first time growing pumpkins

[AndrewC]

and a few more

[darkcrystal]

i have 3 in the side of the garden, but too be really honest they are too close together i have pulled one up as it was going orange and dying off...... your plants look healthy too me, my plants took a while to get going, now look at them.....but i did plant mine too early next year i will do it later. are you sure there is no bugs on the leaves? i found on my toms that some of the leaves have curled and i know there is a bug that makes the leaf roll so it will protect the eggs.


thank you incy.
im not being greedy i will be happy with just one normal size pumpkin. so if they do that i will be all smiles.

[Two_Sheds]

here are a few of mie photos see if any one can give me some advise

Advice about what?
They look fine. Don't fuss, and let them do their thing.

[Incy]

Advice about what?
They look fine. Don't fuss, and let them do their thing.

Totally agree with Two Sheds. These look very healthy. Stop worrying and start enjoying!

[darkcrystal]

ok two sheds and incy i will do thank you

[AndrewC]

thanks. the plants in the front are going yellow is there anything i can do to stop this? ive now started to water the plants less to see if they will do any better and the ones in the back are doing great and overtaking the ones in the front and ive now started to use a plant feed called osmacote

[darkcrystal]

my pumpkin leaves are going yellow but everyone says not to worry, im not an expert but is the soil diffrent in the back than the front, wondered if that is making the diffrence

[AndrewC]

mine is different in the front to the back and mine in the front are going yellow i put fresh peat down in the front over the top of old ground and they have gone yellow but they still seem to be growing

[darkcrystal]

well andrew i really shouldnt worry because i have found a pumpkin growing, its 4 times bigger than the ones that kept dropping off. so cross fingers it wont die.......so there is still a big chance that yours will be ok too.

[AndrewC]

well im hoping they are going to be did you pollanate it yourself or did you let nature take its course mine are doing well i just hope it stays that way

[darkcrystal]

i did it myself, i dont trust the insects around here, they probably just miss mine for the sake of it ha ha..........so i do mine to make sure, that pumpkin is doing well last time i checked it was 34cm round and still growing only one problem its going to be done before halloween, and at the rate they are going thats the only one im going to get......oh well at least i have one i will have to buy one for the kids. next year i will try and work it out better

[AndrewC]

how do you know it will be done before? i have found a pumpkin in the front garden today the flower hasnt opened yet its still quite small but there is a male flower the same size so im quite happy and these are the ones that were going yellow but seem to have come back to life and are overtaking the ones in the back even though the ones in the back are twice as big

[alibobsy]

Well we planted some pumpkins this year and my experience is they actually seem to prefer to be negleted.

I didn't read up on them much and went with gut instinct. I suspected they would be large so put just 3 on one side of my raised bed. They are about 50cms apart in a triangle and have extra room over the pathways as well.

I planted them out early (at easter) and found them to be pretty hardy (covered at night when frosts predicted).

I found if I watered everyday they didn't seem to like it and I got lots of those little black flys (fungus knats) so I hardly water at all unless the soil is bone dry.

I do feed occasionally if any tom feed is left over when I have been doing my toms/cukes/corgettes, but did put some feed in the bed mix when we made them anyway.

Been away for a week, Dad watered my greenhouse veg, but I told him to leave the pumpkins, they cover so much ground they practically "mulch" themselves.

Went out today when we got back and they are enormous, I mean huge like triffids lol. all over the ground and paths, covered with fruit as well . I have grown sweetcorn up through the pumpkins as well and they have shot up this week too.

Some are as big as tennis balls so I assume were polinated.

I am beginning to wonder if we fuss over plants too much as my garden has come on in leaps and bounds with only minimal watering from Dad and no feeding or fussing lol.

ali x

[AndrewC]

mine seem to have grown loads since i cut a day of watering out i water them every 2 days now and they are doing great so they must only like loads of water when the fruit is quite big, well thats what i think anyway

[darkcrystal]

yes i have cut out my watering now, i have cut off the leaves that looked really bad, so just keeping an eye on them now.