# 7 Grow Something

My Little Bed & Breakfast

Baby Pumpkin

A few months ago a little vine sprouted from underneath a tree in my backyard. For the longest time, it was a mystery vine. It looked like a squash/zucchini plant, a very large non-producing squash/zucchini plant. To my surprise and 15 feet of vines later, a little round yellowish-green object appeared. Now this vine has taken over my backyard and my heart. Totally kidding on that last part.

This being the end of my first year in this house, I don’t know if this is a recurring vine or if I simply let one of last year’s pumpkin rot in that particular place. I’m kinda guessing it’s the latter and therefore slightly more magical. Why do I feel like Cinderella?

Well I’ve been very hands-off up until this weekend. All I’ve done is simply ogle over my round little friends and take their pictures. But as my inner-nurturer began to take over, I took to the internet and my local Home Depot to figure out what I could do.

So today I created a little pumpkin bed & breakfast.

The twins

For the breakfast part I applied some Osmocote around the base of the vine. It’s very surprising to me that from this one root grows twenty something feet of pumpkin vines. I’m hoping this fertilizer cocktail will create some large healthy pumpkins.

During my internet research I found that creating a bed of sand beneath the pumpkin will protect it from both snails and slugs. These pesky boogers are known for burrowing down in to the pumpkin which at this point would be devastating to me, especially if it were to happen to my big pumpkin.

Survival of the fittest

Finally, I learned that sometimes you have to eliminate some bad seeds to increase the survival rate of the others. I guess it’s kind of like survival of the fittest. So I snip the little guys off and toss them into the yard. Who knows? Maybe they’ll turn into a vine next year.

So here I stand in the middle of September with a number of beautiful young pumpkins. (one of which is promised to my new friend Randy at Home Depot). I hope by Halloween that I’ve been able to produce a lively crop. Perhaps one of them will turn into a magical carriage and carry me away to Prince Charming. (What a load of crap!)

Update:

Maddox & his pumpkin

Turns out that a pumpkin vine can only support one pumpkin at a time…In a few weeks I went from 30 pumpkins to four. Then a pesky little squirrel took a bite of one so I’m down to 3. I am not one to be ungrateful though. These 3 pumpkins are absolutely majestic and after a conversation with my neighbor it turns out that these beauties are a result of last year’s rotting pumpkin.

To answer anyone that might be pondering this question: no, I will not be carving these pumpkins. I will be purchasing a normal (non-heirloom) pumpkin to butcher. Maybe I’ll even throw a carving party.  Does anyone out there have a fond memory of carving pumpkins from their childhood?

Getting messy. My fav past time