How to grow pumpkin in Rutherglen
Cucurbita pepo
Also called Winter squash
Frost in Rutherglen rules out the arid zone's usual months for pumpkin. Ask the growers at your garden what works locally.
Pumpkin is the everyday Australian name for hard-skinned squashes of the genus Cucurbita, called winter squash elsewhere. Types range from round grey or blue fruit to orange and tan ones, Queensland Blue among them. The thick shell protects sweet, dense flesh for storing, and the seeds can be eaten too.
When to sow in Rutherglen
Rutherglen, VIC is in the arid zone. The zone also plants in Aug to Mar, but Rutherglen's frost dates make those months risky for a frost-tender crop.
Matches local guides.
Your local conditions can shift any months shown here, so treat them as a guide.
Frost in Rutherglen
Frost usually arrives in Rutherglen around early April and finishes by early November. In about 1 year in 10 it comes as early as mid March or as late as mid December, so frost-tender crops are planned around those dates.
From its Bureau of Meteorology station, 1991 to 2020, counting a night at 2°C or lower as a frost. Frost hollows and hillsides can shift these dates by weeks, so ask the growers at your garden too.
On a shared plot: needs a lot of room
Vines can run several metres. Train them back into your plot or up a strong frame.
Growing details
- How to start
- Sow directly or raise seedlings
- Sowing depth
- 2.5cm
- Plant spacing
- 90cm
- Row spacing
- 185cm
- Germination
- About 12 days
- Time to harvest
- 100 days
- Frost
- Frost tender
- Sun
- Full sun
- Life cycle
- annual
These are typical figures, and varieties differ. Your seed packet takes priority.