
When growing vegetables, it is always exciting to care for the plant throughout its growing phase and then harvest it for delicious recipes later on, but one thing to watch out for is pests and diseases. Learning Download: Common pests and diseases: Pumpkins Common pests and diseases: Pumpkins You can find pumpkin seeds for carving, canning, baking and decorative uses like traditional orange, heirloom, white and more in large and small sizes at Urban Farmer. Another option for fertilizing is to use a high-nitrogen fertilizer when plants are 1 foot tall and a high-phosphorous fertilizer before the blooming period starts. Regularly treat pumpkins with compost and manure mixed with water or feed weekly with a fish or kelp-based fertilizer. Add 1 cup of complete organic fertilizer below each plant prior to sowing and mix the fertilizer into the soil. Prior to planting in the garden, add compost and and aged manure to the soil. Pumpkins are heavy feeders with a long growing season. Cut the pumpkin off the vine with prunes, leaving 3-4 inches of stem. The rind should be hard, and the pumpkin should sound hollow when tapped.
#Pumpkin plant seedlings skin
If the skin resists puncture, it is ready for harvest. Another way to tell if a pumpkin is ripe is to press a fingernail against its skin. This is typically orange, although there are white pumpkins and other colors as well. Pumpkins are ready to harvest when the color they are supposed to become is deep and rich. Turn pumpkins regularly to encourage equal size but do so gently so you don’t damage the vine. Once the pumpkins begin to form, pinch the fuzzy end of the vine to direct more energy to the pumpkin. pumpkins do best in soil with a pH of 6.0 to 6.8.
#Pumpkin plant seedlings full
Make sure the pumpkins are in full sun and water them 1 inch per week, but don’t let water get on the leaves or the fruit. Once pumpkins sprout, thin to two of the healthiest seedlings per mound. If garden space is tight, pumpkins can be planted in 5- or 10-gallon buckets, or they can be planted along the edge of a garden where the vines can sprawl into the lawn or onto a sidewalk.

Plan accordingly, as pumpkins need lots of space to grow. If planting in a row, space seeds 6 to 12 inches apart. Planting in a mound keeps the soil warm and aids in germination, but pumpkins can also be planted in rows. When planting in the garden, plant three to five seeds per mound about 1 inch deep. pumpkins can be started indoors three weeks before the last frost date, but they do best when sowed directly into the garden. Since pumpkins grow best in warmer climates, plant them outside after all chances of frost have passed. Pumpkins range in sizes from small, gourd-like varieties to large options and differ in color and outside texture as well.

Pumpkins can be grown for decorative and edible purposes, with different varieties grown to make pumpkin pie, carving for Halloween, to be used in canning and more.
