How to Harvest & Store Pumpkins

Hi, this is Yolanda Vanveen, and in this segment we're going to talk about how to harvest and store pumpkins. Well pumpkins are so fun to grow in the garden because they come up and they make a vine with little yellow flowers and then they create pumpkins that are ready to harvest right at Halloween. So you're ready to have them to make your Jack-O-Lanterns. And so they're easy to grow and easy to harvest. And so after they've been growing, they make a vine and then they'll have flowers and then they'll produce pumpkins. And there's many different varieties. This is a miniature pumpkin, so it's never going to get big. So as soon as your pumpkins look like they're a substantial size, or if you knock on the side and they feel a little bit hollow or sound a little bit hollow, generally then it's time to harvest them. As so it's best not just to pull them off the vine. Sometimes you'll break that vine. It's best to either hold the vine and pull them off or cut them from the vine itself. And then when you're storing them, it's best to keep them in as cold of a place as possible without being too warm or being freezing. So they love to be in the garage or right outside under the eaves where you would have your pumpkins once you've carved them. And you can keep them for months and months. In fact, this pumpkin I had outside on the front porch for at least three months now and it's the end of December. It's been out there since October. And they store real easily and you can make pumpkin pie from your pumpkins as well. Just keep them in the garage or the basement, somewhere where it's below fifty degrees, but not freezing and you'll find that they store much better than if you store them right in your warm house. And you can also dry them and cut them up and dry the pumpkin seeds, or you can dry the pumpkin itself. And there's so many different uses for it. So larger pumpkins a lot of times I have found actually will go bad faster than the smaller pumpkins. And so when you're storing them, make sure to check on them and even if they look good on the outside, if you cut them open they might be creating mold on the inside and then never use them at that point. But as long as you harvest them when they're at the peak point and they look perfect, then you'll know that you can have beautiful pumpkins for Halloween.