Happy October, everyone! It's time for 31 days of pumpkin.
Gourds
K struggles, sometimes, to fit schoolwork, family time, farm stuff, Hero, and friend activities into her all-too-short weekends home. Today we put "harvest the gourds" at the top of the priority list, and went out into a rather drippy, damp morning. All the squash, pumpkins, and gourds were planted (by my husband) in a giant mass on top of last year's compost heap. Bearing in mind that our compost heaps usually end up about 4 yds/meters square; very substantial heaps.
We found one more zucchini and a couple of yellow squash. Several types of gourd. The only full-sized pumpkin grew outside the wire, and was eaten by deer during the summer (grrrr). There were a couple of small ones, though.
We jointly decided to separate 'fall harvest' decor from full-on Halloween decor, so we did up the hutch with a harvest theme. The bats and spiders can come out mid-October.
Fun, seasonal, and a celebration of the summer past.
Small project
A small project that has taken a surprising amount of time. I pieced a 'winter' version of the little fall quilted runner.
They are stitched together at three sides, I am probably going to hand sew the final hem. The fall side got a pumpkin appliquéd on it.
I wanted them to be seasonal but not holiday specific; so the Fall side isn't halloweenish or Thanksgivingish, and the winter side is not Christmassy. Just . . fall and winter. There's a piece of fleece fabric leftover from another project in between to give it a little heft, without being puffy.
I cut way more strips than I needed for the little runner I wanted to sew for my hutch - so I made a second one for the coffee table. And an appliqué pumpkin? Why not. Eventually I want to make a second part the same size but wintery colors - and use it as the back to this. Reversible. It's . . a work in progress.
Gourd
This spring my husband decided to plant all squashes, pumpkins, and gourds in a gigantic mess mass on top of last year's compost heap. There was what I can only call "mixed success." Have you ever heard of a gardener who didn't get enough zucchini? I didn't know that was possible.
A week or two ago my daughter got itchy after going near the cucurbitacious mass to check for yellow squash. She asked me, and I reassured her that we had never planted bushel gourds after she had an intense reaction to the vines/leaves when she was just a toddler. They are a different genus (Lagenaria), and she is apparently quite allergic.
Yesterday I was walking around the heap, checking the progress of the pumpkins and looking for squash, when I noticed a leaf that was much rounder and fuzzier than I expected. I looked closer.
Well. I'll be damned. There is a bushel gourd vine growing in there!! Where the seeds from that even CAME from I have no idea. The last time we grew them would have been 2007. There are a few gourds developing on the vine, but I'm not sure they'll have time to mature before the first frost.
Gardening is full of surprises. She'll have to avoid the whole area until the vines die back and I can pull them and get rid of them.
October!
A very fine month. May I offer you apples, grapes, and pumpkins?
Heh. In 2008 K suffered - as only a frustrated toddler can - ALL SUMMER because she was determined to pick the apples (green! unripe! sour!). It was a great relief to everybody when it was finally time to pick them. Red and sweet, etc. A always enjoyed piking them, but he never got as unnervingly intense about it as she did.
Next summer I want to plant tons of pumpkins, squash, and gourds. Possibly down at home farm, because there haven't been any planted there for at least 5 years, and there won't be any accumulation of squash bugs or vine borers.
That right there would be making me happy, if I weren’t making every single sewing mistake the last two days. It is a great print, tho. Seasonal, colorful, but not overly loud. We got enough for a top for my daughter and a couple of table runners.
My failed zucchini plant. It produced one (1) small zucchini.
Pumpkins and gourds scattered around, tomato vines declining, early pole beans ravaged by bean beetles, late pole beans starting their first crop.
A massive, waist-high basil plant thrived despite heavy competition from pumpkin vines. A lone acorn squash that I need to pick up and put in the fridge. I picked 8 ears of sweet corn, which will make a lovely dinner tonight.
Two somewhat underwhelming rows of mixed-variety sunflowers. I was hoping for a glorious, thick stand of about twenty plants. The upper corner plot in the garden always seems ‘poor’, for some reason. Also I planted several seeds in peat pots well before the others, which I direct sowed after danger of frost. Guess which ones are still only about a foot high and don’t look like they’re going to flower at all? Apparently my peat pots don’t hasten my plants along, they actively slow them down. The red velvet sunflower is lovely.
Onions are done growing, harvested, and stored on the ladder under the eves to dry out slightly. They’ll go into cold storage or get chopped and frozen soon.
And that spooky-bastard pumpkin patch is threatening to overwhelm the whole rest of the garden. I keep whacking the vines back when they encroach on the tomatoes or the pole beans. Unless the vines die unexpectedly, we will have a ridiculous quantity of pumpkins this fall. Volunteer gourds are also here, there, and everywhere (so I won’t be able to save pumpkins seed this fall, because Hybridizing Bastards)
Shopping
Running errands and taking myself shopping - there’s the problem right there; I took myself - and as soon as I set foot in a store
My brain: PUMPKINS!
Me: Yes, but
My brain: PUMPKINS! THEY HAVE PUMPK
Me: Yes but NO! We have pumpkins at home! We just bought pumpkins two days ago
My brain: Dramatic sobbing
Me: Oh jeez for Pete’s sake
My brain: Can we ?
Me: NO.
So I came home and chopped up the pumpkins I bought on Wednesday JEEZ and they’re roasting in the over right now to become puree for pies. Seriously. Living with myself is no picnic.
Oct 15, 2021