Last Fall we made a trip to Oklahoma City to see Son's family. While we were there we took G3, G4, G5 and Girlie to a "pumpkin patch." It wasn't actually a pumpkin patch though. It was in a church parking lot and a fund raiser for the youth of the church.
All of the kids picked out pumpkins and I brought home some bumpy gourds to use in some Fall decorations. If you've been stopping by for awhile you may remember I put some on the porch and Mikey thought we'd brought him some new toys.
After the gourds were just about gone I cut them open, took out the seeds, cleaned the stringy stuff off and dried them.
I put the dried seeds in envelopes, sealed them and stored them away in the refrigerator. In early June AD planted some of them for me. We've never done anything like this before so it was kind of an experiment.The patch in the picture at the top of this post is the result. I'm thinking the big orange thing behind this green and orange gourd is a REALLY ripe left over cucumber. I didn't bother it since it's propping the gourd up so nicely.
Yesterday evening I went out to see how everything was progressing. I've been out there many times but this time I took my camera.
Son's kiddos brought me some of their pumpkin seeds after their pumpkins were all used up last year. This is the only pumpkin I've seen in the patch so far but maybe there are others.I'm kind of excited that the experiment worked and we'll have ugly gourds and a pumpkin or two for the Fall.
It's been really wet here the past several days and while I was out by the patch I noticed a lot of toadstools growing out in the pasture. Here are a couple of little ones
and here's one of the bigger ones.
The weather is a bit cooler now and I can definitely smell Fall in the air. Yea!
I'm thinking of growing some pumpkins next year. Have you seen the price of them this year? Almost four dollars! My dad used to grow gourds and I got them from him. I'd like to try growing those too. You've given me inspiration.
ReplyDeleteOh...now you make me want to do this! You must have an awesome camera!
ReplyDeleteHow cool. I love to watch gardens grow. Maybe this means pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving?
ReplyDeleteLove the gourds.....!! We have a gentleman , who works for the park, that grows them every year and brings all us "girls" a basket full every Fall.......maybe i'll try drying the seeds this time and "try" to grow my own....
ReplyDeleteEnjoy
Yeah on the pumpkins & gords!!! We have the toadstools all over our front yard, too.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you. I love pumpkins, gourds and also Indian corn. Fall is such a creative time of year!
ReplyDeleteMe too, now I want to do this.
ReplyDeleteThat's totally cool. I have always hated mushrooms. For some reason (probably ALice in Wonderland when I was small), they freak me out. I can't stand them.
ReplyDeleteI mean the pics of the gourds and pumpkins are cool.
ReplyDeleteOh, I love the ornamental gourds. I just saw them in bags at Walmart for only $2.??, and when i was telling my mom she wondered if after buying some we could save the seeds. I'm def going to get some and then try to grow my own next year. Yours look so pretty. We have no nice country pumkin patches around either so pumpkin stands are set up in front of retailers and banks usually.
ReplyDeleteGreat pics...especially the toadstools. My hubs is a "mystery gardener." He keeps seeds from different plants and tries growing them. I asked him to get rid of the cherry tomato plants and put in regular sized tomatoes...he just can't seem to get rid of them! We've had cantelope and pumpkins and squash...but didn't know to far into the growing season what they were. Next year: kermit and fairy tale eggplant!
ReplyDeleteman that is so cool! I probably never would remember to plant them though!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea!!!
ReplyDeleteI love those ugly bumpy gourds. But I've never tried to grow them.
Isn't it fun taking pictures of those mushrooms?
We have a friend at church who grows all kinds of pumpkins and gourds....I'm quite smitten with the little bitty mini pumpkins. ' Just too cute.
ReplyDeleteGreat picture gal! :o)
May God bless your beautiful day!!!
Before you know it there will be a queue of trick or treaters at your door.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos!!! What kind of camera do you have?
ReplyDeleteLillie Mae - Years ago a man from our church gave my daughter some "mini" pumpkin seeds and we planted them the next year. They grew like wildfire and I thought they were going to take over our backyard! I'd sure give it a try if I were you.
ReplyDeleteRyan - Unfortunately because we live in the country we don't get trick-or-treaters out here. I sure wish we did though. Halloween is one of my favorite times with all the little kiddos dressing up in costumes.
Territory Mom - My camera is a Nikon D80.
We have fun doing these kinds of things with the kid-lings also. Yours look pretty good ... ours are just coming on.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend.
TTFN ~ Hugs, Marydon
This is amazing! I've never heard of FREEZING SEEDS! Awesome!
ReplyDeleteNow girly...is it HOT where you are? Thought it would cool down by now!
xo~Rebecca
Hi friend girl, Just wanted to stop in and say Hi and I'm glad you posted about your gourds. I must remember to get ours off the vines next week and we'll try our skills at making some birdhouses. Love you Mollye
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you have a good crop coming in. I just love decorative pumpkins and gourds. I know guys aren't supposed to say stuff like that but its true.
ReplyDeleteLove the photos. Isn't growing things just so much fun!!!
ReplyDelete