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Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
P	P						P	P	P	P	P

(Best months for planting Pumpkin in Australia - sub-tropical regions)

P = Plant direct in garden where they are to grow.

A large trailing plant with yellow, bell-shaped flowers, pumpkin is frost tender. Most varieties will take up a lot of room . Grow them at the edge of your garden patch so that they can spread away from other vegetables. Butternut produces small to medium pear-shaped fruit with deep orange flesh . Buttercup are small to medium round pumpkins with dark green skin. There are a number of large pumpkins, some round and flattish - good for storage and eating - others will produce the "Cinderella coach" type giant round fruit which are not such good eating.

Harvest when the vines die off and the pumpkins' stalks are dry. Leave a small piece of stalk attached to the fruit to prevent damp causing rot. The fruit can be stored for months in a cool airy place. In some parts of New Zealand, they are stored on shed roofs.

Pumpkins sometimes need hand pollination if the fruit are not setting well or die off after starting to grow.

Culinary hints - cooking and eating Pumpkin

Cut up, remove the skin and roast with other vegetables or meat.

Young crisp shoots with young leaves can be cooked and eaten - stewed in coconut milk they are popular in Melanesia. Remove any strings and tough parts and stew until tender, or cook as a vegetable in boiling water 3-5 minutes.

Your comments and tips

02 Feb 12, paul (Australia - temperate climate)

just wondering i bent my stem to my pumpkin and cracked it is there any remedies first time grower thanks

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30 Jan 12, kevin rainbow (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Can anyone tell me a natural way to tread white mildue on the leaves of my pumpkin vines

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29 Jan 12, Trish (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

I am growing a jap pumpkin . I have four good size pumpkins on but now all the female flowers are not opening they turn yellow and drop off. We have had alot of rain for the past 2 weeks The vine is growing well and I have plenty of male flowers have grown pumpkins for years have not had this problem before cna some one help

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04 Feb 12, pramsec (Australia - temperate climate)

Hi Trish, If all four of your pumpkins are on the same vine then you may be overloading the root system of the plant. I have found that two fruit on each vine gives good results. You could try adding more fertiliser in a circle around but away from the stem of the vine. Hope this helps,

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29 Dec 11, tony (Australia - temperate climate)

how do you hand pollinate pumpkin

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15 Jan 12, Matt (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

You need to take the pollen from the male flower and rub it onto the carpel (?) of the female flower. You can do this by either using a cotton bud to transfer the pollen, or simply just pluck a male flower from the vine, pull off the petals and then gently stick the flower stalk (with pollen on the end) into the female flower. Personally, I use cotton buds for my pumpkin and courgettes, but sometimes I will also use a plucked flower or just my finger.

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21 Dec 11, Matt (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

My pumpkin is growing really well, about an inch or more a day, but the leaves closest to the roots have started to turn yellow, die and drop off. This yellowing and dying is slowly moving along the plant toward the tip. The new growth is still looking really healthy. What can be causing this yellowing? Could it be a lack on N or Fe?

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07 Dec 11, owen moore (Australia - temperate climate)

answer to Q try cutting arunner of your pumkin plant and it will produce female flowers or the end of a runner

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03 Nov 11, robert cowley (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Ihad lots of male flowers growing this year and few females,now Ihave the opposite,can pollen from the male flowers be harvested for use later?

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01 Oct 11, cheryl (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

has anyone herd of banana punkins before my inlaws grew these and they are a beautiful eating punkin but how well dpo they store ?

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