HOW TO GROW PUMPKINS

HOW TO GROW PUMPKINS

Pumpkins are fun to grow but you need a LOT of space. They grow very fast in warm weather. Pumpkin tastes great, especially when it’s baked and it is also yummy in scones, pies and cakes. You probably best know them when we hollow out pumpkins and carve scary faces into them to make Halloween lanterns for Halloween.

What You Need : compost or  manure,  complete fertilizer, pumpkin seeds

What to Do:

1. Find a spot with plenty of room for the pumpkin vines to spread.

2. Make a mound by digging some compost or manure into the soil. Add some blood & bone.

3. Make a dip in the middle of the mound to form a shallow crater.

4. Water very well and then plant five pumpkin seeds into the crater.

5. When the seedlings emerge, choose the healthiest two and pull the others out.

6. Keep the pumpkin plants well-watered.

7. When the first flowers appear, fertilise with the complete fertilizer. Repeat in 6 weeks time.

8. Bees will fertilise the flowers but just to make sure, use a little paintbrush to collect pollen from the male flowers (they are the ones on long stalks) and dust it into the centre of the female flowers (they have short stalks and a round lump just below the flower which will eventually grow into a pumpkin.)

9. When the vines yellow and start to die off it’s time to pick the pumpkins. If you cut them with a bit of stalk attached you can store them for a long time in a dry place.