The great pumpkin challenge.

mrbadexample

:hello: Howdy folks!

As is the way of these things, it all started with a few :beer:

Long story short, a few of us got a bit bevvied and had a bet. £5 each - whoever can grow the biggest pumpkin, from seed, by Halloween next year gets the pot. :money:

So, what do I need to do to win? I need advice on everything from seed selection to growing conditions, plant food, the lot.

Any advice will be welcome. I plan to keep the thread updated with pictures of my success (or [strike]failure[/strike], nah...cobblers....there will be no failure!) throughout the coming year. My mates are aware of this forum, but I'm hoping they won't have the wits to look.

I will have a greenhouse once my mate has helped me finish building it. Apart from that, I haven't the first idea where to start.

So over to you lot.....

Cheers in advance. :T:T

MBE

Trishh_2

Well the variety's gotta be Atlantic Giant.
You can sow under glass in april/may for planting out after last frost.
They spread all over the place, so you'll need plenty of room to let it grow LARGE!!
Here's a link with some useful info. Good Luck!:T

http://www.merebrow.com/home/mbgp/how_to_grow.html

arkonite_babe

mrbadexample wrote: »

:hello: Howdy folks!

As is the way of these things, it all started with a few :beer:

Long story short, a few of us got a bit bevvied and had a bet. £5 each - whoever can grow the biggest pumpkin, from seed, by Halloween next year gets the pot. :money:

So, what do I need to do to win? I need advice on everything from seed selection to growing conditions, plant food, the lot.

Any advice will be welcome. I plan to keep the thread updated with pictures of my success (or [strike]failure[/strike], nah...cobblers....there will be no failure!) throughout the coming year. My mates are aware of this forum, but I'm hoping they won't have the wits to look.

I will have a greenhouse once my mate has helped me finish building it. Apart from that, I haven't the first idea where to start.

So over to you lot.....

Cheers in advance. :T:T

MBE

This is one thread I shall watch with interest! If it's anything like any of your other ventures it will be a hoot!

mrbadexample

Trishh wrote: »

Well the variety's gotta be Atlantic Giant.
You can sow under glass in april/may for planting out after last frost.
They spread all over the place, so you'll need plenty of room to let it grow LARGE!!
Here's a link with some useful info. Good Luck!:T

http://www.merebrow.com/home/mbgp/how_to_grow.html

I like you! What a great link, just the sort of help I need! :T:T

Right then, I need 400 sq ft per pumpkin plant. :eek: A quick measure of my whole garden shows I've got about 600 sq ft, almost all of it lawn. So, if I devote the entire garden to it, I can grow 1½ plants. Oh.

This means that one of my mates has a distinct advantage. He's just bought a pub in Cornwall, with a field. :mad: He'll probably get better weather than me too (I'm in the Midlands). :mad:

Ok, it looks like I'll be hiring a rotavator (good palindrome, that ) to dig up the entire garden early next year. I never did like the lawn much, anyway. :rolleyes:

What on earth have I got myself into? :eek: :rotfl:

Sarahjovi

I wouldn't dig up your entire garden. The pumpkin plant puts out vines which seem to travel a fair distance. The one I grew this year has 3 vines which are approx 5-6 ft long each, although I did start it late!

I'll try and find some pictures to give you an idea!

Have a look here... http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/senior/vegetabl/pumpkin2.htm

Sarah

Hepcat

On our allotments in North Wales the old boys who know everything grow their pumpkins on heaps of manure. They get some absolute monsters.

Both of our neighbours in France grow pumpkins (different climate I know) in different ways.

One cultivates a bed in which the plant their pumpkin plant and let it trail up a wooden frame and around the lawn and anywhere it fancies. The other one ploughs up masses of field and lets the plants spread out over a wide area. Both seem to get good pumpkins.

I suppose the variety makes a big difference too, off the top of my head I think Atlantic Giant is meant to be pretty good. And if the picture on Lidl's Mad Max Pumpkins is to be believed it's capable of getting to the size of a large arm chair.

chunkymunky_3

Hi
I have grown pumpkins every year for the last few years and acctually had a similar contest with mates a couple of years ago!
so here are a few tips i picked up along the way:

-if going for size i always go for atlantic giant
-As mentioned above a pile of well rotted manure/compost makes a good planting site (in fact ive been told by old timers to simply plant it in the top of my compost heap)
-Once the fruit appear its important that they get lots of water and on a regular basis.
-dont let your pumkin vines get too long, the more fruit each vine has the smaller they will be(i nip out the end once each vine has 3 flowers and then pull off the smaller fruit leaving 1 or 2 fruit on each plant, the fewer fruit there are the more goodness each one gets)
-This is going to sound weird but i got it from monty don in gardeners world magazine, once the fruit start to get bigger, take an absorbant cloth (such as a jiffy cloth) with a sharp implament such as a screwdriver poke a hole in the vine about an inch up the vine from the fruit and push one end of the jiffy cloth in the hole, fill a small bucket with a 50/50 sugar/water mix and let the cloth soak it up, the pumpkin will literally absorb the mix resulting in a larger sweeter pumpkin (just remember to keep the bucket topped up.

chunkymunky_3

one other thing,
if you dont already have your seeds, if you go to the thompson and morgan website http://www.thompson-morgan.com/en and request a catalogue, you will get a £5 voucher with it, this can be used against any order from the catalogue with NO MINIMUM SPEND meaning of course that if the atlantic giant seeds and the P+P come to £5 or less youll get them COMPLETELY FREE
(and i know they do coz i just ordered mine and some carrots)

mrbadexample

Ok, typically, I am running a little late. I should have started this at the beginning of the month, so I am now about 4-5 weeks behind the current competition favourite.

Are Atlantic Giant pumpkin seeds stocked by Joe Average Garden Centres? I need them fast....

Ok...have taken chunky's advice and ordered them from Thompson Morgan. Hopefully, they'll be here before I could be bothered to go and get them....

arkonite_babe

DD has 6 plants out in the garden already. Only 4 of the original 10 failed to germinate. If you need any help nip over to the greenfingers board for some help

good luck!!

HariboJunkie

arkonite_babe wrote: »

DD has 6 plants out in the garden already. Only 4 of the original 10 failed to germinate. If you need any help nip over to the greenfingers board for some help

good luck!!

psst.... AB........This is the greenfingered board.