Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Wednesday Vignette: Pumpkin Palooza

My free time is mostly occupied with digging and sifting the soil we recently had stripped of sod.  It's a seemingly never-ending project but I escaped for several hours last weekend to attend a plant sale at the local botanic garden and a garden center with a friend.  I took very few photos but one is perhaps worthy of the Wednesday Vignette hosted by Anna of Flutter & Hum.



I love those warty pumpkins, although I haven't brought any home with me (yet).  Visit Anna at Flutter & Hum to find more interesting images.


All material © 2012-2015 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
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26 comments:

  1. Sammie070502October 7, 2015 at 4:26 PM

    What an interesting, warty selection. I think it's still too early for pumpkins--at least here. They don't last long in the damp.

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    1. Kris PetersonOctober 7, 2015 at 9:14 PM

      Really! I'm surprised some enterprising farmer from California isn't carting pumpkins up there by the truckload! Our garden centers and supermarkets have been loaded with them for weeks already. Although, I heard on the news last night that there's expected to be a pumpkin shortage in November due to weather problems in Illinois, the main US producer - Thanksgiving pies may be in jeopardy!

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  2. RURAL October 7, 2015 at 7:24 PM

    Great shot...I'm such a fan of pumpkins and love to see the new varieties showing up everywhere.

    Glad that you got away a bit...

    Jen

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    1. Kris PetersonOctober 7, 2015 at 9:15 PM

      I'm grateful for the break too! this digging and sifting of soil is getting tedious to say the least.

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  3. GRACE PETERSONOctober 7, 2015 at 8:57 PM

    I love these cuties, even though I'm not a huge fan of autumn. I hope you were able to get some cool plants.

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    1. Kris PetersonOctober 7, 2015 at 9:19 PM

      If I had to contend with your winter cold, Grace, I might feel the same way but those of us in warmer climates love autumn. It's a toss up as to whether autumn or spring is my favorite season. Autumn is often referred to as our "second spring" here and it's absolutely the best time for planting. Even though the heat keeps creeping back, the cooler nighttime temperatures are already making a difference in the garden.

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  4. Mark and GazOctober 7, 2015 at 10:12 PM

    For a moment I thought it was your harvest this year :)

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    1. Kris PetersonOctober 8, 2015 at 11:05 AM

      Ha! I'd need a lot more room and a lot more water to produce pumpkins like those.

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  5. danger gardenOctober 7, 2015 at 10:24 PM

    Truth be told the warty ones kind of gross me out. There is a white and green one, almost dead center in your photo, that I would have had to bring home.

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    1. Kris PetersonOctober 8, 2015 at 2:10 PM

      That's the first time I've seen green and white pumpkins - I wonder what color the interior flesh is? I usually buy one or more pumpkins sometime before Halloween but I haven't found just the right one yet.

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  6. Anna KOctober 7, 2015 at 10:47 PM

    I'm with Loree here - I regard the warty ones with a kind of mild disdain, mixed with curious wonder. I know for a fact that the large-warted, lighter colored one on the far left in your photo (above the big orange one) is a variety called Galeux d'Eysines. Bought one last year from my farmer - it made one heck of a Thanksgiving cheesecake! Sooo good!

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    1. Kris PetersonOctober 8, 2015 at 2:12 PM

      My pumpkins usually end up feeding the neighborhood critters - not that that's a conscious objective when I set them outside as seasonal decoration.

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  7. outlawgardenerOctober 8, 2015 at 7:19 AM

    So much fun! I love warty pumpkins! We have lots of pumpkins in the PNW that are locally grown. We've been visiting pumpkin patches lately and I really enjoy the colors of autumn. They last beautifully indoors and when they need to leave to make room for Christmas decor, thy decorate the flower beds for quite some time. They don't last well outdoors if they're carved but intact pumpkins do, at least for me.

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    1. Kris PetersonOctober 8, 2015 at 2:15 PM

      I don't think I've ever carved a pumpkin but, still, they don't last long outdoors for me - the squirrels and raccoons take care of them in no time.

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  8. AlisonOctober 8, 2015 at 9:17 AM

    Love this shot of the knobbly pumpkins. I love them too. I'm feeling the urge to use a few this year for autumn decor.

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    1. Kris PetersonOctober 8, 2015 at 2:16 PM

      I'm looking for one like the one I got last year - it had a nice orange base with multi-colored warts. I may try adding succulents to this year one too.

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  9. AnonymousOctober 8, 2015 at 1:25 PM

    They look fantastic, mind you, I don't think the warty ones would taste very good! It's great to see that you got some time away from clearing remnants of sod!

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    1. Kris PetersonOctober 8, 2015 at 2:19 PM

      I've never cooked with one of the warty pumpkins but, based on her comment above, it sounds as though Anna K has and she swears her pumpkin cheesecake tasted great! I guess you can't judge a pumpkin by its skin.

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  10. TexasDebOctober 8, 2015 at 2:02 PM

    Any activity that gets you standing up straight is probably welcome at this point. Stoop labor is the worst.

    Great shot of the gourds - warts and all. While some people chafe at the idea of so many resources being used to grow a food product that is never eaten, I figure gardeners at least will compost their non-eaten pumpkins!

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    1. Kris PetersonOctober 8, 2015 at 2:20 PM

      My pumpkins usually get eaten, Deb - just not by humans!

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  11. Roger Brook - No Dig GardenerOctober 8, 2015 at 10:36 PM

    Sifting soil from sod sounds a very strange activity. What's its purpose? Do you compost the fibre you sift out?

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    1. Kris PetersonOctober 9, 2015 at 12:47 PM

      Much of our soil is heavy clay and, as the entire neighborhood was formerly a rock quarry, that clay is embedded with lots and lots of leftover rock. Even with amendments, it didn't prove especially hospitable to new plants. When we tore out the main portion of our front lawn last year, we decided to dig out the soil, clear it of what debris we could - sod netting, rocks, and grassroots - then added locally imported topsoil to raise the soil level, creating berms to improve drainage and give our plants a better change of success. By comparison to the previous areas we cleared of sod, the front garden is doing tremendously better so we're undertaking the same time-consuming exercise again. We did compost the first sod we removed on site but don't have the room to do that with the larger amounts we've taken out since so the fibrous grassroots are going out with the green-waste recycling pick-up.

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  12. chlorisOctober 9, 2015 at 12:19 AM

    What a great shot. They are such fun.

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    1. Kris PetersonOctober 9, 2015 at 12:48 PM

      Pumpkins and gourds are my favorite holiday decorations.

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  13. AnonymousOctober 9, 2015 at 8:59 AM

    Lovely image of the weird and wonderful pumpkins.

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