Gardening Blog
Allotment Diary
April 22, 2008: pumpkin planting time
This week, Terry Walton installs his family of 'curcubit' vegetables wherever he can find a spot of warmth, whether that's in the greenhouse, or even in the airing cupboard at home...
What an April this turning out to be! The clock is running but the weather has not responded and the ground has turned colder. No chance yet of those little seeds of life leaving their packet home and to start out on their first steps towards mature crops.
When we are cold outside extreme bits go numb and blue but we can quickly go indoors and bring everything back to normal. No such luxury for those poor plants in the exposed soil. We can give them a little protection of cloches or fleece, but in the main they have to tough it out.
Those more advanced crops, such as garlic and broad beans, are given no protection and are feeling the chilling effects of that very chilly Easterly wind. There is a definite tinge of yellow in the tips of their leaves as the temperatures have plummeted and they suffer waiting for the sun to appear again and bring them some welcoming warmth.
This will come soon, then we can give them a top feed of fertiliser, an organic feed, of blood, fish and bone in my case, and they will soon have that rosy glow returning to their leaves.
Still, for us fickle gardeners there is the warmth of the greenhouse and there is always plenty to be getting on with in the gentle warmth there. I only wish I could start to move some of the trays outside to harden off, but no chance yet.
By careful manoeuvring I have to find some room to plant the seeds of the family of Cucurbits that I grow each year. To those of you who are not familiar with this ‘posh’ term these are the courgettes, marrows, pumpkins, squashes and cucumbers.
These all have seeds which are easily manageable and easy to sow. I plant the courgettes, marrows and squashes two to a pot and if I am lucky enough to have them both germinate I split them at an early age and will have two pots of plants. Thus I have some to give away to my fellow allotmenteers.
The cucumbers get special treatment. I grow the all female varieties, to avoid the possibility of very bitter crops which are formed when cucumbers get pollinated.
These are however the more expensive seeds, but worth it for a tasty crop. These get the luxury of being planted one per pot and will get to spend their early days before germination in my airing cupboard. This is the best, most consistent propagator in the world.
But as I have stated before, check them regularly and remove them from the airing cupboard just as they emerge from the compost. Failure to do so will result in large gangly growth and a seedling that is useless.
The most fascinating seed of all to grow is to me the pumpkin seed. This is a very large seed and when it germinates there is this very big eruption in the surface of the compost before the disproportionate seed leaves pop out of the surface.
The big advantage of this family of vegetables is that they are heavy croppers and will reward you well all summer long and many of them, like squashes and marrows, will store in a cool dry shed well into the winter months.
They can be a little ground consuming but in any sunny odd corners it is possible to fit a few of your favourite ones in, or even, in the case of courgettes, grow them in a grow bag.
Give it a go, I am sure you will enjoy the experience and will soon be come hooked on the many ways you can cook and eat these very versatile crops.
Yummy 'curcubit' recipes
More from Terry Walton
- April 15: springing back to life
- April 8: a sudden cold snap
- April 1: April fools?
- March 24: the worm turns
Growing vegetables
- How to grow vegetables
- When to start growing vegetables
- Chat to other gardeners and allotmenteers at Saga Zone's gardening forum
My life on a hillside allotment
Terry Walton is a regular contributor to The Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2 and has written a book called, My Life on a Hillside Allotment, published by Bantam Press. The book is available from Amazon
