Dates for planting pumpkin seeds in open ground. We grow pumpkin outdoors. Timing of sowing pumpkin seeds in the ground

As a rule, pumpkin, like cucumbers, is immediately planted in the ground. However, if you want to get an earlier harvest and / or decide to play it safe, because live in a fairly cool region with a short summer, then you can initially sow seeds for seedlings.

About when and how to properly plant a pumpkin for seedlings and grow at home - read further in the article.

When choosing pumpkin seeds, do not pay attention to the picture on the package. The orange and smooth-looking fruit is not necessarily the best and necessarily sweet.

Advice! Don't choose the largest varieties.

This is due to the fact that all the fruit at once is difficult to use somewhere, and after you cut it, a problem arises. In addition, small pumpkin varieties are better stored and usually have a sweeter taste.

In general, pumpkins are of the following types and varieties:

The most delicious are muscat varieties, but they are the most thermophilic and late-ripening.

Hard varieties also have excellent taste. They have the earliest ripening period.

Large-fruited varieties are also very sweet and cold-resistant.

Pumpkin planting dates: when to plant seeds for seedlings and in open ground

Planting pumpkins for seedlings should be 20-30 days before the expected date of planting in open ground.

The optimal age of pumpkin seedlings for planting in the ground is 20-25 days from the moment of germination (5-10 days is a reserve for seed germination).

Accordingly, the optimal time for sowing pumpkin for seedlings is mid-late April or even early May, depending on the region of residence and its climatic zone.

Naturally, in the Middle zone (Moscow region) this can be done earlier than in the Urals or in Siberia, as well as in the North-West (in the Leningrad region).

In the South of Russia, they are usually planted immediately in the ground, but if you decide to grow seedlings first, then you can sow at the end of March.

According to the lunar calendar in 2019

If you are used to planting in accordance with the phases of the moon, then, according to the lunar calendar, in 2019 auspicious days for sowing pumpkins for seedlings are:

in March - 15-19, 23-25, 27-30;
in April - 6-9, 11-13, 20, 21, 24-26, 29-30;
in May - 3, 4, 8-10, 17-18, 21-23, 26-28, 31;
in June - 5, 6, 13-15, 18-20.

Unfavorable days (periods of new moon and full moon), in which it is definitely not worth planting pumpkin (and any other crops) for seedlings in 2019, are:

in March - 6, 7, 21;
in April - 5, 19;
in May - 5, 19;
in June - 3, 4, 17.

According to the lunar calendar, from the magazine "1000 Tips for Summer Residents".

Preparing pumpkin seeds for planting

"Do not expect a good tribe from a bad seed."

Before planting, pumpkin seeds should be carefully selected (calibrated), throwing out all damaged and bent specimens, leaving only the most large and plump.

Next, the seeds should be checked for their suitability for sowing (viability): pour into a container with water for 3-4 hours. Seeds that drown can be planted, and those that remain floating on the surface are best thrown away (they are light and empty).

Video: checking pumpkin seeds for plant suitability

You can directly prepare and process pumpkin seeds in different ways:

Soak in a damp cloth in ordinary hot water (50-55 degrees) for 1-2 hours.

And even better in one of the growth stimulants such as Epin or Zircon. You can also germinate in them.

Disinfect by holding for about 20-30 minutes in a dark pink solution of potassium permanganate (1%, i.e. 1 mg per 1 liter of water), and even better in a solution. At the end of the time, rinse under clean water and dry until the required flowability appears.

Advice! In addition to soaking, a hardening procedure can also be carried out. To do this, you need to wrap the seeds in damp gauze and refrigerate for 10-12 hours. Then take it out and put it in a warm place for 10-12 hours. So repeat for 3-4 times (3-4 days), in other words, expose the seeds to temperature changes (stress), and then germinate.

Just germinate! To do this, first disinfect, then wrap in a damp cloth (or put between cotton pads, napkins), put in a plastic bag (create a greenhouse effect) and put away for germination in a warm place where the temperature is + 24..28 degrees. As a rule, the seedlings will hatch after 2-4 days.

Another way to germinate pumpkin seeds is to sprouting in sawdust... To do this, you need to pour sawdust into a jar, pour boiling water over them and cover with a lid. Then wait a little (so that the temperature drops to room temperature) and add seeds to the sawdust jar. Then place this jar in a plastic bag and put it in a warm and dark place until germination.

Video: germinating pumpkin, watermelon and melon seeds

In order to awaken old pumpkin seeds, you can apply the method of temperature buildup. To do this, the seeds should be tied in cheesecloth and alternately dipped in hot water (40-50 degrees), then in cold (directly from the tap, although it is better to use thawed water if there is still snow outside your window). This should be done 4-5 times, keeping in water for 5-6 seconds. After the procedure, dry and immediately sow on seedlings or in open ground.

Many summer residents successfully plant pumpkin and dry seeds, but in this case, the planting time should be shifted by 5-7 days, in other words, it is necessary to plant earlier.

Important! If you purchased pelleted (processed) seeds, then they do not need any pre-sowing preparation, they should be sown dry.

How to plant pumpkin seedlings

So, you have decided on the timing, prepared and processed the seeds. Well, it's time to plant pumpkin seedlings! However, first you need to select suitable planting containers, soil to fill them and actually land them at the required depth.

Planting tanks and soil

Containers for planting and growing pumpkin seedlings should be individual: pumpkin does not tolerate picks, therefore, special peat cups, ordinary disposable plastic (0.5 liter), plastic pots or any other containers convenient for you, from which there will be it is easy to get seedlings when planting in a garden. Moreover, their diameter should be at least 8-10 cm.

Alternative opinion! Many gardeners perfectly grow pumpkin seedlings in small, 0.2 liter cups. Naturally, it is recommended to plant earlier, when the first one is just forming in the seedlings, and the second true leaf begins to appear.

Pumpkin loves nutritious soil. You can prepare the soil mixture yourself or buy ready-made soil for pumpkin crops (cucumbers, melons, watermelons).

If you decide to make it yourself, you can mix peat, humus and sand in a 2: 1: 1 ratio, or take peat, humus and rotted sawdust in equal parts.

Direct planting for seedlings

Step-by-step instructions for sowing pumpkin seeds for seedlings:

Video: planting pumpkin seedlings with germinated seeds

Video: sowing dry seeds for seedlings

How to care for pumpkin seedlings at home

When the first shoots appear (after 3-7 days), the shelter must be promptly removed.

And before that, it is worth at least 1 time a day to open the containers for airing for 10-15 minutes and at the same time check them for the presence of seedlings.

After germination, it would be good to put the container with plantings in a cooler place (where the temperature is 2-5 degrees lower, i.e. about + 15-18 during the day and + 13-15 at night), and then (after 5-7 days) return to the previous temperature conditions (+ 20-25 in the daytime, not lower than +15 at night).

Such a procedure (lowering the temperature) will help young seedlings not stretch out.

Lighting

Pumpkin seedlings need good lighting for normal growth, so the containers should be placed on a brightly lit windowsill, ideally on the south (southeast or southwest).

Full 12 hour daylight hours- your reliable protection against pulling out seedlings.

Advice! If suddenly the seedlings begin to stretch, then be sure to pour some earth into the cups.

Watering and feeding

Pumpkin loves moisture, so it needs regular watering. However, it should be done in moderation without overflowing the plant. At the same time, excessive drying of the soil should also not be allowed.

The water should be warm (at least room temperature), separated or filtered.

After 1-1.5 weeks as shoots appear, pumpkin seedlings can be fed for better growth (however, if you originally used fertile soil, then no additional feeding is needed). Alternatively, you can use nitrogen fertilizer (for example, mullein or similar), or even better, a complete complex type of nitroammofoska or some kind of special for pumpkin seeds (the same Agricola).

Video: growing pumpkin seedlings in a week

When and how to plant pumpkin seedlings outdoors

The signal for planting pumpkin seedlings in open ground is the appearance of sufficiently developed 2-3 true leaves and the achievement of a seedling height of 15-20 centimeters.

As for the timing of disembarkation, by this time the earth should warm up enough (up to + 8-12 degrees), and the weather should be stable warm (above +10 degrees).

Like all pumpkin seeds, pumpkin does not tolerate frosts, but it can tolerate short-term (unlike other melons).

Depending on climatic conditions, as a rule, a favorable period occurs in the second half of April in the southern regions, in mid-May - in the Central zone (Moscow region), at the end of May - in the Urals and Siberia.

Advice! It will be very prudent if you harden your plants 5-7 days before planting the seedlings on the garden bed, namely, you begin to take them out to the balcony (or loggia) or to the greenhouse, gradually increasing the residence time from 1-2 hours to a whole day.

It is optimal to plant a pumpkin in the garden in the evening or during the day, in cloudy weather, when the sun has gone or hid behind the clouds.

Pumpkin seedlings are planted according to a certain scheme, as a rule, it is indicated on the seed package (most often at a distance of 80 to 150 cm from each other).

The place to grow the pumpkin should be the sunniest.

Transplanting into the ground should be done carefully, slowly taking out the seedlings along with the lump, and in no case damaging the root system of the plant. It is better to make the hole large enough: pour a mixture of humus and ash on the bottom, spill it with warm water, put a seedling, and then cover it with garden soil. As soon as the landing is carried out, the planting can be mulched with humus.

Video: planting pumpkin seedlings in open ground

Thus, even a novice gardener can grow pumpkin seedlings at home. The main thing is to initially choose a good variety, determine the timing, prepare the seeds and plant them correctly.

In contact with

Pumpkin does not seem difficult to cultivate as it even grows in a compost heap. But there are several rules on how and when to plant a pumpkin in the ground, without which the vegetable will grow small and unsweetened. To get a large fruit is the work of a gardener and adherence to technology.

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Pumpkin planting methods

Depending on the place of the pumpkin garden and on the desired harvest time, one or another planting method is chosen:

seedling method;
planting in open ground with seeds;
composting.

When planting a pumpkin, you need to focus on the climatic conditions of your region. In cold regions, they are planted later, in hot ones - earlier. Pumpkin ripens in 95 days - early ripening, late in 140 days.

Seedling method

In some regions, in the open field, the pumpkin does not have time to ripen during these periods. Therefore, gardeners choose a seedling planting method.

Seed planting in open ground

In this way, early ripening pumpkin varieties are sown. In regions with a hot climate, mid-season ones will have time to ripen.

Composting

If there is no room for planting, you can plant it in a compost heap. Pumpkin accelerates the decomposition of coarse fibers and decorates the area with its leaves. The pumpkin grows in this place no worse than in the garden.

The technology for growing pumpkin in compost is no different from other methods. The pumpkin will also need timely watering and additional mineral fertilizing. She will receive organic microelements from the compost heap.

When and how to plant pumpkin seedlings?

The seedlings should be strong enough for transplanting outdoors, but not older than 50 days. Focusing on these terms, gardeners begin to grow seedlings.

Landing dates

You need to plant seeds for seedlings 30-40 days before planting seedlings in the ground. Usually pumpkin seeds are planted in the second half of April.

Seed preparation

Seed preparation process:

The seeds are soaked in warm water for one day. Seeds that are viable will swell and drown. The rest will float - you don't need to plant them.
Soak the seed in a root-forming solution: Zircon, Epin.
Leave the seeds in a damp cloth until roots form.

The technology of planting seeds for seedlings at home

Before sowing seeds at home, you need to prepare the soil and containers:

for a pumpkin, you should buy a special land;
if there is no possibility, the land can be taken from the garden, it must be disinfected and fertilized;
containers for pumpkin are immediately chosen separate, the culture does not tolerate a transplant.

Peat pots are best for pumpkins; they can be planted directly into the ground. Peat provides the plant with additional trace elements during decomposition.

Before planting, containers with soil are watered with warm water. The seeds that have hatched are planted in pots to a depth of 6 centimeters. And they put it in a warm place. Before the first shoots, the pots can be covered with foil. After the emergence of seedlings, the film must be removed and the seedlings must be placed in a sunny place.

Seedling care at home

Pumpkin seedlings develop well at an air temperature of 18 to 23 degrees.

Water the pumpkin as needed: about once a week. The first time the seedlings are fed a week after the emergence of shoots. The plant needs organic fertilization: manure, chicken droppings. The second time the vegetable is fed a week before planting in the ground. A complex mineral fertilizer is suitable.

How and when to plant seedlings in the garden?

When the air temperature of the earth warms up to 15 degrees and the risks of frost are passed, the seedlings can be planted in the ground. Saplings should have 3-4 adult leaves.

10 days before disembarkation, the seedlings need to be prepared. She is taken out into the street in the daytime, in partial shade. And at night they are taken back to the house.

Depending on the size of the fruit, choose one of the planting methods:

1 meter by 1 meter;
1.5 meters by 1.5 meters.

They dig up the earth in the garden and wate it abundantly with warm water. Then holes are marked and seedlings are planted in them. Saplings are planted to the depth of the first leaves, this will increase the root system of the future vegetable.

Rules for planting pumpkin seeds in open ground

It is necessary to comply with the terms and technology in order to properly plant pumpkin seeds in the soil. The quality and size of the future harvest depends on this.

Landing dates

Seeds are planted in open ground and in a compost pit depending on weather conditions. But after June it is not necessary to plant a pumpkin - it will not have time to develop.

Pumpkin seeds are planted in late May - early June, when the air temperature rises above 18 degrees, and does not drop below 5 degrees at night.

Choosing a place on the site

You need to choose a sunny place for the garden. There should also be enough room for the pumpkin to develop, it is a sprawling plant.

Seed and soil preparation

A garden bed for planting a pumpkin must be dug to the depth of a shovel bayonet and cleaned from weeds. Then organic fertilizers are applied to the soil.

For 1 square meter of the garden, you need to make:

8 kilograms of decomposed compost;
20 grams of potash fertilizer;
30 grams of superphosphate.

If the ground is cold, you need to warm it up before planting the seeds, covering it with a transparent film.

If the seeds are purchased from garden stores, they do not need to be pre-processed. Seeds collected from last year's harvest must be soaked in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for 30 minutes.

Then the seeds need to be germinated:

put them in a damp cloth;
cover with foil to create a greenhouse;
put in a warm place above 20 degrees.

To speed up the process, the rag is moistened in a root-forming solution: Zircon, Kornevin.

Before planting seeds, you can test them for germination. This will ensure a good pumpkin harvest.

The technique of checking seeds can be viewed on the Blooming Garden! Channel.

Landing technology

Before planting seeds, you need to water the bed with hot water - 80 degrees.

Then you need to prepare the holes:

hole size - 30 centimeters;
depth - 6 centimeters;
the distance between the holes is from 80 centimeters.

Place from 2 to 4 germinated seeds in the holes. Then fall asleep with loose soil. If the soil is dry, it must be additionally watered with warm water.

Outdoor pumpkin care

Outdoor pumpkin care should be done regularly. If there are a lot of vegetable crops growing in the garden, it is convenient to make a calendar of watering and dressing so as not to miss anything.

Watering

Before watering, each plant must be loosened to a depth of 10 centimeters. You need to water only with settled and warm water.

The plant is watered once a week, the amount of watering is 30 liters for each bush. The volume of water should be reduced to 15–20 liters when the fruits begin to ripen.

Top dressing

Two weeks after germination, you need to start feeding the plant. Then it needs to be fed every 2-3 weeks.

Better to feed the pumpkin with liquid fertilizers. For this, grooves up to 8 centimeters deep are made around the plant and fertilizers are poured into them.

Fertilizers for pumpkin:

manure, contains a maximum of nutrients for the development of pumpkin;
chicken manure, contains calcium, magnesium, nitrogen, phosphorus;
ash, composed of potassium and magnesium;
dry nitrophoska;
ammonium nitrate;
cowshed, similar in composition to manure.

If it rains outside for several days in a row, it is necessary to spray the pumpkin with a urea solution. Spray the plant only when the rain is over.

Topping

Pinching the pumpkin is important to grow sweet and large fruits. It is important not only to remove excess branches, but also dry, rotting tendrils.

Pinching rules:

you need to start pinching the plants no earlier than the first fruits appear;
pinch the lashes at a distance of 5-6 leaves from the fruit;
for growing large pumpkins, you need to leave no more than 4 ovaries;
2-3 fruits should develop on the main stem;
on one side - 1 fruit.

Harvesting

Today it is possible to purchase pumpkin seeds and grow this healthy, tasty and beautiful fruit not only in the southern regions, but also in temperate latitudes. Many varieties are zoned and can be cultivated in different climatic zones according to years of proven technology.

There are about 30 varieties of pumpkin. Numerous hybrids differing in the length of the shoots, shape, size and color of fruits, structure and taste of the pulp, terms of vegetation and storage were obtained on their basis.

On Russian sites, varieties of hard-bore, or ordinary, pumpkin are most often cultivated.

Representatives of this group are very diverse. Among them are climbing and bush forms, medium and early maturing varieties, fruits of varying degrees of keeping quality and application.

The best hard-bore hybrids for growing in the temperate zone are:

Variety "Bun" with medium-sized (1.5 kg) fruits of orange tones, divided into segments by white stripes, and sugary juicy pulp.
"Gribovskaya bush" - a hybrid with medium-sized fruits of light orange color, lined with black and green stripes.
"Mozolevskaya 49" is a variety with short climbing shoots and yellow, in green scalloped stripes, egg-shaped fruits with tasty pulp.

Muscat varieties are characterized by fruits of medium (6 kg) sizes, rounded-flattened in various shades of green, yellow and orange, covered with a thin, easily peeling skin. Most of the nutmeg varieties are characterized by low cold resistance and a long (up to 130 days) growing season.

The best nutmeg hybrids are:

"Marble Pumpkin" is a variety with greenish-gray fruits covered with specks forming a marble pattern, and filled with dense pulp, rich in sugars.
Variety "Golden Pear" with medium-sized (1.5 - 2 kg) pear-shaped fruits of orange shades with a pleasant nutty flesh.
"Candied pumpkin" has a dark green color of fruit. When ripe, they change their color to light brown, and the pulp becomes reddish.

Gymnosperm gourd is considered one of the most popular varieties of butternut squash, known for its large, tasty white seeds.
Large-fruited varieties, and there are about a hundred of them, stand out for their record large fruit size with a thick layer of sweet pulp and resistance to low temperatures.

Popular hybrids in this group are:

Variety "Lantern" with round, smooth, slightly ribbed fruits of orange-pink tones and tender juicy pulp. Fruits can be transported and stored for a long time.
"Russian porridge" is a bush variety that forms 3 - 4 round fruits on one plant, filled with medium-density pulp of high taste.

Some varieties are zoned for cultivation in open ground in certain territories of the Russian Federation. For example, the best hybrids recommended for growing in the central part of Russia are Kroshka, Sweet Pie, Melon, Zorka, Almond and Rossiyanka.

What to look for when choosing seeds

Pumpkin seeds are purchased in stores or harvested on their own.

When choosing seeds, it is important:

Determine the variety. It is made on the basis of an analysis of the climatic conditions of the area, the growing season of the hybrids and plans for the use of fruits.
Select the highest quality seeds. They should be large, dense, regular in shape and uniform in color and not have any damage on the surface.

Selected seeds are checked for germination.

This can be done in several ways:

A small number of seeds are placed for 15 to 20 minutes. into a small container of water. The specimens remaining after this time on the surface of the water are empty and will not ascend.
Several seeds are wrapped in a moist porous material (gauze, cotton pad, cloth) and placed in a warm place for 2 - 3 days. By the number of germinated seeds, a conclusion is made about their germination.

When buying seed, it is worth asking about the expiration date. Pumpkin seeds remain viable for 8 - 9 months.

Growing seedlings at home

In temperate latitudes, pumpkin is obtained from seedlings that are grown indoors.

Pumpkin seeds for seedlings are subjected to processing designed to accelerate their germination:

place them in hot (45 ° C) water for 2 hours;
germinate in a warm (22 - 25 ° C) place wrapped in a moist porous material.

Having prepared the seeds, they begin sowing. To carry it out, you will need containers and a substrate.

As containers, boxes or containers are used, on the bottom of which a 3-4 cm layer of sawdust is poured. An alternative option is to use peat cups with a diameter of at least 6 cm. This will avoid replanting, which the pumpkin seedlings are rather difficult to tolerate.
The containers are filled with a substrate - a purchased universal vegetable soil recommended for growing cucumbers or a self-prepared mixture of peat, rotted sawdust and humus, taken in a ratio of 2: 1: 1.
For each kilogram of the mixture, add 1 teaspoon of nitrophoska.
Moisten the soil before sowing.

Seeds are planted to a depth of 4 - 5 cm and covered with an airtight transparent material. Containers with crops are placed in a bright place with daytime temperatures from 18 to 25 ° C, at night 15 - 18 ° C.

Seedlings are looked after:

watered regularly and moderately, avoiding waterlogging and drying out of the soil;
after 7 - 10 days from the moment the shoots appear, the seedlings are fed with a solution of nitrophoska (15 g per 10 l of water) or an infused solution of mullein (1 part per 10 l of water) diluted in 5 parts of water for 3-4 hours.

Young plants 15 - 20 cm high with 2 - 3 true leaves are planted in the beds.

How to plant pumpkin seeds outdoors

Planting pumpkin seeds can be carried out immediately in open ground. This is true for regions with warm climates. Understanding how to plant a pumpkin in open ground with seeds, you should familiarize yourself with some rules.

Time frame for planting

Temperature conditions are more reliable criteria for sowing timing. It is possible to plant a pumpkin in open ground only after the threat of frost has completely disappeared, when the average daily air temperature exceeds 20 ° C and the soil warms up enough (at least 10 - 13 ° C).

In the southern regions this happens around mid-May, in the middle zone - by the end of this month.

Soil and seed preparation

Before sowing, pumpkin seeds are sorted, tested for germination and soaked.

Some vegetable growers practice hardening of seeds, which is important for growing heat-loving varieties. For this purpose, after swelling and "pecking", the inoculum is placed on the lower shelves of the refrigerator for 2 - 3 days.

With the place of sowing pumpkins are determined in the fall. It is desirable that it be a quickly warmed up and protected from the wind area on which perennial grasses or cereals previously grew.
Since autumn, the soil in the selected area is dug up (up to 40 cm) and fertilized, adding a bucket of manure or a nutrient mixture prepared from 200 g of nitrophoska and 500 g of wood ash mixed with 4 kg of sawdust and 15 kg of humus to each square meter.
In the spring, they dig the soil again, harrow and form beds 60 - 70 cm wide.

How to sow a pumpkin correctly

Sowing begins with marking the beds and forming holes with a depth of 40 - 45 cm. For climbing forms, holes are made every 1.5 - 2 m, and seeds of bush forms are planted in a nesting way at a distance of 0.8 to 1.2 m.

If, for some reason, fertilizers were not applied in the fall, then this is done before sowing, pouring ½ a bucket of manure into the hole, on top of which 5 cm of soil is spread.

Several seeds are placed in each well:

when sowing large-fruited varieties - from 2 to 5 pieces;
nutmeg - from 5 to 8.

Seeds are placed at a distance of 3 - 4 cm, "beaks" down.

The depth of their incorporation depends on the type of soil:

for the lungs - 5 - 8 cm;
heavy - 4 - 5 cm.

A plot with crops is mulched with peat or humus. Some gardeners cover crops with a film, having previously made small slots in it for air to enter. This speeds up the emergence of seedlings.

Follow-up care of the culture

With proper sowing and the use of high-quality seeds, the first pumpkin sprouts will appear in a week. They need care, which consists of watering, loosening and feeding. In case of prolonged cloudy weather, additional measures are taken to prevent pest damage and the occurrence of diseases, as well as artificial pollination.

Watering. Pumpkins are often and abundantly (10 liters under 1 plant) watered using water heated in the sun. The amount of moisture increases with the growth of the leaves, which facilitate the evaporation of moisture, up to the beginning of flowering. Such a measure promotes better fruit setting.
Loosening. After the emergence of seedlings, they practice regular loosening of the soil. Directly under the plant - to a depth of 6 - 8 cm, in the row spacing - by 12 - 18 cm. After loosening, to give the plants greater resistance, the plants are slightly spud.
Thinning. Pumpkin shoots are thinned out twice. The first time - after the growth of the 2nd true leaf, leaving 2 plants in one hole when growing nutmeg and hard-barked combs, in large-fruited varieties - one at a time. The next thinning is carried out after the appearance of the next pair of leaves. "Excess" plants are cut at the soil level.
Top dressing. To replenish the supply of nutrients spent on the formation of large leaves and fruits, pumpkin is regularly fed using organic fertilizers: infusions from manure or chicken droppings (1: 4) or wood ash (1 glass per bucket of water). The first feeding is carried out about a month after sowing. The infusion is poured into grooves 6 - 8 cm deep, previously dug in a circle at a distance of 10 - 12 cm. Similar procedures are repeated weekly, gradually deepening the grooves to 10 - 12 cm and placing them at a distance of up to 40 cm from the plant. After top dressing, the grooves are covered with earth.
Prevention of pests and diseases. During periods of prolonged coolness and frequent rains, the pumpkin weakens and can become sick or attacked by pests. To strengthen the immune system during such periods, the pumpkin is sprayed with a urea solution: 10 g per 10 liters of water.
Pollination. If the flowering of the pumpkin happened during a period of cloudy weather, then it is artificially pollinated. A male flower is plucked (it is easy to distinguish it from a female flower by its elongated stem), the petals are cut off and the anthers touch the pistils of the female flowers.

A little knowledge, attention, work - and the pumpkin will delight you with its beautiful and healthy fruits. It will reign not only in the garden, but also on the table, supplementing and enriching the diet with useful substances that help to survive the winter without loss of health.

Contains a large amount of vitamins, micro-, macroelements, protein and useful vegetable fiber. Due to its properties, it is one of the components of a balanced diet for various diseases. You can see a growing pumpkin in almost any garden. If you plant seeds in open ground, provide proper care, you can reap a really rich harvest. Choosing a suitable location and meeting planting dates are important factors in growing a heat-loving vegetable.

Selection and preparation of soil

The homeland of the pumpkin is Mexico, which is why it loves heat so much and tolerates exposure to sunlight well. The leaves have a huge number of special hairs that protect the plant from burns. Seasonally warmed, unshaded soil is perfect for planting. Poor lighting will lead to slower growth, thin shoots brighten, fewer flowers are formed, and therefore fruits. Most of all, pumpkin is afraid of frost, in which the seeds simply rot, so it is better to start earthwork from the second half of May, when the average daily temperature is kept at 20 ° C.

Attention! Germination is also possible in colder weather, but proper development will not be achieved.

It will be useful for an experienced vegetable grower to understand the important properties of the soil, pumpkin grows best of all:

in a nutrient substrate containing a large amount of organic compounds, minerals;
with neutral or weak acidity, pH about 6.5-7;
in loose, well-ventilated soil without the threat of water retention, decay of the root system.

If the land of the existing site does not meet the stated requirements, you can try to bring its characteristics as close as possible to the recommended ones. With increased acidity, chalk or lime is used, heavy clay soils require fertilization with humus or compost. It is best to do this in the fall, but if time is lost, and sowing is not far off, deciduous humus can be added in the spring. For each square meter, you need about 6-8 kg of humus, 3 kg of sawdust, 200-300 g of nitrophores containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

After feeding, the garden bed should be dug to a depth of about 50 cm, and watered with hot water. Thanks to such preparatory work, the aeration of the soil is significantly increased. Good predecessors of pumpkin on the site are: peppers, garlic, onions, lettuce, cabbage, beets, radishes, legumes. It is undesirable to plant after tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, corn, sunflowers, any representatives of the Pumpkin family.

Preparation and planting of seeds

The emergence of sprouts can be accelerated if the seeds are soaked in liquid organic fertilizers "Potassium Humate" or "Sodium Humate" for about a day, cover with a damp cloth and leave in a room with a temperature of at least 20-25 ° C. In order not to waste time and avoid planting low-quality seeds, which can give too few sprouts or develop poorly, they check their germination in a month: moisten with water, spread on a wet cloth until they hatch.

You can prevent fungal infection by etching in a solution of 1 g of manganese in half a glass of water for 30 minutes.

The optimal planting time is the second week of May, depending on the established warm weather according to the 1 × 1.5 m scheme. will sprout.

Attention! If the seeding is too shallow, the pumpkin rises in a "shirt", seeds are visible from the ground, which the birds will surely pull out.

Under favorable conditions, germination occurs within 6-7 days. After the appearance of real 2-3 leaves, thinning is performed, weak small plants are removed. In the hole with large-fruited pumpkin, one is left, and with nutmeg and hard-bark no more than two sprouts. When the last varieties have 5 leaves each, re-thinning is performed, the excess shoots are carefully cut off so as not to damage the main root system.

If you are not sure how to plant a pumpkin from seed, heed the advice of experienced farmers, who recommend using film for frost protection and moisture retention in the ground. A small incision is made above each plant that appears, and after excluding the likelihood of a cold snap, it is increased to 15 cm. The shoots are positioned so that they spread on top of the film. This reduces the evaporation of water, slightly increases the temperature of the soil.

Secrets of proper cultivation

Pumpkin is a moisture-loving plant, therefore, watering should be carried out in a timely manner, especially in drought, and be abundant enough. A developed root system that feeds shoots and fruits requires a lot of water. Do not delay watering during the period of active growth, flowering, and pumpkin formation. During periods of extreme heat, it is recommended to use water with a temperature of at least 20 ° C, preferably from clean wells, otherwise the plant may die. Weeds must not be allowed to grow, the soil must be periodically loosened, and then watered.

A grown vegetable should not only be beautiful and large in size, but also healthy. To do this, the pumpkin is fed with various organic fertilizers, which are applied before sowing, as well as during growth. Most suitable:

compost;
humus;
humus;
chicken droppings;
rotted manure.

To supply the soil with mineral components, complex fertilizers with nitrogen, potassium, phosphate are used; in the absence of such, ash is suitable as a replacement. In the spring, before sowing, green manure plants are planted on the site of future beds, which can improve the structure of the soil, enrich it with nitrogen, and suppress the growth of wild crops. During the active growing season, watering with organic raw materials will not be superfluous. Feeding begins after the formation of the first 3-5 leaves. In wet, rainy weather, dry fertilizers are more suitable. A good option is to prepare a mixture, which is subsequently diluted in a 1:10 ratio with water:

1 liter mullein;
2-3 st. spoons of nitrophosphate;
a bucket of water.

It is very important for the correct formation of the plant to remove excess shoots and ovaries. The main stem is pinched at a length of up to 1.5 m, several lateral shoots of about 70 cm are left with a fruit set on each of them. As a result, three pumpkins will be obtained from each hole, which can be accelerated by pressing the shoots to the ground, covering them with a layer of earth of 7-8 cm to form roots. When germination occurs, these areas will also need to be watered.

What can you face

Like many other crops, pumpkin is susceptible to several diseases. Most often occurs:

Powdery mildew - whitish spots on the upper and lower sides of the leaves, gradually the plant turns yellow and disappears, if inactive, the fruits deteriorate.

Olive spot affects the whole plant, oily traces on the leaves turn into brownish sores, the affected pumpkins are deformed and lose their useful qualities. The onset of the disease is facilitated by strong fluctuations in day and night temperatures.
Brown spot - with a sharp change in weather, cold snaps, brown spots with a lighter center are visible on the affected areas, there is a loose black bloom, and a fungus develops.
White rot can affect leaves, stems, root collar. Tissue softening occurs. High humidity, dense sowing provoke the appearance of a light gray bloom, followed by dark dense formations.
Root rot can overtake the plant due to excessive watering, poor soil aeration, and plant debris from a diseased culture.

Of the pests, slugs are the most annoying, spoiling almost ripe fruits. It will be possible to reduce the likelihood of their occurrence if you sprinkle the ground near the shoots with tooth powder, wood ash, superphosphate. Some gardeners spread wet rags around the stems and collect them daily. In the fight against diseases and harmful insects, special preparations available on the market are often used. Compliance with the instructions for use makes their use quite effective.

The long-awaited harvest takes place in the first half of September. A shrinking stalk is a sign of pumpkin ripening. When cutting the fruit, about 7-10 cm of a hardened tail is left to extend the shelf life of the vegetable and prevent premature decay. The optimal temperature at which the pumpkin does not lose its properties is considered 7-10 ° C, it can lie until spring. If you adhere to the recommendations for soil preparation, observe the planting time, ensure proper care, in the fall you will find a rich harvest with high nutritional value.

How to grow a pumpkin: video

Growing pumpkin: photo

A pumpkin is planted in the garden as seedlings and seeds. Of course, if possible, the easier route is preferred. Sowing pumpkin of any kind with seeds is possible in the south, and in the middle lane it is problematic only in the case of nutmeg varieties. If the seeds are properly prepared and sown in the garden in time, you can grow a wonderful harvest of these very large vegetables.

Selection and preparation of a place, soil

The pumpkin grows in the form of a large bush, and most varieties also form long lashes, which spread in all directions for 2-3 meters or more. Therefore, it is problematic to allocate a good site for her in a small summer cottage, and the owners have to be cunning, allocating a dwelling for pumpkins in old barrels, large bags or on compost heaps. If it is planted in ordinary beds, they often provide for a "second floor" for the arrangement of lashes and fruits in the form of sheds or floorings over the beds, so that a place for planting other vegetables can be allocated nearby.

Since the pumpkin, like a cucumber, loves to climb any vertical obstacle, it is often planted next to a fence. If she on her own refuses to put whips on him, she just needs a little help, and then the growing fruits will hang on the fence, like toys on a Christmas tree. True, so that they do not fall, the fruits will also have to be firmly tied to the support. And since the average family needs to plant only 3-4 plants for year-round consumption, the problem of space for pumpkins with such approaches becomes not very significant.

Pumpkins love to grow on various supports: both naturally occurring and specially built for them

When choosing the location of the garden bed, it is important to ensure that it is well lit by the sun's rays: in partial shade, the plants feel worse. But the composition of the soil is of great importance: pumpkins take out a large amount of nutrients from the ground, and without high-quality fertilizers, the harvest will be scarce. True, for one plant, only about 1 m 2 of a well-fertilized area is required, therefore this issue is completely resolved.

The best soil composition is light sandy loam of a dark color with an acidity close to neutral (pH value of soil extract is 6.5–7.0). The pumpkin should not be planted after any related crops (squash, squash, cucumber). If a pumpkin is planted on a flat horizontal surface or a low bed, you can not carry out a continuous digging of the site, but only dig up and fertilize well the holes in the places designated for sowing. True, these holes will be more like planting holes: each plant must be provided with an almost full bucket of humus and a half-liter can of wood ash. Mineral fertilizers are best applied during feeding.

Often, pumpkin is planted directly on compost heaps, even not yet fully ripe, or large pits or trenches (up to half a meter deep) are specially prepared for it, which are filled with various garbage and waste (small branches, grass, tops, manure), mixing them with the ground ... In the spring, these pits are watered with warm water with a small addition of saltpeter (up to 20 g / m2), and by the time of sowing the seeds they warm up well due to rotting organic matter.

Video: sowing pumpkin by the fence

Selection and preparation of seeds

The stores offer a wide selection of pumpkin seeds of various varieties, but gardeners who plant pumpkins every year usually use the seeds from their harvest, only occasionally buying beautiful bags of unknown varieties for fun. This makes sense: unlike many other crops, pumpkin seeds are very easy to harvest, they are perfectly stored, and the quality of the fruits of old, well-deserved varieties is quite high, and it is not always worth spending money on buying seeds. But if the seeds are bought in a store, most likely, they should be trusted so much that you do not need to spend time preparing them for sowing; moreover, often the seeds from well-known companies are already fully prepared, they simply need to be “put to the ground” in a timely manner.

How to collect pumpkin seeds

The pumpkin does not always have time to fully ripen in the garden, and some late-ripening varieties "reach" during storage. Unfortunately, this only applies to the pulp: if the seeds did not have time to ripen in natural conditions, they will be unsuitable for sowing. For seeds, you can only use pumpkins that are fully ripe in the garden. They must be healthy specimens, uniform in color, regular shape and size characteristic of the particular variety.

If the cultivation of pumpkin for seeds is carried out purposefully, then there is no need to apply extra fertilizers under the corresponding bushes, this somewhat shortens the growing season. Since pumpkin plants are easily pollinated, it is undesirable to have nearby plantings of other varieties of pumpkins, zucchini and even cucumbers.

Seed gourds even need to be stored correctly until the seeds are extracted. Do not cut them right away, let them lie down at room temperature for about a month. Longer - not worth it: the seeds may begin to germinate already inside the fruit. If you miss this moment, you will have to say goodbye to the seeds.

Unlike watermelon, pumpkin seeds are not distributed throughout the fruit, but are located in the seed chamber, which in different varieties is located either in the center or on one side, but in any case it is large. Therefore, when cutting a pumpkin, you can not be afraid to damage a lot of seeds, but nevertheless this should be done carefully, after having washed the pumpkin and wiped it dry. You need to use a sharp, durable knife and not stick it deeply.

Usually the seeds are easily separated from the pulp, but some of them, especially not fully ripe, can be strongly surrounded by it. If possible, they are separated from the pulp by hand, folded into any container, and then washed well with running water at room temperature. Sometimes a sieve has to be used to separate the seeds from the fibers. Bad seeds can be separated immediately by flooding everything extracted with water: what has surfaced is thrown away.

Pumpkin seeds are well known to everyone: they are large and easy to work with.

After sorting the seeds, they are well dried at room temperature and sent for storage. It is best to keep them in a paper or linen bag, but most importantly, at a constant room temperature and low humidity.

Expiry date of seeds and germination test

Proper storage of pumpkin seeds guarantees their germination for 7-8 years. Moreover, there is no need to try to plant last year's seeds: they give the best results in germination and yield upon reaching the age of 3-4 years. They always collect a lot of their own seeds, therefore, before preparing them for planting, you just need to manually calibrate, choosing the largest and densest, "pot-bellied".

If in doubt about the correct storage, you can test the seeds for germination. To do this, take as many seeds as they can afford, but at least a dozen. Germination is carried out in the usual way: a napkin or a piece of cloth is spread on a plate, the seeds are laid out and water is poured so that they are only covered with it. They put the plate in a warm place and make sure that the napkin is wet all the time, gradually add water.

The seeds first swell, then burst a little at the tip, and a tail is shown from there. True, this can happen in three days, and in eight. Therefore, the experiment ends in ten days. If only one of a dozen seeds has not sprouted, great. If 2–3 is normal. Otherwise, it is better to purchase new seeds, although if every second sprouted, you can sow them, but with a reserve.

Video: checking pumpkin seeds for germination

Soaking and germinating seeds

Pumpkin seeds are often planted dry, straight out of the bag. Sometimes the packaging even says that they are ready for sowing. Their seeds are often soaked before sowing, or even germinated. It's hard to argue whether this makes a lot of sense, but for a few days such preparation brings the readiness of the harvest closer. In addition, germinated seeds become not so tasty and attractive to pests, which means that the germination rate increases. But if we are to prepare the seeds for sowing, then the first operation should be their disinfection - half an hour bathing in a dark solution of potassium permanganate.

Then the seeds are kept in hot water for two hours. It is advisable to find a way at home all this time to maintain the temperature (50 ± 2) o C. If, after such heating, place the seeds in a damp cloth, they should hatch no later than in 3-4 days.

Do not wait until the tails become long, they can be broken off when sowing

As soon as small tails of individual seeds have appeared, all the soaked seeds in the same cloth are sent to the refrigerator for hardening, where they are kept for 3-4 days. A more effective way of hardening is exposure to variable temperatures: the location (inside and outside the refrigerator) is changed every 12 hours. Some gardeners dust the seeds with wood ash before hardening. Especially diligent, instead of germinating on fabrics, they germinate seeds on important sawdust.

How to speed up seed germination

Germinating pumpkin seeds is far from the only stage in the preparation of planting material for planting. There are several more equally effective and not very complicated techniques, for example:

warming up is the simplest way in which the seeds are laid out on a well-lit windowsill in clear weather and heated with the sun's rays all day, carrying out such processing for at least a week. Instead, you can warm them up for 3-4 hours at a temperature of 60 ° C;
treatment with fertilizer solutions: it can be just an infusion of 2 tablespoons of ash in a liter of water, or a more complex mixture, composed by adding 0.5 g of boric acid, the same amount of zinc sulfate and copper sulfate to such an infusion. The seeds are kept in the solution for 5–7 hours;
treatment with biostimulants: in this capacity it is easiest to use a solution containing 0.5 g of salicylic or succinic acid in 1 liter of water. Agave juice, which is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10, is an excellent natural stimulant. The seeds are also kept in such solutions for 5–7 hours. It is believed that this not only improves and accelerates germination, but also increases the quantity and quality of the future harvest.

Possible reasons why the seeds do not germinate

Problems with the germination of pumpkin seeds are extremely rare. If you have checked the seeds in advance for suitability, they simply must sprout. Maybe not in 4 days, but in 10-12 days, but they will ascend! Especially if they were sown dry. Paradox? No. There is probably only one reason why good dry seeds did not sprout. They were eaten by pests. Either underground spider bugs or birds have unearthed it.

But with soaked or sprouted seeds, it is more difficult. If after sowing it gets colder and the soil temperature dropped below 8 ° C, it means that your seeds, which were just beginning to live, simply died from the cold. Well, if there was no cold, perhaps they simply dried up: if sprouted seeds are sown, conditions for sufficient heat and high humidity must be created in the hole.

There are many examples when one gardener was shaking over the seeds, spent a lot of time, waits, but there are no shoots. And a neighbor came over the weekend, buried dry seeds, and they sprouted beautifully. If, of course, the ground was warm and moderately moist. Therefore, we must admit that for a pumpkin, preliminary preparation of seeds is not very necessary, and sometimes it only interferes.

Rules, terms and schemes for planting pumpkin seeds in open ground

Pumpkin seeds are guaranteed to germinate only in soil heated to at least 12-14 ° C, but before sowing, you need to be sure that serious cold weather will not return: seedlings die at 1-2 degrees of frost. The best temperature for the development of pumpkin plants, the emergence and growth of fruits is 20–25 o C. Therefore, the timing of sowing seeds should be determined, focusing not only on long-term observations of the climate, but also on the current weather.

Roughly in the middle lane, the time for sowing seeds begins when May passes the middle, but in this case, each hole with crops should be covered with glass or film: the threat of frost persists in early June. If you wait for summer, then you may not get ripe fruits: after all, the growing season even for the earliest ripening pumpkins exceeds three months. In the northern regions, pumpkin is grown outdoors only through seedlings. In the south, it makes sense to grow only the latest varieties of nutmeg pumpkins in seedlings, all the rest are sown with seeds in early May, and sometimes a little earlier.

The scourges of most pumpkin varieties spread over the site very far, and if they are not supposed to be raised on supports, very large gaps have to be left between the plants so that the plants have room and they are not very intertwined with each other. And even with vertical cultivation, the holes are placed no closer than a meter from each other: the minimum possible nutritional area for one plant is exactly 1 m 2. But for comfortable growth, experts recommend a freer placement of the pumpkin, according to the 2 x 1 m scheme, placing one plant in the hole, or 3 x 2 m, in which case you can plant two plants in the nest.

Sowing seeds is not difficult even for an inexperienced gardener.

Under normal values of temperature and soil moisture, seedlings appear in 5–8 days. When it becomes clear that the frost will not return, the film can be removed. But in not very warm regions, many gardeners cut holes in it for sprouts, and temporarily leave the film in the garden so that the soil does not cool down. After 3-5 days, the extra, the weakest seedlings are cut off: it is better not to pull them out, so as not to harm the roots of the plants remaining in the hole.

Video: planting pumpkin with sprouted seeds

Plant care

Caring for pumpkin in the open field is not difficult and consists mainly of watering and feeding. True, it would also be nice to form the plants correctly on time, but even without this, you can get good results. Weeding and loosening is possible only at first, until the bushes grow. At this time, they try to water after shallow loosening, so that the water penetrates deeper to the roots.

Watering should be carried out only with water warmed up in the sun, so it falls on the evening hours. A pumpkin for fruit setting necessarily requires moisture during intense flowering, as well as during the rapid growth of pumpkins. Each bush has to spend up to three buckets of water. As soon as it is noticed closer to autumn that the fruits have stopped growing, watering is greatly reduced: this is necessary for a set of sugar content during ripening. At this time, the pumpkin will find the necessary moisture by itself: after all, its roots penetrate deep into the soil up to one and a half meters.

You need to feed infrequently: after all, the hole was well fertilized in advance. For feeding, a shallow trench is made around the bush with a hoe, where the nutrient solution is poured. The first time it should be done when 5–6 leaves grow, the second - when the lashes grow up to about half a meter. Fertilizer can be either azofoska (10-15 g per bush), or mullein infusion (based on a bucket of dry fertilizer for 6-8 bushes). From time to time around the bushes it is worth sprinkling wood ash with a thin layer.

When the main stem reaches a length of one and a half meters, it is pinched, and 2-3 pieces are left from the growing lateral shoots, no more than one fruit will grow on each. If you leave more, they will grow too, but they will be smaller and of inferior quality. A small board or piece of plywood is placed under each growing pumpkin so that they do not rot from contact with the ground. To improve the fruits, to provide them with better nutrition, the lashes are sprinkled with a small layer of soil at a distance of about 50 cm from the main shoot.

Sowing pumpkin in a garden with prepared or dry seeds is extremely simple, but not possible in every climatic region. Many varieties grow well and produce a ripe crop if the seeds are sown correctly and on time. Most modern summer residents have no time to deal with seedlings, and they go the easier way, often achieving good results.