Some of the winter squash and pumpkins are starting to fall off their dying vines....OOOOOR they're really CLOSE to doing that and I can't help nudging them just a wee bit. As the pumpkins come off the vines, I've started moving them up to the deck, trying to make sure they've got plenty of airflow around them to keep them dry. I don't want any of these babies rotting out before Halloween!
This one right here might be one of my new favorites. While the Rumbo's unfortunately haven't produced any pumpkins this year (none that I've FOUND), this Galeuse D'eysines pumpkin, aka Peanut Pumpkin could be a new favorite! Check out those fuuuunky warts! I do wish it was more orange than pink, but that's ok....it's definitely got character. Assuming they don't rot out, I have at least two more of these in the garden covered with warts, and a couple that are showing no signs of warts whatsoever.
Now that the pumpkin leaves are starting to die back, Doogie and I went patrolling for large pumpkins.
I think this is my biggest yet - it weighs in at a whopping 34.2 lbs. Sure, there's MUCH bigger, but those pumpkins are different varieties (this is Howden Biggie), and they're fed more, babied, thinned to only one pumpkin per vine, etc. I didn't bother with any of that hassle, and it looks like I made out pretty good!
The Howden Biggie's haven't stopped producing either! There's two big, fat, DARK green ones in the garden that came on late - and I honestly don't know if they'll be fully orange in time for Halloween. That's ok - they'll still look cool!
Here's one of those warty-minus-the-warts pumpkins, hanging about 3 ft in the air from the tomato cages. Those are cherry tomatoes in the foreground....
I'm going to run out of deck railing before I do pumpkins!
Check out those warts! They're not as hard and scratchy as you'd expect them to be...
They look really cool radiating out of the stem.
Here's a lumina pumpkin - they're usually smooth and off-white (almost blue-ish), but this one must've had a rough time and has a fair amount of scaring. There's two more that are a bit more blemish-free.
I tried growing Knucklehead pumpkins this year, but they really didn't get as lumpy as advertised - not sure what that's all about.
Here's Doogie posing with the big Howden Biggie. This also shows that he's doing pretty well with his sit/stays - although he was getting a bit uncooperative until I pointed out I had ginger snap cookies on me. I almost wonder if I couldn't get him to do flips for ginger snaps?! Hm, that pumpkin doesn't look as big when posing with the dog.
Meanwhile, Tucker's just chilling out thinking Doogie's an idiot for doing as he's told. ;-)
6 comments:
The pumpkins look so awesome. I love the winter squash season - both for how they look and for all the things that can be cooked with them.
A pumpkin sniffing dog!
I wasn't sad about not growing pumpkins this year until I saw this post of yours. They all look great! I love the warty ones - those are cute.
Maybe next year. Instead of corn.
Finny - I think you're the only person who likes the bumpy ones (aside from me). Everyone else talks about how gross they look.
Stevie - yeah, he doesn't just stop at pumpkins. Anything I'm looking at for more than a minute, he's gotta come check it out and sniff it. Hey, maybe it's good eats!
And Peter - from what I read, the warty/bumpy ones are really tasty - I'll have to give 'em a try later and report back.
Hello! Came across this blog post while google imaging knucklehead pumpkins. i am trying to find out if knuckleheads start out white while growing on the vine. Not sure what the vines we found growing in our field are- all we know is that they are white with warts. been googling forever and can't find any info to go on. Thought you might enlighten us since you've grown them! Thanks- stephanie you can contact me through http://countingseeds-cline.blogspot.com/
Hi Stephanie - wish I could help you more, but I don't remember what those peanut pumpkins looked like when they were immature. I haven't had much luck with my pumpkins the last two year, mostly because I overcrowd them and/or don't dedicate real space to them.
I DO know that the pumpkins overall are a VERY light peachy color when fully ripe (which you can also see from the pics). Unfortunately, I can't find any "still on the vine" pics of these guys - and that's odd for me! I don't remember them ever being PURE white - I think only my Lumina's have looked that pale while still immature.
Have you grown these pumpkins before, or have you purchased them and then thrown them in your field after Halloween? I do find pumpkin seeds tend to be really hardy overwintering outside (I've got a single pumpkin plant vining all over my kale, chard, beans and even tomatoes right now, with just a single big, funky looking pumpkin forming on it - and I didn't even plant it!).
If you have a picture of your immature bumpy pumpkins somewhere online, that might jog my memory?
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