[debih]

I am growing pumpkins for the first time this year.   

I have 10 or 12 pumpkin plants in a pot -  with a couple of big leaves and a few smaller ones coming.

I have decided rather than putting them on the allotment to take it over, I am going to take them over to the land where we keep our pigs and plant them there where they will have as much room as they want.

The last lot of pigs went off to slaughter on Tuesday so the land is completely bare of weeds, etc.   It does have pig poo on it in places.   The land gets a lot of sun and looks very dry at the moment (doesn't ever where though) and water is abit of a problem.  There is a stream right behind the land which would make it easy for watering them but this has dried up at the moment (hopefully it will start going again once we get some rain) but until then I will have to carry buckets of water quite a way to water them with.

My question - how big should the pumpkins be when I plant them out, will they suit a south facing spot and how much care and attention do they need (I know to put something under the pumpkin when it starts to grow).

[Yorkie]

I'm growing pumpkins for the first time this year, but have grown squash before - and I'd treat the two the same.

How big is your pot?  I'd consider potting the plants up into individual pots so that they establish individual root balls whilst still relatively small.

Also, they are generally not frost hardy so I'd wait until frost risk is over (end of May probably for you) before planting out.  I'd aim for perhaps about 6" before planting out but wouldn't worry too much about that.

I'm sure they'd like full sun.  Make sure they have a good amount of chicken poo and fertiliser as they are hungry.

It might also be worth setting up a water butt which you can fill when there is water in the stream, to tide you over any later long hot periods when the stream isn't so full.

[debih]

Thanks for that.  They are just in small pots at the moment - I am off to the garden centre later so will get some bigger ones to tied them over until the end of May. 

And I will get a water butt set up - good idea.