Page 38 - Sunday Fun Day

planting pumpkins
Plump pumpkins are fun to grow and fun to eat — the perfect autumn treat! But they need to soak up the sun all summer long, so now is the time to prepare your perfect pumpkin patch!
Pumpkins love space and sunlight! The best time to plant is early-mid June as your pumpkins will need at least three months of warm summer weather to grow. If you don’t have a big space, you can grow smaller types of pumpkin or you can use big containers or pots instead. Make sure the pots have plenty of holes in the bottom to let extra water drain out.
Pumpkins also like rich soil, so add lots of manure and compost (see page 63) and mix it all together.
Now it’s time to plant your seeds. Make a row of little hills, around 80 cm wide each, and about 1-2 metres apart. Plant 2-3 seeds into every hill, about
2 cm deep. Water them well weekly.
In less than a week, you will see the first shoots poking out. These should grow into little pumpkin seedlings in about 5-10 days. Hurrah!
When the pumpkin plants grow flowers, they need the help of bees. Bees carry pollen from flower to flower and this is what makes the flowers grow pumpkins.
Try not to use chemicals in your garden that will hurt insects. You can also grow other plants and flowers that will attract bees (see
pages 50-51). 34
You will need:
pumpkin seeds
a large sunny patch of soil, or big 30-litre containers
compost and manure fertiliser
watering can
trowel