The first pumpkin fruit flower bud, now immortalized here. I initially thought this was a butternut pumpkin flower, but alas, have been informed that I was given the wrong identity of the pumpkin. From the looks of it, this will be a regular-shaped pumpkin, and beyond that, who knows? We are just thrilled to potentially have pumpkins growing here!

We’ve finally seen female flowers on our one and only pumpkin vine! The first was spotted two weeks ago about a metre back from the growing tip of the main vine (there are a few branches now). However, the hot and dry weather at the time caused the bud to abort.

Last week, though, I noticed not one, but three more buds a-forming! Again, the weather caused them to start turning yellow, and one has already fallen off. I’m not too upset, because I reckon the flowers will come when they’re good and ready. Besides that, the weather is cooler now, bringing its own set of issues such as powdery mildew on the leaves, and our forever garden foes, snails. That’s a gardener’s life, isn’t it?

Addendum: If you read this post when I first published it, you would have read that I identified it as a butternut pumpkin. Well, it’s not, and neither I nor the gardener I got the seeds from can tell what kind of pumpkin it is, not until it bears fruit. It’s a good thing I’m the Curious Gardener! We shall see how this mystery unfolds, when it unfolds… This has just reminded us that we need to label our saved and planted seeds properly. LOL!

© 2012 curiousgardener.com All rights reserved.