ABOUT PUMPKINS
(Page 4 of 7)
Another efficient way to grow pumpkins is to create a
pumpkin-vine "house" — a hideaway that children will
love. To do this, cover a five-foot-square frame with
chicken wire on three sides and the top. Plant seeds of one
of the smaller pumpkin varieties 12 inches apart in
prepared strips along two opposite sides. Water regularly
and support the maturing fruits with slings made of old
pantyhose.
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When planning your garden, keep in mind that, while
pumpkins won't cross with other vining cucurbits like
cucumbers and watermelons, they will cross with some types
of gourds, squash and zucchini if planted too close to
them. Such cross-pollination won't show up in the current
harvest, but if you save your seeds, next season's crop may
contain some strange vegetables.
While considered easy to grow, pumpkins do require fertile,
well-drained, neutral soil with a pH of 6.5 to 7.
Early-maturing types thrive best in sandy and sandy-loam
earth. Pumpkins need a lot of water, though, and heavier
soils help hold this essential ingredient. The big vines
are heavy feeders as well, so plenty of well-rotted manure
should be worked into the site prior to planting. (Dig a
hole where your vine is to grow, fill it with a shovelful
of manure or compost, and sprinkle dirt on top.)
Cover the seeds to a depth of one inch, and tamp the soil
lightly. Thin the seedlings when they have two or three
leaves. If you have a problem with surface crusting, which
can prevent the seedlings from emerging, scatter a thin
layer of loose soil over the seeded area. Once their rapid
growth begins, pumpkins can compete well with weeds. Until
then, do shallow weeding to keep from damaging the
seedlings' roots, and mulch between hills and rows with
straw, hay, grass clippings or leaves.
Make sure pumpkins get a lot of water, and apply
it slowly so it can soak down to the feeding roots two to
three feet beneath the surface. Try, however, to avoid
wetting the foliage, since this can encourage disease.
Side-dress the crop at midseason with more well-rotted
manure or compost. Once the fruits begin to fill out, water
the plants with fish emulsion or manure tea every 10 to 14
days.
Pumpkins have both male and female flowers and must be
insect-pollinated to set fruit. If such flying friends are
in short supply, do this job yourself by using a
camel's-hair brush to transfer the pollen from the males to
the females. The latter can be recognized by the immature
fruit lurking below their petals. Another pollinating
method is to strip the petals from a male flower (which has
no embryo beneath it) and push the yellow anthers into the
female flower.
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