By Marco Barneveld, www.braindrain.nu A pumpkin is a gourd-like squash of the genus Cucurbita and a member of the Cucurbitaceae family. There will be more than 120,000 pumpkins … Tip: To hasten the ripening of green pumpkins, turn them gently so that all sides are exposed to the sun. Pumpkins can be stored between four to six months. Store pumpkins and winter squashes from early to late autumn. Expose the pumpkin to sunlight outside for ten days or keep indoors at 27-32ºC (81-90ºF) for four days to harden. Our farmers have been busy harvesting their crops since September and will continue until the end of October. Use secateurs to cut pumpkins off the vine, leaving a long stalk on the fruit. ment), pumpkin yields, disease control costs, and sell - ing price from year to year. To judge when to harvest pumpkins, knock gently on the fruits. To slow decay, leave an inch or two of stem on pumpkins and winter squash when harvesting them. Before storing pumpkins, first cure the skins by leaving the fruits out in the sun for around 10 days. If possible, harvest on a dry day cutting the stalk as far away from the fruit as possible. Pumpkins are usually ready to harvest by mid-fall and you definitely want to bring them in before the first frost or when night temperatures are expected to drop down into the 40s for an extended period of time. Only when the pumpkin harvest is imminent do the green pumpkins turn orange. The foliage around the fruits can be cut away near to harvest time to encourage ripening. If a hard frost is forecast, harvest all of your pumpkins so you can save the harvest. Pumpkins can be profitably produced at smaller scales, especially when premium prices are obtained at di-rect markets. Allow the fruits to mature on the plant for as long as possible to accumulate the highest quantity of sugars from the leaves, but before frost arrives (frosted fruit will not store). Meet our pumpkin farmers. It is estimated that an impressive 15 million pumpkins are grown in the UK each year.We’ve been speaking to several pumpkin farmers about all things pumpkin. PUMPKINS and squashes are among the most satisfying vegetables to harvest, if only because they are so big and beautiful. The word pumpkin comes from the Greek pepõn meaning a large melon. Immature green pumpkins will ripen if exposed to warm air and sunshine. However, the fruits are frost tender so keep an eye on the weather forecast and always harvest before the first frost. Farmer Copley’s in West Yorkshire promises to present the UK’s largest pumpkin festival, from 21 October - 19 November. By Deborah Stone PUBLISHED: 19:44, Thu, Sep 4, 2014 If they sound hollow, they’re ready to harvest. 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