“Growing Pumpkins Made Easy: the Dos and Don’ts Every Gardener Should Know”
- Tammy Johnson
- Aug 23
- 5 min read
Written and edited by Tammy 23rd Aug 2025
Ok, let’s be honest…who hasn’t just quietly got a tad excited dreaming of a freebie pumpkin after sneaking a casual peek over the fence at the neighbour’s pumpkin patch while doing the evening watering? The pumpkin vine envy is real! 😩
Well now it’s your turn, grab your gardening gloves and let’s dig in for the best varieties to grow, tips on pollination, disease prevention and more!
Growing Pumpkins- Varieties Worthy of a Spot in Your Patch
Now, before you go throwing in every pumpkin seed you can get your hands on (we’ve all been tempted), stick to a few tried-and-true winners:
Butternut – Sweet, nutty, and hands-down one of the easiest to grow. Roast it, soup it, mash it, it’s the all-rounder of the pumpkin world.
Queensland Blue – A true Aussie legend. Blue-grey skin on the outside, rich golden goodness inside, and it keeps for ages.
Jarrahdale – Kind of like Queensland Blue’s cousin, with dense, sweet flesh and that gorgeous heritage look.
Kent (Jap) – Speckled skin, golden flesh, and flavour that’ll win anyone over. Great for roasting, baking, soups and salads, the Kent never disappoints.
Hot tip: Pumpkins are space hogs (seriously, they’ll take over if you let them), so maybe just pick one or two favourites unless you fancy turning your whole backyard into a pumpkin jungle. 🌿
Feeding and nurturing your pumpkins
Pre-sowing soil prep
Start your pumpkin patch off right by feeding the soil first. Work in a quality compost such as Chockablok to boost nutrition and improve texture, then top dress with Who Flung Dung about a week before sowing or planting out. This sets the stage beautifully for your hungry little vines.
When planting day comes, give them a good watering with Seamungus or Seasol Health Treatment. This not only reduces transplant shock but also gives their immune systems a kickstart and encourages strong, active root growth from the get-go.
Early Growth (Pre-Flowering Phase)
Once your pumpkin seedlings are up and running, feed them with Rapid Raiser every 4–6 weeks, and add a light sprinkling of blood and bone. At this stage, vines are all about building muscle, lush leaves and strong roots, so that extra nitrogen from the blood and bone gives them the kick they need.
As the plants shift gears and start to form flowers, their priorities change too. Nitrogen takes a back seat, and their demand for phosphorus ramps up, ready to support flowering and fruit set. That’s when Rapid Raiser really shines.
Flowering through to Fruit Development (Fruiting Stage)
From flowering onwards, keep up with Rapid Raiser applications to meet your pumpkins’ growing demand for phosphorus and potassium, this gives them everything they need to set flowers and swell those fruits.
As summer heat kicks into full gear, water becomes just as important as fertiliser. Keep the moisture up, and don’t be shy about giving your vines a refresher top-dressing of Who Flung Dung. Not only does it feed gently, but it also acts like a cool blanket, insulating the soil and helping it hold onto every drop of water.
Tammy’s Tip 🌱
Pumpkins are tough old things. As long as you give them room, water, mulch, and a steady feed of organic goodness, they’ll usually repay you in spades. Fancy fertilisers make it easier and give better results, but don’t let not having the exact product stop you, pumpkins will happily grow on whatever TLC you can spare.
Pumpkin flowers, too much of one and not enough of the other🌸
Pumpkins are self-pollinating, they produce two kinds of flowers, male and female. The males are usually the first to appear, the tall skinny stems, pretty obvious. Females on the other hand, are a little slower to the party, but you’ll spot them straight away, they’ve got a cute baby pumpkin tucked in behind their petals.
Now, sometimes your patch will look like a “boys club” with nothing but male flowers. Don’t panic! That’s just the plant getting warmed up. The girls will show up when the vine’s ready to get serious.
On the flip side, if you’ve only got female flowers but no males in sight, it’s usually the plant sulking because of stress, like wild weather, poor soil, or too much nitrogen. Keep your watering steady, ease up on the lush green fertilisers, and things usually even out.
Why Baby Pumpkins Start… Then Drop Off 😩
Few things are sadder than seeing a cute little pumpkin start to grow, only to shrivel up and fall off. Nine times out of ten, that’s down to poor pollination. Without enough pollen from a male flower, the girls just can’t carry a pumpkin to term.
Other culprits?
Hot, dry weather that stresses the plant.
Crowded vines with no airflow.
Or powdery mildew sucking the life out of the leaves.
The Hand-Pollination Hack ✋🐝
When the bees are off busy carrying out their business elsewhere, or you just want to play Cupid, hand pollination is your secret weapon. It’s easy:
Spot your male flower (thin stalk, pollen centre).
Gently pluck it, peel the petals back, and dab the pollen onto the centre of a female flower (the one with the baby pumpkin).
Too squeamish to pluck? Use a soft paintbrush or cotton bud to play matchmaker.
Best time is in the early morning while the flowers are fresh and open.
Do this and you’ll be loading up the wheelbarrow with pumpkins in no time.
Keeping Pumpkins Happy & Healthy (a.k.a. Outsmarting Powdery Mildew)
If there’s one thing pumpkin vines are famous for, apart from taking over the backyard, it’s falling victim to powdery mildew. That white powdery stuff on the leaves looks harmless, but it can slow your plants down big time. Here’s how to keep your patch in tip-top shape:
Let them breathe – Give your vines space to sprawl and train them to ramble instead of tangling into one big leafy mess.
Water smart – Aim the hose at the soil, not the leaves. Wet leaves = fungal playground.
Mulch magic – Thick mulch keeps moisture steady and stress low.
DIY leaf spray – Mix 1 tsp bicarb soda with 1L water + a couple drops of liquid soap. Spray it lightly over leaves to help ward off mildew.
Rotate the patch – Don’t keep planting pumpkins in the same spot year after year, mix things up with other crops to keep soil healthy.
Final Pumpkin Patch Wisdom 🎃🌱
Pumpkins are greedy for space, give them room to ramble and they’ll reward you.
Once flowers kick in, switch to a potassium-rich feed (think fruit & flower fertiliser) to help the vines pump out those pumpkins.
Harvest when the skin hardens and the stalk goes woody, then cure them in the sun for a week so they store well.
And most importantly, don’t overthink it! Pumpkins are tough, and a little backyard love goes a long way.
So, no more pumpkin envy over the neighbour’s patch, it’s your turn now. With these tips up your sleeve, you’ll be serving up roast pumpkin, pumpkin soup, and yes… maybe even my pumpkin scones in no time. 😉☕✨
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