All pre orders have been fulfilled so now it is time to harvest the remaining Giant Pumpkins ready for sale.
Each one is lifted and weighed and a photo added to the Pumpkins For Sale page and made available for sale.
Lifting giant pumpkins out of the field
The first three out weighed 379lb, 329lb and 175lb; all good carving shapes but, as is mostly the case with giants, lacking any vibrant orange colouring.
The weather was kind to the guys from Sand In Your Eye who came quite a distance to select and collect a wide range of the weird and wonderful pumpkins needed for their commissions.
The excitement of being in such a varied pumpkin patch all proved a bit too much for Florence who decided a little sit down in the afternoon sun was a better plan.
Really looking forward to seeing what Jamie and Claire produce for their clients and, hopefully, we will be adding a few pictures here in a week or so. Watch this space!
Here we go…. the season has officially started! I can’t ever remember having sold pumpkins in August before but what the Supermarket Ad Agency wants, it gets.
New for this year – large warty orange pumpkins
A mini pumpkin cut today
A big flat orange pumpkin for eating or carving
Just three pumpkins were needed for a ‘green screen’ shot to be used in a promotion later in the year. It was an odd mix but who am I to argue.
Whilst we will be keeping the progress of the ‘giants’ under wraps for a while yet I Just thought the PR peeps, Pumpkin Carvers and the Chefs might want a quick peek at will be available later this season.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
These are our seed pumpkins and squashes which are grown indoors to ensure a more stable environment than the British summer can ever offer so we can better guarantee the quality of our seed stock for next year.
Being cosseted, these pumpkins tend to mature quite quickly which whilst having no advantage for the seeds it does allow any surplus indoor pumpkins to be sold to our TV and PR customers for use in filming their Halloween episodes or event advertising.
Increasingly, the serious pumpkin carvers who are experiencing withdrawal symptoms also get in touch ‘to try out a new design’. Either way it keeps a lot of people happy!
Cut off the top of the Blue Hubbard pumpkin. I used about 5 different knives and 3 different people, a saw may have helped!
A blue hubbard winter squash – perfect for roasting
Scoop out the fibre/seedy stuff and save to distribute to keen gardeners in the area.
Grate a variety of different cheeses into the hollow. After Christmas this was very easy. Cheddar, Caerphilly, Brie. tried to grate some Cambozola – it mushes rather that grates, but it doesn’t matter, in it went. Liberal Black pepper. Some crushed garlic, a bit of Nutmeg.
Grating cheese into the inside of the squash
Filled to the top with double cream. Didn’t bother to stir.
I sat the pumpkin in a dish to catch any drips – there were none.
A lid was placed over the contents but I didn’t cover the whole thing in foil, I wanted the pumpkin to roast rather than steam.
Rub the skin with Olive oil. This would have been MUCH easier if I had thought of it before filling it with the dairy mountain, but achievable with an extra pair of hands.
1 hour at 200’c
The roasted cheesy pumpkin
Lid off. Loads of parmesan, back in for 10 mins.
More cheese required – Topping off the roast pumpkin dish with parmesan
Serve with friends, cola roast gammon, garlic green beans, crusty bread and more wine than is good for you. A perfect size to feed six people.
Serving the cheesy roast pumpkin fondue
The final bit of this tale involves the remnants of the pumpkin which were put outside for the chickens to peck at but which were scoffed very rapidly by a most delighted border collie/spaniel cross. She ate the whole of it; including the hard shell, luckily with no ill effects.
Q. Who ate all the pumpkin? A. KipperRoast Blue Hubbard pumpkin with cheese and garlic filling
