Pumpkin, the cucumber's close cousin, despite the fact that it is a very valuable vegetable, is still treated a bit neglectfully.It's a pity, because it is distinguished by the abundance of cultivated and ornamental varieties.Some of its varieties have a bushy habit with semi-rigid shoots, while others have creeping shoots.
Creeping varieties can be successfully grown with a wire fence, which will allow them to grow vertically.These shoots will also effectively cover our garden, because the pumpkin, like the cucumber, works well as an annual climber. Remember that even a small space is enough to grow it.
When cultivating from sowing, remember about the high thermal requirements of this species - emergence appears after 6-8 days at a temperature of 12 ° C. When grown from seedlings of creeping varieties, planted in mid-May, at the end of June, the top of the main shoot can be cut off to obtain more side shoots.Later growing, if we want to get a smaller amount of larger fruits, remove unnecessary fruit buds.
This procedure is used for the giant and ordinary squash, while the botanical varieties of squash, such as patison, squash, zucchini, do not remove the fruit buds because they are harvested successively before reaching physiological maturity.
Let's react to emerging diseases
The sequence of plants one after another allows to exclude the occurrence of diseases characteristic for the given species Onion vegetables can be grown in the same place every two years, garlic, cucumber, beans, lettuce, carrots or celery every three years, and cruciferous vegetables, chicory, peas, red beets every four years.
If in previous years there were serious diseases, such as cabbage syphilis, tomato cancer or onion head, the cultivation of infected species in this place should be discontinued for five to ten years.Including over time, you can grow species from other groups of vegetable plants that are not attacked by these pathogens.
