Hanging Gardens of Bursledon

Didier Drogba's penalty hitting the back of the Bayern net signalled more than just the end of the the football season (with apologies to L1 & 2 play-off participants still to come).  It also signalled the start of the dreaded  "can we make the garden look nice" season .

So yesterday was a combination of walking around a local NGS garden that was open to the public, searching for inspiration, and wandering aimlessly around a local nursery trying to guess what plants in a 3 inch pot are going to look like in a month or two's time. (Dead probably, but let's stay positive).

Ended up with half a dozen different plants which I have forced into our 2 hanging baskets outside the front door. Mrs Wurzel was happy with the effort so that's 1 brownie point to my name.  Apart from last years pumpkin episode any attempts at gardening do not usually end up as intended, so I am not expecting a Hanging Gardens of Babylon Bursledon but if either basket ends up looking anything  like the one below I will be reporting back with pride. Come to think of it I'm sure they've picked the same colours so who knows?

Pumpkin Picked

A quick update to my earlier post my first attempt at growing a pumpkin has been picked, weighing in at a decent 35lb 12oz .

Heavy Plant Crossing ?

A few months ago I was out with several friends when one announced that we should have a pumpkin growing competition and produced a handful of small brown envelopes each containing  a single seed. (A risky procedure in a crowded pub) I thought I might as well play along and took one.

Not being a gardener - the occasional lawn mowing is about my limit - I went out into the back garden, made a small hole in the ground with a bit of twig, dropped the seed in and covered it over. Except for the occasional watering during a dry spell (you remember, back in April/May when it didn't rain for ... well a couple of days) that was my sole contribution to what followed.

After a couple of weeks a shoot broke through the surface roughly in the area I remembered burying the seed, leaves quickly followed, and day by day it proceeded to get bigger. As the plant spread along the ground, several yellow flowers appeared and eventually what was clearly a fruit (or is it a vegatable? or a gourd?) started to appear. The pumpkin visibily increased in size by the day and the plant carried on growing untill last week it had reached about 12ft in length and had run out of garden as it was now up against the fence and could go no further.

This is where the things took a strange turn (if you'll pardon the pun). As you will see from the video below, unable to extend any further the plant has decided to make a left turn and is now growing at right angles across a concrete path. Meanwhile the pumpkin continues to expand.

I've no idea when it is time to harvest my "crop", I assume it must be around Halloween time. It should make a few pies, some pumpkin soup and a decent Jack-o-Lantern by then, but it does leave me wondering how big the plant might have got if I'd looked after it.

Next year I'll be changing my name to Jack and planting a bean stalk!