Making Pumpkins Grow Fast

A good way of hustling the growth of pumpkins, marrows*, etc., is to feed the fruits with water. It is only needful to secure some pieces of round lamp wick. Holes are made in the stalk of the fruit and, into these, one end of the wick is inserted. The other end of the wick rests in a jar of water which is kept well supplied. The pumpkins grow at twice the rate they do normally and are ready for cutting much sooner. In this way the produce secured from the plant is largely increased. The plan is well worth following out.–S. Leonard Bastin from: The Garden Magazine - June 1918

*squash - this would likely work with most melons and squash