Ive discovered a pumpkin vine?

Question

I realized we had a pumpkin vine about a week ago. And there are male flowers on it but no females yet! I live in upstate new york and its August 30th... Will I have pumpkins or did it start to grow to late in the season? I think its from our carved pumpkins last year. Not sure how that happened! But anyhow Im very excited and hoping I still have time for maybe a couple of little pumpkins... Any advice on what to do to stimulate the plant would be greatly appreciated! Also its grown up onto my deck... should I let it go or does it need to be in the soil?

Answer 1

You will get your first hard frost long before you will have a mature pumpkin.  But the vine is fun to have, so enjoy that while it lasts!  You can also harvest the flowers---they are delicious fried!

Answer 2

Growing up onto the deck is fine. Squash vines spread like crazy. The only part that needs to be in soil are the roots. But I hate to be the bearer of sad tidings: if there are no pumpkins on your vine at this point, it is too late in the season for them to amount to anything, even if one develops at this point. Pumpkins take 4-5 months to mature (see link). I live in VT (we are probably within one climate zone of each other, if not the same) and we are avid gardeners and the growing season is coming to a close.