Advancing creates up to 21 days longer cultivation time
If you sow pumpkin seeds behind glass, the plants benefit from a 3 week longer period in culture. This aspect should be of particular interest for varieties with a long ripening period. The cultivation begins in mid / late April and ends in a plantation during the second half of May. Since direct sowing in the field only begins at this point, the time advantage is obvious.
- Let the pumpkin seeds soak in slightly tempered water for 24 hours
- Fill the seed pots with coconut oil, peat sand or perlite (€ 32.90 on Amazon *)
- Insert seeds individually 1-2 cm deep into the substrate
- Moisten with a fine shower, place in the greenhouse or cover with foil
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A constant temperature of 25 degrees Celsius activates germination within 1 week. By the third decade in May, the plants are mature enough to move to the field. Before doing this, it makes sense to harden them in a sheltered place in the garden for 8 days. Specifically, this means that you spend the day in the partially shaded place under the open sky.
Direct sowing after the ice saints
Direct sowing in the bed causes significantly less work. The ice saints give the signal for cultivation without cultivation in mid-May. They traditionally mark the beginning of the frost-free season. Now look out for a suitable location with the following conditions:
- sun-drenched location with a high number of hours of sunshine
- warm, protected, yet airy
- nutritious soil, humic, fresh and well drained
- no cucurbits or other heavy consumers in the year before
In the first step you tackle the weeds and rake the bed soil deeply. Lean, sandy soil should be improved with compost. Put the soaked seeds into the soil at a distance of at least 1 meter so that they are thinly covered with substrate. Carefully shower the seedbed so that the pumpkin seeds don't swim away again.
Protection against cold, wet and weeds
If you sow pumpkin directly in the bed, the climatic conditions play a role right from the start. The heat-loving plants can only get a little cold and continuous rain. Moreover, at the germination stage, they are threatened by overgrown weeds. A mulch film reliably stops these negative influences. Spread out in the seed bed, the innovative material keeps the soil warm and suppresses weeds.
Tips & Tricks
Pumpkin plants show considerable growth. This requires a climbing aid from an early age so that they don't fall over again. This premise already applies to seedlings as soon as they have developed more than 2 pairs of leaves.
