We live urban ... I grew up in pseudo-country (we lived in a small farming community but we weren't in the agro business), but choose the big city for my adult life. However, the thought of growing a bit of food in our little garden seemed like a fun plan for this summer while we are all home. The kiddos and I have time to water the plants, dead-head the petunias and simply enjoy watching the plants grow.
Due to a bad eye for plant choices and the need to remove several evergreen-like bushes from the backyard, we hired 'gardeners' to help us out this year - to set the foundation for future summers. When they came to discuss our vision for the garden, I was relatively carefree about the other gardens but I so wanted a veggie garden and pumpkins. The result, we have in our very urban, interlock-bricked backyard, three pumpkin plants and two gourd plants.
If you have never watched pumpkin plants grow - they are very resourceful little plants. Their little strings have attached themselves to the tomato plant support rings as well as to each other. So despite not being more than about 12 inches in anyone direction most of the pumpkin plants have actually intertwined and become one. We have been instructed to let the pumpkin plant simply grow across the driveway and keep them away from the tomato plants as they will overwhelm the fragile tomato plants.
I am so excited to see my first pumpkin blossom and maybe even my pumpkin. I have these visions of picking our pumpkins in October and carving them (OK - I dream of a lot of pumpkins) for an amazing display of jack o'lanterns.
Who could have know growing pumpkins could be this much fun!
3 comments:
Yeah for your very own pumpkin patch. I fantasize about growing veggies in my garden but am too scared to actually do it..
I've been hearing from dh for months now about the garden he is going to plant. We are so urban that we don't even have real grass in our backyard! Growing up our yard was full of fruit trees and much to our surprise, we found a full size pumpkin growing there! Someone must have tossed pumpkin seeds out there. There was only ever one pumpkin, but I remember that so clearly. What wonderful memories you are building for your kids, as well as an appreciation for cultivating and caring for something.
I think pumpkin plants are pretty prolific (how's that for alliteration??) so you may get a few nice ones for carving by October. Cool! Can you eat the blossoms, like you can with zucchini?
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