Crops & Breeds › Vegetable Garden
🎃 Pumpkins
Vegetable Garden · growing reference
| Days to maturity | 95 days – 130 days, by type |
|---|---|
| Germination | 8 days |
| Direct sowing | +5 days vs transplants |
| Spacing | 48″ in the row × 96″ between rows |
| Planted as | seed |
| Water | ~1–2 in a week |
When to plant
In USDA zone 6, for example: Plant out around Apr 22, once your last frost has passed.
| Spring | |
|---|---|
| Zone 3 | May 22 |
| Zone 4 | May 14 |
| Zone 5 | May 3 |
| Zone 6 | Apr 22 |
| Zone 7 | Apr 8 |
| Zone 8 | Mar 22 |
| Zone 9 | Feb 27 |
Dates are the typical window for each zone's average frost dates — your own last frost can differ by a couple of weeks. Zone 10 and warmer is effectively frost-free: plant to the season, not the frost. Southern Hemisphere: shift six months.
Pumpkin Types
- Mini · 95 days · 3–6 lbs/plant — Palm-size decorators (Jack Be Little) — a handful per vine, cured like gourds.
- Pie · 100 days · 10–20 lbs/plant — Sugar pumpkins (Small Sugar, New England Pie) — dense sweet flesh; canned ‘pumpkin’ is actually a moschata.
- Carving · 110 days · 20–40 lbs/plant — The jack-o’-lantern field pumpkin — thin walls carve well; grown for October, not the kitchen.
- Giant · 130 days · 50–300 lbs/plant — C. maxima fair contenders (Atlantic Giant) — one fruit per vine, fed all season.
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