Growing Pumpkins From Your Halloween Jack-o’-Lanterns
Lots and lots of people garden, so it wasn't surprising to find out several years ago that a friend at work gardens as well. Over the years we've discussed gardening and swapped a few stories. He shared a fun story with me about growing pumpkins from your old Halloween jack-o'-lanterns. It's really a straightforward idea but I hadn't tried it. After Halloween the previous year he had set all of their pumpkins, big and small, out in his unfinished side yard. He "sort of forgot about them" and they sat there all through the fall/winter and into spring. When the weather warmed up he was surprised to find hundreds of pumpkin seedlings all over his side yard.
Chucking Pumpkins
After Halloween last year, we took the pumpkins out back to one of our available garden beds. They're still fairly new with nothing permanently planted yet but I have been enriching the soil with compost, seasoned manure, and grass clippings. I chucked the pumpkins high in the air and each crashed down and split open (that was for fun, not a necessary step). Then, I chopped them up into pieces and spread them around the area I wanted to grow in. The pumpkin rinds break down over time (in this case over winter) adding more organic material to the area.
Fast-forward to spring and, sure enough, up came pumpkin seedlings all over the area. These seedlings were robust and turned into strong plants. I thinned the seedlings in the area so that the spacing was roughly 4-5 feet between each. Given the type I was growing, this is probably a minimum spacing as pumpkins will grow vines out in all directions that can measure 20 feet or more. There's a main vine with secondary and even tertiary (fun word) vines. These can be controlled by moving them into the direction of growth you want or by cutting the vine back to a secondary/lateral vine or fruit.
Keep in mind as the pumpkin plant grows and sends vines in all directions (which continue to extend in length) that you will see fruit develop all along the vines. To produce bigger pumpkins, cut the vines off either where you want and your space allows or after about 10-15 feet. This is where some experimentation comes in. Try vines of different lengths (or plants with different vine lengths if you have more than one) and see how large or small the pumpkins grow. Of course, pumpkin size is not solely determined by the length of the vine. Many other factors come into play from pumpkin type, to the level of nutrients and water available, the amount of sun the plants get, the list goes on.
Pumpkins, corn, acorn squash
Growing Tips:
Pumpkins love rich soil with plenty of water.
As the pumpkins start to grow, consider getting them off the ground and out of direct contact with the soil to prevent them from rotting. You can use just about anything: carboard, straw, wood, sand, newspaper. This does help but isn’t entirely necessary as pumpkins will happily grow if left touching the soil.
As you approach the end of the growing season, cut back leaves that are shading any pumpkins to encourage ripening.
Harvest your pumpkins before the frost hits.
Pumpkin Plant Spacing
Plant spacing depends on the variety of pumpkin you're growing and its growth habit. Here are some suggested plant spacing guidelines:
Bush-type pumpkins: 2-3 feet apart in rows 5-6 feet apart
Vine-type pumpkins: 4-5 feet apart in rows 8-10 feet apart
Giant pumpkins: 1,000 square feet, which is 25'x40' (yikes, that's a lot of room!)
Mini pumpkins: 20-30 square feet, which is 4'x5' to 5'x6'
I hope you'll try this fun and easy way to grow free pumpkins year after year from your Halloween jack-o'-lanterns (or any other pumpkins)! If you've already tried this or something similar, how did it turn out?
Weedy Pete
