Advice on growing Marrows.

Well I am not a marrow expert but as no one has replied ...

1) I guess first you need the right sort of marrow seeds. All the big veg growers use special possibly saved seeds for the mammoth veg. But some of the seed companies should provide you with some.

2) Muck muck and more muck. An old timer used to grow his down his compost/muck heap.

3) Water water and more water. They like lots of the stuff but don't like to be water logged. Hence on top of a muck heap stops water logging.

4) Grow them under cover possibly.

Hope that helps a bit.

And also limit the number of marrows on a plant.

And, when the frosts are eventually over (har har!) get them in the ground. They need more feeding roots than they'll get in a pot.

I'm in competition with a few of my friends this year with our marrows, I'm growing mine in the top of my compost dalek that way they should have plenty of yummy stuff to feed on, plus room for there roots to grow and spread out, they don't like to be over crowded nether. But as Jimmy has said plenty of well rotted muck and water.

Do you mean prize winning crops or prize winning marrow - ie do you want lots of smaller (rather more useful!) ones or one big one. If it's for a comp them I'm guessing the latter but smaller ones are better for the kitchen as they are more manageable.

Most important factors are seeds, growing medium and nutrients.

It sounds like you've already chosen your seeds. No matter how hard you try, you aren't going to grow a beefsteak tomato on a cherry tomato vine. Same goes for other plants, if you have a marrow designed for the average grower, you're not going to be growing a monster. You can get seeds for giant varieties from specialist seed growers. Here's a good giant marrow seed that you can buy. It's not actually too late to plant seeds now for a giant crop.

Growing medium is lots and lots and lots of compost. Dig a giant hole and fill it with compost. 120 litres would be a good start, 200 litres would be better. Mix it in with a bit of soil for substance. Plant the marrow plant firmly in the centre. It'll look a bit small but it will grow, I promise!

Nutrients is the fun bit. Everybody has their own magic formula. You want to get the plant to grow as big as you can as fast as possible. Start off by mixing a general purpose fertiliser (perhaps Growmore) in the hole with the compost. Once your plant has settled in, feed weekly with a high nitrogen fertiliser (perhaps Sulphate of Ammonia) to get it to grow as big as possible before its starts flowering. Once flowering starts, you want to switch to a fertiliser designed for fruits (tomato fertiliser maybe), but continue feeding weekly.

You only want one marrow per plant, so let three establish to start with and then choose the best fruit and pull off the others. Pull off all other flowers as soon as they appear.

It will need plenty of watering. Never let it dry out. Get a palette to put under the marrow as it grows (to stop it from rotting in contact with the soil).

Good luck!