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Pumpkins

Fun Facts about Pumpkins 

  • The word 'pumpkin' first appeared in the fairy tale Cinderella in the 17th century
  • Orignially the Irish carved turnips and potatoes and later Irish immigrants in the US discovered that pumpkins were easier to carve.
  • Pumpkins are fruits, not vegetables
  • Pumpkins grow on every continent with the exception of Antartica
  • Pumpkins are good for your hearing
  • Pumpkin comes from the Greek word 'Pepon' which means 'large melon'
  • Pumpkins were once considered a remedy for freckles and snakebites
  • The largest pumpkin to grow on record was in 2016 where a Belgian growers' weighed in at 2624.6lbs
  • Illnois is known as 'Pumpkin Capital of the World'  
October

How to Grow Pumpkins

 

Seeds should be planted sideways and it's worth noting that if you soak overnight first, it speeds up the germination process.

You can plant pumpkin seeds in small pots from Spring or plant directly in the ground late May - June to ensure a Halloween-ready Jack-O-Lantern.

Keep seedlings in a warm and sunny spot on the windowsill and re-pot once they've established themselves and you have a plant to work with.

Once planted out, you need to allow for a good space for the foliage and fruits to grow in good well manured soil.  Water in dry weather and train with some encouragement your trails.  You can also manually encourage pollination with male and female flowers. 

Keep the area weed-free and once fruits begin to appear, raise them onto a hard surface such as a plank of wood or lay some straw to prevent the bottoms rotting. You can remove excess foliage to provide more sunlight to ripen the pumpkins.

When the skins have hardened, they should be ready to harvest. Happy Halloween! 

pumpkinm patch

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