One of my Dalek's

[bearded bloke]

Is becoming a Triffid

[rustylady]

Love it Bernie. What is it? Marrow, butternut, pumpkin?

[bearded bloke]

Cheers Rusty Three pumpkins,filled that dalek with horse poo,straw & woodchips last autumn & let it settle,topped it up in February with more of the same that had been maturing in a heap outside overwinter,put the plants in at three leave stage just about a month ago.
The idea is to put some mesh on the wooden frame then lay a ladder from that to the fruit cage & see how long it will grow,last year planting in the ground it got 2 1/2 metres along the ladder,this year I am hoping for greater things from the added poo power

[Florence Fennel]

Brilliant BB. I tried this last year, but failed, the plant rotted off. I hadn't taken any care with it, just bunged it in.

[Two_Sheds]

I've done similar to you BB, but I took the dalek off and planted the squash into the heap left behind

[bearded bloke]

That's a bugger Flo,maybe try again next year if either TS or I are successful

TS,I was contemplating lifting the dalek off & making a shorter retaining ring as there has been about 100mm (vertical) shrinkage of the "compost",but I looked a bit more closely this afternoon & it has already set fruit on two of the three & I fear damage would occur,so will leave some sag when tying it to the mesh to allow for further shrinkage,Will be interesting to see how they compare as mine already have a fair few leaves that are inside getting little or no daylight.

[Two_Sheds]

photo added now ^ ^

I've grown squash in compost heaps before and they've not done well: too much nitrogen led to too much leaf and only small fruits

I had squashes left over, and no time to spread the compost round, so I put two and two together, hoping the foliage would hide the heap ... we'll see if anything comes of it

[bearded bloke]

Ahh I see,there looks to be more coarse material in yours (than mine) so it should hold together well,good luck with the trial,will keep you update from here

[Florence Fennel]

Just realised that I have a spaghetti squash planted on a heap left over from when I tipped out one of the daleks, so I'll watch that with interest.

[Two_Sheds]

Well, I checked on mine today and somebody's pulled it up and chucked it on the ground

[Florence Fennel]

Aww TS, sorry to hear that. If you were nearer you could have had one of mine.

[Two_Sheds]

S'okay, this was a spare one anyway. It just annoys me ~ I do all the school gardening for free, in my own time. Last week someone knocked the new hanging baskets off the wall

[Florence Fennel]

Mindless morons.

[Two_Sheds]

9 year old morons ~ imagine the damage they'll be doing in a few years, on a Friday night in town *rolls eyes

[Florence Fennel]

We've got a few of those (and younger) across the road from us. I'm surprised when my pumpkins survive every year. I'm sure they must think we've still got our two huge German Shepherds, which was always the deterrent before!