Allotments 4 All

Just read the forecast- "possibly a touch of ground frost" tonight- will my pumpkins be ok without any protection? Too late if not! :(

Yes but take them in and get them in a greenhouse... or shed before a real frost.. the leaf cover should be enough to protect them the first time...  :-\

I picked my large one last sunday, it finally got to 65inches and weighed 83lbs, its now sitting on the floor of conservatory till I can find what to do with it

Think of frost as being a potential for freezing things.

The pumpkin, or even courgettes will not freeze, but their thin leaves will and that will probably be the end of the growing season, which is rapidly approaching anyway because of low light levels. Leave the pumpkins out to ripen the skins in what little sun there may be, to help increase the storage potential.

Last year I pulled my last courgettes on the 10th November, but this year the night-time temperatures over the last few days are 4 degees Celcius lower than last year and the plants are decidedly droopy.

They are unlikely to last until November.

http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments_Vegetables_Pumpkin.html

Thanks. The cloud kept the frost away last night but I'll try to get them in this weekend anyway.

We (South East England) had an air frost 3rd - 4th Oct and I found yesterday morning that all beans, squashes and sweet potatoes had come to an abrupt end. Because of the collapsing squash leaves I found some squashes I had not seen before including a gigantic Douce de Provence I had totally failed to spot.

If it ever stops raining today I shall collect my six butternuts and the giant squashes and bring them indoors to carry on ripening.

First part of sweet potato crop rather disappointing - small with a lot of cracks. Early drought followed by torrents of rain and very little sun has made it a bad year for them. I'm glad I took the tops off for rooting as cuttings a week ago....  Here's to 2009.

Quote from: susan1 on October 03, 2008, 21:00:00
I picked my large one last sunday, it finally got to 65inches and weighed 83lbs, its now sitting on the floor of conservatory till I can find what to do with it

SUE You could let it out to the homeless