I’ve been cussing like a sailor about the pumpkin patch. First, the fruit I bragged about in my last post suddenly started turning yellow and is now rotting away. At that, I gave the plants the evil eye and told them to just wait ’til this weekend…

Then… yesterday on my daily garden walkabout if it’s still bright when I get back from work – it’s a great way to start de-stressing at the end of the day – I saw an impudent pumpkin, probably a few days old, sitting haughtily in what’s supposed to be a flowerbed. I’ve been trying to train the vine away from that bed but it out-stubborned me, and now I have a good reason to just leave it there.

The naughty pumpkin that decided to displace my flowers. And looks like I’m going to let it get away with it!

The fruit was already at least 10cm at its widest girth. That was when the good swearing began because I couldn’t believe how quickly the plant was responding to my threat to massively cull it.

Then, this morning, when I was rushing off for work, I suddenly noticed a pair of pumpkins on part of the vine that’s growing over cement ground. That blew my mind and set my day off on a great note. I couldn’t wait to come back and take a better look in the evening.

The two newest pumpkins – about tennis ball size when checked in the evening, and as round, too!

So I made it a point to come back early and go out with the camera to catch the three fruits in pixels…

…only to discover even more fruits growing!

That was also when the cussing like a sailor (in a good way) really got underway! Yes, Mother Weed, I’m keeping this PG. I was just really, really, really excited!

The second biggest (I think) pumpkin, which happens to be growing over the compost heap.

In total, I found FIVE pumpkins growing on the various vines. The additional two were, of all places, on top of the compost heap. I’m hoping that the compost is matured enough that the decomposers have moved on to a different place, away from the fruits. And after the experience with the first pumpkin, which maybe we manhandled and shocked, or maybe stepped on the vine, I’ve decided to be literally hands-off and just let them be. After all, I already know how sensitive the vines can be – they abort fruit buds if you shift the vines they’re growing on too much. So, fingers crossed that these babies will carry to full term. Yay!

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