{"id":339,"date":"2010-10-28T16:48:00","date_gmt":"2010-10-28T15:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gsu.eventmedialabs.com\/?p=339"},"modified":"2015-07-20T22:40:41","modified_gmt":"2015-07-20T21:40:41","slug":"how-to-grow-your-own-pumpkins-and-save-their-seed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greensideup.ie\/how-to-grow-your-own-pumpkins-and-save-their-seed\/","title":{"rendered":"How to grow your own pumpkins and save their seed"},"content":{"rendered":"
At Halloween, nothing can be more satisfying than hollowing out pumpkins that\u00a0you’ve\u00a0grown yourself.\u00a0Children are hugely excited at seeing the long tendrils winding and trailing their way across the ground and\u00a0the plump fruit starting to appear.<\/p>\n
Pumpkins are in the same ‘family’ as cucumbers, melons, squashes\u00a0and courgettes and are\u00a0a type of fruit and not a vegetable. Broadly speaking anything that has seeds is classed as a fruit.\u00a0 They’re from\u00a0the Cucurbitaceae family that has evolved to live in extreme climates.<\/p>\n
Soil<\/strong><\/p>\n Pumpkins\u00a0like free draining soil with lots of organic matter (compost or well-rotted manure), and are a very thirsty crop (think watery end product), so make sure they’re watered regularly once they’re growing.<\/p>\n Propagation<\/strong><\/p>\n They can be sown out doors in spring with protection – under a cloche such as, or without protection once the weather warms up and the risk of frost has past, usually from early summer.\u00a0 To give them a head start, sow seeds indoors (in April or May depending upon where you live, just before the last frosts are expected) and plant the seedlings out at the beginning of the warm weather.<\/p>\n Allow 1.2m (4ft) between plants.<\/p>\n