Stuck for space... Pumpkins

[Grow Bag]

Hi all...

Due to being far too enthusiastic with seeds and not having enough space in my raised beds or garden... I have run out of room for planting so am now moving on to containers etc...

My question is.. Can I successfully grow pumpkins and squashes in growbags??

Thanks, Rachel

[rustylady]

Yes, but I would suggest only one plant per bag, and be aware that pumpkin plants turn into triffids

[veggiechicken]

Can you train any of your squashes up a trellis/fence so that they don't take up as much floor space?

[Valleyman]

I used a 25 litre container before for a pumpkin. It was indeed a triffid and grew amongst my sweetcorn, annoying the weeding process and generally getting in the way.

[glyn]

im a total newbie and i had a large plastic tank about 40x24x14" so i cut a lot of large holes in the bottom (5" dia) and filled it with manure last october and plan on putting a pumpkin in to see what happens this year !sort of like a mini raised bed on steroids

[Jungle Jane]

Can your pumpkin trail out the grow bag onto grass or somewhere? My plants were trailing about 8 ft along the grass/straw,depends what variety of pumpkin you have tho. I think i got 1 pumpkin per plant they were very heavy,but when the plants young you can lay the plant in what direction you want it to grow if that makes sense,like growing melon. It's lovely when you see the tiny pumpkins appear & then the size they grow

[scarey55]

I do what Jane does and plant them in a corner of the bed and let them trail out all across the garden. They do tend to take over but they are worth it.

[mothhawk]

Can your pumpkin trail out the grow bag onto grass or somewhere? My plants were trailing about 8 ft along the grass/straw,depends what variety of pumpkin you have tho. I think i got 1 pumpkin per plant they were very heavy,but when the plants young you can lay the plant in what direction you want it to grow if that makes sense,like growing melon. It's lovely when you see the tiny pumpkins appear & then the size they grow

I read somewhere, quite possibly on the GYO forum, but I'm not sure, that if you take note of the first true leaf of a squash/pumpkin (the first one after the 2 seed leaves), the squash will naturally grow in the direction opposite that leaf. It's true. I tried it last year.

[glyn]

thats a good tip for when i plant! ,as the container is sort of in a corner and i have a choice of 2 directions that it would be good to naturally encourage it towards .

[Grow Bag]

Brilliant.. thanks for the all the advice.. I have 4 plants as all the seeds germinated and I can't bring myself to chuck them... I could have a major garden take-over on my hands from the sounds of it where the pumpkins are concerned..

OH is going to make me another raised bed .. they are approx 1m x 1m... maybe I could pop one in each corner for them to trail out onto the garden... eeek.. excited.. or maybe I'll try 2 in containers and 2 in the bed.. thanks anyway I will take on board everything about the flowers and direction etc...

I will definitely try and get the squashes up a fence though to save space.. thanks so much...

[snakeshack]

OH is going to make me another raised bed .. they are approx 1m x 1m... maybe I could pop one in each corner for them to trail out onto the garden... eeek.. excited.. or maybe I'll try 2 in containers and 2 in the bed.. thanks anyway I will take on board everything about the flowers and direction etc...

I will definitely try and get the squashes up a fence though to save space.. thanks so much...

good luck with that, my beds are 2.4 x 1.2m (8ft by 4) and get one plant each................and they still outgrow the beds by about 100 percent