2006 Pumpkin Competition Chat

[Debs]

Richard,

What do you do with that - eat, give away, freeze...?

Debs

[Debs]

[Curryandchips]

Debs, the pumpkin can be stewed down to make a wonderful vegetable puree, which can be frozen and used in a multitude of ways, soup, add flavourings for chilli or curry bases, with cheese, ratatouille, and so on. It really is incredibly versatile. Pumpkin wine is disgusting though ...

[Merry Tiller]

Stick me down for Atlantic Giants please ::)

[supersprout]

Hi jesse, my Dill's Atlantic Giant went in today! :)

[RSJK]

Debs I think my brother sold it to a Chinese restaurant for me got about £12 for it,  this year if I get a good sized one I want to donate it to a cancer cause to see if they can raise any money from it , from a guess the  weight compertition or the likes.

[Debs]

What a lovely idea! :)

[Travman]

Well i have sown my Dills Atlantic giant and Big Moon pumpkin today in the greenhouse. .
will let you all know when they show thier heads above the pot. ;)

[Curryandchips]

Just noticed that the Information thread is now a sticky ... when did that happen?

[busy_lizzie]

All my pumpkin/squash seeds have now been sown and now is the hard part........waiting for them to germinate.   ???  I have come across quite an interesting pumpkin growing site, so I thought I would post it for you to have a look at, particularly all those beginners - a bit like me who has only one years experience.  Even though I had great success last year there is always the fear it was a bit of a flook!  :-\  busy_lizzie

    http://www.pumpkinnook.com/

[lorna]

busy-lizzie. Interesting site. There is a deck rail planter on there. Gave me an idea!! I have a ramp  with rail right round (for Charlie when he was alive) and I keep wondering how I could make it look nicer..Uum.. another quest to son John? LOL.

[supersprout]

Great link, thank you busy_lizzie. Loved 'chow-hungry pumpkins' LOL!
Still got some to plant :P, still waiting for others to germinate :-[ but my Dill's are up ;D

[Jesse]

One of my two hundredweight has germinated :) And I had a huge pile of horse muck delivered to the allotment this week, I'm going to grow one of them directly in the pile of muck :D

[busy_lizzie]

Congrats on your germination Jesse.  They are going to love that pile of muck!  ;D busy_lizzie

[Heldi]

The kids and I sowed our pumpkins on April 12th and here's a pic of them today. Time to pot them on methinks!

From left to right.   Sowed three of each plant and six of mixed gourd.

Pumpkin Atlantic Giant...seed packet expiry date 12/2005  (mine)
Pumpkin Ghost. (my son's)
Pumpkin Jack o Lantern (my daughter's)  Only two germinated.
Gourd Slithering Sam  (joint effort!)  Thanks to Trixie for telling me about those...can't wait!
Pumpkin Crown Prince  (Mine)
Squash Sweet Dumpling. Two germinated (Son's)
Squash Baby Bear. One germinated  (Daughter's)
Walking stick cabbage
Mixed gourds...five germinated.

Am planning on growing one plant of each pumpkin and giving the others away,actually I might stick one in my mum's garden and not tell her..what a minx eh?!

[busy_lizzie]

All looking chunky and gorgeous Heldi!

I sowed my seeds on the 25th April:

butternut squash        all 6 germinated
Jack o lantern              all 4 germinated
Queensland Blue         all 5 germinated
Mammoth                     3 of 4 germinated

Mine all look brillant too.  Will also have to give some away.  We are starting our Site plant and seeds share soon so that is a likely place to take them.  Hope whoever gets them appreciates my babies though!
:D busy_lizzie

[Crash]

I've got my "Big Max" in at the lottie already... Am I jumping the gun? I have been working with my shirt off for the last two days down there. Anyway just for the hell of it I'm in!
I don't even like pumpkin...

[Crash]

Sorry didn't know I had to enter when I planted it, I will post more info tomorrow when I look at the date on my tag. No secret weapon here didn't even know I had to prepare ground for it. I will be feeding it beer from East Angular's best real ale pub "The Dove" in Ipswich. I might even ask them to do a quess the weigh to raise more money for the local hospice. I've entered their (St Elizabeth hospice)biggest pumpkin challenge today.

[Jesse]

Crash you don't have to give the details of sowing times etc., it's there for those who want to keep a record and will be a useful resource for those who want to refer to it, but if you want to keep things top secret then that's fine too :).

Great idea about raising money for the hospice :)

[Curryandchips]

I agree Jesse, great idea about the hospice ...

Four of my latest batch of pumpkin seed have finally germinated, and they are looking healthy ... I hope to get them planted out in a few weeks time ...

[dandelion]

I planted out my Atlantic Giant today and 2 Vif Rouge d'Etampes. They've all been given lots of half rotted garden compost mixed with chicken manure pellets. And a nasturtium to keep them company  ;D!