We’ve got giant pumpkins growing in the front yard this year.
Okay, not giant pumpkins, as if we tried to win a contest. (A neighbor several blocks away grew the second-largest pumpkin in California this year–2,741 pounds!)
I grew my pumpkins in an innocent attempt to provide fall decorations.
When I didn’t have room in my “normal” backyard food garden, I stuck ONE SEEDLING into the front yard.
We plan to plant a tree there this fall, but the spot was empty in April. Why not?
And then we watered it.
That’s all.
How it all began
I’ve grown pumpkins before.
I usually get a few on the vine and harvest them for fall.
They sit on the porch in October as cheerful and colorful decorations.
Once I give out all the Halloween candy, I recycle them.
I stuck the seedling into the ground (purchased at a local nursery), and our watering system watered it three times a week for ten minutes.
(Someone asked me today for that detail).
Voila.
It grew. We went traveling.
I read this exchange between our housesitter and mutual friends in July.
“Help! I’m being held hostage by giant pumpkins growing in the front yard.”
Another friend: “Watch out for singing mice.”
A fatherly type: “Just make sure you’re home by midnight.”
After reading this exchange, I sent an email. “What?”
“It’s giant! All the neighbors are stopping by to discuss it! I may have to call the police to hack their way to the front door so I can get out!”
(Okay, that was all a joke, but still . . . )
Who knew?
The seedling wasn’t a giant pumpkin seedling, at least as far as I knew!
You can see the difference in the photos above: we got new soil in the front yard in March.
By August, after we traveled for six weeks, the plant took up the yard.
The giant pumpkin surprised me when we returned.
Then, I lifted the large plant leaves and discovered two large, healthy green pepper plants covered in peppers.
And two more pumpkins.
Giant pumpkins, even larger than the one pictured on the right above.
How big did the giant pumpkins grow?
Using a measuring tape, I estimated the first pumpkin’s circumference as 69 inches or 1.7 meters by early October.
That’s me hugging the giant pumpkin.
I’m 69 inches tall!
Every time I returned home from traveling, my neighbors found me in the front yard cutting back the giant pumpkin leaves, harvesting green peppers, and trying to restore the unruly garden to order.
Everyone stopped to comment and ask questions. (I met a lot of neighbors).
I’d laugh. “You think THIS one is big? Look what’s under the pumpkin leaves!”
More questions.
Today, I cut back all the giant pumpkins’ foliage. It’s time for my fall decorations to stand out–on the front yard.
How could I possibly carry these mammoths onto the porch?
(We had four but donated one to the church harvest festival. The men who picked it up estimated the weight as 100 pounds.)
I shook my head as I examined the last two pumpkins to appear, freed from the giant pumpkin leaf canopy.
“Look what I found!” I laughed when a neighbor stopped to shake his head.
“How could you have lost it?” He laughed back.
The final measurement on that big one (in the center photo above) is 75 inches in circumference.
It’s big enough for me to sit on quite comfortably.
A lovely fall (or spring, down under) to you all.
Pumpkin seeds, anyone?
Tweetables
Giant pumpkins in the front yard? Now what? Click to Tweet
How ONE seedling produced three pumpkins more than 5 feet in circumference. Click to Tweet
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