If you want the Great Pumpkin to appear in your pumpkin patch on Halloween you must to plant pumpkin and squash vines in the summer. Pumpkins and squash are related, as both are members of the Cucurbita species. They are native to the Americas, and are well adapted to soils and weather in Texas and throughout much of the south.

If you want to grow pumpkins and squash in your garden, you first have to understand the differences as well as the similarities in the different kinds of squash and pumpkins. Pumpkins are used, when ripe, as a table vegetable or in pies. The seeds may also be roasted and eaten as a snack. Summer squash are used when immature as a table vegetable. They are thin skinned and do not store well. If allowed to grow too big, they become tough and inedible. Winter squash are used, when ripe, as a table vegetable or in pies. Since the flesh is usually fine-grained and of a mild flavor, they can be eaten baked. The skin of most winter squash is thick and they store well.

Pumpkins and squash do not germinate until the soil is at least 68 degrees F for four inches down. In the summer, this is not a problem. In the south, pumpkins are planted between June 15 and July 15. You can plant them later, but you run the risk of a frost damaging the vegetable before it is ripe. Summer squash is planted in the first three weeks of August, while winter squash should be planted during July and the first two weeks of August. Transplants of squash and pumpkins can help you catch up if you have missed the seed planting dates, and are available from many nurseries.

When you plant pumpkins and squash, you need to remember that these plants really spread out. Plant two seeds in a hill about 4-6 inches tall and about 6 inches around. When both seeds come up, pull up the weakest one and leave the strongest to grow. The hills need to be about three or four feet apart, with rows that are four or five feet wide. This gives each plant about sixteen square feet to grow in. Don’t plant pumpkins and squash near cucumbers, cantaloupe, or watermelon. The pumpkins will cross pollinate the cantaloupe and watermelon, ruining their taste, and the squash will cross pollinate the cucumbers, ruining them.

Pumpkins and squash, like all plants, need the proper nutrients to grow. They need nitrogen, and may need other nutrients. Fertilizing these plants can be a bit tricky, though, as too much fertilizer will result in wonderful, healthy vines, and no vegetables. The best way to know what nutrients to put on your plants is to do a soil test in December or January of each year, then fertilize according to that test for the rest of the year. It is best to wait to fertilize until your seeds have come up and the vines begin to spread out and grow. Then you can put the fertilizer down on the side of the vine roots, instead of on top of them, so they can get what they need.

Pumpkins and squash seem to have a sign attached to them that says “Bugs welcome.” They are attacked by the squash bug, squash vine borer, cucumber beetle, and aphids. Organic gardeners can go out early each morning and pick the bugs off the vines and vegetable. This usually keeps the population low enough to avoid serious damage from the bugs without using chemicals. If you do decide to use a pesticide, be sure the label lists pumpkins and squash as approved uses. If it doesn’t, you can make yourself very sick by using that pesticide on your vegetables, even if it is a long time until the vegetable is harvested. Some pesticides are absorbed into the vines and vegetable and will poison you when you eat the squash or pumpkin.

In addition to bugs, pumpkins and squash suffer from powdery mildew, downy mildew, angular leaf spot, black rot and gummy stem blights, mosaic viruses, and bacterial wilt. The best offense against these diseases is to make sure you water early in the morning, plant the right cultivator for your area, and only water an inch a week, all at once, after the plants are established. Swampy conditions encourage disease, as does watering in the evening so the leaves are wet all night. Mulching around the plants will help conserve moisture, keep the vegetables off the ground, and retard weeds.

What cultivators are the right ones for this region? Well, for pumpkins, Connecticut Field, Spirit, Small Sugar, Autumn Gold, and Jack Be Little (ornamental) are the best cultivators. For yellow summer squash, Multipik, Dixie, Sun Drops, and Burpee’s Butterstick do well here. For pan type summer squash, plant Sunburst or Peter Pan, while Senator, President, or Goldrush are the best zucchini squash to plant. Finally, for winter squash, chose from Early Butternut, Table Ace, Table King Bush, Acorn, and Cream of the Crop squash.

One thing that often puzzles home gardeners is why many of the squash blossoms do not set fruit. Squash have both male and female blossoms. Pollinators such as bees and wasps carry the male pollen to the female plant. The male blossom then falls off, while the fertilized female blossom sets fruit.

Summer squash should be harvested when it is about four to six inches long. Letting it get longer than that results in tough, inedible squash. Winter squash and pumpkins are harvested when they get ripe. It can be hard to tell when the vegetable is ripe, but usually the stem attaching the squash or pumpkin to the vine begins to wither. Leave a little stem on the winter squash or pumpkin when picking it. This will make it store better. To store these vegetable, put the vegetable on your kitchen counter for about two weeks. This will harden the shell and make the vegetable last longer. After curing, winter squash and pumpkins should be kept at about 50 degrees F. Packing them in straw and leaving them in a cool spot helps prolong storage. Do not refrigerate or freeze the whole vegetable, as it will make it spoil faster. Summer squash does not store well, so use it fresh, can it, pickle it, or dry it for later use.

If you follow these guidelines, you should have a pumpkin and squash patch that provides you with lots of vegetables to eat for the coming winter. It also will give the Great Pumpkin ® a fine place to rise on Halloween, if he chooses to visit you.

Hi, my name is Stephanie Suesan Smith, Ph.D. If you enjoyed this article, please check out my website, http://stephaniesuesansmith.com. You will find many more articles on gardening and other interesting things there.

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