Baby Boo is just the right size to sit in the palm of your hand, a charming one pot pumpkin (yes, very tasty) that can be picked whilst the skin is white to make a ghostly Halloween decoration…but we eat all of ours!  It is a well behaved vining type (with miniature leaves) producing up to 10 miniature pumpkins per plant. (3 seeds)

Bambino – the name might suggest otherwise but you will be feasting on 5-10kg pumpkins (that is medium to large) with an excellent flavour.  You can limit the number of pumpkins to encourage larger fruits or allow more smaller fruits on this meandering vine variety. Price for 3 seeds. 

Perfect for a pumpkin patch – if you can dedicate a whole bed to pumpkins then you can let vining types do their thing.  Once the foliage begins to die back in the autumn you will then see your fruits.  That’s all very well but most of us don’t have the room for this so there is another way to deal with vining types.

Plant into a large container on your sunny patio, use a rich compost and be prepared to water and feed.  Allow the plant to grow over the edge and onto the patio surface and then you just encourage the vines to go round and round and round the container.  The pumpkins will love the warmth from the surface of the patio and you will be able to stay in control, watering and feeding is less effort, limiting the fruits as well as harvesting and curing are all easier too.

Bellatrix F1 grows the most beautiful plump round pumpkins, rich orange all over, strong handles and slightly ribbed.  Weighing in at 7-10kg they are an excellent size and shape for carving.  The flesh is an excellent choice for all culinary magic. Price for 3 seeds.

Did you know…

You can make carving pumpkins easier simply be using a freshly picked pumpkin, one that hasn’t been cured.  If possible, leave your pumpkins on the vine until it’s time to carve them.  This means the skins are softer and easier to work.  You will find that you can cut and engrave adding elements of shading to your masterpieces without battling the skin.  You can only have uncured pumpkins from your own garden as all the ones for sale in shops have been cured so that they are hard enough to transport!   So all would be carving geniuses need to grow their own!

The flesh from an uncured pumpkin is fine to use in the kitchen, just a little less sweet that its cured friends – perhaps some nice and spicy pumpkin soup to enjoy whilst watching the carver perfect their art!

Fabulous choice for huge pumpkins which can reach weights of 40kg in ideal growing situations for the largest fruit just grow one per plant. Leave all the fruits on the plant to produce handsome smooth fruits that are great for baking with scrummy flesh; this is also good for freezing. Price for 3 seeds

PUMPKIN BLAZE F1 ~ bold & beautiful fruits, rich yellow with fiery orange stripes.  These can weigh 1-1.3kg                      3 seeds

SOW: in individual pots inside during April, May or early June.  Push the seeds in on their sides to about 2.5cm deep.  You can keep them on a windowsill until sprouted then pop into a coldframe or unheated greenhouse

GROW: keep moist and warm, ready to plant out when at 2/3 leaf stage.  Harden off well before planting out.  Blaze F1 is a semi bush, needing about 100cm of space.  We find any vines are quite short and easy to keep tidy close to the plant.  The last fruits could be as late as November

EAT:  we generally use the flesh for stews, casseroles and soups.  You can scoop them out to create a stunning oven-to-table serving dish!

Charisma F1 is a space saving semi-bush type so any vines can be kept short and well behaved.  The fruits average 4kg although you can limit the number to concentrate growth (4-7kg).  These fruits have a thinner handle then most (careful when lifting), and bold shiny-orange skin.  Price for 3 seeds

Harvesting:

Is it ready yet?

There are several methods, try to double check by using more than one but don’t be impatient.  Pumpkins in the UK are unlikely to be ready until mid-September (even the early ones) and harvesting into October and even November (in mild areas) is not unusual.

• if your pumpkin is orange all the way around, it is ripe BUT a pumpkin doesn’t need to completely orange to be ripe and some pumpkins are not orange at all!
• Give your pumpkin a slap… if it sounds hollow, it is probably ripe and ready to be picked.
• When the stem above the pumpkin you are looking at starts to turn dry and hard, the pumpkin is ready to be picked (leave a bit of the stem as a ‘handle’)
• If the skin dents when you try to puncture it with a fingernail, but doesn’t puncture, the pumpkin is ready to pick.  Sadly puncturing the skin while checking will mean that the pumpkin will not last as long once you have finally picked it

After cutting through the stems (leaving a short ‘handle’) allow the skins to harden over 10 days or so, protecting from wet and frost.  This variety can store and sweeten for up to 8 weeks but after that they are not so happy thus Charisma F1 are best used soon after picking and before Christmas

An excellent flavour, beautiful and productive making this a wonderful French heirloom choice to grow.  Its alternative name is Rouge Vif D’Etampes meaning vivid red.  The eye-catching fruits are flattened, deeply ribbed, and concave on top. They can be 35cm across and yet only 15cm high and weighing 4-7kg.

 Price for 3 seeds. 

A delicious favourite old fashioned heirloom pumpkin with fruits weighing in at 6-10kg.  It has light orange skin and wonderful yellowy golden flesh.  A good choice for storing and excellent in pies.  This does need a long growing season of 16-18 weeks and so is best with protection in its early life

Price for 3 seeds.

Harvest these at a manageable size for very tasty fruit best suited for baking and savoury dishes such as risotto.  Of course there is no need to grow a monster unless you want to …

The legendry Dills Atlantic Giant are often grown for exhibitions and competitions: this variety holds the world record at over 700kg however you will need space and copious amounts of compost and moisture to come close! 

If you are aiming for a giant pumpkin you need to give them room and rich soil.  Start the seeds in early April.  Dig out a 60cmsq planting hole and fill with a good compost mix, some well-rotted manure and a few handfuls of general-purpose fertiliser like fish, blood and bone.  Fill the hole until it is slightly heaped and plant your best plant after all danger of frost is past.  Help it along with a cloche until it outgrows it!  It needs to have about 2m of room around it.  Once you have 3 fruits set you need to decide which looks best and take the others off (and any further flowers) so that all the plant’s energy is put into just the one you have chosen.  It is best to get a good layer of straw underneath this fruit while you can to keep it off the soil.  Stand back, water and feed with liquid comfrey every 10 days and you might just have a monster on your hands.  Have fun