Pumpkin Paradise

So. Last fall I bought a couple of pretty fine pumpkins from the Amish family we usually visit in Clark, MO. One was quite bumpy (warty) and one a vivid orange. I did not bring them in during the autumn and after Mom's stroke, I did nothing outside.

So from that pumpkin mush grew enormous vines at the end of our ramp. Mom came home from a hospital visit in July and little vines had to be pushed aside for her entrance. I stayed in the house and just laughed when visitors said the vines were amazing out there...  The UPS man  and everyone else talked about the great big pumpkins...

I just smiled, visualizing the controlled, smallish vines I saw in July. Well, we had tons of rain this summer. We had these shoulder high vines that did, indeed take over the ramp and the yard. I was out of the house again the last day of September, and they were starting to wilt. Last Saturday my son and I delivered a big orange beauty to several friends. I cut a few for us... and I have a couple more I would like to get to others... We have had a little frost since these pictures were snapped, My son informs me I was a week too late because the vines were even bigger earlier..  I love this crazy patch... but I think about how my crazy yard (with the moss growing on the house due to all the foliage) compares to the lovely arrangements on straw bales I see everywhere...  Not a lot of comparison except both have pumpkins! Oh, well. This is me.

A couple remain on the frost-nipped, taupe vines. Mom has been following their development carefully. She was planning next year's garden. I think I should set out one of these again to see what happens. My son suggested putting the pumpkins all over the yard and not having to mow! What a chip off the old block!

So this is charlie Brown reporting in from The Great Pumpkin Patch!