Pumpkin Passion

Wow, what a difference a month makes! These suckers grow FAST! My garden is now completely overwrought with pumpkin plants. In fact, my poor bell peppers and jalapenos are fighting for some serious space. I have 8 fully thriving pumpkin plants. I am not sure what type survived, I believe two of the plants are the white pumpkins and the other six are your typical orange. What a surprise we will have in the fall. They are still fairly contained in the garden, but I am expecting them to start creeping on to the lawn this month. If they grew this fast from May to June, I can only imagine how fast they are going to grow now that we are coming into the full charge of summer. I do not see any baby pumpkins just yet, but the little corkscrew vines are starting.

No wonder people garden, it is totally fun! It was pretty tedious clearing the old plants out, but once I started planting it has been pretty easy and it is really neat to watch everything flourish! Along with the pumpkins, I had mentioned in my first blog posting that I had planted summer squash, and red bell pepper. I have since added jalapenos, more colors of bell peppers, mint and basil. Unfortunately, we have had a casualty, the parsley did not make it. I believe it was a combination of factors: First, the summer squash was not a good neighbor for the parsley. It took over the whole area and I think it just strangled it. Second, the space was in full sun. Parsley is a little more delicate than I though and I should have babied it in a windowsill in the house. However everything else is just beautiful, so I shall grieve and move on.

Why does Pumpkin Eatin’ Season always equate with really-busy-at-work? I’ve been in the office two days this month and out all the rest at meetings. Last Friday I was stuck in the Oakland Airport for a few hours and came across the new Martha Stewart Living magazine. I only buy it once a year for the Halloween issue, which is simply spectacular and this year is no different.

Instead of giving you a preview of how great the magazine is, I’m going to make the suggestion that you check out The Baking Bird blog. Kylie has already written a post on the issue and has even gone back to highlight great pumpkin recipes from previous years.

I’m not only suggesting that you check out her post because I now don’t have to write one but I’m also making the suggestion because I love her blog and she’s a true pumpkin lover. She has a vegan pumpkin cinnamon roll recipe that has me drooling all over my keyboard. Oy Vey!

It’s 103 degrees around here. The weather couldn’t feel further from Fall but our spirits have already eagerly accepted that the seasons will eventually change. We started our Fall tradition of watching all 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls. That show is pretty much shot perpetually in Fall. It makes sense. The show was supposed to take place in Connecticut but was actually filmed in Burbank, CA. It couldn’t be easy creating those winter episodes with Luke’s Diner buried under 4 feet of snow while the temperature outside was probably closer to 80 degrees.

Not only do I know that Fall is close because the Gilmore Girls marathon has started but also because i keep hearing about new Fall treats. For instance, Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts now has a limited edition Frosted Pumpkin Pie. This is one of those things that makes me wonder why waited so long. Of course there should be a pumpkin pie Pop-Tart! If you see it, please let me know where you found them. These are a 2010 Pumpkin Eatin’ Season Must-Have.

If I make up tomorrow and find that the Frosted Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts are just a dream, there’s always the d.i.y. option here.

So the porch worked. Sometimes a little sunlight goes a long way…I was able to get 4 plants to sprout. So 4 out of the 24 planted is not great odds, but I am getting impatient with these little greenhouse trays. In fact I am growing more mold in some of them than I am actually pumpkin plant. Consequently I gave them to Mother Nature and planted them directly in the garden.

When I was planting the baby sprouts, I did go through the other sections in the seed tray and I noticed that several of the seeds had developed roots but had not gotten as far as sprouting leaves. So I shoved those in the ground too. I figure if it was on its way, then hopefully the actual soil, sun and water of being outside will further the process along. We shall see! My baby tiny garden is on its way! If in a few weeks if I have killed everything, I will just resume my regular tradition of buying my pumpkins at the local grocery store in October. I will keep you posted.