A large trailing plant with yellow, bell-shaped flowers, pumpkin is frost tender. Most varieties will take up a lot of room . Grow them at the edge of your garden patch so that they can spread away from other vegetables. Butternut produces small to medium pear-shaped fruit with deep orange flesh . Buttercup are small to medium round pumpkins with dark green skin. There are a number of large pumpkins, some round and flattish - good for storage and eating - others will produce the "Cinderella coach" type giant round fruit which are not such good eating.
Harvest when the vines die off and the pumpkins' stalks are dry. Leave a small piece of stalk attached to the fruit to prevent damp causing rot. The fruit can be stored for months in a cool airy place. In some parts of New Zealand, they are stored on shed roofs.
Pumpkins sometimes need hand pollination if the fruit are not setting well or die off after starting to grow.
Cut up, remove the skin and roast with other vegetables or meat.
Young crisp shoots with young leaves can be cooked and eaten - stewed in coconut milk they are popular in Melanesia. Remove any strings and tough parts and stew until tender, or cook as a vegetable in boiling water 3-5 minutes.
I have pumpkins coming up now from garden compost. Is it too late to let them grow?
I have 19 butternut pumpkins on my vine and it is starting to die off, how long should I continue to feed the plant for and is it best to wait till the plant has completely dead before harvesting the pumpkins?
I live on the NSW South Coast in Australia and my butternut pumpkin gets pumpkins up to about 4 inches then they go yellow , die and fall off. Should I pull them out and try again next year.
Do some research on the internet butternut pumpkin turning yellow and falling off. Many reasons why it is happening.
I am trying to grow Queensland Blue pumpkins. They are next to a lavendar bush and well polinated. Lots of baby pumpkins, but they do not grow very big before they go yellow and die. Some of the leaves have gone brown, so I have removed them. Any thoughts on how I can remedy the situation.
You have lavender but do you have bees? Do some research about the subject - going yellow and falling off. In temperate climate I would start my pumpkins in Sept Oct and grow into the summer. Prepare - manure/compost/fertiliser the soil for a few weeks before planting and plant in a different position each year.
They produce male flowers first to start attracting the bees - then you get some female and male flowers. If the plants are older than 12 weeks and no pumpkins growing yet then they probably won't produce any. A new pumpkin takes about 3-4 weeks to grow and then 4-6 weeks to mature.
This planting guide is a general reference intended for home gardeners. We recommend that you take into account your local conditions in making planting decisions. GardenGrow is not a farming or commercial advisory service. For specific advice, please contact your local plant suppliers, gardening groups, or agricultural department. The information on this site is presented in good faith, but we take no responsibility as to the accuracy of the information provided.
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