Pumpkin update

[CwtchyBlueMama]

For anyone who remembers or even cares the pumpkin plant we are growing for ds' nursery is thriving.

Had a couple of times when we thought it would come to nothing,but we have 1 pumpkin about the size of a tennis ball & 2 smaller ones.

So thankyou for your advice & i think my fingers have turned green!

Wow, well done. If you are going for huge pumpkins you could break the end "leader stem" off. This makes the plant put all it energies into the fruits you have.

Otherwise you could leave them and see how many you get. I normally keep 4 or 5 on each plant.

If I remember correctly, you did not know which variety it was. It might be worth finding out (if you can) and deciding how many fruits to nourish.

Hi,good memory! No i dont know what variety it is but i might ask them in school tomorrow.

When you say break the 'leader stem' off what do you mean? Sorry but i am a complete novice to all this gardening, but i already have plans to grow a veg patch next yr.

I might keep the 3 going on there as a back up in case any of them get eaten by bugs or die.

The leader stem is the end of the stem. Where the stem of the plant comes from the plantpot fruits gradually appear along this and ripen. If you allow it to get longer then more fruits are formed. If you cut it, almost like a plant haircut, then all the plants energy goes into making the fruits that are already formed bigger.

It can seem drastic but ensures you get at least one nice big pumpkin.

You still have loads of time yet though so give it a couple of weeks and see how the fruits get on.

In a couple of weeks the stem will be much more obvious as well.

How did your pumpkins finally turn out?