Crown Prince F1

Why it suits Ireland

Crown Prince ripens more willingly in a cool summer than the large orange carving types, and crucially it is worth eating at the end of it. It is one of the few varieties that rewards giving up a big patch of an Irish garden for five months.

Storage is the honest Irish argument for it. Our autumn weather does not suit long field ripening, but this variety hardens its skin quickly and, once cured indoors, sits for months without shrinking or going soft. That turns a September glut into food through the whole winter, which is more than a carving pumpkin ever does.

It is vigorous, so it will take the space if you give it. On a compost heap in a sheltered garden it grows away strongly even in a poor year.

Growing notes

Sow one seed on its edge in a 9cm pot in late April at 18 to 25C, and plant out after the last frost into ground with a barrowload of well-rotted manure dug in. Allow at least 2m each way and expect the trailing stems to go further than that.

Water at the base rather than over the leaves and feed weekly with a high potash feed once fruit start to swell. Two or three fruit per plant is the right target here; four is greedy in an Irish summer and usually gives you four mediocre ones. Pinch out the growing tips beyond your chosen fruit in early August.

Harvest in October when the skin is dull and hard and the stalk has begun to dry, cutting with as much stalk as you can. Cure for two weeks somewhere warm and dry, a greenhouse or a warm room rather than outdoors, then store cool, dry and frost free with the fruit not touching each other. The flavour improves over the first month or two in storage as the starch converts to sugar, so there is no rush to cut into the first one.