Autumn Pumpkin Harvest and Storage
Autumn pumpkin harvest.
Now the weather has cooled we have noticed that our pumpkin plants are really dying back, for us this was time to consider harvesting our pumpkins. The leaves on the pumpkin vine are shrivelling and drying up so the pumpkins now don’t recieve much in the way of nutrients from the vine. So we harvested over half of the pumpkins where the stem of the pumpkin (just where it joins the vine) has dried up. When they snap away from the vine you know they have dried up well. We kept a bit of this stem (about 3-5cm) on the pumpkin as this will continue to dry and might fall off by itself while in storage. We’ll check again over the next month to harvest any remaining pumpkins as the stem dries away from the vine.
A couple of pumpkin vines from the pumpkin patch needed to be pulled out for space but still had reasonably green leaves so we kept quite a bit of the vine attached to let it dry out and put all the nutrients from the leaves into the pumpkin as it dies.
Cleaning and drying pumpkins ready for storage.
To store them we just ensured each pumpkin was clean and dry and then placed them in a room with the least variation in temperature range. Heating and cooling foods causes the greatest chance of rot, so where ever the temperature range is reasonably stable is best. The room doesn’t neccessarily need to be dark, but avoid direct sunlight or at least keep them in low light for best results. To make them last the whole winter we use any that might look like the are rotting in any way first and leave the best ones until last. Can’t wait for all the pumpkin soup to come.
More on sustainble pumpkins, pumpkin seeds for eating, space for your pumpkin patch and hanging pumpkins on fences or trellis’.
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Greetings from Boston! Your squash(pumpkins) are gorgeous! There are so many great pumpkin soups and roasted pumpkins recipes out there I’m sure you will be enjoying them for months to come! Pumpkins and other squashes are some of my favorite foods! Unfortunately we don’t start seeing them until late september or early october, but this has certainly wet my appetite for them!
Cheers!
I like how we are opposite seasons and we can inspire each other for what is to come. I hope you will be planting loads of pumpkins soon!