Field Notes: From Seed to Spooky, How We Grow Our Pumpkins at Wildberry

There’s a kind of quiet magic in growing pumpkins.

They don’t shout for attention the way sunflowers do. They don’t demand daily harvests like tomatoes or herbs. But they do ask for time. For patience. For protection. And for trust that what’s brewing beneath the soil will one day become something golden, round, and ripe with seasonal joy.

At Wildberry, we plant every pumpkin by hand. Some begin as seeds in trays; others go straight into the field when the timing feels right. This year, we’re growing a whole cast of characters:

– Jack O’ Lantern

– Dark Night

– Pink Doll

– Blue Doll

– Galeux d’Eysine (the beautiful warty French kind)

– Black Cat

– Casper (a classic white)

Each one with its own shape, color, and story to tell.

We don’t spray our fields. Instead, we mix up our own insecticidal soap: just Castor oil + water— simple but effective against squash bugs. We walk the fields and spray by hand. We tuck the seedlings in with compost. And this year, we’ve added portable electric netting to try and outsmart the deer (wish us luck!)

It’s not always glamorous. In years past we’ve battled vine borers. Lost rows to rain. Watched deer leap fences like it’s the Olympics. But we keep going.

Because we believe in what these pumpkins represent: the turning of the wheel. The promise of fall. The reward for the long, hot summer.

We’re hoping to open the field for our first Pumpkin U-Pick in October. This event will be a small, special experience. Until then, they’re still growing, quietly, beneath the summer sun.

And we’re growing too. Right alongside them.