Here are some tips to follow when growing pumpkins in your garden.

Tip one:
Choose a type of pumpkin to plant that is designed for what you want the pumpkin for. There are pumpkins that are grown for cooking, craving, or decorations. You can also choose from a variety of sizes, colors, and shapes with pumpkin seeds. You can also grow pumpkins of different sizes or a single size. Once you have made the decisions about what type of pumpkin you want to grow you will need to go to the nursery and buy the correct pumpkin seeds or starter plants.

Tip two:
When planting pumpkins make sure you choose an area that gets plenty of sunlight. You want to have the area receive at least eight hours of sunlight a day, ten hours a day is even better. If the pumpkins are grown in the shade, they will refuse to fruit, which means you will not have any pumpkins to harvest. If they do manage to produce, pumpkins that are raised in the shade are small, distorted, and anemic. Remember, great pumpkins are the ones with the bright orange "tan."

Tip three:
You should check the hardiness zone map for your particular area to see what the recommended dates are for planting pumpkins. If you live in an area that has a long growing season, you can plant the pumpkins outside as soon as the threat of frost has passed. If you live in an area that has a short growing season you can either buy pumpkins that are faster growing or you can start the plants indoors about a month before the recommended planting date. To find out more about your local growing season to determine what kind of pumpkins are better for you to plant consult with your local nursery.

Tip four:
After you have planted, the pumpkin seeds to be sure that they get the best growth possible they should be watered on a daily basis. When it comes to watering you want to make sure that you don't over water the pumpkins, in other words you don't want the ground to be soggy as this can cause your pumpkins to rot. They should also be fertilized regularly with a quality vegetable fertilizer, following the directions of the individual product. For more help on buying quality fertilizer you should check with your local nursery.

Tip five:
Once your pumpkins have begun to sprout, you are going to need to prune back your plants. When planting the seeds you will end up with more plants sprouting than what you need. On average, what you need to do is begin pulling some of the extra plants when they are about three inches in height. You want to have only three plants for every three feet. When spacing your plants you also want to think about how wide pumpkin plants grow. Rows should be about three feet apart, or if you have an overhang for pumpkins to grow over on that would work out well.

One thing to remember is the tips you follow for growing healthy pumpkins can also be applied to other types of squash. The reason for this is that all types of squash are grown the same way, so you can follow the same instructions and tips to ensure healthy growth.