Oily Rag column by Frank and Muriel Newman for the week of 13 May 2013.
Smashing Pumpkins
By Frank and Muriel Newman
Gardening off the smell of an oily rag should not just be about practical edibles like cabbage, cauli’s and carrots. For
fun - giant fun - in the garden, why not try your hand at growing giant pumpkins!
After months of care and attention, tons and tons of manure shovelling, and anxious glances at the weather, giant
pumpkin growers from around the country have been weighting in this year’s harvest to see who takes out the ‘Biggest in
Show’ title. This year’s whopper was weighed in on the 7th of April at the Hamilton gardens festival. A giant grown by
Tim Harris tipped the scales at 577 kg, smashing his last year’s winning entry of 290 kg.
Although the 577 kg pumpkin is a giant, it is still a lightweight compared to the 721 kg whopper grown a couple of years
back by the Barton family from Parua Bay (Whangarei). According to the Guinness Book of Records, the world record for
the heaviest pumpkin is 824 kg, grown by a Canadian couple from Ontario. That record was set in October 2011.
Every giant pumpkin grower seems to have their own secret to success that is as prized as the formula for Coke, but
generally giant pumpkins like what most plants like: sunshine, water, cow manure, fish emulsion, seaweed, and the
occasional hug.
All of this takes a bit of planning, so now is the time to learn a little more and get your site ready for a spring
planting. To learn more, a good place to start is an everything-you-need-to-know website specifically about giant
pumpkins, called www.giantpumkin.co.nz. Sam is the man behind the site, which is very well done and worth a visit, even just out of curiosity.
Sam does a great job at explaining what you need to get started – from what seeds to buy, where to buy them, to how to
feed the pumpkins and so on. And he updates his site with news and photos from the many pumpkin growing competitions
around the country.
What a great fun way, we thought, to get the family involved in the garden – after all, you will need all the willing
helpers you can get to lift your giants at harvest time!
The big question is can you eat a giant pumpkin? Well, yes. Sam says they taste a little like rock melon, but not quite
as good. Anyway, it’s probably fair to say that that for the kitchen you are better off growing the regular garden
variety, so you should plan to use the giant pumpkin to feed the family pig or house cow. If you grow a whopper you will
be able to sell the seeds – there are heaps of giant pumpkin seeds for sale online. Imagine what the seeds from the
world’s largest pumpkin would be worth? Now that’s an idea – let’s turn NZ into the world’s largest giant pumpkin patch
and boost export dollars by selling pumpkin seeds to the world! We can just see it now, giant pumpkins where sheep and
cattle once roamed!
There are lots of ways to cook regular pumpkin - in fact as many ways to cook pumpkin as there are to cook shrimps!
There’s “Pumpkin soup, pumpkin jam, pumpkin scones, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin cream, pumpkin cake, pumpkin
cheesecake, pumpkin chutney, pumpkin croquettes, pumpkin curry, pumpkin kebabs, pumpkin marmalade, pumpkin fritters,
pumpkin bread, pumpkin wine, pumpkin salad, baked pumpkin, crumbed pumpkin, pan fried pumpkin, deep fried pumpkin,
stir-fried pumpkin, pickled pumpkin, BBQ pumpkin …” and that’s about it!
And freezing it is no problem either. GP writes, “Pumpkins freeze well. Cut into meal sized pieces, clean the pulp from
the centres and freeze in plastic bags. Do not thaw before using. Straight into the water or roasting dish for cooking.
Alternatively, pulp the pumpkins – freeze in ice cream containers, and use for soup or jam as time permits.”
If you have a favourite pumpkin recipe, why not send it in to us so that we can share it with others on the oily rag
website at www.oilyrag.co.nz or write to Living off the Smell of an Oily Rag, PO Box 984, Whangarei.
*Frank and Muriel Newman are the authors of Living Off the Smell of an Oily Rag in NZ. Readers can submit their oily rag tips on-line at www.oilyrag.co.nz. The book is available from bookstores and online at www.oilyrag.co.nz.
ENDS