Pumpkins: A garden favorite since 2004
Our Little Harvest
Back in ’04, my then-three year old son accidentally spilled some squirrel food. We swept up most of the seeds, scooped them into the feeder, and brushed the rest into the soil. Somehow those scattered seeds avoided detection, and before we knew it we had two sunflowers and five pumpkins growing among the plants.
Little did we know then that those scattered seeds would lead to a pumpkin-growing tradition. We’ve had a crop every year since.
Since we love Halloween, this is the perfect plant for us. It serves as part of our summer’s entertainment watching them grow. We harvest the plants, then collect and dry the seeds. My talented husband meticulously carves and displays them for the 150 trick-or-treaters that grace our doorstep each year. Left-over pumpkins return to the garden where a few of them rot back into the soil. Who knows what will pop up the following season. We hedge our bets with additional seeds from Harris Seed company selecting five or six varieties.
A sample of our pumpkins through the years:
Planting:
We usually start our seeds indoors. It slows down the squirrels
Growing:
Female Flower
The start of something big
Harvesting:
Our First Pumpkin: Pale Orange Skin, Bright Orange Flesh
One of my all time favorite photos
2005 Harvest with the Boys
One of these things is not like the other…
Carving:
Carver in Residence
Future Carving Enthusiast
Displaying:
2011 Crop
Mike’s Creations
Witch’s Cauldron
Emoticons
Beware!
Gardening Nirvana 
Wonderful photos. I grow lots of pumpkins too, but mostly for eating. These look like a lot of fun to grow and carve
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I’m impressed! I’ve never really learned to cook with pumpkins. Yum!
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I love this post too! It is a real family team effort, from planting to carving. Very artistic! We’ve tried to grow various squash in tubs but I don’t think we get enough sun to get a decent crop. That’s English weather for you! Perhaps I can try in the greenhouse if I can find room…
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Thank you! My father was English, and gardened in many climates: England, Darjeeling, India, Ontario, Canada and the US (California). He died when I was very young (only 9). How I wished I could have gardened alongside him. I inherited his love of all things green. My youngest son seems interested as well. Best of luck with what you can grow. I look forward to updates.
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Haha, I like the emoticons carvings!
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Thank you! My husband comes up with something clever to carve every year. The emoticons make me smile whenever I see them. Thanks for reading and commenting.
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I love your photos!
Question for you: Have you ever seen tiny black bugs on your pumpkins? They look just like little fleas. I found them on my seedlings this morning and am trying to figure out what they are.
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Thank you!
I do see small bugs on the inside of the flowers, but they are more like small flies then fleas. They don’t seem to bother the plant and they only land on the blooms, not the leaves or, later, the fruit.
Are the bugs like a film of soot?
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Mike’s pumpkin carving must be legendary, that kitty pumpkin is just too awesome. How sweet that your boys are helping in the garden. Cute photo’s and what a haul!
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Thanks for checking out the pumpkins. Mike loves carving those pumpkins. He gets heaps of praise on Halloween night from all the trick-or-treaters, too. We usually have over 100 kids on our doorstep. It’s loads of fun.
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WOW 100 kiddies, how fun. Living in the country meant just the neighbor kids, maybe 8 on a busy year. Now we are in a gated community and had zero visitors. It’s a bummer.
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That is a bummer if you are a fan of Halloween. We love it! We go crazy. Mike carves pumpkins, my son and I decorate, we have a party for the neighbor kids, I make a costume each year, etc., etc. It’s such a fun time of year.
I’m a huge fan of fall, too. I love the change of seasons.
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I love that you celebrate with such gusto. We used to have a halloween party every year at our little community hall until it dwindled down to 8 people. Ha, one year I was the Bride of Frankenstein with my hair a foot of my head, Jim was Frank. So fun.
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I would love to see pictures of the two of you in your costumes. My sister was going to dress as the Bride of Frankenstein this year but she revised it to The Corpse Bride from the animated movie. We created a Pinterest board with ideas.
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Oh my, Corpse Bride sounds devine. How do I see that Pinterest? Is that on your board? I definitely will drag out that scrapbook before Halloween, my friend Karen was always the most creative, she cracks me up.
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I tried to attach the URL earlier, but I can’t get Pinterest to load. Let me try again before I dash out.
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I tried to attach the URL earlier, but I can’t get Pinterest to load. Let me try again before I dash out.
Here you go. https://pinterest.com/sharon_milner24/corpse-bride-inspiration/
The very first picture we pinned (at the bottom of the board) is our inspiration.
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oh that’s too fun, thank’s for the link Alys. I think making a custom is half the fun. I adore Tim Burton, my all time favorite movie is “Big Fish”, I’ve seen it a dozen times. I think he’s brilliant. I bet your sister was spooky!
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My sister is a big Tim Burton fan, too. She also dressed up one year as the character from Beetlejuice, blackened teeth and all. It was great.
I’ve not seen Big Fish but just read the synopsis and love the cast. I’ll have to add it to our Netflix queue.
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Oh Alys, please do. It’s a story about getting to know a father…you are going to cry a whole bunch but it’s so magical. Beetle Juice is another one I can watch over and over again, and Edward Scissor Hands….the list is long. Your sister has good taste!
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It looked like a tissues-at-the-ready kind of movie. I’ll let you know when we rent it.
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I know you’ll love it, yes, lot’s of tissues for sure :_(
{Ha, I looked that one up}
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Cute!
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I just HAD to mosey on over to this post, partly as self-punishment because this is the first year I haven’t planted pumpkins in as long as I can remember! I just forgot :-((( ugh!!! My foray started in a similar manner – putting an old pumpkin out in the yard for the animals to eat. I love the variety of your pumpkins … And the family participation! What wonderful memories!!
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Thanks so much for heading over. No guilt allowed!!! From what I can see, you are plenty busy. The best part of gardening: there is always next year.
I’m glad to hear we share a similar story growing pumpkins. We all get such pleasure from ours.
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Literally, it was a smack my hand on my forehead kind of moment 2 weeks ago! But, my husband HAS weed-whacked my pumpkins before (and, not in the same weed-whacking venture, my wave roses and my beloved peonies…GRRR!!!!!), but the children haven’t brought it up….yet! Bunnies typically like to nest in ours, but don’t eat them, although I wouldn’t mind if they did as they bring so much joy to me and my little ones. I’m going to have to (cringe) buy pumpkins this year, although we have never had a single trick-or-treater. They will be a great source of seeds though 😀 Now, if only I had your husband’s mad carving skills!!!
I love your whole blog, but this section is just so sweet!
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I’m fascinated that the bunnies like to nest there, given how prickly they leaves are. Perhaps it creates a deterrent for them against prey. I love that you live in a place with wild bunnies. I see them when I hike in the hills, but here in the suburbs, we only see squirrels and birds by day, racoons, opossums and rats at night.
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How interesting that the bunnies like nesting in the vines. The leaves are so prickly…but perhaps they keep away bunny predators. Lucky you to have them in your garden. I know they can lay waste to a vegetable garden, but they are so adorable. In the past the squirrels eat the tender shoots of the plants, but they only got to a few this year without really harming the plant. Last year several of the pumpkins had a bit taken out of them, probably rats, but this year not a one. I wonder if the resurgence of racoons is keeping them away?
If you do buy pumpkins, be sure they’re not sterile seeds. Many of the commercially grown plants are. They’re beautiful seeds, but they won’t come up the following year.
Thanks so much for reading and commenting. It’s fun to bond over pumpkins!
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Good heavens, you’ve got yourself a true Donatello there, haven’t you? I’m orange with envy. Beautiful and brilliant!
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My husband is quite talented! We all get so much joy from those pumpkins.
Thanks for stopping by.
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I’ve never grown my own pumpkins, I’m now tempted to try! :O)
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You won’t be disappointed! We have so much fun growing ours. Every year we get different results. I’ve been fertilizing with bat guano for the past two years and I like the results. Just one application at planting time.
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Kabocha is my favorite pumpkin!! Sweeter than the ones you carve.
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I love that name…Kabocha.
Thanks for stopping by.
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Why not stop over to HD site and see my post on “thank a pumpkin.”
http://gardenclub.homedepot.com/thank-a-pumpkin-making-pumpkin-soup/
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Ha, kindred spirits, I have a passion for pumpkins too. I love the colors and shape and so much connected to fall, my favorite season. I love cooking and eating them as well. Hope you will give it a try. Your blog is beautiful! Johanna
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So happy to hear that. They are amazing, aren’t they? We’re big into the autumn weather around here. It’s such a welcome relief after a long, hot, dry summer. I love the colors, the smells and the crispness to the air. And of course pumpkins!
I must put cooking with pumpkins on the list this season. I’ll report back.
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Wow that is an impressive garden to provide you with all those pumpkins. I especially like the Beware one with the multiple pairs of eyes. Happy Halloween.
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Thank you for stopping by and for your kind words. Happy Halloween to you, too.
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I can see why you are passionate about pumpkins! From seedlings to carving! Wow! I’m totally impressed! Please do a post on pumpkin growing secrets! Awesome pictures! Thank you for sharing! Cheers, Koko 🙂
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❤ this post and pumpkins, too! 🙂
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My husband grew up in a farming community, which included a notorious episode of romance along the mailman’s route, R.F.D.-1, when he was five years old and not yet in school, when his mother caught him running away. For your enjoyment I’ll give it to you in his own words, you might call a little bit of the farm.
“I noticed that my cousin Wilma Jean lived a long way away but there was no other girl in my life at the time. It seemed like the perfect chance to propose to her. So I calculated these odds as best as a 5-year old could, took the smallest pumpkin from our patch to give her and walked straight down the road about a mile. Arriving at White’s house, my other teenage cousins, twin girls, raked leaves … they asked where I was headed …
“How about a cookie?” But my plan started to unravel when they handed me that cookie. They held me up. Shortly, mother arrived in our car. I told her I was going to get married. She lost no time.
“You don’t leave home without letting me know.” Again, she said, “You let us know where you’re going!” Then I got switched. The county romance had been broken, but it remained a pleasant adventure in my life that still drifts through my mind.”
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Thank you for sharing this story, Marilyn!
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