Pumpkins are World Garden Schools’ global plant, meaning that it is in the WGS curriculum and member schools strongly encouraged to grow pumpkins. From WGS textbook, Handbook for Budding Little Gardeners:

Why have we chosen pumpkins? 

1. Pumpkins can be grown literally anywhere in the world, and is found in six continents (except Antarctica).
2. The grow fast (ranging between 90-120 days)
3. They are easy to grow
4. They are big and gorgeous
5. They are yummy to eat
6. You can have fun with pumpkins!

There are so many types of pumpkins (and squashes)!

Pumpkin Feast: half a pumpkin, one squash, some apples

I baked all these (below) to share with the Heston Action Group at their Harvest Day on 1 October 2023

Planting calendar

If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, this is the pumpkin timetable:

If you live near the tropics, you can plant pumpkins throughout the year, though the best time is the long hot season as the plants need lots of sun.

How to harvest and store pumpkin seeds

The best thing about pumpkins is you can eat a pumpkin, save its seeds and grow lots more pumpkins!

1.  Remove the seeds from the pulp and rinse thoroughly. There will be more seeds than you need inside each pumpkin, so choose only the big ones which have more chance of growing. As a rule of thumb, save three times more seeds than you need.
2. Place the cleaned seeds on a dry paper towel. Place in a cool spot for ten days. When the seeds are dry, save them in an envelope until you are ready to plant them.
3. If you are saving the seeds for several months, store them in the fridge in a container with holes on the lid so that condensation does not build up. Check regularly that the interior of the container is dry.

Where to plant

1. Pumpkins need lots of sun! So plant them where they can get lots of sun.
2. They also need lots of watering.
3. Use good quality compost to grow the best pumpkins.
4. Make sure that your pumpkins are sheltered from the wind.

How to grow pumpkins

It is one of the easiest plants to plant!

1. You can sow them directly into the soil or indoors until the first shoots come through. Indoor sowing gives more reliable results.
2. Sow the flat seeds on their side, 1cm (½in) deep, inserting only one into each pot to ensure minimal root disturbance when transplanting outdoors later.
3. Keep the pot in a warm, humid environment – like a warm bright windowsill and cover with a transparent paper bag to keep the moisture in.
4. Water regularly.
5. After the last frost (late April would be the earliest, just to be safe), the seedlings are ready to be planted outdoors.Ensure that you give your seedlings enough space (around 3 feet) when planting outdoors.
6. If you are planting outdoors directly, sow two or three seeds into each 1 inch deep hole. If more than one plant grows in each spot, remove the weaker ones.
7. Slugs and snails love pumpkin seedlings, so do protect these green babies! Lots of garden creatures such as the squash bug, squash vine borer, cucumber beetle and aphids love pumpkins so protect your crop! Remove the pests and put them somewhere else far away from your pumpkin patch.. 

Pumpkin Fun Facts

1. Pumpkins are one of the oldest domesticated plants, having been used as early as 7,000 to 5,500 BC, possibly in Central America. Indigenous North Americans have grown pumpkins for thousands of years, even before the cultivation of beans and corn.The first pumpkins held very little resemblance to the sweet and colourful vegetable we know today.
2. The name pumpkin originated from the Greek word for “large melon” which is “pepon.” 
3. A long time ago, it was thought to cure snakebite and freckles.
4. The dried up rind can be woven into mats.
5. Pumpkin can be made into cat and dog food – it’s good for their health too!
6. The heaviest pumpkin was grown in Belgium in 2016 and weighed a whopping 2,624 pounds. The heaviest pumpkin in the U.S. was grown in New Hampshire in 2018 and weighed 2,528 pounds. The largest pumpkin pie ever baked was in Ohio in 2010. It weighed 3,699 pounds and was over 20 feet in diameter.

PUMPKIN RECIPES

Pumpkin Pie

I used bought shortcrust pastry, which I lined a pie dish with and baked blind for 20 minutes. To make the pumpkin puree:

1. 500g pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cubed
2. 2 apples, sliced into slivers
3. 2 large eggs plus 1 yolk, lightly beaten
4. 75g soft dark brown sugar (plus extra to sprinkle on the apples)
5. 1 tsp cinnamon
6. 1/2 tsp ground allspice
7. 1/2 tsp ground ginger
8. 1/2 tsp ground cloves
9. 250ml double cream (I used coconut cream)

Roast the cubed pumpkin in a little butter until soft (about 30 minutes). In the meantime, slightly warm the cream with the sugar and spices. Cool the mixture.

Puree the roasted pumpkin or roughly blend in a blender. Cool.

Add both the cream mixture and the pumpkin when cooled to the eggs. Mix well. Our into the pastry and sprinkle some brown sugar on top of the apple slices. Delicious served warmed, with ice cream!

Pumpkin cake

This is basically like a carrot cake, but instead of carrots, pumpkin is used.

1. 500g of pumpkin, peeled and grated
2. 1 orange juice and zest
3. 300g self-raising flour
4. 300g muscocado sugar
5. 200g butter, melted
6. 4 eggs, beaten
7. 200g sultanas
8. 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
9. 3 tsp mixed spice
10. 1/2 tsp salt

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Line a baking tin with parchment paper – I used a loaf tin and there was enough batter to make six cupcakes too.

Put the flour, sugar, spice, bicarbonate of soda, sultanas and salt into a large bowl and mix to combine.

Beat the eggs into the melted butter, stir in the orange zest and juice, then mix with the dry ingredients till combined. Stir in the pumpkin. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden and springy to the touch.

Pastry-less pumpkin and apple tart

Make the squash ‘bowls’ first:

1. Two acorn squashes, cut into two (so that they are like little bowls) and scooped out the seeds and flesh.
2. 4 tablespoons butter
3. 2 tablespoons brown sugar
4. 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Melt the butter and add the sugar and cinnamon. Liberally brush this mixture on the insides of the squash and bake facedown for 30 minutes in preheated oven at 400 F.

In the meantime, make the apple filling:

1. 4 apples
2. 3 tablespoons brown sugar
3. ½ teaspoon cinnamon
4. 1 tablespoon lemon juice
5. 2 tablespoons butter
6. 3 tablespoons honey

Place the sliced apples in a large bowl, add the sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice. Let this sit for 20 minutes or so to release the juices.

Remove the apples from the juices. Save this for later. Heat the butter in a large pan and cook the apples for about 5 minutes or until soft. Scoop into the pumpkin bowls and drizzle over with honey and pour over the melted butter from the pan and the juices.

Stir-fry Pumpkin Leaves

This is literally healthy food for (almost) free and tastes so good too!

(1) 12 pumpkin leaves (choose the young ones), roughly chopped, (2) 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped, (3) 1 tomato, quartered, (4) 1 small onion, quartered, (5) 1 green chilli, quartered, (6) salt, to taste, (7) a splash of light soy sauce, (8) half a cube stock, dissolved in a quarter cup of water, optional (I used beef stock).

Saute the garlic and onions. Add the pumpkin leaves and chilli. Stir fry a minute. Add the salt, soy sauce and dissolved stock cube. Cook for another minute until the stems of the pumpkin leaves are soft. Serve piping hot, with rice.

(Pumpkin leaves courtesy of RHS Wisley)

Pumpkin Soup

(1) 2 cupfuls of pumpkin, cubed, (2) 1 cupful sweet potato, cubed, (3) 1 medium sized onion, finely chopped, (4) 1 tomato, chopped, (5) 1 green chilli, chopped, (6) 1 tablespoon butter, (7) 2 cloves garlic, chopped, (8) 1 pint chicken stock, (9) 2 tsp ground cinnamon, (10) 2 tsp cumin, (11) quarter a cupful cream, (12) salt and pepper to taste, (13) garnish – edible viola and chopped chives.

Sweat the onions, garlic and chilli in the butter until soft. Add the pumpkin, sweet potato, tomato, cumin and cinnamon to the pan. Add the chicken stock. Bring to the boil. Leave to simmer for 25 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Blend, and the cream just before serving, Garnish with edible violas and chopped chives.