Kids--Come in and get your FREE PUMPKIN SEEDS and sign up! Then grow your own contestant and join us October 21st for fun and the official weigh6-in.

As we begin summer, it's a bit early to think about Halloween parties. But to be successful growing Halloween pumpkins, you need to plant NOW. The giant prize winning 500 pound monsters are usually started in late May. However, the normal run of the mill 3 to 30 pound beauties will do great at this time. You may also choose from hybrids grown for unusual colors such as white or pink.

You might want to consider those that are particularly tasty for pies or edible seeds. The petite ones are great for decorations for Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Simply follow these directions and watch your pumpkins grow:

1. Prepare a mound of soil with Master Nursery Bumper Crop and Eureka Planting Mix.

2. Plant 3 seeds in one hole. When the seeds have sprouted and there is a noticeable difference between the plants, remove the 2 smallest plants.

3. Keep the pumpkins watered and fertilize with Master Nursery Formula 49 Fertilizer every 2 weeks.

The small-fruited varieties will grow well on a fence or trellis. The larger varieties need ground space. As the plants grow, you can turn the runners back toward the stem to reduce the space requirement. As the pumpkin matures, place straw or cardboard under the fruit to help prevent rot and insect damage. Pick when the stems start to dry. Be sure to leave a 3" or longer stem for that perfect jack-o-lantern top.

1. Plant bougainvilleas, fuchsias, and epiphyllums
2. Use bedding plants for quick color
3. Plant perennials in bloom now
4. Plant Zoysia grass
5. Continue to plant summer vegetables
6. Plant and transplant succulents, including cacti and euphorbias
7. Purchase alstroemerias throughout the summer while they are in bloom
8. Plant papayas and bananas
9. Plant and transplant palms
10. Continue to pick and deadhead roses
11. Deadhead and pick summer flowers to keep them going
12. Remove berries (seed pods) from fuchsias after flowers fall
13. Clip runners off strawberries
14. Feed citrus trees and look for chlorosis in citrus, gardenias, azaleas and others; treat with chelated iron
15. Feed avocado trees
16. Fertilize roses
17. Water all plants well except some well-established drought resistant plants and some native plants
18. Put bloomed-out cyclamen and English primroses in a shady spot for the summer

Do the last thinning on deciduous fruit trees after June drop has occurred. June drop is nature's way of getting rid of an overload of fruit. It may occur any time between early May and July but is most likely to happen around the first of June. One day you visit your apple, peach, or apricot tree and find a circle of immature fruit lying on the ground under the branches. These trees often set more than double the amount of fruit they could possibly ripen properly, so they simply drop off part of it.

If you thinned out the fruit on your trees in April and again four to six weeks later, you enabled the remaining fruit to grow larger, and thus less fruit will drop off now. Nevertheless, you may need to remove even more fruit than naturally drops in order to space your crop evenly down the branches. Inspect other deciduous fruit trees that are less subject to June drop - plums, for instance - and thin out their fruits also.

Clean up the fallen fruit under the tree before it has time to rot and spread disease. If it's healthy, chop it and add it to the compost pile (cover it with earth against flies and rodents). Also water deciduous fruit trees well in June and July.

***All 5 gallon deciduous fruit trees 20% off for Father's Day!***

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How it Works:
After Season-Long Grub Control granules are watered in, a protective zone is formed in the soil. If applied early, Season-Long Grub Control kills grubs, mole crickets and European crane fly larvae when they hatch... before they can cause damage.