Pumpkin

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Pumpkin Update: Tired Vines, Happy Fruit

You’ll never guess what’s been hiding under the cosmos?

Give up?

A fully formed, lovely orange pumpkin!  I love surprises.

Pumpkin Collage

This is an exciting time of year in the garden.  Here is the pumpkin crop so far:

A. Grandaddy. This peach-colored pumpkin is a force to be reckoned with.  We have three growing in this size and shape.  Today we discussed stacking them to make a pumpkin “snowman.” I can’t wait to weigh them on my home scale.  I’m not getting on the scale, so I may as well use it for something.
B. Baby Bear. This little fella is probably full-sized but we won’t know till the color sets.  Most of our pumpkins started out a rich yellow, but this one has a bit of green to it. The leaves are smaller in scale, which tells me it won’t grow any bigger.  It’s about the size of a large apple.
C.  The Twins. These two pumpkins are leaning up against the house.  The vines are so thick that I’ve not been able to reach them for over a month.  I can’t wait to wrap my arms around them.
D. Peek-a-boo. The cosmos draped themselves over this orange lovely.  Do you see that little patch of orange peeking through the flowers?  I lifted the cosmos out-of-the-way and there it was, bottoms up.
E. Bottoms up. This one looks a bit like someone’s…bottom.  We’ll have to think of something clever for Halloween.  Suggestions are welcome and in fact encouraged in the comments section below.

There you have it.  Linus would be disappointed.  I’ve avoided religion and politics, but I simply can’t help myself:  I love talking about great pumpkins.

“I’ve learned there are three things you don’t discuss with people: religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin.”

-Linus in It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown by Charles Schultz

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Pumpkin Mishaps, Emotional Gardening

A watched pot never boils.

Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

A watched pumpkin slowly produces fruit, but while your busy hatching plans for Jack o’ lanterns, nature intervenes.

Split pumpkin

What started as a scar is now a split in the side of this pumpkin. Oh well.

Clichés and tortured prose aside, when things go wrong my disappointment is palpable.  Pumpkin vines grow from seed to fruit in just 90 days.  If I could cast the seeds over my shoulder and forget about them till harvest, would it temper my sense of loss when things don’t work out?  Perhaps.

I’m not that kind of gardener.

When I lay seeds on the warm earth, I tuck them in with soil and hope. Emerging seedlings make my heart pump a little faster. Flowers and fruit arrive on the scene and I can’t wait to drag family and friends into the garden to see the latest earthy surprise.

Talking about tomato yields with fellow bloggers gives me a wonderful sense of community. Glancing up from the kitchen sink to see a neighbor slow down to admire the sunflowers makes me smile.

Sharing my disappointments, however, makes me sad. I learn from my garden failures and continue to plant every year, but still it’s such a let down. If only I would take things a less personally.

Emotional gardener or gardening sap? I’ll leave that to my readers to decide.

Fallen Pumpkin

The weight of the pumpkin snapped the vine from the trellis and sent it tumbling to the ground. It’s such a beautiful shape, but since it broke away prematurely, it won’t develop a hard, protective shell.

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Changing of the Colors: The Summer Edition

 

Who doesn’t like the spectacular color change that heralds the arrival of fall? New England’s tourist industry thrives as the green leaves give way to golden yellows, warm oranges and vibrant reds. Though less flamboyant, I present to you the changing of the colors: the summer edition.

First up, Hydrangeas. This lovely goes from bright green to pink, then softens to a dusty mauve before turning a cooler shade of green. You can snip flowers from the vine at this last stage, then brought indoors for drying.

Fading Hydrangea Collage

Hydrangeas Fade

Tomatoes need a variety of conditions before they turn from green to red. The smaller the tomato, the faster the transformation. Tomatoes need moderate temperatures, shelter from the wind and time.  The color can’t be forced.  According to Gardening Know How:

Tomatoes are triggered to turn red by a chemical called ethylene. Ethylene is odorless, tasteless and invisible to the naked eye. When the tomato reaches the proper green mature stage, it starts to produce ethylene. The ethylene then interacts with the tomato fruit to start the ripening process. Consistent winds can carry the ethylene gas away from the fruit and slow the ripening process.

If you find that your tomatoes fall off the vine, either knocked off or due to frost, before they turn red, you can place the unripe tomatoes in a paper bag. Provided that the green tomatoes have reached the mature green stage, the paper bag will trap the ethylene and will help to ripen the tomatoes.

Tomatoes from green to red

Ethylene Gas = Red Tomatoes

Pumpkins turn orange much the same way tomatoes turn red. In addition to color, they also need to harden before harvesting or they will quickly rot. We had a pumpkin survive on our front porch for over nine months one year. Once carved, however, the fruit rots within a few days. According to All About Pumpkins:

There are many indications that your pumpkin is ready to harvest. A Jack-O-Lantern variety should be predominately orange in color. If the vine has started to “go away” (meaning dying off and declining) this is another signal. Sometimes the stem is already starting to twist and dry. The most important indication to look for, is that the shell has started to harden. If you can easily indent the pumpkin skin using your fingernail, the fruit is still too immature to harvest. If you harvest it at this stage, your pumpkins will likely shrivel and spoil within days. When the shell has hardened, your pumpkin is ready to cut from the vine.

Pumpkin Turning Orange

“Acorn” Pumpkin Turning Orange

What’s changing colors in your garden? Do you have a favorite? Please let me know in the comments, below.

 

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Pumpkin Vine Sprawl

Well will you look at that?!  Our granddaddy of all pumpkin vines has meandered across the planting box, over the trellis, through the tomato cage and around the berries.  Yesterday Big Max grew at least a foot!

I have two smaller vines growing as well, transplants from indoors.  One of them set fruit last week, but they can’t keep up with the big guy.  We’ve counted at least a dozen pumpkins so far, currently a pale yellow.  Two of them are the size of basketballs and so far unharmed.  The rats, squirrels and other mysterious visitors are helping themselves to the smaller fruit, but fortunately we have enough to go around.  Fingers crossed.

A few of the fruits have rotted on the vine but the plant itself looks okay.  I hope this is just part of the natural selection process and that the others continue to grow.  I wish you could all stop by for an in-person tour.  I guess photos will have to do.

Upward Mobility

My Pride and Joy

Leafy Green

Pumpkin Vines: The Long View

Up and Comers

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City Picker Update: Tiny Green Tomatoes

Early Green Tomatoes

As the pumpkin vines continue to populate the vegetable patch, I was once again grateful for the City Picker boxes.  I simply rolled the entire planter box of tomatoes to another sunny spot, and let the pumpkin vines continue to grow.  (As if I would stop them!!!)

Unfortunately, one of the two boxes leaks when I fill the watering tube.  I can’t do anything about it now, but I’ll investigate at the end of the planting season to see what’s up.  I planted three starter tomato plants on one side and a variety of seeds on the other.   Eventually, I thinned the plants to an even six to the box.

Here’s how they’re growing:

City Picker Tomatoes: June 23, 2012

City Picker Tomatoes: May 23, 2012

City Picker Tomatoes: May 1, 2012

Help! There’s a pumpkin vine chasing me!!!

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The Joyful Gardener Turns 12

Harvesting his first watermelon

My cheerful, insightful, smart and creative son turns 12 today.  As an infant we joked that he was born with the “happy gene” as he soaked up his surroundings with a positive, mellow and inquisitive outlook.  His tantrums were few, even at two.  When he fell, his cries lasted a few seconds.  My son was joy, personified.

As it turns out, he was also born with the “gardening gene.”  Sure he liked the toy aisle at Target, but the seeds were his favorite.   We came home with many a packet of sunflower, pumpkin and carrot seeds, full of optimism and good spirit.  His grandfather would be proud.  During the Santa years, I mail-ordered his pumpkin seeds so they looked just a little different from the seeds we bought in town.  The jig is up, but the pumpkin-seeds-in-the stocking tradition lives on.

Here are a few pics of my joyful gardener over the years.

The first watermelon

Starting his garden

Reading to his pumpkin plants to help them grow

A little music never hurts either

11, years, 364 days old

Happy birthday, M!

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‘Big Max’ Pumpkin Vine: Busy Bees, Budding Fruit

Our ‘Big Max‘ pumpkin vine is enjoying the recent heat.  The smaller varieties are leafing out and looking healthy too, but ‘ol Max steals the show.  Max re-seeded from last summer, so had a bit of a head start.  I’m definitely planting directly into the beds next year.   I don’t think the indoor starter plants paid off in the end.  So many of them wilted and died within 24 hours of transplanting.

Will you look at this happy pumpkin vine?!

The Happy Gardener and her Platter-Sized Pumpkin Leaves

Female Flower Setting Fruit

A Squirrel Stopped by for Lunch

Male Flower: Pollinating Bee

Female Flower: Pollinated

Curly Tendrils

It’s a Wrap: The Power of the Vine

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Pumpkin Nirvana: The Crop Runs Away!

Yahoo!  We have a small but viable pumpkin crop.  Last year’s one volunteer re-seeded in the upper box.  I had to amend the soil and top off the box before replanting it in the lower box.  Not only did it survive, it thrived.  Look at that baby grow!  Our ‘Big Max‘ has a companion as well, cosmos from another season.  For whatever reason, that tiny four by four-inch spot in the lower box has the perfect combination of soil, shelter, sun and moisture to make things grow.

A few of this seasons indoor seedling transplants survived so we have two or three varieties at different states of growth.

I spotted a few male flowers last week and the requisite bees in the vicinity.  Yesterday the first female bud emerged, a tiny, yellow orb with magnificent potential.

Here is our pumpkin crop so far:

The Vine’s Curling Tendrils

Morning Sun Streams Through

Budding Female Flower

Pumpkin Plant Close-up

Planter Pumpkins: The Long View

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Garden Log: May 9, 2012

Here’s what’s growing in my garden this week:

Flowering Annuals:

Most years I plant Alyssum and Impatiens from cell packs.  It’s nice to have the head start.  Instead I went with seeds, surprised by how tiny they were!  It was late in the day when I planted them broadcast style, so I wasn’t sure what kind of coverage I would have.  They broke ground on Tuesday.

Sunflowers:

I have two varieties growing in three locations this season.  It will be interesting to compare variables.  I planted a single row near our dwarf lemon in the front side yard.  We had great luck last year, which is to say, that four out of ten survived the squirrel rampage.  That works for me.  A few sunflower seedlings sprouted in the kitchen, and will move outdoors when they set true leaves.  The third batch has yet to come up.  I planted them in pots in a row along the front deck. (I’m dreaming of a wall of sunflowers this summer, something I once saw in a catalog.)

Sunflower Start-ups

Pumpkins:

I have one impressive volunteer from last season with leaves the size of dinner plates. I can’t wait to see what the fruit looks like. It could be our prize pumpkin. The transplants are limping along. I dressed the beds with Hydro Organics Bat Guano, which has high levels of phosphorous and nitrogen.

Pumpkin Leaf

Berries:

The raspberry vines look healthy this year. They’ve doubled in size and are stretching towards the trellis. Blooms are giving way to the early formation of fruit. We’re pretty excited about that. The blueberry plant also looks healthy. Fellow blogger, What’s Green With Betsy! says “the first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps, the third year it leaps.” It’s a leap year! Finally, the strawberries are establishing well. The holdover plant from last year is already producing fruit.

Planting Box (4×4)
Raspberries, Blueberries, Strawberries
Basil and Sage

On Deck:

I tucked in a few annuals to fill out the pots on deck.  We have two miniature roses, replanted from the back yard and a beautiful coleus.  I moved the geranium to the front of the garden, making room for the tall grasses that shot up this week.  I’m going to try to get a better picture when the light is just so.  It’s especially beautiful at the end of the day.

Deck Top Annuals

What’s growing in your garden this week?

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Pumpkin’s Progress: Wilted Seedlings, Sagging Ego

First, the clichés:

Never give up hope. It’s not over till it’s over. Don’t give up!  Don’t be discouraged!  Okay…but…

Wilted Pumpkin Seedling

I am discouraged.  We transplanted our pumpkin seedlings Sunday evening into freshly prepared planter boxes.  The process was challenging on two fronts.  First, the seed pods were so close together, that the leaves and stems entangled.  As I gently pulled them apart, several of the stems bent or snapped.  It was disheartening.  Second, the seed pods had to be pushed out from the bottom, instead of scooping out from the top, further damaging the tender plants.  I improved my technique as I went along, so the lower box looks a bit better.

On the bright side, I have a reserve of seeds in all six varieties, so I’ll plant those directly into the bed.  Stay tuned.

Has this ever happened to you?

Lower Box

Volunteer Pumpkin
This seed survived the winter and is doing just fine without my help

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