Farm Friday: Growing Pumpkins

I wanted to try growing pumpkins and gourds this year, but didn't want to take up too much ground space with their rambliness.

I saw an idea on Pinterest of growing pumpkins in raised beds with livestock panel trellises, and I thought I'd give it a try.  It's too early to tell if I'm going to get a successful yield, but so far I'm very happy with them!  They were super easy to build, and don't take up too much real estate.

I used 8' cedar planks, and 4"x4" posts cut into 1' chunks for the raised beds.

I drove U-posts into the ground, then bent two 16' panels into place, overlapping slightly in the middle.  I secured the panels to the posts with zip ties, then just set the raised beds in place.  I laid cardboard in the bottoms of the beds, then filled with soil and compost.

We go out every few days just to help train the vines up the trellis.

First little pumpkin!