Is there a little more idyllic in autumn than discovering a field full of orange pumpkins? Or do you see a front garden with rows of you? Pumpkins rightly steal the show in the autumn season, but long before the air becomes crispy, they will plant it and create their garden. Therefore, it can help to be prepared with valuable tips from garden experts.
If you have not yet grown up pumpkins, there are several reasons why you might want to start. Lara Hermanson, director and co-owner of Farmscape, a company that designs and installs sustainable gardens in California, believes that pumpkins are “one of the wildest vegetables to cultivation” (they can have 15 to 30 feet, but it is fun to recognize all variations in color-and it is not the case that they are not too boiling with the cook.
“They also become crazy when they are planted under the right conditions,” says Hermanson. “You are one of these plants that is really rewarding and magical to see how they grow.”
John Coykendall, master gardener at Tennessee's Blackberry Farm Resort believes that pumpkins are addressing gardeners for both their decorative and culinary purposes.
“They are available in a variety of sizes and colors, so it is easy to find a pumpkin that is suitable for every purpose you have,” he says. “And growing pumpkins can be worthwhile for the whole family. Children love the selection of small decorative pumpkins that are a good choice for people with a limited garden room, and parents can use the pumpkins for meals.”
To expand your best pumpkins, read these helpful tips and tricks.
How to select the right pumpkins for growing
The first step to ensure the success of the garden? “Choose a variety of your goals,” advises Hermanson. “There are hundreds, if not thousands of pumpkin types. If I grow in a school garden, I choose something like a Jill-Be-Little that produces very small, uniform fruits. For cooks I would choose something like the Marina de Chioggia or the Musquee de Provence.”
Hermanson recommends reading a seed catalog how Johnny's seedsto find out the varieties before you want.
Jill are small seeds
How to grow pumpkins
Wait for the right plant conditions.
If it is still less than 32 degrees outside, even at night, it is not the right time to plant your pumpkins. As Coykendall says: “For the best results, plant your pumpkins when all frost risks have passed in the ground and your garden is warmed up.”
For most of the United States, the best time for planting in summer is when the soil remains between 65 ° and 95 ° F. Reduce the assumption by connecting your postcode to the farmer's Almanach Planting Calendar tool to determine the ideal time for the sowing of your pumpkin seeds outdoors.
Do not displace them.
A pumpkin patch can take up your own life and be overloaded in a hurry. That is why Hermanson says that it is important to ensure that your pumpkins are not overcrowded.
She says: “For small varieties, they plant two seeds per hole with the holes at least two feet in the row.” Hermanson adds that the distance from large pumpkins such as Kentucky Field or Howden can vary, which “require six to eight foot distance so that the vines spread and are not overcrowded”.
Pay attention to irrigation.
According to Hermanson, pumpkins have to water regularly, which leads to evenly moist soil.
“Uneven irrigation leads to final rot, the fall and split. So make sure that your pumpkins do not become too wet or too dry,” she says. “Drip irrigation systems really help.”
Hiraliy 50ft drip irrigation kit Plant watering system
Creation of the right ground environment.
Hermanson says that “loamy, fertile soil” is best suited to grow pumpkins, as this helps you to achieve even irrigation.
“When I planted in the ground with poor drainage in heavy sound soil, I had a lot more problems with pumpkins,” she says.
Coykendall adds that pumpkins generally prefer well -permeable soil with a moderate amount of fertilizer. “I recommend either commercially 8-8-8 fertilizer or organic fertilizer-tone tone,” he says. These specific fertilizer products can help your pumpkins grow your best.
Hermanson suggests fertilizing her pumpkins every month, “to promote continuous flowers, healthy roots and green growth”.
8-8-8 triple game tomato and vegetable plant feed
Consider an increased bed.
Let's assume that you don't have the best floor for planting. In this case, Hermanson says that you can use a raised bed with imported top floor and organic compost, “and let the pumpkins go out of bed,” she says.
Yaheetech 8 × 2 foot wood raised garden bed
Keep them (a bit) out of sight.
“Pumpkin vines that are huge reject mid to the end of summer and they get a little ugly,” notes Hermanson. “That's why I tend to bring my pumpkins from sight, like in a corner of a garden, where you can have a leisurely decline outside the view.”
She recommends removing the dead leaves to keep the plant as healthy as possible and adds that “pumpkins will continue to produce as soon as the vine looks bad.”
Allow to mature.
Coykendall says that you have to be completely ripe for you before harvesting pumpkins. “You can see when you are ripe when the stems have reached a brownish color,” he says.
Where can you buy pumpkins and pumpkin seeds for your garden
You can buy pumpkin plants in your local kindergarten, and seeds are easily available from large retailers such as Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart and Amazon.
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Shelby Deering is a freelance lifestyle writer who often covers the design and decor for national publications. She has been working as a freelance author for over a decade and has been working in the industry for almost 20 years, wrote Home Tours, interviewed top designers and beautified her own home. She has a master's degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and if she does not write, you will find it in economy shops and flea markets that research with her husband and Corgi, Dolly, local traces in Madison, Wisconsin.