Packham’s pumpkin plumps up

With just weeks to go until the official weigh-in of Fairweather’s Giant Pumpkin Quest, TV wildlife expert, Chris Packham, is looking like the front runner in a charity growing competition with his XXL entry aptly named ‘Jupiter’ on account of its size.

Along with more than 150  New Forest residents, horticultural groups and attractions in Dorset and Hampshire, Chris’s squash was grown using seeds donated from the UK’s heaviest pumpkins of 2006 – one weighing the equivalent of four baby elephants.

These seeds were given to Fairweather’s garden centre by champion growers, Ian and Stuart Paton.  The competition was launched in May in order to raise funds for the Jubilee Sailing Trust and Children In Need.

With the competition coming to an official end on the 31st October, Chris Packham, the competitions first entrant, says there have been some drawbacks to growing such a gigantic gourd on his front lawn:

“Parking has become a bit of a problem and there have been more complaints from the Civil Aviation Authority as they claim it is becoming a danger to low flying aircraft. People are saying that it seems to be getting darker earlier than normal as the sun is eclipsed by 'an unnatural object in the west'. It’s becoming a thing of great beauty and I shall be marketing postcards soon.”

Fairweather’s Giant Pumpkin Quest also captured the imagination of gardeners at Beaulieu Motor Museum, Bournemouth’s Adventure Wonderland family theme park, Exbury Gardens, Compton Acres in Poole and a host of allotment groups, who all vowed to grow a supersize squash.

David Aylieff-Sansom from Fairweather’s garden centre in Beaulieu gives his final tips for participants still in the race:

“Do not let it rot, get out there in the morning and gently wipe off the overnight dew, also make sure the ground is not saturated under the fruit and if need be raised the fruit every so slightly so the contact with the soil is minimal. Keep the feeding up, but not too much if you over feed there is a risk of it tearing away from the stem and bursting, best to feed two or three times per week use a 20:20:20 ratio feed NPK.”

On October 31st Fairweather’s will be celebrating their harvest at the garden centre in Beaulieu village closely followed by a day of family fun as Beaulieu’s first ever Pumpkin Olympics take place in the village on Saturday 1st November.