Can i grow giant pumpkins in pots?

Question

Hello my 7 year old son grew huge giant pumpkins las year ( he got a green blus peter badge for them!), he kept the seeds and is growing lots more this year. However we are planing to move house this year and I was wondering if we can put the plants in big pots instead of the ground and then take them with us if we move before the autumn. He has also got some sunflowers can he grow these in pots? please help as he will be gutted if they die or we have to leave them behind.

Answer 1

Uh oh, no, they won't grow well at all. Granted, in a bit pot he'll get vines and maybe a tiny pumpkin but nothing very big. Same thing with the sunflowers, they are likely to fall over without the extensive rooting area required. You might also try planting some bush beans in containers, they may actually grow and produce. Also lettuce, radishes and even carrots (the short stubby type)

Make the best of it, explain this is an experiment to see if they might grow in containers and if they don't well, that's how experiments sometimes end. Maybe you can discuss why certain plants did well in the container and why others failed.

Also get a seed catalog or even buy seeds and tuck them into a notebook or little box and lable them something like Next Year's Garden.

Answer 2

Why not try this approach: Get the largest 'pot' you think you will be able to lift when you eventually move home. It could be a plastic drum, anything suitable. Drill some large drainage holes not just in the base but a few in the sides as well, Crock the base with some pebbles, bits of old plant pots, slate for drainage. Mix a good compost mixture. It'll need to balance drainage as well as holding moisture, you can get some water absorbing granules from a gardening store to help hold the water, they use them a lot in hanging baskets which dry out quickly. Get some slow release fertiliser pellets in the mix as well. Now put the pot, or a fair depth of it into the ground so that the roots will grow through the holes into the surrounding soil to draw their nourishment. When you have to move home lift the pot out of the ground and cut off the protruding roots. If you really want to why not have a wheelie bin and suspend the growing pumpkin in nets like a hammock.
Feed the plants like you normally would with the advantage you are controlling where it is going more directly.
The reason for the holes in the sides of the pot, even if those side holes are above ground is the plant will make 'air roots', that is they will grow out and you just trim them off, it helps to prevent the roots going round and round on themselves inside the pot which is why so many plants bought from a garden centre are 'pot bound' and do not transplant very well into a garden.

Answer 3

Yes you can grown the pumpkins in big pots, and also the sunflowers. They won't grow as large as they would in a garden, but does that really matter.

If you take a look at Gardeners World on BBC2 on a Friday evening you will see that they are trying to encourage everyone to do container gardening.They were showing that a lot of the people who grow large veg for shows use containers to grow their veg in.

You just can't disappoint your son at the tender age of 7 from growing his seeds. It may be a little difficult when it comes to transporting them if they grow well after his watering and feeding them well. But so what. Have a go. Its great to encourage the children.

Answer 4

you can put the plants in pots to move them but you will have to put them in the ground at your new place if you can. the plants will get too big for the pot and the pumpkins will make the pot topple over. they get very big and heavy

Answer 5

i did last year tho the smaller amount of soil kinda hinders them being *giants*, just small sized pumpkins. You need more soil!

Answer 6

is the pot giant too?

Answer 7

not really as they do not like their roots to be restricted