If you love the fall, one way that you can get your home into the fall spirit is by growing yourself a pumpkin patch. Not only are pumpkins a delicious addition to any garden that can make delicious and healthy treats, but they are also a seasonal amenity that can be used to decorate throughout all of autumn. Here are some tips to remember for growing your own pumpkins.
Timing is everything
To grow pumpkins, make sure that you are planting your pumpkin seeds directly in the ground with plenty of room for the pumpkin plants to grow without overtaking each other. Remember that timing matters a lot, when it comes to growing pumpkins, and that it takes quite a bit of time for pumpkins to grow, efficiently. Ideally, you need to give your pumpkins about 80-100 days to grow without any sort of frost. Because of this, it’s best to plant them towards the end of may, but you can get away with later in the summer if you live in a state where the cold weather comes much later.
Grow a variety of different kinds of pumpkins
- Miniature pumpkins: You want to get some small pumpkins in there for decoration, as it makes your pumpkin patch seem a lot more diverse and interesting. A great example of this is cinderella pumpkins. Sugar pie pumpkins, which are used for baking, are also going to be the main type of pumpkin you will use to eat.
- Large pumpkins: Large pumpkins, such as Atlantic Giants, Big Maxes, and Big Moons are going to make the perfect Jack-o-Lanterns. People are also a lot more impressed by large pumpkins in a pumpkin patch, which is why there are competitions to grow them. To grow a large pumpkin, start by seeding it indoors in warm soil, and then use lots of compost when planting outside. Also take special care to make sure that the soil never dries.
- The weirdos: This section is reserved for all of the oblong and weird shapes that pumpkins frequently come in, or the strange colors and patterns that many types of pumpkins develop (they’re not all orange, you know!). These types of pumpkins bring a splash of color and differentiation to your pumpkin patch.
