Good enought to eat: Pumpkins

●Choose a location with space and direct sunlight. If you’re short on space, you can grow pumpkins in a 40ltr bucket.

●Prepare your patch, ensuring you have rich, well-drained soil, and mix in lots of compost.

●Pumpkin seeds are sensitive to the cold, so make sure the soil is as close to 30°C as possible before planting.

●To help soil warm quickly in the sun, create a small mound a few inches high and plant three to five seeds around the sides. Seeds are better sown on their side, direct into the compost.

●Once the pumpkins germinate and grow to about two or three inches tall, you can train them to grow in the direction you want. If you don’t have a lot of space, train your vines to grow up a trellis.

●Water pumpkins regularly; they need about an inch of water per week, and this increases during flowering season. Avoid getting the fruit and flowers too wet or it will increase the chance of rot. Pumpkins love food, so feed regularly with a water/compost mixture, or use manure.

●Pinch off the fuzzy ends of each vine after a few pumpkins have formed to stop vines growing.

●You should also prune unruly vines to preserve the energy for fruit growth. As the fruit develops, they should be turned – make sure the vines aren’t damaged when doing this – to encourage an even shape.