Growing Guides
Pumpkin and squash growing guides from Kansas. Vine borer prevention, pest control, companion planting, soil prep, and heirloom varieties. Zone 6b tested.
Prairie Gardening: Growing Food in Kansas Wind and Heat
Prairie gardening in Kansas asks different questions than gardening almost anywhere else. Most garden books assume a sheltered backyard, gentle summers, and...
Read guide →Second Planting Pumpkins: Is It Too Late to Start in July?
If you are searching for advice on planting pumpkins in July, here is the honest answer up front: it is late, but...
Read guide →How Heirloom Seeds Are Different from Store-Bought Seeds
The real difference between heirloom seeds vs store bought seeds is not the price on the packet. It comes down to three...
Read guide →Best Pumpkins for Zone 7 and Zone 8 Gardens
If you are shopping for pumpkins for Zone 7 and Zone 8 gardens, the good news is that your growing season is...
Read guide →Musquee de Maroc: Growing the Warted Moroccan Heirloom Pumpkin in Kansas
Some pumpkins ask you to choose between beauty and dinner. Musquee de Maroc refuses to pick a side. This North African heirloom...
Read guide →Composting Pumpkin Vines: End-of-Season Garden Cleanup
Composting pumpkin vines is the best way to close the loop in your garden: this year's spent plants become next spring's rich,...
Read guide →Are Coffee Grounds Good for Pumpkins? What Works and What to Skip
Short answer: yes, coffee grounds are good for pumpkins, with a few rules. Used grounds add slow-release nitrogen and humus to your...
Read guide →Pumpkin Pollination Problems: No Fruit? Here's Why
If your vines are big and green and covered in blooms but you still have no pumpkins, the most common reason a...
Read guide →How to Tell When Butternut Squash Is Ready to Pick
If you are wondering when to harvest butternut squash, the plant gives you three clear signals: the skin turns a deep, even...
Read guide →Yellow Leaves on Pumpkins: 7 Causes and How to Fix Each One
If your pumpkin leaves are turning yellow, take a breath before you panic. Yellowing is the plant's way of talking to you,...
Read guide →New England Cheddar vs Long Island Cheese: Which Pie Pumpkin?
Both of these are "cheese" pumpkins, named for their flat, wheel-of-cheese shape, and both are terrific for pies. If you are deciding...
Read guide →Fairytale Pumpkin vs Musquée de Provence: Can You Save the Seeds?
If you have shopped for a deep-ribbed, flat French pumpkin, you have probably seen it sold two ways: as "Fairytale" and as...
Read guide →Vine Borer Surgery: How to Save an Infested Pumpkin Plant
If you found this page because a pumpkin vine is wilting and there is orange, sawdust-like frass piled at the base of...
Read guide →My Pumpkin Vine Is Wilting: Vine Borer Emergency Guide
If your pumpkin vine is wilting and you suspect the vine borer, act today. A sudden pumpkin vine wilting from a squash...
Read guide →Kikuza Squash: Growing the Ribbed Japanese Heirloom in Kansas
Kikuza is one of those squash that earns a second look on the porch and a third at the table. It is...
Read guide →Coffee and Gardening: Why Every Gardener Needs a Morning Ritual
If you garden, you already understand the value of gardening coffee: that first warm cup you carry out to the patch while...
Read guide →The Best Pumpkins for Kansas City Area Gardens
If you garden anywhere in the Kansas City metro, the best pumpkins for Kansas City gardens are the ones built to handle...
Read guide →Succession Planting Squash: Extend Your Harvest All Season
If your squash harvest comes in a single overwhelming wave and then sputters out by August, succession planting squash is the fix....
Read guide →Mid-Season Pumpkin Checkup: What to Look For in June
Mid-June is the moment your pumpkin patch stops being a tidy row of seedlings and starts becoming a jungle. Good pumpkin plant...
Read guide →Best Heat Tolerant Squash Varieties for Southern and Central US
If your summers run long and hot, the secret to a reliable harvest is choosing heat tolerant squash varieties that were built...
Read guide →How to Train Pumpkin Vines: Direction, Pruning, and Support
By the second week of June, pumpkin vines in Kansas stop being polite. The plant that sat quietly in its hill through...
Read guide →Summer in the Kansas Garden: Heat, Watering and Vine Borer Season
Summer is when a Kansas garden shows you what it's made of. Hundred-degree afternoons, wind that drinks the soil dry, and the...
Read guide →Spring Garden Checklist for Kansas: Soil Prep to Transplant (Zone 6b)
Spring in Kansas is a sprint disguised as a season. One week the soil is cold mud, the next the wind is...
Read guide →Winter in the Kansas Garden: Storage, Germination Tests and Planning
Winter looks quiet from the kitchen window, but a Kansas garden never really stops. The squash is in the pantry, the soil...
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