SUMMER VINE

Pumpkin label

Common name: Pumpkin, winter squash

Botanical name: Cucurbita maxima

Family: Cucurbitaceae

Aspect & soil: Sun; deep, moist, fertile soil

Best climate: All, but in cold areas wait for warmer weather

Habit: Annual vine

Propagation: Seed, seedling

Difficulty: Easy

Pumpkins are traditionally associated with Halloween celebrations. Called jack-o’-lanterns, they are hollowed out and their orange skins carved into scary faces lit with candles from inside.

The pumpkins used for carving are large, soft-skinned varieties that don’t make good eating and are mainly grown for stock feed. Traditional Australian pumpkins are thick-skinned and not suited to carving or hollowing out.

In most parts of Australia, Halloween — the last day of October — is the ideal time to