Garden Bounty 3

Another success story from the garden. Pumpkin. Never tried that plant before so everything was new to me. Of course I read up on the plant on the internet but in reality the learning curve is much more extensive. Awesome plant though in many ways. I had a small bag of seeds so I started with 2 seeds and both came out in late April, beginning of May. It was still unusually cold around that time so it wasn't until late May that I put both plants in the ground. One went next to a compost bin the other in the corner of my garden in the picture above. The plant does require lots of fertilizer. What I didn't really foresee is that the plant can get huge. 5-6 meters easily. I also mistakenly thought the fruit itself would stay close to the ground and roots, not so. On both plants the pumpkin developed 3-4 meters from the roots. In the picture above I discovered that a huge pumpkin had grown within the hedge of my neighbor's.

The shot above is from the other plant that had grown over my fence and into the park. The plant makes many (male and female) flowers that require pollination by bees. You can just make out that there are 2 pumpkins developing but one didn't make it. It's also recommended to only grow one pumpkin as the plant can direct all its energy towards that one. It took months for the pumpkin to really grow to size and it was really well into autumn before they started to ripe. The end result however was spectacular. I gave both pumpkins to my sister in law who knows how to prepare them for different meals. At first I thought they smelled a bit funny that's why they also became a gift but it's not bad to eat. Right now I'm really a bit smitten with the plant and I intend to grow them again next year. It does require some looking after with fertile ground but the roots go so deep that watering isn't much of an issue in moderate climates. Great plant.