Pumpkin patch princess
Has a seven-year-old just produced one of Benoni’s biggest pumpkins ever?
Angelique Attwell’s green thumbs produced a pumpkin weighing 93kg.
The Morehill resident participated in a competition held by Livingseeds, one of South Africa’s suppliers of locally grown vegetable seeds, to see who can grow the largest pumpkin.
The competition was held on Saturday, March 5, and Attwell was declared the junior winner.
“I took part because I wanted to do something with my dad,” said Attwell.
It all started with her visit to the Shed on Route 59, a market based in the south of Johannesburg, to watch the ‘Giant pumpkin’ movie.
After learning how to grow pumpkins, she headed home, determined to plant her pumpkin seeds.
Despite this being her first time entering such a competition, Attwell committed herself to abiding by the competitions terms and conditions to plant the seeds on October 15.
She nurtured it until it was ready to be weighed on March 5.
Upon planting, Attwell saw results of her pumpkin germinating. Unfortunately, her father, Martin Attwell’s, pumpkin did not.
Although she was fortunate to see her seeds germinate, nurturing the pumpkin required a lot of work from the seven-year-old.
“The hardest part of growing it was always stopping the snails from walking on it,” she said
Every week, she took the snails off by throwing salt on them.
Despite that effort, it was also fun for her to show visitors how her pumpkin was growing on a daily basis.
Parts of the pumpkin-growing process included adding horse manure, which she took from her aunt’s plot, and various fertilisers to help the root development.
She and father installed a drip irrigation system, to ensure the pumpkin received the required 45- litres of water in the growth period in order for it to grow to its full potential.
The drip irrigation system was also used to moisturise the leaves at the roots during hot days.
“On a hot day, the leaves needed to be moisturised from the roots, because the leaves being wet, together with the effects of the sun, would cause the pumpkin to die,” said Martin Attwell.
There was also the removal of the miniature pumpkins that grew with the best one, because only one pumpkin should be grown per vine.
Another strategy was to place a tile under the pumpkin, to ensure it did not rest on the moist soil, which would have resulted in it rotting.
Attwell, who attends Laerskool Rynfield, won a R2 000 cash prize, a winter seed gift pack from Livingseeds, a gift pack from Talborne organics and a first-prize certificate sponsored by Standard Bank, Livingseeds and Talborne Organics.
“I am going to save all of the money,” she said.
She competed against 15 other contestants in her category.
“I felt good when I heard that I won, and I want to enter again next year,” she said.
Attwell’s pumpkin will be on display for the next few weeks at the Shed on Route 59, and then taken to the Midvaal area located between Johannesburg and Vereeniging, as part of a feeding scheme.
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