Pumpkins and Corn

I was in B&Q yesterday and my grand daighter picked up pumpkin seeds and sweetcorn seeds. I have never grown either. I will start them off in pots. Has anyone ever grown these? I don't want to disappoint her. Any tips would be appreciated. It's a wee bit late I suppose but the weather is warm.

 

Both of these would, ideally, be sown by first week in June, so you are only a few weeks late, probably be OK.

Sweetcorn is a relatively long season crop, so it struggles in our climate.

The F1 varieties, bred for the UK climate, are much shorter than the traditional varieties, and start producing their male flower at the top when only a foot or two high ... they take about 14 - 16 weeks.

If you have got one of those (e.g. Swift) then you may be OK. One thing about Sweetcorn, which is likely to please your grand daughter, is that the flavour of the cobs will be far superior to shop-bought. The sugar starts turning to starch as soon as they are picked - so you need the pan of water boiling before you pick the cobs, take the leaves off and get them in the boiling pan as quickly as you can (job for your grand daughter with her running shoes on perhaps?

Plant them in a block of at least 3 x 3, not a row, (4 x 4 would be better, doesn't have to be square) as they are wind pollinated

Pumpkins are about 10 - 14 weeks from seed to harvest.

 

Thank you JWK and Kristen. She has them planted and they are in the conservatory. She did ask would they be ready tomorrow:hehe: I wonder will the garden be over run with pumpkins?:skp:

 

hi there, i saved the pumpkin seeds from last years halloween pumpkin and only found them a few weeks ago! so i planted them out and already i have seedlings with leaves like tablespoons, this is my first time growing them and i dont think i have allowed enough room for when they get big -- something to bear in mind is they need quite alot of space
jane