Down on the Allotment

Matron grows vegetables and fruit in a Hampshire garden. I've been growing veggies since I was knee high to a grasshopper. Some traditional varieties and old favourites as well as new ideas. I share my garden with my allotment assistant Daisy the Labrador. On Twitter as @MatronsVeggies

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Queensland Blue Pumpkins

I am so pleased that despite the lack of any sort of Summer here in England, I managed to grow a nice collection of Queensland Blue pumpkins. Scarecrow very kindly offered to send me some seeds from Australia, as I remember growing them years ago and I just love the dry, sweet flesh that these Winter squash have. You can see the typical shape has pronounced shoulders. Do you remember way back in the Summer I was doing silly things to one of my baby pumpkins?
Well, look what happened when it grew up!!
Another late Summer success were these Conqueror sweetcorn. I planted a second crop about a month after the first, and they have come up trumps! It is a testament to the new varieties of F1 hybrids that are more suited to the unpredictable British climate, that despite the fact that these cobs have been sitting on the stalk for a number of weeks, they were still tender and very sweet!
Boiled for 10 minutes and spread with butter and fresh black pepper! mmmm

16 Comments:

At 8:09 PM, Blogger Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

OMG!Is this what happens with our faces, too?

 
At 8:40 PM, Blogger Jeff Vandiver said...

Wow, those are cool-looking pumpkins! There's never been any around here like that.

 
At 9:58 PM, Blogger ReapWhatYouGrow said...

Great squash, and even better that you like the taste. I find pumpkins very hit and miss in terms of flavour, although I have planted some hopefuls this year.

 
At 3:39 AM, Blogger Kiyi Kiyi said...

I grew Queensland Blues this year too!
They are doing a lot better since I gave up on trellising them. LOL
You smiling one is so cute!
What a neat idea!

 
At 4:42 AM, Blogger Bangchik and Kakdah said...

Great looking pumpkins!!... undergoing facial treatment not at the saloon but in the field!! ~bangchik

 
At 5:30 AM, Anonymous kitsapFG said...

Good harvest of blue pumpkins and sweet corn. I should look for this sweetcorn as my growing climate is very similar to yours. Proves challenging to grow good crops of corn, peppers, and tomatoes. Variety selection is critical as a result.

 
At 6:07 AM, Blogger Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

What neat pumpkins, I've never heard of blue pumpkins before. I love the face on the one, it reminds me of when people carve faces in apples and then let them dry.

 
At 7:42 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

vegetable art, love it :o) I thought he looked sad to have grown old and gnarly at first but actually it's a wise old mona lisa smile. What face would you find in a sunflower? http://nipitinthebud.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/one-million-giraffes/

 
At 9:10 AM, Blogger Kath said...

I had some good cobs from conquerer too, but not many. It's been such a dry summer here on the east coast.

 
At 1:00 PM, Anonymous Penny said...

The winter squash are gorgeous!

 
At 12:32 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Haha! Love your smiling squash.

Great sweetcorn, mine are very small this year so thanks for the tip on that particular variety. I may try those next year.

 
At 4:45 AM, Blogger Scarecrow said...

Ya! The Queensland Blues grew!

Well done Matron. :)

Love the smiley face.

 
At 5:04 PM, Blogger miss m said...

The face turned out great ! lol. :D
Lovely blue pumpkins.
Now that's what corn should look like. You've convinced me to try Conqueror.

 
At 1:37 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I learned about blue pumpkins and about pumpkin faces (clever) and sweet corn that set my mouth to drooling.....this is my second visit today and I enjoyed this one too...!!!

 
At 4:53 AM, Blogger kathy said...

Great pumpkins! I love the face. I have a couple blue ones ripening. I hope they look as nice as yours!

 
At 3:21 AM, Blogger Corner Gardener Sue said...

Those are fun looking pumpkins. The corn looks beautiful as well as yummy. We've been buying corn at our farmers' market every week, but this Saturday is the last Saturday one of the season.

 

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