Rumination and ramblings about veg and other matters, from my allotment in Northamptonshire,"The County of Squires & Spires"
Another camera-phone snap of the Atlantic Giant. I'll keep feeding it, but I'm not so sure it will get much bigger than this now. Have started to think about what I can do with it... might have to find a local church or school who will accept it as a harvest festival donation I suppose.
posted by Greenmantle at 9:02 am
Prior to October 2006 I had an idyllic allotment in Tonbridge, Kent, about which this blog was born. Since giving it up on moving to Northampton I've been on the dreaded list, waiting for another; but now finally in April 2010 I'm back on the land, and "Dig for Victory" can ride again. If you have been following my rather spasmodic output at "Quotidian" in the meanwhile, please do adjust your sets!
7 Comments:
I am so jealous! I have nursed and spoiled my Atlantic Giant this year, so far it is not much bigger than a basketball. Do you have a secret?
What a beauty! I do have baby pumpkins now, but with the late start, I don't think they'll get huge, which is fine. I just want them to make it to pumpkinness. The vines are huge & still growing. I've trimmed a number of shoots. Do you think I should cut the runners (incl the main vine) to encourage the pumpkins to mature?
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Hi Matron & PG.....
It's the first time I've ever grown pumpkins so I suppose an element of it must be beginners luck.
The pro-active stuff I did was as follows...
1. For each plant I dug out a pit about two spades deep and about two spades square, and filled it with rotted garden compost, and a couple of handfuls of granular fertiliser ("Growmore" in the UK) Using the soil left over I mounded up the tops, so the plants were eventually set on an small square hump about 8" high.
2. I took a length of plastic kitchen waste pipe, and drove it down through the side of the "hump" at a steep angle so it finished up right underneath the plant.
3. As the plants grew, I pollinated them by hand (break off a male flower and rub it on a female) as it's notoriously hard for bees to do this, hence often few fruits result.
4. Let them develop until they are about the size of a large apple, and then reduce them to the best two per plant. Start feeding them now! Let the remaining two go on a bit until soup bowl size, then make a final selection and reduce to one fruit per plant.
5. I fed them every 2-3 days (or whenever I could) sometimes with a multipurpose liquid feed like "Miracle Gro" and sometimes with a standard Tomato fertiliser. When feeding, pour the solution down the pipe, straight to the roots. (Tip: A large plastic cola bottle with the bottom cut off makes a handy funnel, and makes pouring a doddle)
My plants have had about 2 large cans each, every other day, and sometimes a good soak with the hosepipe as well. I think copious amounts of water and feed is the key really.
That's about it - Considering the World Record is held by Dills at least 8 to 10 times bigger than mine it's clearly not THE best method, but as a novice I'm happy with my results.
I'm not sure if cutting the vines encourages fruiting or not, but I had to do it frequently, out of necessity, just to contain them within the borders of my plot
...Oh yeah,
When you've made your final selection, while the fruit is still small, carefully lift it and put a roof or floor tile, or a slate or somesuch, underneath it, to keep it off the damp ground as it matures.
I'm growing hundredweight this year and our one prize pumpkin is looking good, not as big as your one though, that's a beauty. I'm sure a local school will be very grateful to have that for their harvest festival.
Oh my God!
You wouldn't want to be lugging that one home on yer bike.
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