Image via WikipediaI needed some "outdoor therapy" today so I went for a poke around the vegie garden. I pulled a few weeds and checked whether things are getting too eaten by bugs. A little bit of damage. Sprinkled crushed egg-shells around. Whenever we have eggs now I've been crushing and sprinkling the shells around the garden in the hope of deterring slugs and snails.
The Jap Pumpkin in the corner continues with it's prolific growth. It's well and truly taken over the swing set now. I've added potash a few times to encourage flower growth but I've been concerned that for it's size, we're not going to yield much in the way of fruit.
A few times I've tried to poke around amongst the vines to see if there are many pumpkins growing. But green pumpkins are hard to spot amongst prolific green leafery (I know, that's not a word but anyway....)
So today I'm poking around and I found this MASSIVE Jap Pumpkin growing. In fact, I found 2 that I didn't know were there. I was like a child on a treasure hunt. You'd think I had just found a couple of Freddo Frogs. LOL.
It was a nice surprise and brought a smile to my face. Which I needed. I do enjoy it when my garden surprises me. :)
I would have liked to take a photo to upload but I can't get very close and it's hard to hold the leaves apart, balance AND take a photo at the same time. I don't want to risk damaging the vine and cutting off my pumpkins lifeline. So I'm afraid you're stuck with what Zemanta can offer me by way of free photo's available online. I'll be sure to take a photo when picking time comes.
Can Jap Pumpkins grow too big? The vine connecting them is still VERY green so I'm figuring it's best to leave them grow for now.
RSS Feed (xml)
2 comments:
Yay - nothing like a surprise in the pumpkin patch!
Is there such a thing as a too big pumpkin? Cut back some of the growing tendrils so it will put more effort into the fruit, I would assume - and I loved your explanation for no photo!
Pumpkins are not like zucchini. Once they're full size they stop growing and the stalk begins to dry. This is when you harvest them and set them in a sunny spot to "harden". this hardening process is essential for the pumpkin's keeping quality. Unhardened ones rot faster.
Post a Comment