HOW TO GROW GIANT PUMPKIN FROM SEEDS

Make a ten-foot-diameter bed in a sunny, well-drained spot in the fall with rich garden soil. You need eight or more hours of direct sunlight. Cover the bed with composted cow manure and till it in. Next year's giant pumpkin will benefit from the fertilized soil. Shape the bed into a broad mound, like a pitcher's mound, and cover it with straw mulch or cover crops for the winter. Plant pumpkin seeds a month or so before your area's average date of the last frost in peat pots in late winter or early spring. As soon as your most vigorous seedling has several leaves, transplant it into the bed, you prepared in the fall. 

CARE FOR GIANT PUMPKIN SEEDS AFTER GERMINATION

To protect the pumpkin seedling from late frosts and warm up the soil, cover it with a cold frame to protect it and encourage it to grow. Make sure the soil is moist every day. It is essential to keep the ground wet but not soggy at all times. Wetting the leaves encourages fungal growth, so water at ground level (a drip system is ideal for this). Fertilize weekly with light nutrients. In the top third of the growing season, use products high in nitrogen, such as fish emulsion; in the middle third, use products high in phosphorous, such as bone meal; in the third phase, use products high in potassium, such as greensand.

USES AND HEALTH BENEFITS OF GIANT PUMPKIN

Technically you can eat giant pumpkins, but they are mainly made of water and are very bland in taste. Also, since pumpkins grow so fast and absorb nutrients and fertilizers, they could contain some nasty things that you do not want to eat. Farmers load the giant pumpkins into the back of pickup trucks throughout the country and drive them into town to be weighed. Growers earn thousands of dollars in prize money from vegetables that weigh more than two tons or two thousand pounds.

Note: Information provided for guidance only, as cultural practices and climatic circumstances vary.

Specifications:

• Product: Giant Pumpkin Seeds
• Season: Spring
• USDA Zones: 5a
• Days to Harvest: 120-150 days.
• Soil Type: Well-drained
• Temperature: 20-25 Degrees Celcius
• Kingdom: Plantae 
• Scientific name: Cucurbita maxima
• Family: Cucurbitaceae
• Higher classification: Squash
• Order: Cucurbitales
• Uses: Vegetable, Competition