Cinderella in the making

Size doesn't always equate with quality, and when it comes to growing squash and pumpkin, small is beautiful, writes FIONNUALA FALLON

IF YOU’RE SOMETHING of a closet giant-pumpkin fancier like I am, then you probably already know that 2012 will go down as the first year that someone – in this case, the veteran American grower Ron Wallace – has grown a pumpkin over 2,000lbs in weight. Photographs of the “one-ton” 2009 Wallace (that’s an American ton, by the way) show an enormous fruit of Rubenesque proportions, pale golden, big-bellied and plumply pleated, with a stalk as thick as a telegraph pole. Its juicy flesh would probably be enough to feed an army; not, it must be said, that it would be an especially tasty meal. For when it comes to pumpkins of the culinary kind, small – not big – is beautiful.

Pumpkins, both big and small, belong to the Cucurbit family, a confusingly complex group that also encompasses cucumbers, gourds, courgettes, marrows, summer squash and winter squash, with some of these terms being interchangeable.

Joy Larkcom does much to clarify the confusion in her book Grow Your Own Vegetables, where she divides these plants into three basic groups. In the first are courgettes, described by Larkcom as “the young immature fruits of what are known in the British Isles as marrows but elsewhere as summer squash”. In the second are marrows or summer squash proper, that group of fast-growing, bushy or trailing tender annuals whose soft fruit must be eaten within a couple of months of harvesting.

Last but not least are pumpkins and winter squash, an astonishingly decorative and diverse group of fast-growing tender annuals whose colourful fruits range from Ron Wallace’s 2012 world-record breaker to the dainty ‘Sweet Dumpling’ squash which would fit comfortably in the palm of one hand. Properly harvested, “cured” and stored, these tough-skinned autumn fruits can last from two to nine months – a great boon to winter kitchens when the availability of home-grown garden produce is at a minimum.

Growing these plants successfully in our Irish climate can present challenges. All cucurbits need a sunny, protected site, fertile, well-drained soil and warm summer temperatures, but few more so than pumpkins and squash. So while they can certainly be grown successfully outdoors in Ireland (one example being Ashtown’s walled garden in the Phoenix Park), they often do best in cooler gardens or poorish summers when given the protection of a polytunnel.

Up in the Inishowen peninsula in Co Donegal, professional market gardener Dermot Carey of the award-winning Harrys Bar and Restaurant ( harrys.ie) has managed to grow a wonderful range of these plants this year, with the produce going directly to the restaurant's busy kitchens to be stuffed and roasted, baked in juicy slices, made into nourishing soup, or transformed into decorative garnishes. Harvesting of the restaurant's bountiful crop of summer squash began in late June and continued until the end of September, while pumpkins and winter squash varieties were harvested in one go earlier this month. Stored carefully in a cool, frost-free shed, these will keep the restaurant's busy kitchens amply supplied until next spring.

Of the summer squash varieties, Carey chose a ‘Patty Pan’ type called ‘Sunburst’  (yellow-skinned, teacup-sized fruit) as well as one called ‘Yellow Crookneck’ (bright-yellow, buttery flavour). The latter was planted in the restaurant’s new polytunnels as well as outdoors in the restored walled garden. Surprisingly, yields of those ‘Yellow Crookneck’ plants grown under cover were only slightly higher than those grown outdoors, while the latter produced slightly more flavoursome fruit.

Of the vast range of winter squash that includes acorn, sweet dumpling, butternut, hubbard and buttercup types, Carey concentrated on just two. One – a hubbard-type of squash called ‘Uchiki Kuri’/‘Red Kuri’– is a vigorous, bright-orange skinned, Japanese variety with a creamy, tasty, nutty-flavoured flesh. The other, ‘Tiptop’, is a dark-green skinned, acorn-type. Both were grown in the restaurant’s polytunnels, alongside a smallish pumpkin variety called ‘Racer’.

The polytunnel plants were raised from seed sown in early April, under cover and in temperatures of 21-24 degrees. Given a space three inches by four to five inches in size (depending on the variety), they were planted into fertile, well-prepared soil enriched with Envirogrind compost, kept regularly watered and weed-free. Outdoor plants were sown in the same conditions at the end of April. Allowed slightly more generous spacing, they were planted out after the risk of frost had passed.

In Carey’s opinion, the resultant bountiful harvest (each plant gave three to four plump fruit averaging 3lbs weight) is ample proof that squash and culinary pumpkins can be highly productive, versatile plants that deserve a place in many of our kitchen gardens and allotments, as long as we give them the correct growing conditions and make sure to choose varieties that will cope with the vagaries of the Irish weather. He’s certainly persuaded me. Given the summer just gone, I’ve decided to abandon my ambitions to grow a pumpkin of any size. Instead, next year I’m concentrating on flavour.

TIP: Butternut squash types don't crop reliably in Ireland. More reliable croppers are listed in a recent RHS trial of outdoor-grown winter squash, where nine varieties including 'Celebration','Kabocha Large' and 'Lightening' won a coveted RHS AGM. See rhs.org.uk

DIARY DATE

Virginia Pumpkin Festival’s giant pumpkin weigh-in, takes place tomorrow at 2pm at Virginia town square, Co Cavan.