Pumpkins (which is rather a cool word when you say it slowly)

I harvested my pumpkins yesterday. I'm not sure they were quite ready; the vines had died but the stalks weren't completely dry and brown. I'm going to let them all mature and dry off in the sun then I guess I'll find out if they were picked too early when we crack one open and roast it.


I'm very proud of them. This is the second or third time I've tried to grow pumpkins and the first time I've ever actually had a pumpkin to show for it. And they are all a good size. I guess I should weigh the biggest...but it's dark outside and I ain't going out there now just to haul pumpkins round!

What I've learned so far about growing pumpkins:

1. The bloody things are Triffids. Do not grow them in your regular garden unless you want to be pushing aside prickly stems just to get in the gate.
2. They like water, but not on their leaves. I got lazy and threw buckets of water over them instead of pouring it carefully underneath and they got powdery mildew just like that.
3. Compost, compost, compost or whatever plant food you can get. I watered with worm wee and the growth over the next week was phenomenal.
4. When the growing pumpkins are baseball stage, you can scratch letters into the skin and it will scab and grow along with the pumpkin. I didn't know this until too late but next year I'm thinking I'll name all my pumpkins - or write rude slogans, "Get your grubby hands off me!" or "I hate pumpkin soup."
   

But the pumpkins had to go, even if it was too early. I had billions of seedlings busting out of their pots. I planted peas, lettuces, parsley, kale, cabbage, broccoli, leeks, marigolds, sweet williams and violas. All of those fitted where I pulled up two pumpkins and 12 or so dried up old corn stalks.

Oh, and by the way, I don't hate pumpkin soup.