Growing
Watering
Pumpkins need about 1-inch of water per week, either from your hose or rainfall. For best results, water plants deeply in the morning and on very hot afternoons — especially during fruit set — and do your best to direct water straight to the plant roots. Keeping pumpkins leaves dry is one of the best ways to avoid rot and common diseases like powdery mildew.
Fertilizing
Blending compost or aged manure into the soil before planting helps pumpkins grow better and encourages larger fruit production. After that, side-dress plants with additional aged manure or compost mixed with water as needed and feed with a high nitrogen fertilizer when the plants are about 1-foot tall and the vines are just about to run. When flower buds form, switch to a high phosphorus fertilizer to fuel rapid pumpkin growth.
Pruning or Maintenance
Covering pumpkins with row covers early in the season can reduce some pest problems, but covers need to be removed before flowering to allow for pollination. Bees and other pollinators are essential for pumpkin growth, so avoid using pesticides whenever possible and consider growing flowering companion plants near pumpkins to increase pollinator activity. Placing a bee house in your garden is an effective way to draw bees in too.
Careful pruning can reduce disease, increase fruit size, and is key if you want to grow prize winning pumpkins. To do this, pinch off the fuzzy ends of pumpkin vines after a few pumpkins form to stop vine growth and focus the plant’s energy on fruiting. Once the fruit develops, remove all but the best 1 to 3 pumpkins per plant as well as all late blooming flowers, prune the main and secondary vines to 10 to 15 feet, cut away the smaller, tertiary vines, and bury the cut vine tips in the soil to optimize fruit development.
As the fruit matures, turn pumpkins carefully to encourage even growth. Placing a thin board, stone, or piece of tile under pumpkins can protect fruit from rot and pest damage as well.
Tip: If your first flowers aren’t forming fruits, that’s normal. Both male and female blossoms need to open for pollination to occur. Patience is key!
Seasonal Care
Maintaining a regular watering and fertilizing regimen is essential if you want to grow the best pumpkins. It’s also a good idea to add mulch around plants to retain moisture and suppress weeds. When needed, weed carefully to avoid damaging delicate pumpkin roots and vines.
If you’re growing pumpkins on a trellis, support developing fruit with a hammock or old nylon stocking to prevent vine breaks.
Types
Pumpkins come in different sizes and colors and can be used for different purposes. Athough all pumpkins are technically edible, some are better for carving or display, while others are ideal for cooking. Knowing how you’d like to use pumpkins will help you select the very best varieties for your goals!
- Miniature pumpkins like ‘Jack Be Little’ and ‘We-B-Little’ are great for ornamental use and small spaces. They’re also super productive and easy to grow.
- Carving pumpkins like ‘Autumn Gold’ or ‘Merlin’ are the pumpkins you want for jack-o-lanterns.
- Pie pumpkins like ‘Sugar Treat’ and ‘Peanut Pumpkin’ are prized for their sweet flesh and can be used for pies, soups, curries, and purees.
Comments
Hi, Louise, We'll presume that you mean you buried your pumpkin seeds in the ground. And we're guessing that you want your garden to be a mix of the ornamental and edible, so popular today. There are considerations beyond nutrients; pumpkins tend to send out extensive vines and these might almost literally walk over other plants. For that reason, too, pumpkins usually need a good amount of space. You don't indicate what variety/type/size of pumpkins you're growing, so rather than answer simply yes or no, we suggest you cconsider the advice from these California sources:
• http://ucanr.edu/datastoreFiles/268-489.pdf, this is by a master gardener; don't be put off by te Halloween theme—lots of good info here
• Here's a good deal of info re nutrients, etc. Note that this refers to industrial/large farm (not home garden) growing but much of the basics apply to your situation, too: http://sfp.ucdavis.edu/pubs/brochures/Pumpkins/
After reading these pages consider that if your pumpkins are seedling size, you might be able to transplant them—to give them the proper soil requirements, space, and water. You could consider a large container or simply another area of your property.
Or, leave the pumpkins where they are and see what happens. Growing any plant is an experiment in nature.
All the best!
Roland, Thank you for your kind words. The Almanac Web site is a free companion to our publications which are only published in the U.S. and Canada. For better or worse, we are only experts in North American gardening. Though it's true that a Web site reaches many more people, and we leave it open and free for all, all of our planting dates, astronomical timetables, weather forecasts, and other tools are geared to our readership. That said, you'll still find a lot of content that is useful across this Web site, regardless of region. With all good wishes, the OFA editors
Yes, you can transplant the pumpkins to a bigger pot. Make sure to add some compost or aged manure to the fresh potting soil. Keep the soil moist and be on the lookout for the female flowers. If you have bees and other pollinators coming to the flowers you should be all set. Just be aware that the pumpkin vines will grow long and you may have to set up a trellis or some other support system for the pumpkins when they get bigger.
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Rent it.
From what we understand there are lots of young, aspiring people—men and women—who would like to farm. Or sell if off in smaller parcels, keeping something for yourselves, if you so desire.
That's a simple answer to a complicated question. You should contact local farmer's markets, coop ext (typically in university settings), agricultural schools even outside your area (which you have not defined) and talk to them. Talk to anybody and everybody you can.
This is not really our area of expertise, but we do know that the core mention above is true: Young people—and, hey, maybe some "old" people, too—are looking for affordable land to work.
And take some "payment" in produce! Don't make it just about the money.