The pumpkin

The area planted with pumpkins, squash and zucchini2 increased by more than twofold between 1986 and 2001, almost double the rate of that of the next leading growth vegetable crop, green onions. [...] The fast growth in pumpkin crops seems to be related to the popularity of this vegetable during Thanksgiving and Halloween, as 92% of sales came from fresh pumpkins in 2001. [...] In British Columbia, the largest area devoted to this vegetable is found in the Lower Mainland-Southwest, which has 149 farms growing 376 hectares of pumpkins. [...] The area planted with pumpkins increased by more than twofold between 1986 and 2001, almost double the rate of that of the next leading growth vegetable, green onions. [...] In that year, two-thirds of the area planted in Ontario was for fresh sales, and the remaining one-third went for processing.