A Fall Favorite

As the calendar turns to fall, I want to take a minute and talk about the crop which exceeded expectations.  Of course, I am referring to my pumpkins.   When I was building my garden boxes this spring my brother asked if I was doing a pumpkin patch for the kids.  When I told my daughter we put in pumpkins I was met with a squeal of delight.  So naturally, I was sure they would turn out horribly.  Whether not producing any fruit, or despite what was advertised, producing mere pie pumpkins I set the bar pretty low in my mind. 

Almost ready...

The plants spent the better part of the summer taking over my yard.  There were hundreds of blooms which fed my fear of too many small pumpkins but as summer waned, the many gave way to the few and I was left with one pumpkin per vine.  Much to my surprise I have already pulled in three that will make fine jack o lanterns and are already on display out front.  The biggest of the bunch is still ripening on the vine and for good measure a couple of more fruit are developing, although I doubt there is enough season left to see them ripen up.

Fall is a great time for corn mazes and pumpkin patches.   Having our own in our yard has really helped me appreciate the close of summer as we welcome the harvest with the arrival of fall.

Andy

Healthy Growth

Wow, it is amazing what a little bit of water and some warm sunshine will do for a garden.  I know this should not be a surprise but, at our last house, we did not have a full sun location for our small garden and we only saw moderate growth and crops.   All of the raised beds we are putting in here are full sun and it is amazing to watch the plants respond with some regular water and long hours of sunlight.

The berries that we got from Indiana Berry continue to do well.  I did not have any previous experience with bare root plants but both the strawberries and raspberries we planted are growing well.  Once we got the blueberries into the sun, they greened right up as well.  I still need to get after the soil on those, but they are off to a good start.

It is looking like our first crop of radishes is getting close to harvest.  It would probably serve me well to figure out exactly when to pick them, but that is a minor detail.  I was able to get a couple more beds built and managed to get winter squash, green beans, bunching onions, cucumbers, beets, and pumpkins planted.  The ever supportive Web-Mistress was quick to comment that the pumpkin bed looks as though it needs a bra.

The most important crop we have planted, though, were the sunflower seeds our four year old had picked out when we got our seed packets.  It is killing him that he has to wait to see them sprout.  Hopefully, his patience will be rewarded.  And just maybe, it will keep him out of my garden beds.

Andy

Turning the Page

May is here.  The days are warming up and it’s time to really get the gardens going.  Around here, the adage is to not plant until Mother’s Day.  The real danger of early planting reared its ugly head last week with the cold snap that killed the marigolds which had been planted along the chicken run.  But a look at the 10 day forecast shows no temperatures lower than the 40’s so it will be time to get out and planning this weekend.

This afternoon, the strawberries went in.  We bought 50 bare root plants from Indiana Berry and while I don’t expect any berries this year, next year will hopefully yield some good jams and pies.  As you can see from the picture above, the individual plants are hard to see (trust me, they are there) and there is plenty of space for runners to fill in.  According to the planting guide we received, I expect the number of fruit bearing plants to triple this year.

I will let you all know if we manage to get the beets, onions, pumpkins, green beans, and winter squash in.  What are you planting this weekend?  All in all, it should be a great way to spend my birthday weekend, even if the Web-Mistress lost count and added years to my age on my cake.

Andy