Are you growing pumpkins this year? I’m hoping for a bumper crop to help towards my goal of growing 2 tons of fruits and vegetables in my backyard. The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird loves to grow them for her friends and I love to grow pumpkins for decorating the front porch with.
Pumpkins are super easy to grow, just remember you need about 90- 100 days of warm weather to grow them. We typically harvest ours around mid October.
Brief description: Pumpkins are part of the gourd like squash plant. Depending on the variety, it can be used for tons of things from jack-o-lanterns to pies.
Where to Plant : Plant pumpkins in a sunny location with good soil. Pumpkins need a bit of space, so a garden bed works best.
Planting Seeds: Mound surrounding dirt into little hills and plant 3 seeds, about 1 inch deep per hill. Even though most seed packets say to space pumpkins 4-6 feet apart, I have always spaced them about 3 feet and never had a problem with crowding. Make sure to place a plant marker right next to where you plant so you know where to water until seedlings emerge. Once seedlings pop through the soil, you will need to thin them with scissors, leaving only the strongest one per mound.
Growing Tips: If you have the space, I totally recommend growing a variety of different pumpkins. They are super easy to grow and basically just need sun and water. Plus, kids love them, so they are a great way to get them involved in gardening.
How to Harvest: Cut or twist pumpkin off of the vine, leaving enough of the vine for a stem.
Are you ready to start your garden but you’re not sure when you should plant your seeds or set out your transplants? Head on over HERE and you’ll be taken to a handy dandy chart that is broken down into what vegetables should be planted {or transplanted} each month in your area.
Anyone can do this. Dirt + Seeds+ Water = Food!
~Mavis
Gardening books hold kind of a special place in my heart. I wouldn’t be the gardener I am today {or maybe not a gardener at all} if it weren’t for a few gardening books I picked up years ago. I spent almost the entire winter of 2008/2009 reading up on gardening. I found some incredible reads that taught me so much and made me realize how much I didn’t know. So I’ve never stopped reading gardening books.
Here are just a few of my favorites, although if we’re being honest, narrowing this list down was virtually impossible. Gardening books are right up there with the bible {okay, not quite, but you get the idea!}.
My Favorite Garden Books:
- Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting
- The Complete Compost Gardening Guide
- Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre
- Sugar Snaps and Strawberries
- The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food
- The Kitchen Gardener’s Handbook
Jill Frank says
We are really looking forward to growing lots of pumpkins this year and see if we can do it. We shall see!
Sophia says
I’ve had problems in the past with mildew on the leaves that eventually kills my pumpkin plants…live in SoCal…about 5 miles from the ocean, so we have moist air…any tips on avoiding the mildew issue?
Rae @ Motherhood Handmade says
I’m interested in this as well. I’m told we need to make sure we don’t water from above, but I’m curious to hear if there are other ways of helping it.
Krista S says
i tried growing pumpkins last year and we got tons of flowers on the plants mostly male flowers but when we did get a female with a gourd on it after about a week the gourd would shrivel up and fall off, had huge beautiful vines but no pumpkins any idea what might be the cause?
suzanne says
My sis grows pumpkins for size, 100 lbs or more. She almost always wins the competition. It’s just a friends having fun kinda thing. She grows organic but pumps that baby full of water and saves seeds from the winner. I don’t know her secret (she starts them in her tub under grow lights in march or something.) I get the winning pumpkin and make wine and ale from it for the next years event. Yes we need an intervention but life is good!
Mavis says
It’s good to have a hobby. 🙂
Missy says
Mavis-I so enjoy your blog, but mostly your sense of humor and just your vibes of pilgrimism. Ha! You seem to always be so UP. Besides the fact that you are just so adorable. Keep up the great work with the gnomes and take good care of HH. I bet your parents are so proud of you! It’s nice to see an earthy girl.
sherry says
Mavis, in one of your articles you said that you plant your pumpkins June 1, In hills, spaced properly, thinned at the right time and so on. This year will you try an experiment for me. Have your pumpkin bed ready in the fall. When you carve them or use them for pies just dump seeds into the prepared bed and stir them in a bit just to cover them. I don’t thin them unless they are really getting out of control. I really ignore them. I really only water after I see them come up, I get plenty of pumpkins and I don’t work at it very hard at all.
Mavis says
I like your idea! 🙂
Danessa says
what month is best to grow them? meaning pumpkins
Mavis Butterfield says
What state are you in?
Belinda says
Sounds easy, but it’s not! You did not discuss the problem with squash beetles and vine bores that kill you plants before you even have time to know there is a problem. There is also the expense of preventing these pesky insects! I am about to give up on pumpkins, squash and gords