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Pumpkin is triumph of Hope
By Justin Lewis
A few years ago various
members of the Bucks Invertebrate Group, whilst out on a moth hunt, decided
to hold a pumpkin-growing competition. They started with just three or four
competitors for the first three years and then, to spice things up, they
started to allow one or two of us non-mothing types to join in. The rules
are simple: you are given five seeds from which you can bring on only one
good plant. Entry fees are one good bottle of wine for the winner and a small
fee towards the seeds and getting the trophy engraved. The idea is, obviously,
to grow as large a pumpkin as possible without using artificial means (i.e.
intravenous sugar).This year there were five entries; one was disqualified as he presented a seed (due to forgetting to sow it). We decided the rules were for the heaviest fruit not whole plant. The overall winner was Dave Hope’s monster which he grew in Ballinger allotments. The weigh-in took place at my house and after a lot of head-scratching we worked out it weighed a massive 190 lbs. (I did query this! Ed).
After the weigh-in we held our A.G.M. in a curry house in Great Missenden. Sadly the winner couldn’t join us as he had a prior engagement. Next year we will be using seeds from the winner as well as shop-bought ones and it will be down to the individual to pick the best plant to go on to compete. No other decisions were made so the meeting was called to a close and I gave everyone my cold.