It also must have been a sizable pumpkin shell which Peter the Pumpkin Eater confined his wandering wife. Certain problems arise in trying to produce pumpkins for Halloween. Pumpkin production is easier said than done which is exactly why even the most professional green thumbers purchase imported pumpkins. The first reason that pumpkins are in fact difficult to grow is that they are long season crops. Pumpkins require a minimum of three to four months to mature a fruit - the bigger the pumpkin desired, the longer the maturity season needed.
Pumpkins are also frost susceptible and are easily damaged by cold temperatures.
This means planting must occur after the last killing frost and maturity will be sometimes in mid-summer. Then you will have to store the pumpkins from mid-summer to late October. In the fall, these killers are so efficient that many plants are destroyed before leaves are formed. The cost of insecticides required to protect the plants for three months during such an onslaught far exceeds what a pumpkin will cost. In addition, these pumpkin plants are readily infected with virus and fungus diseases that are abundant during Texas in mid-summer and renders pumpkin production almost impossible in many areas of our state.