Growing on Pumpkins

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Growing Pumpkins

You can use the below instructions and apply them to virtually all Winter Squashes too!

1. Two weeks before planting or sowing seed outdoors, make planting pockets 1.8m (6ft) apart. Do this by making a hole about a spade’s depth, width and height and fill with a mixture of compost or well-rotted manure and soil. Sprinkle a general fertiliser over the soil. Plant one plant or seed on top of each pocket. 2. For indoor-raised seedlings, plant outside on top of your planting pocket in late may to early June, hardening off (acclimatising) before doing so. Do this by moving them into a coldframe for a week or, if you don’t have a coldframe, move plants outdoors during the day, then bring in at night for a week. The following week, leave them out in a sheltered spot all day and night. Create a moat so water stays where it is needed. You can also grow pumpkins in growbags or containers (at least 45cm/18in wide). Plant one or two per growbag, or one per container.
3. Keep the soil constantly moist by watering around the plants not over them. As they need plenty of water, sink a 15cm (6in) pot alongside the plants when planting out. Water into this and it will help ensure the water goes right down to the roots and does not sit around the neck of the plant, which can lead to rotting.
4. Feed every 10-14 days with a high potash liquid fertiliser once the first fruits start to swell. Examples: Any of the quality Tomato Liquid Feeds,
5. The fruit of pumpkins should be supported off the soil on a piece of tile or glass.

Category: Recipes

Filo Pie with Swiss Chard, Ricotta Cheese and Tomatoes

Filo Pie with Swiss Chard, Ricotta Cheese, and Tomatoes

Stuck for an idea for how to use Chard, well why not try this dish?

Fagiolini in Umido

This is a great dish to use some of the abundant Green Beans that should be available in the summer months Fagiolini in Umido is an Italian dside dish simply means Green Beans cooked in Tomato.

Oca or Potato Homity Pie Recipe

Homity Pie

Homity pie is a traditional British open vegetable pie. The pastry case traditionally contains a filling of potatoes and an onion and leek mixture, which is then covered with cheese. It has a history that dates back to the efforts of the Land girls of the Second World War and the restrictions imposed by wartime rationing.

Category: The Growing Season

Jobs to do in March

Spring is starting and the new season is here

Hopefully by now we are now standing on the threshold of Spring and the new gardening season. The days are beginning to lengthen and although it may not feel like it at times the temperatures are slowly increasing day by day. More importantly the longer days are the real trigger to new growth and you will find that with the help of a little protection you can really go for those early sowings

Jobs to do in August

Harvest should be bountiful and the allotment is in full swing

August is the month of plenty, virtually everything you planted and sown will be giving you a crop, daily trips to the plot are recommended this month, harvesting, watering, and weeding all needing doing this month!

Jobs to do in July

Harvest should be bountiful and the allotment is in full swing

Now is the height of summer, the days endlessly long, temperatures usually at their peek and you should be reaping the rewards of your hard work in the preceding months. Watering in this month is crucial to stem off premature bolting, tomato blossom end rot and splitting skins.

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