Pumpkin Patching in Vermont
It seems like one of those plants that is great in theory but never blooms or never thrives and just takes more effort than I want to exert. But, when we were planning our garden this year, my daughter asked for pumpkins, so we allocated a corner of the plot for a couple pumpkin seeds.
That was May. By mid summer, the garden was growing like typical. Lots of sun and lots of water in our New England backyard garden had produced a couple peppers, plenty of tomatoes and more zucchini than any 12 adults combined can eat. And although we'd been tending to the regular crops, we'd mostly forgotten about the pumpkin corner. But, without notice, the seeds had sprouted into vines that snaked along the edge of the garden, down the banks of the yard, out towards the trees, pretty much in every direction. Then they grew. And kept growing and sprouting and growing. By mid-august, my daughter was reporting back every day with how many new pumpkins we had.
We harvested the pumpkins last week and, at final counted, had 26 pumpkins. To do what with? I'm not sure exactly. But we've plowed ahead with pumpkin muffins, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin pie, and we still have enough pumpkins leftover to be the most festive house on the block.
If your gardening style is of the "did I forget to water the garden this month" variety like ours, give pumpkins a try. Or, if you don't want 23 pumpkins lining your driveway, be careful before you do!
