How to Grow Pumpkin
Pumpkin At a Glance
Difficulty
Easy
Category
Vegetable
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Frost Tolerance
Frost Tender
Cold Hardiness
Survives to 4°C
Plant Family
Cucurbitaceae
Growing Season
Warm Season
Plant Lifecycle
Annual
How to Start It
★ Recommended for beginners
Sow about 1 week after your last spring frost, once the soil feels warm. Push 2 to 3 seeds 2.5 cm deep into a small mound of compost-rich soil, and give each mound at least 90 cm of room, since the vines sprawl. They sprout in 7 to 14 days: keep the strongest seedling and snip off the others at soil level.
Pumpkins need about 100 days of warm weather, lots of room and rich soil, so they are a whole summer project. If space is short, let the vines ramble over a fence or the edge of a bed, or grow a small pie pumpkin. Each vine usually ripens only a few fruit, so a handful of plants goes a long way.
When To Start
Pumpkin needs warmth. Wait until your last frost has passed and the soil has warmed before sowing.
We do not have exact sowing dates for this one yet.
When should you plant Pumpkin?
Your planting dates depend on your local climate. Sign up and add your location to unlock personalized dates.
Your Pumpkin Planting Window
Start planting
May 15, 2026
Last chance
Sep 10, 2026
Your Pumpkin Calendar
Set your location to turn these into exact dates and reminders.
Sow pumpkin seeds outdoors now that the soil is warm
1 week after your last frost
Optional: start pumpkin seeds indoors for a head start
3 weeks before your last frost· optional
Cut pumpkins when the skin is hard and the stem corky
About 100 days after you plant it
Did you water your pumpkin seedlings today? Keep the top of the soil damp until they are up and growing.
About 1 days after you plant it
How are your pumpkins doing? Water deeply at the base, not on the leaves, as the vines start to spread.
About 47 days after you plant it
Your pumpkins are on their way! Slip a board or some straw under each fruit to keep it off damp soil.
About 81 days after you plant it
Picking time may be here: check your pumpkin.
About 100 days after you plant it
The Journey Ahead
Pumpkin's Lifecycle
Seedling
Mature Plant
Seed Production
Step 1
Prepare Your Space
2.5 cm
Seeding Depth
90 cm
Plant Spacing
180 cm
Row Spacing
Vertical Growing
No.
Succession Planting
No.
Good Companions
Bad Companions
Step 2
Planting & Sprouting
Expect sprouts in 7–14 days
Growing Tips
- 1Give pumpkins full sun, at least 6 to 8 hours a day.
- 2Plant them in loose soil with lots of compost mixed in, since pumpkins are very hungry plants.
- 3Water deeply at the base about once a week, more in hot spells, and keep the leaves dry to slow powdery mildew (a white dust on the leaves).
- 4Feed with worm castings or compost tea when the vines start to run and again when the first fruit forms.
- 5Late in summer, pinch off new flowers so the plant ripens the fruit it has, and set each pumpkin on a board so it does not rot.
- 6Look under the leaves for squash bugs and their shiny bronze eggs, pick them off by hand, and cover young plants with row cover until they flower.
Seedling Phase
Step 3
Growth & Maturity
~100
Days to Maturity
40 cm
Mature Height
300 cm
Mature Width
Pests to Watch For
Diseases to Watch For
Mature Plant
Step 4
Harvesting
Harvest Window
21 days
When to Pick
Cut when the rind is hard and the stem corky, before frost
How to Harvest
- 1Pumpkins are ready about 100 days after sowing, when they are fully coloured, the skin is too hard to dent with a fingernail and the stem is dry and corky.
- 2Cut them off with pruners, leaving 8 to 10 cm of stem as a handle, and never carry them by the stem.
- 3Bring every pumpkin in before a hard fall frost.
- 4Cure them in a warm, sunny spot for 1 to 2 weeks so the skin hardens.
- 5Store them somewhere cool and dry, where they keep for several months, and roast the seeds for a crunchy snack.
Step 5
Saving Seeds
How to Save Seeds
Pumpkins cross easily with other squash of the same kind (most pumpkins cross with zucchini and acorn squash), so if any of them flower within about 800 m, the seeds can grow into odd mixed squash. To keep it pure, grow only one at a time, or tape a female flower (the one with a tiny pumpkin behind it) shut the evening before it opens, brush it the next morning with pollen from a male pumpkin flower, and tape it shut again. Hybrid F1 seeds will not grow true, so save only from a variety that is not a hybrid. Let the chosen pumpkin sit indoors for 3 to 4 weeks after harvest, then scoop out the seeds, rinse off the pulp and dry them on a plate for 1 to 2 weeks. Store them in a labelled envelope somewhere cool, dark and dry, where they keep about 5 years.
Seed Production
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