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Growing Pumpkins and Squash

Pumpkins and squash are warm season vegetables. You should not plant them until the soil is warm and all danger of frost or severe chilling is past.

Sow seeds directly in the garden around May 20 in southwest North Dakota. Or, sow in pots or other containers indoors around May 10 for transplanting to the garden around May 30. You can get an earlier harvest and greater yields if you start seeds indoors.

In any case, single plants should stand separately along the row, with at least one foot between vining varieties and two feet between bush or nonvining varieties. All of the so-called summer squash--Zucchini, Patty Pan and many others--are really pumpkins and are bush, or non-vining plants.

True squash do not cross with true pumpkins, so you can grow these crops in the same area. Even when crossing does occur, as it may among all of the summer and regular pumpkins, genetic differences do not show until you save seeds from the crosses and plant them the following year.

Additional information on this topic is included in the Extension bulletin H-618, "Everybody's Garden Guide," which is available at your county office of the NDSU Extension Service.

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For More Information Contact your North Dakota County Extension Office of the NDSU Extension Service for additional information or see our main NDSU Web Page for publications and articles on Agriculture, Horticulture, Youth and Family, Business and Community and Food and Nutrition at  http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/