Thursday, October 8, 2009

Fall Gardening Update, Pumpkin Update

Yesterday I visited the garden on my day off after the morning rain. The marigolds are really taking off while the sunflower heads are almost picked clean. Last year they attracted goldfinches but I haven't seen any this year. Someone is eating the seeds but the rest may propagate some freebies next spring.


Clockwise from the top left are drying sunflowers, cherry tomato plants with a few greenies left, the still active Mortgage Lifter tomato plants (see photo below), several late season bean bushes that flowered too late for pollination, 5 super amazing marigold plants from seeds saved last year, chinese cabbage, 2 types of basil, cauliflower, and beets that I pulled after the photo was taken. I will make my last batch of homemade pickled beets either tonight or tomorrow.

The Mortgage Lifter plants have another 6 or 7 tomatoes on the vine. I picked the almost ripe one in case something screwy happens with the weather. It will ripen in my kitchen as I wait for a few of the others to come along. The snapdragon in the lower right reseeded from last year and will hopefully do the same this year.

My most promising cauliflower is 16" across now. The others are either not growing at all or half the size of this winner. I think it may be a testament to proper soil nutrition.


On the pumpkin front, we are doing very well here after several farmstand visits and an amazing pumpkin patch experience in NW New Jersey. We picked up the Jack B. Little at a local garden center and the pretty squash came from our local farmer's market in Hamilton Park.


This is another find from the garden store. I believe it is a Gold Metal pumpkin because of its dark orange color, somewhat bumpy skin, and thick stem.

Josh picked the large pumpkin from the patch in New Jersey. We were both attracted to its Frankensteinesque form. The leaves are from our street after a very windy afternoon yesterday.

While we were driving around in the country, we passed a roadside stand selling tan gourds. I was happy to find they had left some stem and bought one for the bargain price of 50 cents. Josh picked the smallest pumpkin I've ever seen at the patch (free). The red orange pumpkin was my find in the field. I have been looking for a Rouge vif d'Etamps pumpkin for years and couldn't believe the farm had them for picking in the field. It is also known as a Cinderella. I found one with some stem for that rustic feel. My pumpkin dream has come true.

1 comment:

Sharon Bancroft said...

I am so impressed that you finally found the mysterious red pumpkin. The curly vine is a nice complement to the detail on your mirror. All pumpkins look marvelous.