Growing pumpkins in the open ground at home

The largest vegetable in the garden is a pumpkin. However, to achieve great fertility and excellent taste, you need to know, how to grow pumpkins in the open ground. Here are your secrets, which will be discussed below.

Features of growing pumpkins

Knowing, how a pumpkin grows and what conditions it needs, it is possible to receive excellent fruiting from culture without special problems. An important point here is the lighting. We grow this vegetable in well-lit areas. The duration of illumination should be 10-12 hours. Otherwise, the plant will form few ovaries and will suffer from various diseases. Also, when choosing a location for pumpkin bushes, you should avoid strong winds and drafts.

Planting seedlings or seeds is performed in wide beds (to 3 m). It is best to arrange high beds to protect shrubs from excessive moisture. Many experienced gardeners (example, Oktyabrina Ganichkina) advised between plants to maintain intervals in 150-300 div. In varieties, forming small fruits, this figure decreases to 70-100 div.

How to plant a pumpkin

How to grow a pumpkin in the open ground? There are two ways:

• using seeds;
• with seedlings.

Both methods have their secrets. However, they have a lot in common. It is important to remember, that pumpkin, cultivation and care of which is performed in different regions, has special requirements for agricultural technology. Here you need to take into account the climatic features of the place of growth (in Siberia, etc.), as well as requirements for post-planting care.

Predecessors of culture

How to grow a large pumpkin? We must first choose the right predecessors for her. The best precursors for pumpkin are considered:

• crucifers;
• legumes;
• corn;
• beet;
• eggplant;
• carrots;
• potato;
• tomatoes;
• pepper;
• sunflower;
• onion.

In the same place this crop can be grown only through 4-5 years.

Soil selection

It is important to know, what a pumpkin grows, directly depends on the type of land. It is best to grow pumpkin on light and medium loamy soils. The more fertile the soil, the more pumpkins will turn out. To increase fertility, the soil is prepared in autumn. It is being dug up, then add manure or compost (5-8 kg per 1 sq. m.). If the ground is heavy, urea and sawdust are added to it. In the case of high acidity, slaked lime is used.

Planting seeds

To understand, how to grow a pumpkin from seed, it is necessary to get acquainted with the relevant literature. You can also watch the training video, created by experienced gardeners (Oktyabrina Hanichkina and others).

Planting seeds is as follows:

• the bed is made wide 70 cm;
• without a bed line spacing - 2 m, and between the recesses - 1 m;
• the holes have a diameter 30-40 cm;
• at the bottom of the pit spoon is placed potassium or phosphorus fertilizer. Manure or humus is poured on top. Ash can also be added, peat and so on;
• then the fertilizer is poured with warm water;
• in one hole put on 2-3 seeds. Depth of occurrence - 3-7 cm;
• then the soil is mulched with humus / peat;
• the top bed is covered with film.

Pumpkin seeds are grown in many regions of our country (example, in the southern regions), as well as in Belarus, Ukraine, etc.. d.

Planting seedlings

To obtain seedlings, the seeds are germinated and treated with a growth stimulant. They should be grown in separate containers - peat pellets or plastic cups. Seedlings should be grown at home, creating optimal humidity conditions, temperature and light (different from houseplants).

Seedlings are planted in late May. At this time, the age of the shoots will be about 30 days. Planting young plants in the soil is carried out according to the same scheme, as seeds.