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Growing a giant pumpkin can be a rewarding endeavor, but it can also be a frustrating one. You need to know what you're doing!
The first thing you should start with is soil. A pumpkin needs lots of nutrients in order to grow big enough to win prizes. Start by digging a 4'x4' hole and filling it with a layer (1-2 bags) of peat, and then manure or compost on top of that. You can add fish fertilizer and blood meal once the pumpkin is planted.
Even in warmer climates you might want to start the pumpkin indoors. Obviously you want the biggest pumpkin you can get and the way to do that is to get seeds from a giant pumpkin. Howard Dill's seeds are great and have been known to grow into pumpkins over 1,000 lbs in weight! The address can be found at the bottom of the article.
Start your pumpkin in a peat container if available. Plant at least two seeds to make sure you have one come up. If both come up, wait until you're ready to transplant and select the largest, strongest one. Or if you have room, put them both in the ground. Make sure you don't allow them to get rootbound before putting the containers in the ground.
Once planted, your pumpkin plant needs lots of water. Soak it daily or it simply won't grow big pumpkins. Soon, your vine will start snaking across the ground, complete with regularily spaced leaves. Let it grow and pinch off any flowers that are within five or six feet of the tap root, that is, where the stem emerges from the ground. If a pumpkin grows too close to the tap root, it may pull the vine right out of the ground as it grows. You can feed your pumpkin regular plant food and add more compost or manure to the mix as the summer progresses.
Once the flowers start emerging, you can leave it up to Mother Nature to pollinate, or you can take the safe route and do it yourself. You'll need a clean paint brush and a male and female flower. To tell the difference, look at the base of the flowers. The female will have a noticable bulge, while the male will not. Dab pollen taken from the male flower onto the inside of the female flower to pollinate. Within a week you'll know if the pollination took. The bulge under the female flower will grow and grow until the flower dies and the bulge becomes a pumpkin.
Allow the pumkins to grow for a couple of weeks before selecting one to go on with. Once you have two or three pumpkins set (growing), pinch off any new flowers. Examine the pumkins and select the one that is the largest already and pinch off the other ones. You'll want to get a forklift pallet to place the pumkin on. The sooner the better, they get heavy fast! Not only will the pallet allow you to lift the pumpkin with a forklift when it's full grown, but it will keep the pumkin from rotting on the bottom in wetter climates.
And now, sit back and watch your pumkin grow. Don't forget to water it lots and lots! It takes a pumpkin about three months to mature, which gives you lots of time for the fall fair, if you start in time.
After the fair, you'll have a lot of pumpkin to use up. You can give it away, can it, make pumpkin pies and bread and my personal favorite, pumpkin muffins. Here's the recipe:
Mom's Pumpkin Muffins
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 can (16 oz) pumpkin
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
dash salt
In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until the mixture is smooth. In another bowl, mix dry ingredients and add to the pumpkin mixture. Stir well. Fill greased or paper lined muffin tins 3/4 full and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until muffins are done. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from tins.
Makes 24. Enjoy!
Howard Dill Enterprises
400 College Road
Windsor, Nova Scotia
Canada, BON 2T0
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