How garden pumpkins are grown How garden pumpkins are grown Pumpkins came out of tropical America, where seeds of related plants date back to 7000BC Mexico. In North America, it wasn't until colonists landed and watched Native American Indians growing and harvesting pumpkins, that they, too, began to farm this edible fruit. Pumpkins range in size from 9-500 pounds, and come in a variety of colors including white, pink, yellow, red and orange. Skins of the pumpkin are smooth and ribbed. The fruit's stem is hard, angled, and wood-like.
Pumpkins are sodium, fat and cholesterol free.
Though they're easy to carve, field pumpkins are too watery to bake with and not sweet enough to eat. There are many other varieties of pumpkin, however, which are raised as a food source around the world. The largest of these is the Atlanta Giant. In colder climates, seeds are often started indoors and moved to a garden or field as the weather warms. Seeds are most often planted in the middle of hills and mounds which are surrounded by a moat.