Meet the cucurbit family

By Kathy Hatfield
Gardening Columnist

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If you haven't already, now is the time to meet the cucurbit family. This family includes squash, melons, pumpkins, cucumbers and gourds.

Most of these require warm, sunny days and a long growing season. So get ready to plant your seeds now if you want pumpkins and winter squash this fall. The exceptions are the summer squashes and cucumbers--some of these varieties will mature and produce fruit within two months.

All of the members of this family need frost-free weather, so be certain that you are planting after the frost-free date for your area. The soil needs to be warm, ideally 55 to 60 degrees at a depth of 2 inches. Seeds will rot before they germinate if the soil temperature is not warm enough. They also require fertile soil, full sun and plenty of room to grow.

When the soil is thoroughly warmed, plant seeds in groups of five to six seeds, with each group 4 to 6 feet apart. Check the package instructions for specifics on each variety. Once the seeds germinate, thin them to the strongest two or three seedlings. Cucumbers can be planted in rows with or without trellises.

You'll have to carefully monitor the soil moisture as the seedlings grow. Keep the soil evenly moist, not soggy. Plants may temporarily wilt during the hot summer days, but if your plants are wilted first thing in the morning, they are probably water-stressed. If you have too many plants to water them individually, using soaker hoses helps to conserve water.

Unfortunately the cucurbit family is plagued by many insect pests; among them are squash bugs, cucumber beetles and aphids. One of the best controls is to regularly examine the plants for these pests or damage from them. Collect and remove egg masses that are often found on the undersides of the leaves. An excellent resource for dealing with insect problems on garden plants is the book "Pests of the West" by our own local insect authority, Whitney Cranshaw.

Gardeners often complain that their plants are producing flowers but no fruit. Generally the male flowers appear first, followed by female flowers. Only the female flowers produce fruit, and fruit set is dependent on insect pollination. You can ensure that the flowers are pollinated by picking the pollen-producing stamen from a male flower and wiping the pollen on the stigma inside the female flower. It is also important to keep the fruits picked, or production of new fruit will be inhibited.

Summer squash can be harvested when the fruit are quite small, adding a delicate gourmet quality to vegetable dishes. Picked when they are larger, they can be stuffed with a favorite vegetable or cheese mixture.

Watermelon and cantaloupe should be fully ripe when picked. Watermelon will respond with a dull thud when they are thumped. Cantaloupe will develop their characteristic fragrance as they ripen. Since melons don't store well for long periods, plant only what you can use or give to friends.

Winter squash and pumpkins are harvested only after they are fully mature and the skin has hardened. Fully ripe undamaged fruit can be stored for the winter if they are protected from freezing.

Giant pumpkins

A fun project for kids is to try growing a prize-winning giant pumpkin. The record so far, from the Pennsylvania Giant Pumpkin Growers Weighoff, is 1,469 pounds. That's more than a classic Volkswagen beetle weighs! If you're a serious fan of pumpkins, a great web site that will give you more information on growing a giant pumpkin, a picture of a 2,020 pound pumpkin pie, and links to other fun stuff relating to pumpkins is www.pumpkinnook.com/giants/record.htm.

If you're interested in trying to grow a giant, but not necessarily record-breaking, pumpkin, most of the experts say it is dependent on good seed, good soil and good luck. But there are a few things you can do to improve your chances. Choose a large pumpkin variety, such as Atlantic Giants, Big Macs or PrizeWinner. Plant the seeds in fertile soil and protect them from springtime weather extremes with a Wall O' Water, a custom-fashioned mini greenhouse or windscreen.

Once the plant is growing, it can produce six to eight pumpkins on one plant. Choose the healthiest and fastest-growing one and remove all others so the plant will channel all its energy into the chosen pumpkin. A water-soluble fertilizer applied one to two times weekly should encourage strong growth. Too much fertilizer is not necessarily better. Some pumpkin experts claim that overfertilizing will cause the pumpkin to tear itself from the vine and explode!

Once your pumpkin is on its way to stardom, don't forget that you'll need to figure out a way to get it into your vehicle to take to the county fair.

Send your questions and comments to columnist Kathy Hatfield at ocwildflowers@frii.com.