Richmond Garden Club Giant pumpkins Fall contest Winter Garden Presentation Mark your calendars October 19, 2018: Glow in the Garden, VanDusen Botanical Gardens, Halloween event, 4:30pm to 9pm. Purchase tickets online www.vandusengarden.org October 24, 2018: RGC monthly meeting, 7pm, Richmond Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate. Conway Lum, Gardenworks at Mandeville, will be present Interesting Plants for the Winter Garden October 28, 2018: Practical Winter Pruning, Casey Werfl, Vandusen Botanical Gardens, 10am - 1:30pm. Ticket price $70. To register: www.vandusengarden.org or telephone 604-718-5898. 10% discount offered to Vandusen members. Pumpkin season! Back in 2016, during our members gardens tour, many of us were delighted to learn the process of growing giant pumpkins from member Janet Love and her husband Dave Chan. We saw first hand how much work goes into creating these giant pumpkins. The goal, of course, is to enter the Giant Pumpkin Contest at Krause Berry Farm in Langley in the fall. Janet and her husband, Dave Chan, shared some of the giant pumpkin seeds with some of our members so the giant pumpkin growing bug has expanded within our membership. One of our members, Alice Jensen-Stanley and her husband Dave decided to visit Krause Berry Farm to see their very first Giant Pumpkin Contest. The two of them did very well this Email: richmondgardenclub@gmail.com 1 of 5
Send us a photo of your fall container and win a prize! year with Janet placing 4th with her 892 lb pumpkin and Dave placing 2nd with his 1379 lb pumpkin, his personal best. Janet also won the Howard Dill award for the best looking pumpkin. Congratulations Janet and Dave! Contest time again! If you have decorated and planted up your container gardens for fall send us a photo (one per member) and you will be eligible to win a fall plant Email your photo to richmondgardenclub@gmail. com before October 28th. Photos will be posted to our website for all to enjoy! Remember to continue to visit our website often to keep up with events and happenings in the Richmond Garden Club. We are also on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. We have encouraged many people to follow our activities. Good luck! (Photos by Alice Jensen-Stanley) Email: richmondgardenclub@gmail.com 2 of 5
The giant pumpkin story.by Alice-Jensen Stanley Botanically speaking, a pumpkin is a fruit since it is the edible reproductive body of a seed plant. Tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and avocados are classified as fruits. Pumpkins come in many different colours including orange, white, yellow, tan, green and even blue. The carotenoid pigment gives the pumpkins their orange colour. Most giant pumpkin growers use Atlantic Giant seeds and plant in late April, hand pollinate the blooms, fertilize all summer and harvest early October - 125-150 day growing season. Areas like BC, New England and the Napa Valley in California are renown for growing enormous specimens tips the scales at over 2000 lbs. Giant pumpkins need 100 gallons of water a day, temperatures of 15-25 degrees Celsius, lots of fertilizer, liquid calcium, protection from insects/mice and shelter from too much sun. Growers use tents to shelter pumpkins to keep the ever-growing shells soft and pliable and to prevent splitting. These giants are not worth eating as the water content is quite high and therefore they are bland tasting. Some have skins measuring a foot thick! There have only been 12 pumpkins grown in BC which have weighed over 1000 lbs and Dave grew another one this year! The largest pumpkin grown in BC was a whopping 1543 lbs in 2017. The grand prize this year went to a 1436 lb pumpkin. Many growers transport their giant pumpkins to Washington which has five festivals and to the Safeway World Championships near San Fransisco. These contests have corporate sponsorships. The winning pumpkin can generate $7/lb Email: richmondgardenclub@gmail.com 3 of 5
(about $10,000 in prize money, with an additional $30,000 if it breaks a world record.) On Saturday, October 20, 2018 from 10 am to 4 pm, 3 professional carvers will be turning these beauties into something spectacular at It s About Thyme Nursery, 7509 Meadow Avenue in Burnaby. (Photos by Alice Jensen-Stanley. Check out our website for more of her photos of this event under photos.) Conway Lum, guest speaker Conway Lum, a retail horticulturalist for Gardenworks at Mandeville will be our guest speaker this month. He will be sharing his knowledge on interesting plants for the winter gardens. He has been with Gardenworks at Mandeville since 1988. He can be seen helping customers with their gardening needs throughout the store. He was recipient of the Garden Communicator of the Year Award by the BC Landscape and Nursery Association (BCLNA) for 2012 and 2006. He is a contributor to the Askthe-Pro column in BC Living (Garden Wise) Magazine. Conway is an evening instructor for New Westminster Continuing Education for gardening classes. He is the past recipient of the Environmental Star Award by the City of Burnaby for European Chafer public education and previously served on the European Chafer advisory committee. Conway is a professional Agrologist and graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Science in plant science (ornamental horticulture) and botany. Richmond Food Security fruit collection service Congratulations to RFSS on collecting over 5500 lbs of fruit from Richmond residents who do not want to harvest their fruit. Collecting the fruit reduces food waste and provides healthy food to Email: richmondgardenclub@gmail.com 4 of 5
those less fortunate as it is all donated to the Richmond Food Bank. For more information on this program visit www.richmondfoodsecurity.org or phone 604-244-7377. Dark chocolate pumpkin nanaimo bars Bottom Layer ½ cup (125 ml) butter ⅓ cup (75 ml) cocoa powder ¼ cup (50 ml) sugar 1 large egg, beaten 1 ½ cups (375 ml) graham cracker crumbs ¾ cup (175 ml) sweetened shredded coconut Middle Layer 1 cup (250 ml) icing sugar ½ cup (125 ml) butter (at room temperature) ½ cup (125 ml) pumpkin purée 2 Tbsp (30 ml) custard powder 1 tsp (5 ml) cinnamon ½ tsp (2 ml) ground nutmeg ½ tsp (2 ml) ground ginger ¼ tsp (1 ml) ground cloves Pinch salt Top Layer 6 oz (170 g) dark chocolate ¼ cup (50 ml) butter Directions: Bottom Layer 1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, cocoa and sugar, stirring occasionally until butter has melted and mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool. 2. Stir in egg, graham cracker crumbs and coconut. 3. Press into ungreased 9-inch (2.5 L) square pan. Refrigerate for 60 minutes. Middle Layer 1. In medium bowl, use electric mixer to cream together icing sugar, butter, pumpkin, custard powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and salt. Spread over bottom layer; chill. Top Layer 1. In top part of double boiler over barely simmering water, melt chocolate and butter together, stirring occasionally, until smooth and shiny. Pour over custard layer. Refrigerate overnight Email: richmondgardenclub@gmail.com 5 of 5