I have been growing pumpkins for the first time this year, we sowed them in May and it’s now early October and we have a success with Pumpkin ‘Baby Bear’.

We now have two baby pumpkins in our raised bed from one plant. One is still unripe and turning from green to orange. The other larger orange pumpkin has been orange for at least a month.

There is a perfect sized pumpkin for every vegetable garden.

The Baby Bear variety we have been growing is a small and compact plant and has only trailed about 1 metre across our raised beds. These size pumpkins are perfect for children as they can pick them up.

Did you know?

• Pumpkins start off dark green and then turn orange in the sunshine and heat,
• The Greek word for Pumpkin actually means Large Melon,
• Pumpkins take 90-120 days to grow and don’t like it too cold or too wet.
• Pumpkins are rich in antioxidants and high in Vitamin C and A.
• Pumpkins can come in different colours like red, white, yellow but most are orange,
• Pumpkins belong to the same large family as courgettes, squashes and cucumbers.
• Smaller pumpkins have more flavour for cooking or stuffing.
• Raise pumpkins off the ground so the skin doesn’t go mouldy. Use straw or an upside down plate or plastic plant tray, just make sure the water runs off it and doesn’t pool under the pumpkin.
• Harvest pumpkins when the vine they are growing on dies and goes brown or grey or before the first frost.
• After cutting a pumpkin from the vine, they will store for up to 3 months.
• Harvest pumpkins before the first frost in October/November. Find your first frost date here.
• If you want to grow a Giant Pumpkin, here are the varieties you need to look at: Atlantic Giant from Sutton Seeds and Dills Atlantic Giant from Kings Seeds, Big Max from Thompson and Morgan, Pacific Giant from RealSeeds.co.uk.

Sowing Pumpkins

It’s time to Sow Pumpkins in May in the UK.