Pumpkin Dills Atlantic Giant

The legendary 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! 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 …

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