I always thought growing pumpkins required an enormous area to allow them to sprawl. Well, they do like to sprawl a bit. But the good news is that they can be contained.
Growing Pumpkins On A Trellis
This year I made a few heavy duty trellises for my vine growing plants to climb so I could keep them under control. I built them out of 2 x 4’s I already had in my garage.
Since pumpkins were an experiment, I only planted one hill of pumpkins and thinned it down to one vine. There were others things like spaghetti squash, butternut squash and cucumbers growing on those trellises.
I ended up with 12 pumpkins from one vine. I’m sure I could have had more but I started trimming off the ends once they started to creep out into the yard.
Roasting Pumpkins
I gave a few away but still had 7 to roast and freeze for baking this winter.
I did this one time many years ago with a couple of pie pumpkins I got for free after completing a corn maze with my daughter. We won’t talk about how long it took us to figure out the maze. Just know it would have been a lot easier to buy our pie pumpkins.
It’s been so long I don’t even remember how we used the puree but I’ll have plenty to experiment with this winter.
Roasting a pumpkin is done exactly the way you would roast any squash.
You just cut it in half. . .
scoop out the seeds. . .
Cut it into quarters. . .
Bake it, covered with foil, in a 375 degree oven till tender. . .
When it’s just cool enough to handle, peel off the shell (it comes off easy with a paring knife), and cut it into cubes. . .
and puree in a food processor till smooth. They say you can steam or boil it too, but I haven’t tried that method. Maybe next year.
Once it’s all pureed, I put it in ziplock bags to freeze. I put 15oz in each bag since that’s what size most cans are in the grocery store
I’m looking forward to using it this winter. When you think about it, a packet of seeds is about 1 or 2 dollars, I planted 4 or 5 seeds in a hill and thinned it down to one vine. That one vine allowed me to give 5 pumpkins away and still have enough for the equivalent of 13 cans of pumpkin puree.
It does require a little work, but that “work” is a whole lot cheaper than therapy.
And don’t forget to save the seeds for roasting!
Roasted Pumpkin Puree
- Pie pumpkins
Cut the pumpkin in half.
Scoop out the seeds. Keep for roasted seeds if you like.
Cut into quarters.
Bake in 375 degree oven covered with foil till tender.
Once the pieces have cooled, cut away from the peel and cut into small pieces.
Place in a food processer and puree.
Freeze in ziplock freezer bags in 15 oz amounts.
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2017 update: I have used this puree to make pies, pumpkin bars, and smoothies . . . delicious!
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