Pumpkin — Vegetables

Cucurbita maxima

Full sun, regular watering — frost tender — shelter over winter.

Photograph of Pumpkin — iNaturalist / GBIF

Sow: Apr
Plant out: Jun
Harvest: Sep
In flower: Jul, Aug, Sep

Sun: Full sun
Water: High
Difficulty: Demanding
Hardiness: H2
Season: summer
Height: 10–50 cm
Spacing: 400 cm
Pets: Safe around pets

Grows well with

African Marigold — In a trial, African marigolds sown with squash raised the numbers of the insects that prey on aphids, and the crop was slightly better for it.French Marigold — In a trial, squash and pumpkins grown with French marigolds took less damage from squash bugs and cucumber beetles.Nasturtium — In a trial, squash and pumpkins grown with nasturtium took less damage from squash bugs and cucumber beetles.French Bean — Pumpkin and climbing beans help each other: the pumpkin leaves raise the humidity around the beans, which helps them set pods, and the beans fix nitrogen the pumpkin can use.Lettuce — Sow a spare row of lettuce near the pumpkins as a decoy - slugs go for the soft young leaves instead of the swelling fruit.Sweet Corn — Let the pumpkin sprawl between the sweetcorn plants: its big leaves shade the soil, hold the moisture in and smother weeds in the gaps the corn cannot fill.Sweet Corn — Let squash sprawl through the sweetcorn. The big leaves shade the soil and hold the moisture in, keeping weeds down, and the damper air helps beans in the same zone set their pods.

Growing notes

Grows to 0.1-0.5 metres. Space about 250-400cm apart. In flower Jul-Sep.