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Did you know that pumpkins can cross pollinate with other winter squashes?

According to Mark Keaton, staff chair for Baxter County at the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, “cross-pollination between squashes and pumpkins will not produce off-flavored or off-colored fruit in this year’s garden, but if the seed is saved for planting next year, the result will be a combination.”

For more information, visit www.baxterbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060726/COLUMNISTS1601/607260306/1002/NEWS17.

Do you live in a warm, dry climate? Then you might want to keep an eye out for powdery mildew if you’re growing your own pumpkins.

Powdery mildew is most commonly found on the upper sides of leaves and appears as white patches and spots.

According to Dona M. Crawford, a master gardener at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County, “powdery mildews are severe in warm, dry climates [because] the fungus does not need the presence of water on the leave surface for infection to occur.”

She recommends to readers of the Times Herald-Record that growing powdery mildew resistant varieties of pumpkin was the best way to avoid this problem.

You can read the rest of her advice at www.recordonline.com/archive/2006/07/28/news_community-gardencol28-07-29.html.

When Ted “Buck” Bradford found an antique, horse-drawn planter on his property, his wife dismissed it as “a pile of rust.”

But, when he decided to plant pumpkins on an acre of their land, he found the planter to be quite useful.

Pumpkin seeds should be planted eight feet apart and the planter’s large wheels covered eight feet each cycle. So with a little ingenuity, he rigged the device to help him plant the seeds and what would have been an all-day task by hand took only two hours!

For more on this story, visit www.stltoday.com/stltoday/neighborhoods/stories.nsf/jeffersoncounty/news/story/8E49F233225DB152862571AF00505EDB?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2C%22rust%22+AND+%22pile%22.

It’s almost that time of year, when communities start holding their harvest festivals, which so often feature pumpkins. Here are a few I’ve learned about.

What: MAiZE at Temple Hall Farm Regional Park
Where: 15789 Temple Hall Lane
When: Sept. 8 – Oct. 29
Highlights:

• 11-acre cornfield maze
• hay rides
• pick-your-own pumpkins

For More Info: www.nvrpa.org/templehall.html

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What: Circleville Pumpkin Show
Where: 159 East Franklin Street, Circleville, Ohio
When: Oct. 18 – 21
Highlights:

• Enormous pumpkins
• Really big pumpkin pie
• Contests: pumpkin toss, pie eating, etc.

For More Info: Pumpkinshow.com

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What: World Pumpkin Chucking Championships
Where: Long Neck, Delaware
When: Nov. 3-5
Highlights:

• Machines designed to chuck pumpkins long distances
• Pumpkin pie contest

For More Info: www.punkinchunkin.com

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What: Ukiah Country PumpkinFest
Where: Ukiah, Calif.
When: October
Highlights:

• Food
• Arts and crafts
• “Scarecrow City”
• Live music
• Pie eating contest
• Pumpkin weigh off

For More Info: www.cityofukiah.com/lifestyle/events.html

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What: Pumpkins in the Park
Where: Cumberland Bowl Park, Route 58, Jonesville, VA
When: Oct. 27
Highlights:

• Face painting
• Pumpkin painting
• Hay rides
• Trick-or-Treating

For More Info: www.virginia.org/site/description.asp?attrID=27932

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What: Pumpkin Festival
Where: Marker-Miller Orchards Farm Market
When: Oct. 28
Highlights:

• Wagon Rides
• Barrel Train Rides
• Pick-Your-Own Pumpkins

For More Info: www.markermillerorchards.com

“Pumpkin seeds can be started indoors in early May,” Erwin Goldstein wrote in his column for the Norwich Bulletin. “Or we can plant them outdoors in late May.”

In areas where the ground is still cold in late May, he recommends warming the soil first by placing black plastic over the bed for a few days.

And, if you live in an area where woodchucks also live – watch out for them! Woodchucks “enjoy pumpkins,” he says.

For more advice, visit www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060727/LIFESTYLE/607270307/1024.

In July, Half Moon Bay in California unanimously appointed an award-winning pumpkin farmer to City Council.

“Good leaders step up when they’re needed and I’ll find out if I have something to offer,” John Muller, owner of Farmer John’s Pumpkin Farm and Daylight Farms, told the San Mateo Daily Journal.

I just think that’s cool. For more information about Farmer John’s story, visit www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=61478.

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Photo: Farmer John Muller, from Half Moon Bay, Calif., holds his 127-pound square Atlantic Giant that won the Most Beautiful Pumpkin division in the annual Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off in Half Moon Bay. (Source: photos.signonsandiego.com/gallery1.5/index.php.)