With Halloween at the end of the month, this month’s favourite plant is the pumpkin and its relatives the hard-skinned “Winter Squashes”. This family contains many more plants than the familiar Halloween pumpkin and range in size from the smallest of squashes grown as decorations to the seriously giant (the world record weight for a pumpkin is over a ton!). The picture below shows our entry for the village show in September.  Even though we needed a wheelbarrow to carry it, it was 1,200kg shy of the world record – to put it another way, 40 more of the same size would be needed to reach a properly giant weight.

30kg Pumpkin

Aside from giant curios and tiny decorations, lots of the winter squashes in the mid-range are extremely tasty. We often use them as an alternative to potatoes as they can be roasted, baked and make great soup. You can cook and eat them fresh, but if you “cure” the skins by drying them off, squashes can be stored for months in a cool dry place to form part of your winter larder.

Squashes Curing ready for storage

Squashes need lots of water, regular feeding and lots of space (the plants are real ramblers), they also love sunshine. To help the plants cope with dry weather we usually plant them with a mechanism for direct watering, either through a “Gro-Pot” or with a plant pot sunk next to the roots. Aside from slugs and snails when the plants are young and powdery mildew as they age, squash plants are relatively free from pests and diseases, so can be a good introduction to growing as they cover a lot of ground quickly and are reliable croppers of tasty produce.

The picture below shows the 3 litre pots sunk next to squash plants scrambling up a trellis frame.

Squash frame with watering pots