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Champion pumpkin growing twins, Ian and Stuart Paton from Southampton are at it again! This year they have four pumpkin babies which are currently piling on a massive 60lb or 4 stone a day! The twins are well on the way to giving their record-breaking 160 stone pumpkin of 2016 a run for its money.
So this week is National Allotment week, it brings back happy memories of my first allotment that we decided would be a wonderful idea ( myself and my partner at the time), we would be self sufficient in vegetables and it would be such fun to do!
I’ve been gardening for as long as I can remember, my first earliest memory being planting seeds in my Grandfather’s prestige flower bed and having a prize lettuce growing there, which he proudly left to show everyone.
Since then, gaining knowledge and experience from both my Grandfather and my Father, I’ve continued to garden, both as a hobby and later on as a professional gardener and landscaper for 12 years. I love all aspects of it, from the design and build, to the planting out of summer borders with plants you’ve either grown from seed or raised from plugs. Unusual varieties always catch my eye and I’m keen to try growing them, even if sometimes it means learning from my mistakes.
There’s this story going around that there’s only a month or so left to go of summer before it fades to autumn. Well that’s handy as I was starting to tire of the endless heat haze and Long Island iced teas.
No? Well, if reality has to get dragged into it, who else here has been casually eyeing up the cosy knits heap at the bottom of the wardrobe, or maybe even sneaking on the central heating?
Just for fun, here’s a definition of Beaufort Wind Scale 7:
‘High wind, moderate gale, near gale … whole trees in motion, inconvenience felt when walking against the wind.’
A few days ago these were the outdoor conditions here; the obvious time to finally sort out the caterpillars cheerfully laying waste to the veg growing in various pots on the patio. Sprouting broccoli, by now gone over anyway so no real loss, but more importantly the clutch of sprouts intended for Christmas, and which had been grown from seed. All under attack from the young of the Large Cabbage White.
So, head bent into the wind and with grim determination, the Eviction of the Caterpillars commenced.
Some things I learned:
They like hanging around in packs. I say ‘packs’, apparently the proper collective noun for a group of caterpillars is an army. That kind of sounds wrong though, too overblown. They’re actually more like those groups of teenagers you sometimes get around bus stops. All faux-swagger, but basically a bit timid under it all and preferring safety in numbers. So, maybe it should be a skulk of caterpillars.
Whatever, as with any skulking teens, they had to move on. This would have happened a lot faster had I known the next bit.
Now, all over the munched sprout leaves were these odd, tiny clumps of mushy green, well, ‘stuff’. Look again at the first picture above. There it is, all around the stem. Turns out, somewhat grossly, this is actually caterpillar vomit. The semi-regurgitated leavings of the plants they have been nibbling away at. Sorry to make you choke on your Long Island iced tea, but there we have it.
Apparently they do this when they are being predated to put off whatever is trying to eat them, according to those in the know at the National Geographic. Kind of glad I hosed the plant off afterwards.
So, caterpillars despatched to the compost bin together with all ravaged leaves and spent broccoli, losses were cut. Might still get at least a small handful of sprouts for Christmas, which is all anyone wants anyway.
Also this week, wasps claimed the remaining super-ripe Victoria plums for themselves, eating them practically down to the stones. For some reason, I didn’t fancy getting quite so hands-on with the wasps, so left them alone to get on with it.
All of which brings us to the question of pest control. Having always opted for non-chemical means of control for anything grown to be eaten, it does seem we’ve only ever done this in an ad-hoc way, after damage has been done. Maybe there is a better, preventative approach?
I’m not talking about anything too labour- or time-intensive though. What quick, nifty tricks are there? Wasp traps are one way I’ve spotted, not that I’ve used these (they look a bit grisly).
I suspect some cold hard cash will have to spent on proper kit to keep the pests off such as netting.
What are your secret tricks and shortcuts? Oh, and if it’s budget-friendly, we’ll love you forever. The pests, not so much.
Comment below and share your experiences…
I’ve lived in various places from freezing flats in Manchester with just enough room to swing a pot rubber plant, to a Leicester semi which must have held some kind of local record for most concrete used in the garden. That took some digging out. Now living in Market Harborough with husband Matt and two young daughters. And a cat who shows up for mealtimes. Gardening neophyte, learning always.
Pests and diseases on crops are always a problem in the garden – and my Pumpkin crop is no exception, in the last few days, the leaves of my plants have unfortunately developed Powdery Mildew.
Powdery mildew is easily identified by the powdery white spores on the surface of the foliage, severely affected leaves will quickly shrivel and die back. The spores of this unsightly disease are air borne so it can spread quickly and easily where plants are growing close together.
Powdery mildew is particularly prevalent during humid, wet summers like we’ve had this year, where the spores are spread from leaf to leaf by rain splashes.
If you notice powdery mildew appearing then you’ll need to act fast to stop it spreading: You can remove and destroy infected leaves to control its spread. Put them straight in the household waste – never compost the leaves as this will simply spread the problem again next year. Keeping the roots evenly watered will also help to prevent the problem.
If the infection is over a wider area then you may have to use a chemical control; there are lots of fungicides available to pick up at your local garden centre. Just be sure to check that you choose one which is suitable for use on edible crops. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions, and spray the plants evenly, both above and beneath the foliage.
Hopefully that will solve the problem, but if necessary then you may need to repeat the treatment in a few weeks time.
Check out my other videos on growing pumpkins here :
How to grow pumpkins. Part 1: sowing pumpkin seeds
How to grow Pumpkins. Part 2: Planting out Pumpkin plants.
How to grow Pumpkins with Thompson & Morgan. Part 3: Feeding and pollination
I hope you enjoy pumpkin growing this year – who knows, you might grow your very own giant!
For top growing advice for squashes and pumpkins, head to our dedicated hub page where you’ll find articles, guides and our own full range of seeds.
Plants and gardens have always been a big part of my life. I can remember helping my Dad to prick out seedlings, even before I could see over the top of the potting bench. As an adult, I trained at Writtle College where I received my degree, BSc. (Hons) Horticulture. After working in a specialist plantsman’s nursery, and later, as a consulting arboriculturalist, I joined Thompson & Morgan in 2008. Initially looking after the grounds and coordinating the plant trials, I now support the web team offering horticultural advice online. I have a keen interest in drought resistant plants and a passion for perennials, particularly hardy Geraniums. I previously stood as regional secretary for the International Plant Propagation Society which gave me lots of opportunities to see what other horticulturalists were up to in their nurseries and gardens.
Last year, I saw a feature on BBC News live from RHS Hyde Hall where Matthew Oliver had smashed the record for the largest pumpkin grown outdoors in the U.K. The giant weighed in at an incredible 605kg which is 95 stone in old money. Inspired, I thought next year I would give it a go.
I purchased some seed from the Thompson & Morgan website with the seeds being named. “Matt’s Monster.” I also discovered a page on their website “How to Grow a Giant Pumpkins” which has some great tips and how to get started.
I have been a keen gardener and grower of vegetables and flowers for the last seven or eight years. Although this may not seem a long time I am still only 22! I have never really had the space or knowledge to grow pumpkins of any size let alone a giant! I sowed the seed in my electronic propagator, another first for me this year and I was off. The starting gun had been fired.
Soon enough I had two small pumpkin plants that were in need of being planted out. Both were rather leggy and I wasn’t convinced they were going to become anything. One thing I know about pumpkins is that they are very hungry plants. So I decided there was only one place these could go. The compost heap. Before I knew these tiny plants had swamped the compost pile and was heading for the roof of the greenhouse! The growth rates on the plants were phenomenal and like nothing I had ever seen before.
After a continued expansion in growth that I managed to move away from the greenhouse and out onto the garden the flowers began to come. At first I was confused because there seemed to just be male flowers with no female flowers. Female flowers are identified by the small ball behind the flower. At last I had a female flower and my giant had been born.
The growth of the pumpkin has been just as impressive as the growth of the plant. It grew from a cricket ball size on 15/07/17 to beach ball size just ten days later. I took photos so that I could keep a record of how fast it grew. I even got my mum to take photos and send me daily updates of the progress of the giant pumpkin’ while I was away on holiday. I expect by the end of the season it will have bulked up to a decent size. However, nothing like what Matthew Oliver managed to achieve.
The lessons I have learnt from this experiment have been fantastic. It has reminded why I fell in love with horticulture which is that you never stop learning. Although I am by no means an expert I’ve learnt a lot this season and will use my knowledge to beat this year’s efforts next year. Also it has encouraged me to try new things out and not be afraid to make mistakes. I’m sure this year I made many mistakes but all that has done has put me in a better position next year. So from now on every year I have challenged myself to have a go at growing something I’ve never grown before. I would thoroughly encourage you all to do the same!
If you feel similarly inspired to grow your own pumpkin, enormous or modest sized, find all you need to know at our pumpkin and squash hub page.
My name is Thomas Carpenter and I live in Essex. At my home I have a vegetable patch and greenhouse where I grow a range of flowers and vegetables for both the show bench and for eating. I am the Show Secretary for my local horticultural society and have been a member there for the last eight years. Currently I am in training with the Essex Guild of Horticultural Judges and the National Vegetable Society. I have a real passion for growing and showing vegetables as well as encouraging children and young people to get involved with horticulture.
One of the main reasons for the increase in gardening activity at our house was to grow our own fruit and vegetables. As mentioned previously, we have four raised beds that have been neglected for a few years now and so it makes sense to restore and use them. They’re in an ideal spot in the garden where the ground is relatively level.
Hello Everyone,
What’s happened to the summer sun? Honestly it’s more like autumn in Pembrokeshire! The days are usually overcast, with a fair chance of a shower. The wind makes it impossible some days to open the greenhouse doors or windows for fear of damage, and the sawflies are out in force.
My name is Amanda and I live in Pembrokeshire with my fiancé and our garden is approximately 116 meters square. I want to share with you my love for gardening and the reasons behind it, from the good to the bad and ugly. I want to do this for my own personal pleasure. If you would like to take the journey with me then please read my blogs and share with me your gardening stories.
A first blog for Thompson & Morgan
We’ve been witnessing a bit of a quiet revolution in recent times, with more and more of us turning away from mass-produced convenience foods towards a more organic, back to nature approach, including the food we order out. It’s reached such levels that apparently some folks are even blaming Millennials for their lack of savings on an over-fondness for artisan brunches of avocado toast (no, really). I personally love an avocado, so I’m not judging.
I’ve lived in various places from freezing flats in Manchester with just enough room to swing a pot rubber plant, to a Leicester semi which must have held some kind of local record for most concrete used in the garden. That took some digging out. Now living in Market Harborough with husband Matt and two young daughters. And a cat who shows up for mealtimes. Gardening neophyte, learning always.
Does any flower smell more enchanting than the sweet pea?
Probably.
An old fashioned rose, a tropical tiare, a heady jasmine, an undiscovered sticky frilly thing growing in a rainforest, I’m sure there are many. But I am quite certain that no other flower offers a more abundant fragrant experience that is guaranteed to fill your home with whiffy joy for the whole summer season.
I am led by my nose.
As a fragrance writer, my passion for scent translates readily to my garden. My plot is tiny, a ‘typically Yorkshire’ humble patch that fronts my equally tiny Victorian home. I have to be selective about what goes in there. If it isn’t fragrant it has to be exceptionally pretty to be squeezed in.
This year, I decided to make the most of vertical space by growing varieties of sweet peas that are noted for their spectacular scent. I trialled 3 varieties of Thompson & Morgan sweet pea seeds and an unknown variety leftover from last year (I did know at some point but my memory has made space for new things!). They are; ‘Promise’, ‘Juliet’ and ‘Fragrantissima’.
My favourite of the 3 varieties was Promise.
Promise nearly did not live up to it’s promise. The first seeds were sown in a South facing unheated windowsill propagator in March. Nothing happened. Despite my cat frequently sitting atop the lid in the manner of a hen hatching eggs, the soil remained shoot free.
Promise was given a second chance outdoors in my make-shift mini greenhouse in early April. April Promise germinated at a rapid rate and produced several healthy plants. I pinched out the tips after a few pairs of leaves had set and left them to fatten up. What then fattened up was some rampant slugs that devoured the young plants leaving only meagre remains.
The meagre remains were transplanted to a high container well away from the vile slimers with a few fresh seeds popped in for good luck. Though it took almost 3 months to get there, I now have a pot full of intensely scented flowers in vibrant shades of pink from shocking fuchsia to pale strawberry ice cream. The fragrance is stunning, with a sweet sugared almond quality topping what we know as ‘the smell of sweet peas’. The long stems make choosing a vase easy and they sit well amongst other cottage garden plants such as Godetia and Cornflowers.
The easiest variety to grow was Juliet. I sowed seeds on both the windowsill and outdoors in their growing spot. The young seedlings all thrived, again pinched out but this these little plants somehow avoided slug carnage. Just 4 plants have made a 5 foot wall of scent with a bushy vigorous habit. They are positively bionic. The longest of the stems I gathered today was a massive 12 inches making them ideal for the show bench were I brave enough to engage in competitive gardening. The powerful scent lasts for at least a day longer than the other varieties when cut for the vase, however I’m not sure that I like it as much as Promise. Whilst it is definitely a sweet pea fragrance, there is a hint of green sappiness and an odd musky quality that makes it feel slightly ‘feral’. The cream coloured flowers do however make for beautiful arrangements, complimenting showier companions.
Fragrantissima was sown rather late directly in my friend’s allotment. It hasn’t flowered yet but it’s covered in buds and ready to pop at any moment. It appears to be trying to mate with its bountiful courgette neighbour.
The unknowns turned out to be what we think of as a traditional Spencer type mix, with blooms in a variety of colours on relatively short stems. It smells exactly as you’d imagine it to smell and has seduced the Postman who I I caught with his nose in a bloom halfway up the garden path.
This autumn I will early sow Promise once more, perhaps surrounded by eggshells, beer traps, copper rings and a bloke hired from a security company on night watch. I’ll also be growing ‘Heirloom Mixed’ and ‘High Scent’ which both promise to be delightfully fragrant.
I’d love to hear what are you fragrant favourites this year.
Discover the fascinating history of the heirloom sweet pea & other interesting articles in our sweet peas hub.
After living in a city flat for 6 years, I’ve recently become the obsessive owner of a tiny ramshackle house and garden in West Yorkshire. I love to grow scented flowers as perfume is my passion and raising my whiffy plants from seed makes me feel like a goddess!
I am the author of Odiferess, a blog about perfume and the often bizarre culture of the scented world. You can find me at http://odiferess.blogspot.co.uk.
GAPS KEEP APPEARING
I feel sorry for David, I really do! He can’t help getting nervous when every time I go into the garden I dig up any plant that displeases me, seemingly on a whim. He reckons if he stands still too long I‘ll get rid of him an’all! I felt so vindicated when, a couple of weeks ago, Monty said that in his opinion it was perfectly acceptable to get rid of a plant if you had “gawn awf” it. Sell it for charity, give it away to friends, compost it, but replace it with something you love. I suppose I have always felt guilty about doing that, as if somehow I had a duty of care to those plants which have fallen out of favour, disloyal in a way. Not so anymore! I have been whipping them out with obscene abandon and thus have ended up with immense new planting possibilities.
Well, obviously (you know me, he who hesitates is lost) by the time you read this those gaps will have been filled, so let me tell you about the provenance of some new additions to the borders:
In early July David and I went on our annual pilgrimage aka The Hampstead Garden Suburb Horticultural Society coach holiday. Based in Kings Lynn for three days, we visited Easton Walled Garden (compost bins spotted on Google Earth) on the way up, Henstead Exotic Garden in Beccles and Bishop’s House Gardens (Diocese of Norwich) to the East, and Cathy Brown’s Garden and the late lamented Geoff Hamilton’s Barnsdale on the way back. Plants to the right of me, plants to the left!
You could be forgiven for thinking you were in the midst of the Burmese jungle at Henstead Exotic Garden, that is until you reached the wire boundary overlooking the neighbouring housing estate. Point of Interest: Compost toilet Throne Room. Souvenirs of visit: Papyrus, Aeonium Schwarzkopf and miniature gunnera magellanica. Amazing host, worth a visit to meet him alone.
Barnsdale. Well, what a walk down Memory Lane! The Gentleman’s Cottage Garden, the Artisan’s Cottage Garden, and as soon as we entered the Paradise Country Garden my head was full of the haunting TV series sound track. I am a sucker for a celebrity so our visit to their nursery (Paradise indeed) was all the more special because of the presence of Nick Hamilton, who even identified a plant for me. Talk about Plant Lust though: Revered (and oft feared for her unlimited knowledge of Latin plant names, most notably vernonia crinita) group leader Diane was on the hunt for a potentilla Gibson’s Scarlet. Oh the dilemma when she found it! I can’t have those flower stems flopping over my edges, but she did succumb in the end. My folly? Moisture loving astilbes Lollipop and chinensis Vision for the driest part of my garden. Solution? Plant them by the irrigation hose. Sorted!
So, (I do so hate this current trend of opening a sentence with So, don’t you) before The Trip there was the small matter of the NGS Hampstead Garden Suburb Horticultural Society Group Gardens Open Day June 25th. What a dream! The sun shone, we welcomed 435 visitors, served 240 helpings of tea and cake, sold over 400 raffle tickets and raised nearly £700 on locally propagated plants and produce alone. Grand Total Donation to NGS £5585.76 (one wonders how the 76p crept in). How about that then, eh! Fab-u-lous!
This week? Well, this coming Sunday 30th July David & I are having our NGS Open Day. The thrice daily visit to the Met Office website for weather forecast updates is in full swing. Not looking great I have to say at the moment. (I have been known to log out then straight back in to the website just in case it’s been updated.) But after so much recent horticultural activity I am feeling quite Zen about the whole thing this time around. Seeing as the garden had to be Band Box perfect last Sunday for the judging of the London Gardens Society competition, it’s been coasting along nicely since then. Yesterday I filled my last remaining gap (yeah right, I can see me not planting another thing until next year.) A rigorous regime of dead heading along with a favorable balance of rain and shine (and several doses of Tomato feed, Mother Nature shan’t take all the credit) has brought the late summer flowers out right on cue. That is, apart from the T&M tree lilies, which of course have gone over! Now comes the real preparation for Open Garden Day: Cakes. New recipe from Cathy Brown’s garden (You will be served tea at 3.55pm precisely) Orange and Almond cake Gluten and Dairy Free amongst other old favourites. Pricing up plants-for-sale, distributing signage, organizing Float money, buying paper plates, plastic cutlery etcetera etcetera etcetera.
Hoovering the paths and patio can wait until Sunday morning. Wish us luck, hope to see some of you in our garden on Sunday, come rain or shine, as the saying goes………
Caroline Broome has been gardening for more than 20 years. Having passed the RHS General Certificate, she has since developed her East Finchley garden into a “personal paradise” that she and her husband invite the public to visit each year via the National Garden Scheme. Learn more about our contributor using T&M’s ‘Meet the experts’ page.