PUMPKINS
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Pumpkins |
Pumpkins belong to the cucurbita family, which also includes vegetable
marrows, cucumbers, butternut squashes, gourds, courgettes, shark fin melons,
melons and several other variations which differ according to the country where
they are grown.
Outdoors the courgettes, gourds, vegetable marrows,
mildew which spreads very rapidly. They all need
a warm summer and a favourable autumn to help ripen them up. The summer of 2018
was perfect for them but this year the continual wet weather and lack of
sunshine has done them no favours. My two Zucchini courgettes only gave me six
courgettes to take home, although the plant had great vigour. The flowers just
did not set.
My three pumpkins planted nearly four feet apart only produced four large
fruits.
However my four pumpkins will keep Anna happy in the kitchen for several months
as they go a long
Butternut squash has become very
popular as the main ingredient in creamy soups, ravioli filling, and risotto.
It is quite sweet and has very few seeds. Pumpkins are a great plant to get the
kids involved in nature and growing from seed sowing, planting, watering and
feeding, and then you will need them to help in the harvest. Unfortunately they
will want the biggest one for carving up into a lantern, though all the flesh
scraped out can still be used for a sweet pumpkin pie, cooked of course by the
kids.
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Squashes |
way. My favourite is roasted pumpkins, but they also make a
great soup, or used as a side dish or added to numerous other recipes. Pumpkins
as well as the other cucurbits are all a good source of potassium and vitamin C
and rich in the antioxidants alpha and beta carotene, which are both
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Roasted pumpkin slices |
There were a few more but they all rotted away in the wet weather.
However, vigorous shoots started running all over the place, even trying to
climb up my Autumn Bliss raspberries and blackcurrant Big Ben. I had let them
roam free hoping that at some point the flowers would produce a pumpkin. To get
really big pumpkins give them a weekly feed with a high potash liquid feed like
tomato fertiliser.
precursors
to vitamin A, a vitamin that is important for keeping eyes healthy.
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Auralia with her shark fin melons |
butternut squashes, sharks
fin melons and pumpkins are all relatively easy to grow provided they get
fertile soil and a constant supply of moisture. Usually a mulch will help them
through any dry spells in summer, and keep an eye out for
They have been a source of food for over 7000 years growing in
their natural environment from southern Canada down to Mexico, Central America,
Argentina, Chile and Brazil, but are now so popular they are grown all over the
world. The USA is a massive importer of pumpkins mostly grown in Mexico.
Gardeners in UK grow melons and cucumbers under glass and courgettes, marrows,
squashes, gourds and pumpkins outdoors. As people on holiday see other types grown
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Yellow courgettes |
abroad we are now all experimenting in growing something different and then
trying out new ways to cook them. The Shark Fin Melon seems to be the latest to
appear in allotments. It is very vigorous and can soon take over large parts of
the plot if allowed. It produces an abundance of large green and white spotted
fruits which can be used in soups and stir fry dishes. Cucumbers and melons
need warm conditions in a glasshouse and although the cucumber is relatively
easy to grow and very productive, melons are far more challenging. They can
take up a lot of space in the greenhouse, so if you grow tomatoes and a
grapevine you will need a big greenhouse to accommodate a melon.
Wee jobs to do this week
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Pansy hanging basket |
Make up hanging baskets for a spring display. Pansies are
always favourite. Use an old compost bag
inside out (black side outside) with a
few slits around the side and cut to shape. Fill with a mixture of potting
compost and some good garden soil and add a dusting of fertiliser. Plant up the
sides first then add compost up to the top and finish the planting. To give an
early start to the display, plant a few crocus bulbs amongst the pansies. I
keep my hanging baskets in a cold greenhouse perched on top of a large flower
pot to give them some shelter over the winter and an early start in spring.
END