2006 Pumpkin Competition Chat

[stuffed]

Can we have a pic of the frame?

[stuffed]

[busy_lizzie]

Hi stuffed! Yes I will try to go over to the plot some time today and take a pic.  I managed to get the butternuts in yesterday as planned, and the other ones, (touch wood) looked fine.  :) busy_lizzie

[Curryandchips]

Ah Heldi, doesnt your ambition include cropping them too ... ?

[dandelion]

Some of the pumpkins growing in the back of my plot.


The ground is covered with cardboard and hay with compost/manure mounds for the pumpkins.



The big boy: Atlantic Giant.

[Heldi]

Yes it does curry...that and having my kids carve their very own home grown pumpers at halloween  ;D  ;D

[Travman]

Dandelion.
your Atlantic looks to be doing very well.

[busy_lizzie]

Great idea to mulch with grass  -  must start collecting some for mine.  They are looking great, Dandelion! Will definitely take a camera up to my plot tomorrow to take a pic of mine.  :) busy_lzizzie

[dandelion]

Thanks busy_lizzy. I'm a bit worried about the Atlantic Giant though. I posted a message a while ago about yellow mottling on the leaves. http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,28/topic,19483.msg200725#msg200725
The general consesnsus was that it wasn't a virus, but it has recently got worse! The stems now look yellow-ish too, though the plant is growing well. I grew this one from seed swapped on a Seedy Sunday (not shop bought seed). I'll take a close-up picture later today and post it here.

On a more positive note, the Vif Rouge d'Etampes has grown a cherry-sized pumpkin ;D! And I received a free packet of Turk's Turban seed from Sarah Raven's cutting Garden this morning. Has anyone grown this? Is it purely ornamental or can you eat it too?

[busy_lizzie]

I have put a pic of my frames on the Edible section under an item on Butternuts, Stuffed.  Dandelion that did sound like a nutrition thing, hope it settles down now that it is in soil.  They look as though they are growing under perfect conditions.  I know both  EJ and Doris Pinks have grown some fabulous Turks Turbins, so they will be able to advise.  :) busy_lizzie

[Curryandchips]

This morning I planted out my one (and only) cobnut, which is a derivative of butternut, bred apparently to grow better in the UK climate (allegedly !!!). Anyway, I hope it romps away and produces dozens of delicious cobnut squashes !

[dandelion]

I pulled up my Atlantic Giant yesterday, as it was definitily looking virused :'(. But I have plenty of other varieties growing on my plot. I didn't want the Atlantic Giant's planting hole full of compost and manure go to waste, so I've sown some of the free Turk's Turban seed I got from Sarah Raven there.

[RSJK]

Got my two plants in today, plenty of muck under them and plenty of liquid feed at the ready.

[busy_lizzie]

So let battle commence!  It is perfect weather for them with all the heat, just have to keep them well watered and they should thrive. Today also did a spot of guerilla gardening and planted one of my mammoths outside a youth shelter in the park.  Will they spot it and pull it out - only time will tell!  :) busy_lizzie

[myrtle]

I've lost one of my Mars plants to wind rock! I've sown some purple pumpkin seed that a friend gave me (no idea as to name) in the heap and cloched them, so fingers crossed.  3 others still looking a little sad, the only one that is thriving and has 2 golfball sized fruit on is the spare one that I plonked on the compost heap!  Typical!!

[mc55]

hmm, one of my big max is looking very sickly - bright yellow patches on the leaves.  Guess this means its deficient in something, but what ?  I've sprinkled some growmore around it and given it a couple of drinks of neat drinks of nettle juice - not sure it this is good or bad.  Its planted on top of manure.  Gets watered at weekend and mid-week.  Have been in the ground since end of May.

Other pumpkins and squashes look OK, except for my munchkin which looks as if it is about to keel over - tips are healthy, but looks as if it is dying from the roots ... sigh.

any tips / advice ?
mc

[myrtle]

Could be magnesium deficiency, mc, try watering in some epsom salts or seaweed extract.

[Curryandchips]

Just noticed this morning, the first of my four Hundredweight plants is showing it's first flower ...  :D

[SMP1704]

All of my Big Max have some yellow patches on the leaves.  I gave them a comfrey feed, but have the seaweed at the ready.  Also noticed, in spite of the yellow leaves, that all four plants have flower buds and one has a full sized flower ;D ;D

[busy_lizzie]

Mine have been looking yellow leaved too, but I am wondering whether I have been watering them enough as it has been so dry.  They are in a pile of manure, so I don't think they will be deprived of nourishment.  We have had some real heavy rain today so I am hoping that good "drooking" will have made all the difference.  :) busy_lizzie

[daisymay]

I am growing 2 atlantic giant and 4 jack -o lantern.. they are in the bit of the lottie we  never got round to dig over or weed, so covered it in black membrane stuff and cut holes through. Filled hole with exceptionally well rotted manure and bunged em in, they are loving it, though need to water more than I am giving them at the moment.

Butternuts definitely do - they are looking very pathetic!