Help with growing pumpkins along porch

[eeyoresmom]

Need advice for growing pumpkins, possibly in a front yard bed beneath a porch. I have tried growing them several times in my vegetable beds as well as different spots along the periphery of my yard, with little success. I get the plant and flowers, then animals get to them or some other calamity. A few years ago I was sitting on my front porch and noticed a pumpkin vine with 2 actual pumpkins growing along the side! A jack o lantern must have rolled off the porch the autumn before. My only success has been accidental. I want a small pumpkin variety. do you think I can just train the vine along the front and side of the porch? There's about 15 ft.of railing there.

 

[Searc]

Need advice for growing pumpkins, possibly in a front yard bed beneath a porch. I have tried growing them several times in my vegetable beds as well as different spots along the periphery of my yard, with little success. I get the plant and flowers, then animals get to them or some other calamity. A few years ago I was sitting on my front porch and noticed a pumpkin vine with 2 actual pumpkins growing along the side! A jack o lantern must have rolled off the porch the autumn before. My only success has been accidental. I want a small pumpkin variety. do you think I can just train the vine along the front and side of the porch? There's about 15 ft.of railing there.

Pumpkins need to be pollinated.

 

[cabanafrau]

In my experience you can try training a vine like squash or pumpkin, but it tends to like to sprawl where it wants to go. If you want to attract pollinators to the area you might try planting something like bee balm, coneflowers or other types of pollinator-friendly plants to attract them. It really will make a big difference in how many pollinators you will attract. We've been redoing the landscaping in our back yard over the past couple years. We have a very large, very old shrub in our yard that flowers annually in June. Last year when it bloomed you could literally hear the hum from all of the bees it attracted and the bush was visibly vibrating, and had attracted several very large yellow butterflies like the ones you would see in a butterfly conservatory, never in our yard. We've lived here for several years, are used to the bush blooming every year and wouldn't have been able to miss last year's circumstances if they were happening yearly. The serious uptick in pollinator friendly plants in our yard over the past couple years clearly had a major impact.

 

[eeyoresmom]

ohhh, that makes total sense. We have large patches of purple coneflower and English Daisies there. So I supppse we would just have to deal with the messy vine.

 

[mefordis]

In my experience you can try training a vine like squash or pumpkin, but it tends to like to sprawl where it wants to go. If you want to attract pollinators to the area you might try planting something like bee balm, coneflowers or other types of pollinator-friendly plants to attract them. It really will make a big difference in how many pollinators you will attract. We've been redoing the landscaping in our back yard over the past couple years. We have a very large, very old shrub in our yard that flowers annually in June. Last year when it bloomed you could literally hear the hum from all of the bees it attracted and the bush was visibly vibrating, and had attracted several very large yellow butterflies like the ones you would see in a butterfly conservatory, never in our yard. We've lived here for several years, are used to the bush blooming every year and wouldn't have been able to miss last year's circumstances if they were happening yearly. The serious uptick in pollinator friendly plants in our yard over the past couple years clearly had a major impact.

You gave me an idea to make one of my raised beds wildflowers. Will that work? I also have pumpkins I want to grow. Thanks!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

possibly in a front yard bed beneath a porch.

but it tends to like to sprawl where it wants to go.

I can second the vine will go where it wants to go. And can be quite far.
Here's a pumpkin I grew from our kid's halloween pumpkin several years ago:

 

[a1tinkfans]

Good luck! Hope you ll share a pix.

 

[cabanafrau]

I can second the vine will go where it wants to go. And can be quite far.
Here's a pumpkin I grew from our kid's halloween pumpkin several years ago:


View attachment 490513

That's some pumpkin! I'm thinking you must be the person to ask for how to grow them.

 

[cabanafrau]

You gave me an idea to make one of my raised beds wildflowers. Will that work? I also have pumpkins I want to grow. Thanks!

Wildflowers would make a beautiful bed. I'm sure at least some, if not all, would be very pollinator friendly.

 

[mefordis]

Wildflowers would make a beautiful bed. I'm sure at least some, if not all, would be very pollinator friendly.

Thank you! Do i just sprinkle the flower seed on the bed, cover, water? Is it that easy? I'm so new to this gardening thing but am committed fully.

 

[mefordis]

I can second the vine will go where it wants to go. And can be quite far.
Here's a pumpkin I grew from our kid's halloween pumpkin several years ago:


View attachment 490513

This made me happy! Great pic!!!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

That's some pumpkin! I'm thinking you must be the person to ask for how to grow them.

Sadly, I just planted the seeds. I'm not a very "hands on" gardener. I just plant things and if they grow, great.

I found planting, say, 6 seeds and the pulling out the weaker ones when they sprout give you better odds. I did do the pollination thing, though. Using a q-tip, I gathered pollen from the boy flower and put it in the girl flower. I wound up with like 3 pumpkins that grew. You also have to reposition the pumpkin, if the vine is pliable enough, to sit on it's bottom, or you get a flat side. I put a piece of wood under it, so it didn't get mucky from the dirt.