To calculate the circumference of a Pumpkin use Pumpkin Pi

On Halloween I am not alone in writing about growing Pumkins and some of my notes are from Sarah Ravens recent article in the Telegraph.

Pumpkin Growing Tips

• Sow seed vertically into very rich soil.
• Pinch out all the growing tips in mid August and keep doing so to send energy into fruiting.
• Keep well watered and the soil full of humus.

Pumpkin Varieties for Next Year

• Crown Prince is a large heavy Pumpkin with blue-green skin that can exceed 10lb in weight.
• Kabochas F1 hybrids and Sunspot are good orange skinned varieties.
• Butterboy, Sunburst, Sweet Dumpling and Uchiki Kuri seeds are on offer ref TL840 with Crown Prince in a mixed pack of 5 from the ‘Squash Offer’ Rookery Farm Holbeach PE12SG 0844 7704653
• A ‘dual-purpose’ variety, Summer Ball can be grown as a courgette or as a pumpkin! Compact, bushy plants produce bright-yellow, round fruits which can be cut early as courgettes or left to mature to larger 1kg (2lbs) summer pumpkins.
• Thompson Morgan also supply named varieties like Hooligan, Ghost and Mars

Save Pumpkin Seeds to Roast.

• Place them on a tray with olive oil sea salt and Cayenne pepper and a splash of water.
• As the water evaporates the seeds crunch up and are ready in 5-10 minutes

Was it just Halloween or April first but Iowa is to tax pumpkins. Gardenerstips answer is to grow your own from seed. You can roast the flesh, eat the seeds or make soup from most varieties.

Related to Marrows and Squash, Pumpkins are part of the Cucurbit family. A recent trial of several varieties for the Daily Telegraph reported the following:

• Crown of Thorns – Good knobbly looks but poor taste.
• Crown Prince – Dense orange flesh great roasted, seeds horrid.
• Giant Pink Bannana – Good for soup but seeds like cardboard.
• Turks Turban – Grow for the looks as an ornamental plant.
• Lumpy – Lots of small tasteless watery fruit.
• Zucha da Marmellata – Good looking with golden moist flesh.
• Munchkin – Orange skin and flesh, recommended as a climber over a wigwam.
• Postiron Tristar Triamble – Green heavily rippled skin, moderate flavoured flesh with good seeds.
• Queensland blue – Good producer and storer.
• Red Kuri – Leave thew seeds but flesh is sweet and waxy
• Rouge Vif d’Etampes – Huge deep orange skin with flesh ideal for soup.
• Snowman – green skin with creamy chestnut tasting flesh and tasty seeds – my winner

Check out Giant Pumpkin Growing Tips

For more information on Squash and Pumpkins read
Growing Butternut Squash
Growing Pumpkins and Squash
Gourds & Squashes
Winter Squash from seed