Pumpkin

Sds/g:  4-10 sd/g                                   Feed Requirements: Moderate                         Usual Seed Life: 3-4 years

Cultural Notes:

• One of our favourite veggies to eat and grow. Great for soups and roasting and also for good old baby mush. The orange and yellow fleshed pumpkins also have excellent health properties as these coloured veggies tend to have high levels of Vitamin C, carotenoids, antioxidants and bioflavonoids.
• The seed will not germinate in the ground if the soil is still cold and plants are very frost-sensitive. Optimum germination temperatures for seed are soil temperatures of 22-33 oC. So it can be good to get transplants going at the end of Sept and get them out into the ground after your last frost. Once they are going they do not mind soil temperatures below the optimum range. A lot of pumpkin varieties need every possible day they can in order to mature and ripen properly in Tasmania.
• Pumpkins are pretty easy to grow once they are going and if you provide them with plenty of water and nutrients they will reward you handsomely.
• Plant 4-6 seeds in a mound with lots of compost. Space sprawling vines with a 2-3m diameter. If fed properly they will soon take up this space. These varieties can be impossible to grow in smaller yards but we have some varieties that produce a compact bush similar in size to zucchinis, space these 1-2m apart.

Problems:

• The biggest problem we have with ours is the native wildlife, with currwongs or ravens eating the new flowers and possums eating the ripening fruit. Downey mildew usually occurs in early-mid autumn, killing off the leaves.  A damp cool spring can also bring on downey mildew and cause problems growth for seedlings, best to resow seed if this occurs.

Harvest:

• While pumpkins can handle a light frost or two a heavy frost will damage them. Good keeping qualities allow you to store your pumpkin well into winter. Best stored in a cool room (12 oC) with plenty of airflow and low humidity.
• Be sure to use damaged fruit first.