Great experiment onap1! Let us know how it turns out.

May need to establish a rowcover/hoophouse before too long to keep the frost off. I am not optimistic since the shorter days may make the plant enter apoptosis. But plenty of other vegetable garden annuals have overwintered to emerge as a perennial here. Worse comes to worse, it is possible not quite ripe pumpkin will make excellent dishes.

I've grown mine into December before. They start slowing down a lot as the night temperatures drop though. Once January rolled around, the cold came in and finished them off. I still had ripening pumpkins so I put them into the garage and they were fine. The variety I've had the most success with growing into cold is the New England Pie pumpkins. Some of the larger varieties die much earlier.

Never over wintered pumpkins, but have had tomatoes and peppers pull through as long as we do not get a hard freeze. Right now I still have Jarrahdale and musque de provence on vine that are 3/4 ripe, but powdery mildew is taking over and I don't expect they will last much longer. I have always wondered under perfect conditions how long they could last because every year they are still flowering when I pull them up. Let us know how it goes.

Fun experiment! Let us know what you do and how it works out.

A coworker of mine overwintered her pumpkins last year. She didn't really do much except put hoops and frost cloth over them for a few weeks in early January. Then again, last winter was really nice/mild (no frost in my little garden) so she may not have even needed the hoops/cover.

Fun experiment though, so post lots of updates. I love pumpkins too. Any pics of yours??

Happy gardening!
Grant

This will likely be of real interest to you then, CaptianInsano. The plants that I'm working with are musque de provence. I'm not having any mildew problems as of yet.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Allan

Oh, the horror...

My experiment appears to be coming to an end, and no amount of plastic or artificial heat in the world could have saved my poor pumpkins. My bulldogs found a way through my perimeter fence and just lost their minds. I discovered this when one of them came trotting up with 5 feet of vine hanging out of her mouth. She was so proud. I, on the other hand, wanted to cry.

So my plants are pretty torn up. Two were absolutely destroyed, but I'm going to finish the winter with the others. I don't expect them to do much, but I don't have time right now to replant the bed. If anything comes of this, I'll let you know, but I'm not holding out hope.

Thanks everyone for your help and encouragement.

Allan

That stinks. I just pulled most of mine because of freezing temps the next couple night but did leave my Musque de Provence because they still need more ripening, I will cover them and see if they make it.

That's a great pic. Good for you.

I may prep a bed on the other end of the yard to try again in the spring. Step #1: Better dog barrier. :)

I hear you on the dog barrier. Mine just LOVE bok choy!