this year.
The seeds sprouted in only a few days and grew quickly. After two weeks I watered each mound with four tablespoons of fish emulsion mixed into two gallons of water. I repeated this feeding again two weeks later and two weeks after that.
Ideally, composted cow, chicken, horse or other barnyard manure mixed into the soil would have been better, but I don't have a trustworthy source, so my own compost and plenty of plant food was a good compromise. After the pumpkins were planted I couldn't use the Nature's Care plant food, because chickens think it's delicious and will dig up the pumpkin plants looking for it.
I started by digging up an area about three feet around and shaking the dirt from the clumps of grass. The grass went to the compost. In the center of the area I dug a hole about eighteen inches around and twelve inches deep. Pumpkins require plenty of nutrients, so I mixed two shovels of finished compost and two cups of Nature's Care plant food with the soil and overfilled the hole to form a mound. Next, I planted five pumpkin seeds about one inch deep in a rough circle in the prepared soil.
After watering thoroughly, I covered the tilled area around the mound with wet cardboard and then a four inch layer of good mulch. As the vines grew, I put down more cardboard and mulch to keep them out of the grass. Unfortunately, my neighbor's ducks, chickens, guineas and goose thought the mulch and cardboard were a good place to look for food. My mulch ended up six feet away and my vines ended up growing on top of the grass. I could have banned the birds, but they do such a good job of controlling insects that I decided I would rather have them than the mulch.
The tall grass made a good hiding place for squash bugs and other evil beasts, but they couldn't hide from the neighbor's birds. I haven't had any insect problems in the pumpkin patch this year.
The seeds sprouted in only a few days and grew quickly. After two weeks I watered each mound with four tablespoons of fish emulsion mixed into two gallons of water. I repeated this feeding again two weeks later and two weeks after that.
Ideally, composted cow, chicken, horse or other barnyard manure mixed into the soil would have been better, but I don't have a trustworthy source, so my own compost and plenty of plant food was a good compromise. After the pumpkins were planted I couldn't use the Nature's Care plant food, because chickens think it's delicious and will dig up the pumpkin plants looking for it.
Baby pumpkins in the pumpkin patch.
A well-hidden pumpkin.
This pumpkin isn't ripe yet, but another week or so and it will be.
Most planting instructions suggest thinning seedlings to about three per hill, but I hate pinching them off until I'm sure which ones are the most robust. Depending on variety, pumpkins produce only two to ten fruits per vine, with smaller pumpkins producing more and larger pumpkins producing fewer. I've never tried to grow giant pumpkins, but the record holders were likely pinched back to a single pumpkin per vine.
I don't grow pumpkins for carving, but if I did I would want lots, which would take up plenty of space. For eating, one average size pumpkin can produce enough puree for half a dozen pies. I grow the smaller sugar pumpkins so I'm not overwhelmed. Last week we split two of them, baked them until they were tender and put a pat of butter in each, scooping out the golden goodness with a spoon. I dried the seeds for roasting.
This sugar pumpkin is about ready to pick.
Pumpkins need plenty of water. I give them about four gallons per hill once a week or more often if they start to wilt in the heat. Powdery mildew is a real problem out here in the woods, so I'm careful not to get too much water on the leaves.
I gently turn each pumpkin about once a week to keep them round and to prevent a light spot on one side in case I do decide to carve a jack-o-lantern. When a pumpkin is uniformly orange with no green stripes and it has a hollow sound when thumped, it is ready to pick, "pick" being a euphemism for "cut off, leaving a nice four inch stem." The long stem protects the pumpkin from infiltration by bacteria or other organism that would make it rot. After picking I leave the pumpkin in the sun for a few days to dry the stem and toughen the skin.
Hot dry weather followed by a period of heavy rain probably caused this pumpkin to crack. It was still good, but had to be used right away to avoid spoiling.
My pumpkins have been even easier to grow than squash. I think next year I will try planting larger ones and carve a few.
Stephen
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