Growing Your Own Pumpkin...

Growing your own pumpkin takes a little effort and it may take a few tries to get it right, but why not try to grow a few of your own to add to the ones you'll pick up at local growers? Or why not try to grow a giant pumpkin to enter into a giant vegetable competition!

Any good, well drained soil will grow pumpkins. A soil of medium texture is best but good results can be produced on heavy or light soils if they are properly dug over and well fertilised. Seeds should not be sown directly into the ground until the soil has warmed up and is in good condition for germination, usually form the middle of May. However, you can start to grow seedlings in small plant pots on a windowsill from April onwards.

You can buy seeds of many varieties at any garden centre, but it is best start out with only one or two varieties until you get the hang of it. Seeds should be planted up to 5 cms deep to keep them in a moisture zone. Although pumpkin plants produce a profusion of flowers throughout the life of the plant, as a general rule, pumpkin plants produce about two pumpkins per vine. 

While pumpkin size is generally controlled by genetics, any factor that limits plant growth will affect it's size. This includes water, temperature, insects, diseases, fertility, soil type, plant population, weeds, and the like. It is not uncommon for some pumpkins to wither and die soon after flowering - this condition may be due to either to poor pollination or the natural tendency for a plant to let some pumpkins die so that the good ones will live. Other factors that can contribute to the dying off of some pumpkins include overcrowding of plants, prolonged periods of cool, cloudy or rainy weather and drought.

You might also run into problems with disease and pests. Pests are a problem because the cucumber beetle is a carrier of plant disease, which can lead to powdery mildew - a white powder-like bacteria that thrives in hot, humid weather and tends to strike in the summer just as your just as your pumpkin is getting bigger. It spreads rapidly and will quickly destroy the plant. Another problem is bacterial wilt, which is evident by a wilting and browning of the plants leaves. Sometimes the leaves will firm up at the end of the day, only to repeat itself the next morning, and get worse each time. This can sometimes be confused early on with wilting due to lack of water. Wilting from lack of water results from either a literal lack of water in the soil or the vine ends not getting enough water as the pumpkin is sucking up all of the nutrients. The best test for bacterial wilt is to take one leaf and cut it an inch or so from the vine. If the sap that drains out is yellow and stringy, your plant has this disease. There is no known cure and the plant will certainly die. The best course of action is to remove the diseased plant.

Some ways to keep either of these problems from happening is to:

·        water the pumpkin plants only in the morning or during the day, it is best to avoid late afternoon and evening as powdery mildew and other diseases thrive in humid weather and watering at night can add extra humidity.

·        water only to the roots and vines because wet leaves can lead to mildew if they don't get a chance to dry out.

·        Dig up and throw away infected plants - don't add them to a compost pile or to anything that would come in contact with another crop because the bacteria can survive and infect the next patch.

However, with a little common sense and by following the instructions on the seed packet, you might be able to show off your home-grown Jack-O-Lantern or giant pumpkin. Or you could take the easy way out, buy some and tell everyone that you grew them!!!