Planting pumpkin seeds in open ground

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Pumpkin is a traditional food on our table, very healthy, rich in vitamins. It is also an unpretentious plant that can be successfully grown in our climate. However, it is important to know the rules and nuances of working with this plant. Consider how to plant pumpkin seeds in open ground.

Selection and preparation of seeds

Before talking about how to plant pumpkin seeds in open ground, you need to consider how to choose the right seeds. Because all success depends on the right choice and their preliminary processing.

There are several ways: you can buy seeds from any gardening store, or you can harvest seeds from a pumpkin that you grow in your garden. Of course, the pumpkin must be fully ripe. Collecting seeds is not difficult at all - for this you need to remove the seeds from the fruit, rinse them, dry them and put them in storage. It is recommended to store them in a bag made of natural fabric. This will be the seed.

It is noteworthy that the more viable the seeds are, the more they are stored. Seeds that are stored for a year or two are considered optimal for planting. In general, they can be stored for four years, and all this time they will maintain their germination capacity.

Next, the seeds must be sorted out - and this stage should not be skipped, since large, full-fledged seeds will give you a healthy, strong plant. If the planting material is small, damaged, then you should not use it.

There is a simple and reliable way to determine good seeds - for this it is enough to soak them in salted water. Seeds that are not suitable for sowing will remain on the surface of the water and should be discarded.

The next stage of seed preparation is germination and hardening. Soaked seeds need to germinate or wait until the sprouts begin to hatch. Then they are tempered. Why do they do it? This treatment of the seeds will significantly shorten the growing period and you will be able to get your seedlings faster. This way, you have a significantly increased chance of growing your crop even when summer ends early.

In addition, hardening has a positive effect on seeds by strengthening the immunity of plants, making them stronger, stronger, and allowing them to withstand changing weather conditions.

How to properly calcine the seeds so that it is easier for the sprout to break through the skin of the seed? To do this, pumpkin seeds must be warmed up at a temperature of 50-60 degrees for 8-9 hours. The most convenient way for this is the oven. Please note that the seeds must be evenly heated, so they must be turned over.

After that, they must be kept in an ash solution. The solution is easy - 2 tablespoons of ordinary wood ash is insisted in a liter of boiling water. Calcined seeds are kept in this solution for 12 hours.

Before planting a pumpkin with seeds in open ground, it is necessary to do one more process with the germinated seeds - place it in the refrigerator for 24 hours. And only after that you can proceed to planting.

Soil preparation

Experienced gardeners know that you need to find a good place for the pumpkin to grow. It is advisable to choose a sunny location. Pumpkin loves fertile and loose soil, as its roots need air. As for acidity, the soil should not be acidic. The ideal option is loam and sandy loam. Remember that the soil must be fertile.

There is another important nuance that must be taken into account - a pumpkin (no matter which variety) is planted in the same place only after 5 years. It is good if perennial grasses, cabbage or legumes grew on this place before - this soil is very good for pumpkin.

Start preparatory work for planting a pumpkin in the fall. The site should be well prepared, namely, remove weeds, add compost and humus. Also, the site should be dug up. If you decide to plant seeds in acidic soil, then it is better to add lime to it (you can also use dolomite flour). Remember to enrich the soil in the fall. If you could not do it on time, then fertilizer can be applied before planting.

When to plant seeds

Now let's look at how to plant pumpkin seeds in open ground. As with most other crops, the duration depends on the weather conditions in the region. If this is the southern region, then usually planting can begin in the first days of May; northern - in the last days of May. If the weather in your region does not allow planting before summer, then it is recommended to grow pumpkin not from seeds, but through seedlings.

Before planting pumpkin seeds in open ground, make sure that the ground is warmed up to a depth of at least 10 cm. If not (its temperature is less than +12 degrees), then the seeds will germinate extremely slowly. Moreover, they can rot.

To correctly calculate the sowing time, be guided by when the earth warms up to the desired temperature, when the first autumn cold weather comes, since the crop is harvested before they arrive.

And the fruits ripen in 3, 5-4 months after the appearance of the first shoots. If the seeds are pre-prepared, then they germinate up to a week; if not prepared - from ten days to two weeks. Consider all this to determine when to plant.

How to plant pumpkin seeds

First, holes are dug in the future pumpkin garden, into each of which hot water is poured (about a liter and a half). When the water is completely absorbed, you can plant seeds - 3-5 seeds in each. Then the holes must be covered with earth. It remains to wait for the plants to sprout.

You only need to leave two plants - choose the ones that are in the best condition. A good pumpkin will grow from such plants. Plants must be regularly loosened and watered, fertilized with organic, for example, chicken droppings or mineral (ammonium nitrate) dressings.