Here’s a list of 10 great pumpkin varieties for good growing and autumn enjoyment.
Big Moon – a large, sprawling variety, growing up to 90 kilograms.
Rouge Vif d’Etampes (syn. Cinderella) – medium, sprawling and growing up to nine kilograms, good for carving and eating.
Frosty – produces many fruits on tidy vines, averaging seven to 11 kilograms, good for carving and eating.
Howden – the quintessential jack-o’-lantern, grown for carving, with long fruit up to 11 kilograms. Sprawling.
Jack Be Little – the market-standard miniature orange pumpkin, with flat (and tasty!) fruit eight to 10 centimetres across. Long vines.
Lumina – five-kilogram white pumpkins with bright orange flesh, great for carving.
Prizewinner – large, 23-kilogram fruit with smooth and glossy medium-orange skin.
Small Sugar – vine type, producing three-kilogram fruit that is the best eating of all the varieties mentioned.
Snack Jack – bush type with one-kilogram fruit grown primarily for seed production.
Dill’s Atlantic Giant – the champion of all giant pumpkins, growing to such record sizes as 272 kilograms. Sprawling and then some!
Pumpkin seeds are available from many seed suppliers including Veseys (www.veseys.com or 1-800-363-7333); West Coast Seeds (www.westcoastseeds.com or 604-482-8800) and Stokes Seeds (www.stokeseeds.com or 1-800-396-9238).