It’s officially Autumn, that’s a fact. I know this because I had to harvest my pumpkins yesterday and that to me means the end of Summer and a sign that Halloween is nearly here.

Now as you all know I acquired my allotment last year at the beginning of July, which meant that it was far too late to plant any pumpkins. They were one of the crops I most wanted to grow so they were at the top of my list when buying seeds in the Spring. I have to admit that I had never tried pumpkin before so it was going to be an experiment as well as a nice novelty item to grown, carve and make soup with. I chose two varieties: a climbing tiny pumpkin called Munchkin by Sarah Raven, and a small pumpkin variety called Mars by Unwin Seeds.

I would have loved to have grown a giant pumpkin however I realised that my allotment is too tiny and I’m pushed for space, so I opted for some smaller varieties to fuel my pumpkin obssession and I’m so glad I did (plus I’m a little in love with miniature things) Although it would have been nice to have grown a giant pumpkin I am a little proud of my harvest of mini pumpkins! The munchkins are by far the best crop I have grown this year and I can’t stop raving about them (sorry but here goes again!) I planted four munchkin plants and overall I harvested 35, we’ve eaten 12 already and the rest will be stored and eaten throughout the winter (I posted a delicious recipe a few weeks ago!) Another thing I would like to point out is the fact that I would never have had the space to grow these if it wasn’t for my archway and the pumpkins ability to climb up it. I will definately be growing these next year, and the year after, and probably for the rest of my life (they seriously are that good!)

Now onto the mars pumpkins, I only planted two of these plants and overall harvested 5 pumpkins. They had a space measuring 3 metres long by 75cm wide and they took up that entire space, I’m guessing if they had more room then I might have had more pumpkins to harvest but I am so happy with the 5 that I have. I plan to carve one for halloween, make a pumpkin pie with one and then soup with the others