Thursday, 1 November 2018

Pumpkin - Growing for the Fruit

Pumpkin 'flour' is a staple ingredient in our kitchen year round. Our pumpkins are all
homegrown, tucked into the ends of raised beds and boxes in garden and allotment plots, then allowed to ramble wherever space allows. We have always grown the trailing varieties even where space was limited because we found them more robust, flavoursome and less demanding than bush varieties. We simply trimmed back the plants to fit the space and used the waste materials as a cooking ingredient.
We start our pumpkins in our Keder Greenhouse early in the year. We sow them by the end of March using additional fleece cover until germination and then during really cold periods. This allows us to prick out and repot several times.
In this way we are able to grow a really decent size root ball in this cosseted space. This allows the plant to get off to a strong start once planted out into the ground.          
We plant out in the last week of April in boxes and the first week of May in raised beds. We warm the soil for a couple of weeks prior and water in with warm water. Experience has taught us to plant a maximum of 2 plants in any location or risk stunted growth and poor fruit setting. I must confess that when planting I also put down an outer ring of cheap salt away from the roots and add some shredded plant material as a bit of early slug protection. Once planted, we  also cover the plants with fleece and keep this protection in place constantly,  except for the occasional warm days.      
           
  By early June the plants are pretty much established, surprisingly robust and able to mostly shrug off slug and snail attacks. We like to put down a heavy mulch around the roots while we are still able to reach them without some accidental plant damage. By  
the end of the month the first fruits are getting to a good size and we are able to do some light leaf harvesting which provide ingredients for a range of early summer dishes. With an eye to storage life we try to make sure fruits are not sitting directly on soil or on their bottom. Where they are, we simply move or turn them on their sides. The plants are finally producing a decent mix of male and female flowers giving us the chance to isolate and hand pollinate for fruits we want to keep true.      
Come July fruits are well on their way and we have a good idea what level of  cropping each vine is likely to offer. This year fruit development was faster than the norm with visible ripening on some early setters; no doubt due to the weird weather. Fortunately we always make sure the vines run over some bare turned earth so they can put down supplementary roots, the better to feed developing fruits. I always leave markers beside these patches for  ease of location later on in the season.
August is peak growing with leaves romping away and fruits of a decent size. This is when I put rich compost around the secondary  roots using the markers to locate them. The plants are relatively trouble free right now. Apart from making sure they get enough water we can just stand by and admire the beauty and drama of these remarkable plants.
By September pumpkin plant growth and fruit setting have slowed. We keep an eye out for downy mildew which experience have taught can erupt and spread as fast as August growth. We take mildew seriously because it not only destroy our leaf harvest, but ultimately lead to reduced yields and stunted, malformed later fruits. We are ruthless at the allotment. The minute we spot mildew on the site we take action to protect our plants. We use a combination of Neem oil and bicarbonate of soda to make up a spray and try to cover all the plants with a pre-emptive treatment. We keep watch removing old and damaged leaves which seems to be the first targets of any infection. In the garden downy mildew is easier to control. For a start, we have fewer plants and there are fewer local growers so removing old and damaged leaves and a good spraying usually serve us well.
In a normal year we start harvesting pumpkins in mid-October. This year the bulk of the fruits were ripe and ready by the beginning of October.
Over the years we have seen the season lengthen as autumn weather stretched frost free as late as early December in some years. Now if we are really lucky and the weather stays mild, pumpkins that start setting at the end of August and even into early September can often grow to maturity as long as we remain frost free.
This year we have six of these stragglers hanging around the garden. All have reached a decent size and hopefully have a few more frost free weeks to continue curing on the vine.
Whether or not we end up with fully ripe late bonus fruits, once the harvest is in, the main purpose of our crop, making flour, can begin.

1 comment:

  1. Another excellent article with a valuable tip on dealing with mildew.

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