COLUMBIA, S.C. — The fall season kicked off on Friday, and with the season comes pumpkins. While perfect for eating and decorating, they can be a challenge to grow in South Carolina.
“We got an orange one and a three orange ones and three green ones actually - no four of both,” Ronin Vaughn said while visiting Cottle Strawberry Farm.
Vaughn spent his day searching for the perfect pumpkin with his family. That’s something Hunter Bulloch, the owner of Cottle Strawberry Farm, prepared for all summer.
“So, we started planting in June, and we planted about 4,000 plants and around 20 different varieties, and we feed them, water them every single week, and we produce pretty well for it,” Hunter Bulloch said.
Pumpkins start as seeds, then become sprouts that become vines, which eventually bloom into flowers that become pumpkins. Bulloch said that, in South Carolina, that process isn’t easy.
“In our particular area, it’s difficult just because of the heat. And you sometimes go with bouts not having a lot of rain, and even if you do have a lot of rain when it’s real hot within two or three days, and it’s sunny, that moisture’s just gone,” he said.
Bulloch said he implemented a special watering system to ensure success for the fall harvest and help avoid mildew issues.
“It’s been pretty cool and we’ve had a ton of pumpkins, and we’ve harvested everything once and some of the crop twice, and we’ll probably come back through and harvest two or three more times,” Bulloch said.
Bulloch has pumpkins with all different colors, orange, white, green, and even unique textures, some of which Vaughn said he had his eye on.
“I wanted one of the pimply ones, one of the ones with a pimple on it but we had too many pumpkins,” Vaughn said.
Cottle Strawberry Farm said pumpkins are available through Halloween. The farm is open Monday through Friday to pick your pumpkin.
