If you want to be a good gardener, heed the advice of an old saying: “To be a successful gardener, grow pumpkinsâ€. Though they are quite easy to grow, pumpkins do require some special care.
- Pumpkins need good light and rich soil that drains well. So, choose a place in your garden that receives maximum sunlight and which has soil with a 6 to 8 pH count.
- You can buy pumpkin plants at any vegetable nursery or sow seeds directly indoors during April to June. If you wish to sow seeds in the garden directly, plant them when the soil temperature is 60 degrees F.
- Keep the place or soil container that has pumpkin seeds moist until the roots begin to show through the bottom.
- Once the plants are established, mulch them with good organic matter and don’t forget to eliminate weeds surrounding the pumpkin plant.
- You can use floating row covers or cloches to protect young baby pumpkin plants from chilly winds.
- Compost tea or seaweed extract are good feeding options for pumpkin plants, particularly during the first two to three weeks of plant development. So, make sure you provide compost tea or seaweed.
- Once fruits appear, try to pinch the vines of the plants to limit their growth and rotate the fruits gently once in a while to keep the growth symmetrical.
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