With the recent change in weather and drop in temperatures, the pumpkin patch is starting to look a little sad. 
The leaves have started to wither and die, but that’s meant that I’ve found more pumpkins.
These two are each about six inches long, but I rather doubt they will get to a point where they turn orange. 
You can see how sad things are looking here. Even Connor doesn’t want to see how pitiful it is. 
Regardless, there are still blossoms every morning and the pumpkins are still growing.
A landscape architect friend had some images of the pumpkins she’s picked, so I asked her how to tell when they were ready to be harvested. Apparently, all the green needs to be gone and they need to be a uniform orange colour.
Some of the pumpkins are still fairly green.
I thought that the sunlight might have something to do with this change, but apparently not.
I decided to harvest three of the pumpkins that met the requirement, mainly out of concern that their weight would cause them to fall into the garden and break them. 
The middle pumpkin was the one that ended up smooshed up against the tomato cages, hence the gouges in it. The one on the left is the most perfect-looking of the lot. My friend says that they need to be cured, but somehow, I don’t think that’s going happen, since you need 80*F temperatures and the equal percentage of humidity… for two weeks!
My gardenia is blooming like crazy now, and I am so lucky to be able to cut some of the blooms and have them around the house. 
The smell is divine.
I'm VERY impressed with your pumpkins!
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of curing pumpkins but I just looked it up really quickly and it said 10-14 days of 80 degrees at 80 percent humidity BUT it seems that's done to harden the skin for long term storage like you would store squash for the winter. I'm not sure if it needs to be done if you're making a jack o lantern.
AUC... I am not sure i could plunge a knife into these pumpkins! EEK! Maybe I will just paint on them.
DeleteWow! How do you get your pumpkins so big? Mine always end up being too small to carve for Halloween. They are supposed to be big pumpkins but I guess something is missing in our soil.
ReplyDeleteThe largest one is only about 12 inches high. So not massive. The way I've heard to get big pumpkins is to only have one per plant and to not let the vines get long. That way, all of the plant's energy goes into growing the one pumpkin.
DeleteAren't you talented! Yes, "talented" to grow gardenia's + pumpkins! Wonderful. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com
ReplyDeletehardly talented! just chucking the seeds on the ground. and babying the gardenias to bits.
DeleteDoes your gardenia live outside year round? I love gardenia, but have never had much luck growing them here in Arlington. My husband's family, near Smithfield, VA, are just enough further south that they have hedges of them, and the blooms are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThe gardenias are in big pots. I take them in around Thanksgiving and bring them out at Easter. The parent plant was at my family's house and they kept it in an unheated, but sunny room. It would get down into the 30's, but never really froze. I keep them in a south-facing room.
DeleteGardenias! So lovely. Your pumpkins look great, too.
ReplyDeletei am wild about the gardenias. they've had many ups and downs. i think i need to cut one of them back, but it scares me to do that.
DeleteCongratulations on the babies. I agree, no sinking knifes into them.
ReplyDeletexoxo
Mary
maybe a little black paint.
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