Join our pumpkin grow along…
Like many of you, up and down the country, we caught the bug last year, the ‘grow your own’ bug. This may sound ridiculous as of course we run a farm and Russ successfully grows hundreds of acres of crops each year. In reality, however, when we decided to start a vegetable patch as a lockdown project with the kids we had absolutely no idea what on earth we were doing! Hundreds of seeds were bought (we don’t do anything by halves) and our grow your own dreams came to life.
I’ll spare you the gory details but safe to say it wasn’t the serene, instagrammable, family fun for which I had hoped! We are still working our way through the mountain of beetroot chutney we had to make to use up the barrow loads of beetroot and the leeks are still in the ground and look far more like spring onions than the staple winter veg I had hoped. Safe to say, plans for this year’s veg patch have definitely been scaled back!
One thing I did enjoy last year was watching lots of people try their hands at growing pumpkins at home and chatting to followers over social media about the perils and pitfalls encountered with their precious Crown Princes. This year as we prepare our mammoth task of sowing thousands of pumpkin seeds ahead of pumpkin season, we thought it would be great if we could help more people experience first hand the trials and jubilations of growing your very own pumpkin from seed to harvest this autumn. We are hoping that it might make your ‘grow your own’ experience a little easier than our first attempt!
This week we launched a limited edition Grow Your Own Pumpkin Box, which will be delivered straight to your door in plenty of time for sowing the seeds towards the end of April.
In your box you will find two different varieties of pumpkin seed. One perfect for carving and the other, one of our favourite culinary varieties, the Crown Prince. With your pumpkin seeds, there will be sunflower and nasturtium seeds, great companions plants which will help support the growth of your pumpkins. You’ll also find plant markers and compost pellets to get you started. You will need some more compost, little pots to plant your seeds and some bigger pots down the line so that your pumpkins have lots of space to reach their full potential!
The boxes also have growing instructions, colouring in sheets by the talented illustrator Ruth Craddock, pencils and lots of lovely recipes to help you take the fruits of your labour from patch to dinner plate. We have created a special pumpkin spice biscuit recipe and popped in a pumpkin cookie cutter too.
We are passionate about helping people, especially children, learn about food and what better way than to grow their own. Our pumpkin revolution aims to encourage more people to cook and eat our favourite autumnal gem rather than merely popping it on the doorstep for Halloween. Pumpkins are food too!
We will be on hand to answer any questions as you start your growing journey and we will also be sharing videos and top tips on our social media platforms. Pumpkins can be fickle but also bring so much joy as they grow and develop.
If you fancy giving it a go and want to get your hands on this special limited edition box head to the shop on our website. Each box costs £16, including delivery. Boxes are limited as this is our first year and available for UK delivery only.
Remember to share your progress with us by tagging us and using the hashtags #pumpkinrevolution. We can’t wait to see all your pumpkins!
With love,
Lucy