Whether you make pumpkin pies or jack-o-lanterns with your Halloween/ Fall harvest pumpkins, afterwards they have that thick rind which will take time and some labour to compost.
If you have a compost bin or have the space to dig a hole in the garden itself, or you might have a compost pit… the pumpkin is better in your own compost than going to landfill.
Have a little respect for the Jack-O-Lantern and give him a green burial.
If you can not compost check around for someone else who does commercial composting. A local business or someone who does have a garden space or a local grower of just about anything. Bag up the pumpkin or pumpkins and donate them to a good home.
Clean it out
Don’t leave decorations, tin foil, candle wax, inside the pumpkin. Keeping your compost to organic matter only makes it simpler later when you use the composted material in your garden. Anything like tin foil or a forgotten candle stub is just one more thing you will be picking out of the compost and soil mix later.
All the pumpkin guts, the stuff you scoop out when you carve a pumpkin, can be added to the compost too. Many people will do double duty and use the insides for pies or other holiday recipes. If you don’t, the insides are already mushy and will compost easily along with your regular yard waste, kitchen scraps or anything else you routinely add to the compost heap.
Chop it up
If you start with a whole pumpkin you have a bigger job just because it’s that much thicker and bulky. So begin by chopping it up. Even those miniature pumpkins used for decorations can be cut up.
Anything bulky and thick skinned like a pumpkin is going to be extra work for the fungus and little creatures who do the real work of reformatting in the garden. Give them a head start by breaking it up as much as you can.
If you’re a bit lazy pull the pumpkins out into the yard, in an area which can get messy, and chop them with the shovel. Let them get a bit on the mushy side before you start so you don’t have to break through the fresher, harder rind.
Remove the seeds
Take the seeds out, any seeds left in the compost will begin to sprout and grow a pumpkin patch. This could be a good thing if you have the space and don’t mind pumpkins growing on top of your compost heap. But, you won’t want all those seeds to germinate – that would take up too much space. If you have ever seen pumpkins growing you know how well they like to wind around and spread out.
Pumpkin seeds can be roasted in the oven as a snack. Just remove the pumpkin from them. Don’t actually wash them but pull off the stringy stuff. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or tin foil, spread the seeds out over the tray. You can sprinkle salt on them, or something else that perks your imagination. When your oven is hot put the seeds in to roast. Check a recipe for roasting times and temperatures. I just peek through the glass and decide when they look done enough. They should be dry but not dried out like a mummy.
If you don’t want to roast and eat the seeds you can still compost them. Roast them and then toss them into the compost. Or, grind them, anything which will prevent them from germinating in the Spring.
Begin the compost pile up
Gather leaves as you rake them, grass clippings, vegetable peels and such from the kitchen and line a hole with this lighter compost. Bury the pumpkin under more leaves and garden soil. You can add bone meal to help it all compost faster.
If you use a compost bin make sure the lid fits on to prevent rodents from getting in and leaving you a mess to clean up.
Look into composting with worms if you have the space in your backyard/ garden for a compost pit (a hole in the ground which you pile levels of compost material into).
You can also wrap the pumpkin compost in a black plastic bag which will help speed up the time it takes to rot. But, it won’t smell pretty when you unwrap it to distribute your compost into the garden.
