Gardening Freestyle and Pumpkins

I am not much of a disciplinarian. (That sound you hear in the background is my husband guffawing in hearty agreement!) I guess if I had children of my own, I would have developed the skill. However, dogs have been my only children over the years and I have given them alot of latitude.

As I tiptoed through a tangle of canteloupe, watermelon and cucumber vines on my way to tomatoes standing shoulder to shoulder on all sides, I realized that I haven't disciplined my garden this summer either. Case in point ... the pumpkin vine pictured here. This ONE vine has grown into the strawberry patch to the west, tomatoes to the east, compost pile to the north and lawn to the south. I knew pumpkins needed room, but I am amazed at the area this one vine has overtaken.

Every square inch of my garden is covered in something. And I am happy, just like when my dog joins me on the couch! Not having rows anymore does make harvesting a bit trickier -- balancing and stretching in order to reach that ripened vegetable -- but I just consider it multi-tasking ... harvesting while I do my morning workout.

Speaking of pumpkins. Did you know that they have both a male and female blossom on the same plant?! I learned this trivial morsel in an article of the most recent issue of _Hobby Farm_ (a great magazine!). Seems the male blossoms emerge to verify adequate pollination before the female blooms appear. Male blooms have straight stalks while female blooms have a bulb that will grow into the fruit. This picture above shows a pair (the female is right of center with a small, closed, green blossom and the male is to the left with a closed orange blossom).

I harvested my first pumpkin this morning. A beauty, isn't she!