How do you know when a pumpkin’s ready for picking? Gardening writer JACKIE WARBURTON tells you how in this week’s column. 

PUMPKINS are going to be ready for picking and ready for storing this month. 

I have grown Queensland Blue pumpkins this year along the top of my Colorbond fence and grown sunflowers close by for maximum pollination. 

So far, it’s 13 metres long and now I’ve run out of fence and the vine is still growing! 

Pumpkins will be ready for picking when the vines start to die back and the leaves turn pale and brown on the edges. 

Knock on the pumpkins and if it sounds hollow then it’s ready for picking, but leave them for as long as you can. Some pumpkin varieties benefit from late picking when we get a light frost, typically next month. Exposing them to frost is said to harden their skins and make for sweeter pumpkins. 

When picking pumpkins, snip them off the vine with plenty of stem still attached. Make sure there are no blemishes on the skin and they have full colour around the skins. Leave outside in full sun for a week for the skins to harden, then store them in a cool, dry place and on their side to prevent moisture collecting. 

TURNIPS are a brassica (along with broccoli, cauliflower and cabbages) and so the soil needs good drainage and lots of organic matter. 

Turnips are fast to grow and can be ready in eight weeks and are not bothered by the cold. Plant the seeds now while the soil is still warm. It’s useful to sow seeds where beans, pumpkin and corn have been planted so the root vegetables can make the most of the nitrogen left in the soil.

Thin out seedlings to make sure there is room for them to grow. Remove any weak seedlings and keep the strongest ones to grow. Turnips can be grown for greens as well and can be picked when they reach 10 centimetres tall and more leaves will grow. Don’t pick the centre root structure as this is the growing point. 

All parts of the plant can be eaten raw while young. Harvest when the roots are golf-ball size and not bigger than a tennis ball. Larger turnips are woody, tough and lose flavour.

IT’S time to cut back kangaroo paws and divide established clumps, if it’s needed. Place all the pruned foliage in the green bin. 

Leave about 10 centimetres of growth from the rhizome and clean out the centre of the clump so new shoots have room to grow. Once the leaf fan has flowered it needs to be removed as its rhizomes only flower once. 

There’s a new variety of kangaroo paw called Masquerade with the most amazing teal and purple flower. I’ve never seen anything like it. 

I saw it while on a tour of the breeding program at Kings Park, in WA, in 2019. It’s the only blue-flowering Anigozanthos (kangaroo paw) in the world and a really exciting breakthrough in the breeding program of native Australian plants. Bred over 10 years, it’s disease tolerant to ink spot and rust, which are common issues with these natives. Look out for it in the nursery and let’s hope it can survive our cold winters. 

AUTUMN is well and truly here and there will be a considerable amount of green waste that can be composted and, when broken down, can be put back on the garden in spring. 

The smaller the green waste is cut up, the quicker it breaks down. The pile will need to be at least a metre wide and tall to get the microbes working, and start the composting process. 

Adding manures will also help with the decomposition of green waste and encourage worms to help with the breakdown process as well. Keep the compost moist and aerate with a fork or composting tools sold at hardware stores. 

Jackwar@home.netspeed.com.au