Well the snow has gone for now, so have spent a few hours digging up weeds and rubble. Filled up another pink sack and a half ready for the recycling people on Tuesday. No photo today but maybe tomorrow it'll be finished (for now) and I'll do one then.
Lots of big worms in the soil which is a good sign.

Snow has stopped play!

Its snowing here in Ealing so no clearing of the ground today.
But I did do a fair bit yesterday, the white bit to the left is where I have cleared the weeds, one whole pink sack for the recycling people and I had a little fire to keep me warm.

I thought the heat of the horse muck decomposing would have been enough to melt the snow, but obviously not.

Winter weather is forcast for the next few days for London, so I may not be able to get into the garden, but will do my best to get rid of those pesky weeds.

The new patch

Good news! My lovely neighbour has said I can use their garden as a pumpkin patch next year.

Here is a photo of it today. As you can see, it needs a bit of work to get rid of the weeds but it will be great.

Horse ****! Horse manure and stuff

Pumpkins grow well with manure, most plants do. From what I read it has to be "well rotted".

I will be planting my seeds in about 6 months time which should give manure time to rot down.

There seems to be a lot of science involved with gardening and growing plants nowadays, also a lot of conflicting information about manure in general. The way I see it is that this process has been going on for a long time so really if you think about it, horse does its business in the field and something grows around or through it. Can't be very complicated.

I went to Ealing Riding School with a couple of those pink sacks that the council give us for recycling green/garden waste that they then sell back to us as compost, a spade and a fork.

To be honest I thought that the Riding school would be a bit snooty but they all were really friendly and down to earth. They also had loads of horse manure, some rotted, some not. I got some not so rotted, but it wasn't steaming, so wasn't that fresh!

I filled up my bags and off I went. Thanks everyone at Ealing Riding School. (But I think they are grateful too!).

This is where the science and myths/legends of gardening come in, some say that the manure can be spread and the worms will drag it down, others say leave it rot and spread it in spring, others say lots of things.

I opted to dump it somewhere in the garden and see what happens. I also put Mr Pumpy in there as he needed a resting place and I thought it only fitting, its what he would have wanted!

As you can see from the photo, its kind of light in colour (you can also see the old pumpkin). The little plastic things are protecting Tulip bulbs from the Squirrels, I don't think they are clever enough to read blogs so they won't know (and don't tell them).

I'm only hoping that 6 months will be enough, I just don't know. Some say 5 years, others say I need a pile 3 foot high. We can only wait and see.

How it all started

A few years ago I lived in that vibrant area of west London known as Hounslow.

On a trip to the supermarket (Safeway for those who can remember it - its closed now) I got a pumpkin, I carved it and made some pie from the inside, I also kept the seeds.

In 2009, I germinated some seeds between some sheets of moist tissue paper, put that in a used butter container and put it on the window sill, a few days later, some sprouted, others didn't so I put ALL my seeds in the pot and withing a week or so they had nearly all started sprouting, I was running out room. I gave some plants away and planted some in my garden.

Quite quickly the plants took advantage of the sun and nice home I had provided for them and the result was rather unsurprisingly, Pumpkins!

Here is a photo of my first born, known affectionatly as Pumpy:

Here is another one of him when he is just about to turn orange:

He wasn't alone, his little brother (little Pumpy) also grew in the same garden:

From these humble beginings, my interest in growing these plants has increased which is why I am now looking at growing a giant pumpkin next year.

I have read almost everything I can online, I've played about with supermarket seeds, now is the time to get the Pumpkin Patch ready for next year.

Hello and welcome!

I live in Ealing, West London, sometimes referred to as The Queen of the subarbs.

Moved here about 3 years ago.

Last year I got my Garden sorted out and earlier this year I grew pumpkins for the first time, with success!
Unfortunately, I got hooked so spent as much time reading all I can and in 2010 I am growing Giant Pumpkins for the first time.
In this blog I hope to document my progress.