Halloween means pumpkin season, but these under-rated vegetables are not just for hollowing out into spooky faces. Plant some now and you’ll have a tasty crop for carving and eating next Halloween.
What to do this week
– Cut out loganberry and blackberry cans that have finished cropping, and tie in new ones to the support framework.
– Protect cauliflower curds by bending two or three leaves over them.
– Start heating the greenhouse at night to protect tender plants if frost is threatened.
– Make new lawns from turf.
– Examine pears in store every few days, and eat them as soon as they are ripe.
– Shelter pot-grown strawberries from heavy rain.
– Cut down the top growth of dahlias when it is blackened by frost, then lift and dry the tubers for storage.
– Remove half-hardy fuchsias from the garden and from containers, and put them in pots to overwinter under cover.
– Wrap containers of potted acers with horticultural fleece to stop the compost freezing and protect the plant.
– Continue to clear fallen leaves, and recycle them to make leafmould.
– Take hardwood cuttings of roses and root outdoors.
– Cut down faded border perennials and lightly fork the soil between them.
– Dig up and store gladiolus corms.
– Finish lifting potatoes, leaving them on the surface of the soil for a couple of hours to dry out, or in a greenhouse if it’s damp. They must be dry before putting them into storage.
Good enough to eat – Pumpkins
Pumpkins make a scary decoration for Halloween but they can also make delicious soups or be thrown into pies and casseroles to add colour, texture and flavour.
They are grown in the same way as squash. Seeds should be sown individually in 9cm pots of multi-purpose compost, indoors, in late spring, pushing each seed to a depth of 2cm. Water thoroughly then grow on until the first two leaves are well developed and then harden them off before planting.
Pumpkins are frost-tender so don’t plant them out until danger of frost has passed. They need plenty of space and an open sunny position in a moist, fertile soil rich in organic matter which has been added in autumn and winter.
After planting, surround each plant with a low rim of soil, about 30cm (12in) out from the stem and fill the basin with water when the plant needs moisture. Then water regularly during the summer and keep the area well weeded, adding a liquid feed regularly. Before long, the huge foliage will act as ground cover to smother the weeds.
By the end of summer you should reduce feeding and watering and remove any foliage blocking sun from the fruits, which will need to ripen. Pick them when ripe and certainly before the first frosts.
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