What to do with pumpkin #2

Ever heard of potato or orange guns? Check this out!!

For your viewing pleasure

Pumpkin Risotto

I know it's a bit early yet, but i am going to start putting up pumpkin recipes.. After all, if these babies grow to 300kg, that's a lot of pumpkin!!!

First cab off the rank is pumpkin risotto (We had it for tea tonight)

1 Butternut pumpkin
2 cups arborio rice
Mushrooms
Bacon
Boiling hot chicken stock
White wine
Cheese (parmesan and cheddar)

Peel and chop up the pumpkin and boil it for about 15 minutes.

Melt a good knob of butter in a heavy based saucepan, add the arborio rice and cook it in the butter for about 5 minutes until it goes translucent and "nutty". Add a good glass of white wine. When all the wine is absorbed, start adding cups of hot chicken stock, stirring constantly, until it wont absorb any more moisture.

In a seperate saucepan, fry the bacon with the mushrooms. (do all the above at the same time as it makes a bigger mess in the kitchen. Looks like total chaos, but trust me, it all comes together)

When the pumpkin is cooked, put it in a blender with some of the water.

When the risotto is cooked, take it off the stove, add 2/3 off the pumpkin puree (we keep the rest for Finn food), the bacons and mushrooms and handfuls of grated cheese Yummo, the kids love it, and don't be put off thinking it takes forever, i had it on the table in a little over 20 minutes! Served wth snow peas (that the mouse didnt get)

Late Starters

Some people received their seeds a couple of weeks after the first mailing went out. So as not to disdavantage these people too much, we have decided to have a handicap system. We will weigh our pumpkin two weeks before the weigh in date and add the weight gained over the last two weeks on to the weight of those who received their seeds late.

Next project

We have a little resident mouse living in our compost bin who has taken a liking to our snow peas. The other day Christine was taking in the washing and could hear him munching away on our peas. He was sitting on the fence having a good old feast. I'll try and get a photo of him over the next few days

Still a bit early for pumpkins

It might still be a bit early for pumpkins, but there is plenty of other action in the garden at the moment

Nationwide Competition

This little project of ours has grown into a nationwide comp!!! We have two contestants in WA. Not sure how to arrange the weigh in just yet, but we'll work something out. Might need to organise a satellite link...

Hot hot hot

Some people have reported that their seeds are a bit sluggish getting out of the blocks...

Remember you need heat!! The soil needs to be at least 20 degrees...

Suburban yard solution

Think you don't have enough room to plant your pumpkin? You can plant your pumpkin on the edge of your lawn, allowing the vine to grow out on to your lawn.

Pile compost along the main vine, allowing the vine to grow over the top of the compost. The plant will send secondary roots down into the compost along the length of the vine. When the plant is done, you can just pull out the plant and top seed/dress where the pumpkin was growing..

Preparing the soil for planting

By now most of your seeds would have sprouted and you would be thinking of a place to plant the seedling. Soil preparation is the all important thing to remember here.

Dig a big (1m x 1m x as deep as you can)hole in a sheltered but very sunny spot and fill it with layers of compost, manure, and straw. You can either mound some soil on the top into which to plant your seedling, which will help with keeping the seedling warm, or leave a depression in your soil in order to aid with watering.

Make no mistake, these pumpkins grow big people, so you need lots of manure and compost to feed the plant...

More Seeds!!!

The shipment of seeds has arrived. (There was a slight hold up at customs. Frightened by the possibility of these pumpkins taking over everyones backyard)

If you want some, leave a comment, send me a text, or send an email to the email address listed to the right of this page

Pumpkin Agistment

We are in a bit of a dilemna. A upcoming move of residence scheduled for mid January might mean we need to transport our pumpkin plant... Mmmmmm, any ideas?

Hold Music

Two confirmed sigtings. The family patriarch is now able to sleep peacefully knowing his plant is up and about. With this warm weather i am expecting a few more confirmations by the end of the day.

For those of us still waiting, here is some hold music

Feel free to wander up the path whenever you desire...

Upping the ante

All round town people are talking about the pumpkin comp. Have friends that would like to join in? We have managed to source another 40 seeds! They should be here early next week. A bit of a handicapped start, but you have to be in it to win it.. Send me a msg or leave a comment if you know of someone that would like to join in. Feel free to save and print off the promo.....

Eureka! We have our first confirmed sighting!

See what happens when you stop watching the pot...

In order to give this plant the best chance of survival, it's location or proud owner's details won't be divulged. Well done old boy (read: Rohan) Six days to get to this stage......

Patience People

OK, let's settle down. Questions about the virility of the seed should be far from your mind.

10-14 days is a quite normal germination period. Here are some photos of our garden to distract you from watching your seed.

Old Mate the Pumpkin Grower

Just to whet your appetite, here's a photo of the man that started the giant pumpkin craze, Howard Dill. Old mate Howard knew how to grow a decent pumpkin!

Oh yeah, if you want more seeds to hand out, let us know and we might be able to source some more...

Cheers
Ed and Christine

Greetings fellow pumpkineaters

Thought we might go high tech and have a blog to keep everyone up to speed with the pumpkin happenings.

I hope you have all planted your seeds, and have had many a soothing word with the plant as it prepares to emerge from it's shallow temporary grave! I have been bringing in our plant out of the cold at night. Poor baby, can't have the soil temperature dropping below 15 Degrees!