Pumpkins, 2017

A pumpkin?  September 2017

My pumpkins (and squash too) were grown from my own collected seed this year.  Last year I managed to harvest two smallish pumpkins from my garden, and I saved seed from both:  the first pumpkin became a pie for Thanksgiving, and the second was baked some time after;  the second wasn't very tasty at all--I don't know if it was due to the length of storage (a couple months), or the pumpkin itself.  I still have its seeds, but we should probably just eat those too, and not keep for planting.

Still, one of this year's plants has been growing a very interesting looking pumpkin, pictured above.  It's kind of the shape of a zuccini--perhaps it's a zuccini-pumpkin cross?  By now it's even more orange, and is destined to be our Halloween jack o'lantern.  I like to carve our pumpkin on Halloween day and then bake and puree it the next--I freeze the puree for pie later on.

Just a small one, September 2017

I have around six pumpkin vines in total--some in the ground and some in planters--and as mentioned previously, most of them are all leaf and no fruit.  A couple small fruits formed this month;  I don't really have high hopes for them.  It's just a bit too late, although perhaps this one above may have time;  it's around softball size now, but still completely green.  Though it's normal pumpkin shape, we may end up eating it (and its other, smaller compatriots) fresh like zuccini if it doesn't ripen fully.