Planting on top of landscape fabric can keep pumpkins from rotting on top of moist cool soils in the fall. The same effect can be achieved by placing cardboard beneath each fruit. Powdery mildew can sometimes occur in pumpkins so avoid watering plants overhead whenever possible as this spreads the disease.

Drip irrigation is ideal for watering pumpkin plants which like about one inch of water per week and slightly more during hot dry summers when plants are large.

If watering with a hose, aim to water the base of plant where the main stem meets the soil. Take care not to step on vines when watering and assessing fruits. For more information about planting, growing, and caring for pumpkin seeds, see the Pumpkin Seeds Planting Guide.

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Planting the best pumpkin seeds 22 pumpkin seed varieties Annuals for warm season planting Thrives in sunny growing areas with ample space Great selection of edible and ornamental varieties. Sort by:. Pumpkin Seeds - Fairytale French heirloom with an excellent taste.

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Help Center. Vegetable Seeds Pumpkins Pumpkins The many sizes and shapes now available in pumpkin seed varieties add to the childhood mystique of the season and attract families like a magnet.

Categories to explore. Powdery Mildew Protected Pumpkins. Mini Pumpkins. Small Pumpkins. Big Pumpkins. Giant Pumpkins. Unique Pumpkins.

White Pumpkins. Edible Pumpkin Seeds. Hide filters Filter Sort Sort by: Alphabetically, A-Z Sort Featured Best selling Alphabetically, A-Z Alphabetically, Z-A Price, low to high Price, high to low Date, old to new Date, new to old. Pumpkin Abominable F1 Seed.

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Black Bear F1 Pumpkin seeds. Zapallo Peruano Pumpkin seeds. Ivory Bell F1 Pumpkin seeds. Tokyo Blue pumpkin seeds. At that point I used to mow them and turn them under, but that left ground bare and sprouting a new crop of weeds.

Now I flatten the oats to make a heavy mulch by holding a 4-byfoot sheet of plywood on edge in the oats and flopping it down parallel to the pumpkin row. I tread all over this before flipping the panel down the row and treading it again, and so on. Then I flatten the areas between the hills so that a thick thatch of succulent green oats covers the entire plot.

The only problem is that the oats will not stay down; they are not dead, and soon try to straighten up in response to sun.

A sheet of black plastic would work, if that grows better on your farm; I have lots of leaves. Because leaves will dry out and tend to blow away, I cover them in turn with a thin layer of trashy old hay — milkweed, goldenrod, etc.

This compound mulch is a formidable barrier to weeds, and the rotting oats create a congenial environment for the rapidly spreading pumpkin roots.

A remarkable side-benefit this is big that I never anticipated is that the growing oats seem to completely deter the striped cucumber beetle, which otherwise is a serious pest for me. Soon after the first killing frost levels the pumpkin foliage, I gather the mature fruits under cover.

The seed can stand repeated frosts, but the fruits will not store as well, and I want to store them for two reasons: to let me focus on other chores and deal with the pumpkins at my later convenience; and because the seeds improve post-harvest as they continue to draw energy from the placenta.

Pumpkin flesh may provide some sweetness and vitamin A to the diet, but its nutrient load pales compared with that of the seeds. Aside from the fat content, seeds have abundant protein particularly tryptophan and lots of trace minerals that are often lacking in other foods, most notably zinc, but also manganese, magnesium, copper and iron.

I try to eat food without over-analyzing it, but I know some readers are really into this stuff. Even the oil is exceptionally wholesome, containing a group of fatty acids that includes omega A few supposedly multipurpose pepita varieties are offered.

I call these SAK Swiss Army Knife varieties — e. Trust the Swiss to know their military priorities. In my experience, the SAK pepitas tend to be rather small for spook carving, mediocre as pie filling and not completely hulless.

That last I consider their greatest defect, as that is my main objective. Plant breeder Brent Loy of the University of New Hampshire identifies four degrees of hullessness, given that the hull is genetically reduced to a flimsy membrane that is easily sloughed off and blown away.

For toasting and eating out of hand, the intermediate types might be acceptable, but pepitas have far more potential than just as a snack food, and those uses require fully hulless varieties.

His breeding work has focused on developing a more compact bush habit in order to increase planting density, and for smaller, more numerous fruits so that the plant diverts fewer photosynthates to producing flesh.

This is a very useful project for amateur plant breeders — and if you wish to jump into pepita breeding, know that the naked seed trait is maternal and recessive, so crosses must be made on the hulless parent assuming only one is hl and then backcrossed to recover the hulless gene.

Roy Curtis at the University of Connecticut developed a number of promising lines which, sad to say, are preserved at the USDA collection at Ames, Iowa, where they were grown out in block-plantings for pollination control, which is to say, no control at all, so they might as well have been thrown away.

The original or Styrian types have found some popularity here, but I have some issues with their flavor. The dark green seed is large, brittle and packed with fat, but that dark color, probably from tannin, seems to impart a rankish taste that I find slightly off-putting.

Among my pepita trials from Eastern Europe and Turkey, I found a couple of accessions that seemed to have a trait I was not expecting: tasty flesh!

Knowing what a pepo -bigot I am, you will perhaps take me seriously when I say that some were more than edible — I mean downright palatable, to the point of freezing 10 pounds of mashed flesh, which the family enjoyed during the winter.

I also discovered that those large tasty fruits may have a further use. Thinking of spaghetti squash, whose gourd-like shells can be dried and used as serving bowls perhaps for toasted pepitas?

By the time I had discovered these traits among the busted shell fragments, it was too late to identify which varieties had the combined traits; however I have about three prime suspects and I hope to explore them further and introduce one or more to the American seed trade. At some point, the seeds may sprout in the fruit cavity; barring that, as I mentioned, seed quality may benefit during the post-harvest period.

Much as I love pepitas as an out-of-hand nibble they puff up nicely when lightly toasted, but be sure to stir them constantly during toasting , I use them mostly as an oily meal, much as I use sunflower seeds. To make an exquisite salad dressing sans extracted oil , I heat a vinegar brine and add enough pepita meal to make a thick cream.

While still hot, I may add some dried dill weed, parsley, chives, paprika or whatever else goes with the particular type of salad. Allowed to sit in a cool place for a day, the dressing only improves.

To me it evokes Green Goddess. Also, a dip made with pepita meal raw or toasted , miso and salsa will likely be well received — otherwise adjust your guest list to include people with better taste.

About the author: Will Bonsall lives in Industry, Maine, where he directs Scatterseed Project, a seed saving enterprise. Media Inquiries: Contact Jennifer Wilhelm [email protected].

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