Composting your Pumpkins

By Victoria Fuller

Ahh November, one of the most colourful and beautiful months of the year, also the month where most pumpkins often meet their untimely demise! If you had pumpkins decorating your space for the Fall (and more specifically Halloween season) then we have some advice on what to do with them in the coming weeks to save them from going into a landfill, emitting methane and thus depleting the ozone layer and contributing to the devastating effects on climate change…yikes!

Head to the kitchen!

If your pumpkin is ripe but not rotten then you can absolutely utilize its innards for a variety of incredible recipes including soups, pies, tarts, cakes, the list is effectively endless! If you are feeling extra fancy you can even wash the exterior of the pumpkin that you hollowed out and then pour your homemade pumpkin soup directly into the pumpkin and use it as a bowl just like this one here or if a brulee is more to your tastes then check out this awesome option here, just think of the clout! If you are in the mood for pumpkin pie (especially with Thanksgiving fast approaching!) then we would highly recommend checking out this delicious recipe and prepare to wow your lucky dinner guests!

Become a Composting expert!

When pumpkins decompose they release billions of microorganisms and microscopic fungi which are incredibly beneficial to the composting process and make for incredibly nutritious compost which will work wonders for your future garden! Here are our tips for composting your pumpkins:

• Remove any decorations or wax
• Remove the middle of the pumpkin for cooking if the pumpkin is ripe but not rotten
• Remove the seeds (unless you don’t mind some rogue pumpkin plants next year!)
• If you do not have a compost bin or a specific composting area then choose a spot for your pumpkin to lay to rest, smash them to smithereens, then cover the poor fellow with leaves and let nature (specifically: worms!) do its thing!

Hero for the Animals!

If you are an animal lover then this is definitely the category for you! Keeping some of the rind and chunks of the pumpkin to feed to your animal friends is a great way to encourage and nurture the critters near where you live! Obviously if you have a rodent problem or aren’t trying to encourage animal snackers to visit your property then definitely skip this step! Also many animal shelters and humane society's will take donations of pumpkins as a delicious treat to give to their animals, give your local animal shelter a call to see if they are currently accepting donations!

Plan ahead for next year's pumpkins!

Did you know that pumpkins take four MONTHS to grow? So in order to have them ready to harvest at the beginning of the spooky season (officially known as October 1st) you will need to start planting them in Late May, early June! So with this in mind make sure to save any pumpkin seeds that you can harvest from this year's pumpkins, dry them out, and store them in an air-tight container with some paper towel ready for next year!

We hope that this post has inspired you to make the most of your pumpkins and not to just toss them into a landfill: they deserve better and so does your garden!