How to grow Pumpkin

If you're looking for some tips on how to grow Pumpkin, then this guide is the place to start. Follow these easy steps and you'll be enjoying your own pumpkins in no time!

Pumpkin vines prefer rich soil with plenty of compost mixed in.

Plant Pumpkin in a full sun position. 

No, Pumpkin vines are not frost tolerant. 

Plant Pumpkin vines approximately 1m apart. 

Pumpkins are a warm season crop that are usually planted in spring, once the danger of frost has passed. Pumpkins are best grown in temperatures between 18 and 30°C (65–86°F)

If transplanting, plant out in the early morning or evening and/or on an overcast day. Avoid planting at peak sun times or on windy days, this will allow your plants to settle in comfortably and protect them from windburn and sunburn.  

Feed your Pumpkin vines with an organic fertiliser throughout the season. 

Harvest  your Pumpkins when the vine starts to die back and the stem that is attached to the Pumpkin starts to brown in colour. Cut off the Pumpkin leaving at least a few centimeters of stalk attached.

Allow the skins to harden by placing the Pumpkins in a sunny spot (below 30°C/86°F) for 2 weeks before storing them. 

Pests that affect Pumpkin include: Aphids, Armyworm, Cabbage Looper, Cucumber Beetle, Cutworm, Flea Beetle, Squash Bug, Squash Vine Borer, Thrips, Spider Mite, 28 Spotted Ladybug.  

Diseases that affect Pumpkin include: Leaf Blight and Leaf Spot, Downy Mildew, Powdery Mildew, Fusarium Crown and Root Rot, Gummy Stem Blight, Verticillium Wilt, Bacterial Wilt, Aster Yellows, Mosaic Virus, Phytophthora Blight. 

Pumpkin vines need a lot of space to spread out. If space is an issue, you can try growing smaller varieties or growing them vertically up a trellis.

'Golden Nugget' is a bush variety Pumpkin which is a great space saver. The plant does not vine out the same way traditional Pumpkin varieties do. Instead, the fruit grows in clusters toward the center of the plant very similar to the way Zucchini plants grow.   

Towards the end of the summer, raise the Pumpkins off the ground by putting a piece of wood, straw or something similar under them to prevent the fruit from rotting on damp ground. You don’t want the Pumpkin fruit to sit directly on the soil. Water the plant roots generously in dry weather.