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Growing Pumpkins
Pumpkins need about four months to grow, so plant the seeds three to four weeks after the last spring frost.
Materials- Soil and compost
- Pumpkin seeds
- Compost tea
- Leaves or grass clippings
- Newspapers or straw mulch
Directions
- Choose a sunny area for your pumpkin patch.
- Help your child use soil and compost to make a hill.
- If you have a large garden, make three or four hills spaced about three feet apart.
- Plant three or four pumpkin seeds in each hill.
- Water the hill(s) each week and watch for seedlings to appear. When they do, pull out the weaker looking ones to leave one strong seedling growing in each hill.
- When blossoms appear, remove all but three from each plant. Each blossom will become a pumpkin.
- Water your plant(s) with warm water every week and with compost tea every few weeks.
- Spread compost, leaves, or grass clippings on top of the soil around the growing pumpkins. Make sure the grass clippings don't touch the stem(s) of your plant(s).
- To ensure that the pumpkins won't rot on the moist soil, place newspapers or straw mulch under the pumpkins as they grow. Turn them frequently so they ripen on all sides.
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Copyright © 2001 by Patricia Kuffner. Excerpted from The Children's Busy Book with permission of its publisher, Meadowbrook Press.
To order this book visit Meadowbrook Press.
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