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There’s no time just yet for putting your feet up, but you can still enjoy a cosy night beside the fire after a day out in the garden.
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Thankfully, for the first time since the pandemic began, we had the opportunity to meet up with growers at both the Chelsea Flower Show as well as the UK Giant Vegetable Championships held at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern. More recently, we attended the Hyde Hall Pumpkin Weigh-Off and this gave us a real autumnal feeling. It was great to see the gardens again and witness the weighing of the Giant Pumpkins. Matthew Oliver and the team do a fantastic job in not only showcasing the gardens but helping to increase the attraction of growing Giant Veg with a £1,000 prize for the winning pumpkin.
Autumn is now finally upon us and this is a time for the final harvests of the season. September was definitely a time for Giant Harvests. This episode, I’ll talk through some key highlights from the season so far, including our UK Record-Breaking Cantaloupe Melon.
We attended the Chelsea Flower Show in mid-September, the first time ever in its history and it was truly autumnal. On the Sunday before the show officially opened, we travelled up from Wales and took a number of Giant Vegetables, including Trugs full of healthy fruits and vegetables grown in Sheepswool Compost. It was a great opportunity to catch up with friends and we chatted with a number of visitors. One visitor to the Dalefoot Composts stand started chatting to me on the Giant Veg and the lady then got chatting about a movie that has been created starring Jo Hartley, filmed in Winchester in late Summer. This is a mockumentary called Swede Caroline and we look forward to seeing this on the screens.
The Gardens at the show are incredible and a lot of effort goes into producing these works of art. One of the highlights for me was being able to go inside the Finnish Sauna on the Finnish Soul Garden designed by Taina Suonio. The smell of burning wood filled the air. The most impressive floral exhibit for me was from the National Chrysanthemum Society, take a look at the picture and just imagine how long it took for the members to create this masterpiece. Below are a number of the award-winning gardens from the Show, with many securing Gold Medals.
The Giant Veg certainly generated a lot of media attention and Chelsea showcased a Giant Pumpkin for the very first time. This pumpkin estimated around 750 pounds and was grown by Ben White.
Incredibly, during September, the World’s Largest Pumpkin was broken over in Italy’s Tuscan countryside. Grower Stefano Cutrupi weighed an incredible specimen at 1226kg well over 2700 pounds.
For the first time since 2019, the UK Giant Vegetable Championships took place at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern. A weekend blessed with sunshine and record crowds.
Each year, we set ourselves a target. Our target is to usually beat a personal best. Fortunately, for us we were able to go that one step further and secure a UK Record for the Heaviest Cantaloupe Melon. This weighed a mouth melting 14.792kg, just under 33 pounds, and over 2 stone, the equivalent weight of 100 standard sized bananas.
The fruit wasn’t wasted and a number of slices were sent around to friends and family. The pigs at Cefn Mably Farm Park even got a taste of the record-breaking melon. You can find them munching on our Instagram Reel
At the Championships, there was also World Records for the heaviest Aubergine 3.12kg and Longest Leek at over 1.2 metres. The star of the show was the 116kg World Record-breaking Marrow grown by Vince Sjodin from Barry in South Wales. There must be something about the Welsh air and record-breaking Giant Vegetables.
Our Giant Rhubarb also secured the First Prize, with 3 stalks weighing just over 2.2kg. These were turned into a Rhubarb Jam.
For best results, especially in our cooler Welsh climate, we need to grow our melons in a greenhouse or coldframe. Melons need a fertile, moisture-retentive and well-drained soil.
The cantaloupe Melon was started off inside the propagator in May this year. The ground was prepared and a base fertiliser was added two weeks before planting. This included Vitax Q4. As soon as the ground was warm enough, we planted out the plant into the Access Cold Frame. The melon was dusted with mycorrgiantveg which helps to create a mass root system and developer healthier plants and bigger yields.
Dalefoot Compost was added as a mulch around the growing area and this helped to control the moisture around the plant as well as provide a slow-release nitrogen to the plant during its growth.
From pollination to harvest, the melon grew for over 59 days. A fellow grower, Josh Scherer over in the US, gave me a few tips and one was to use a T-shirt to cover the fruit. This kept the fruit warmer and also prevented the sun from prematurely ripening the fruit.
Every 10 days, we watered the plant with Instant Compost Tea and Vitax Organic range of feed. This certainly helped to develop a mass leaf structure as well as the right nutrients to produce the fruit.
The Melon was harvested for the Malvern Autumn Show and we successfully secured a new UK Record!
Read part two - 'In the Garden with GiantVeg - Autumn's end' for Kevin's tips on what to do with your last harvests of fruit and veg, end-of-season essential gardening tasks -and an exciting competition too!
All Images : credit Kevin @GiantVeg
