Small Crown Prince

There's nothing like a tasty pumpkin soup on a cold autumn night. And this week is definitely chilly!

In theory pumpkins are dead easy to grow. Start the seeds early and grow on until they're quite big to avoid the seedlings getting eaten by slugs, plant out on a manure hill and then they pretty much look after themselves until October. Pick and store in the greenhouse to cure, bring them in before the first frosts. 

This year has been a lot more challenging because we had a wet summer without much sunshine or hot weather.

The additional challenge for me is the deers on the allotment love eating cucurbit leaves even when the plants are more mature, which weakens them. 

So it's been a disappointing harvest but fortunately Crown Prince is a winner for the UK climate. I just need to find a pumpkin that deers don't like next year!