Howden Pumpkin

An aggressive growing vine, one vine grew 2 large pumpkins. They have a very thick flesh, which was a little difficult for carving. Easy to extract the seeds from the guts. Toasted seeds are more tender & delicious compared to grocery store carving pumpkins.

Planted 6, 4 came up. Plants are humongous, and the pumpkins are really nice. I have fertilized heavily with straight rabbit poo and the plants have taken over and are still going strong in late August. Right now I see 5 beautiful, big pumpkins turning orange and there are 5-6 more of good size that are starting to show orange. I should top the vines so they quit growing but was curious as to just how big they'd get. Two vines are going over our 6 ft tall fence and now sprawling on the ground on the other side. I planted these for fall decoration and jack-o-lanterns and am so pleased with the results. Also although I had some squash bugs pop up on zucchini and butternuts, none were ever found on the pumpkins. We've had a very wet summer here so had some issues with powdery mildew that turned the leaves to crunchy dust, but otherwise no problems.

Sorry...but I was very disappointed. Out of the entire package I only got 4 sprouts. I was hoping for around 20 because I wanted to have local kids pick the pumpkins for Halloween but not this year. Maybe I'll try again next year.

Produces nice medium sized, perfect carving pumpkins. 7 - 10 per hill. Very consistent, trouble free.

Howden is a popular variety in our area. I would rank it as the best overall jack-o-lantern type pumpkin from the twenty + varieties which we have grown recently. Howden has a vigorous vine that is well adapted to a wide range of weather conditions. It is dependable, yields well,and has above average handles. It is a popular pumpkin for farmers markets due to its size (15 to 25 pounds) and its bright orange color. As with most Jack-o-lantern varieties,its table quality is only average.