Hi from Brum!

[Pumpkin Souper]

Hi all,

I've been visiting and browsing for a little while and I decided that it was time to say hi.

I have what feels like a huge allotment in Kings Heath, Birmingham that I am gradually managing to tame and slowly harvesting some produce from. It's a work in progress and I'm just starting to recognise what a long term project it will be to get it how I want it. I also have a small garden where I'm growing a few more tender veg. I keep a weblog at http://allotment.humanlint.com where I say much more about my progress (or, more accurately, the lack of it).

I'm evangelical about composting, to the point where my friends and family think I'm bonkers. I'm sure they all wish I'd shut up about the joys of worms.

Thanks for the tips I've picked up since I've been visiting. I'm an almost complete novice so I'm not sure that I will have anything much of use to contribute, but I'm enthusiastic if nothing else.

Clare.

[shiney]

Hi Clare,

Yeah I am up for pumpkin soup! It's delish. 8)

Welcome to Self suffish.

I am a novice but they are very kind and patient here!

[Wombat]

G'day clare,

Nice to see you here! We all learn from one another and I reckon it's a nice place to be.

Nev

[Pumpkin Souper]

Thanks for the warm welcome - glad to be here!

[ina]

Welcome, and don't worry - you are not the only one mad about worms. I turned my old compostheap yesterday, and was delighted to see the life in it...

Now I have a BIG, BIG heap, on which I'll grow -guess what - pumpkins...

I love pumpkin soup, too. (Actually, I first had it in Australia, I'm still gratefull for that experience. Nev, thanks to you and your countrymen and women !)

I should have loads of pumpkins this year. Stuck some seeds in pots that I'd kept from a shop-bought fruit, and then also some from a seed packet, and I think they've all germinated. They are quite huge plants now, ready to go out, but I'm running out of space! So, Clare, don't complain about an allotment that feels too big, you'll soon find it far too small!

Cheers
Ina

[Wombat]

Thanks Ina, are you a fan of the Queensland Blue?

Nev

[ina]

Yep, I took some seeds for that back with me and grew them in Germany - but I think they do a lot better in proper heat! I also loved the UFO squash (they have another name, don't they?), and gem squash.

I now tend to go for smaller ones, single person household size. There are a lot more varieties available nowadays. The problem is that one packet of seeds would last me at least 5 years - if they kept that long; and if I wanted several varieties, even longer than that. None of my friends around here seem to do anything else with pumpkins except carve them for Halloween, and they are reluctant to try any squashes! Maybe I should start a pumpkin-seed-swap next year.

Ina

[Jo]

Hi

I live in Kings Heath, in Birmingham and have an allotment too. I too have been lurking for a while and posted a couple of times but thought it was time I said a bit about me - and there was a post from someone else round here. And I drive my friends potty talking about my hens and my worms. (And my cats). What a coincidence!

Jo

[Pumpkin Souper]

Hi Jo,

You're right, what a coincidence.

Whereabouts are you? My allotment is on Warstock Lane - up near the Maypole end of KH.

I would love to have Chickens, but my garden is so small it's not feasible and I don't think they'd be safe down the allotment.

I do have a totally mad but very-much loved cat. She's no use in terms of being self-sufficient, but I would not be without her!

Clare.

[Jo]

Hi

I thought that was where you had your allotment. Ours is in the set up the Lane from yours. I have 3 cats and 5 hens currently. You don't really need too much room for some hens. Mine are in a run because with all the green areas nearby, we have had quite a lot of foxes through the garden. And my hens are MINE and not some fox's supper! The one drawback to hen keeping is that with our clay soil they really tear up the grass especially after a drop of rain. And that is not good in a small garden.

We got our allotment when we got tired trying to grow anything edible in our garden. The neighbours on all three sides of the garden have trees and hardly any sunlight gets through. Recently, I was standing in the garden at lunchtime with not a cloud in the sky - and the only patch of sunlit ground was in front of the back door....

We've had a really busy spring so the allotment is not as full as it ought to be - potatoes, onions, a few assorted brassicas, courgettes, pumpkins (we love them too). And one or two other bits and pieces that friendly neighbouring plotholders have passed on. And the fruit bushes and herbs. Next spring we'll have fewer regular commitments so the allotment might see a little more of us.

Jo

[Chrystal Tips]

Hi from me in not too far away Staffordshire!! Hope the tornado didn't hit you!!

[diver]

hi, i love pumpkin soup as well and had a lot last year so i planted lots this year...seeds a friend saved from the pumpkins last year. And disaster...lots of plants, big leaves but no fruit.any idea where I 'm going/gone wrong..I'm new to this so don't really know what to do.....the plants seem to be doing well and I have lots of small squashes...turks turban ,butternut and others but n pumpkins,,,and I only want the one ...for soup...I also fell in love with them in OZ

[Millymollymandy]

Have you got dormant flower buds along the length of the shoots? With some of mine I had to pinch out the growing tip when it was about 1.5m long to encourage them to flower. Mind you, that was for the butternuts as the normal big pumpkin is doing it of its own accord! Seems like you have the opposite problem.

[diver]

no, I've got lots of flowers but they don't seem to be getting any fruits...they are just dying...RIP!!!

[2steps]

hi there. I'm a claire too

I've never had pumpkin but planed a few this year. They started growing really fast but now seem to be doing nothing