Pumpkins Growing Like Crazy

Pumpkins are growing like crazy

My first report on the pumpkin patch was just a couple of weeks ago. I can’t believe how fast these plants are growing. The Cinderella variety seems to be growing better than the Jacky’s variety-kind of overtaking it actually-but I am going to leave it there for now. And the Cinderella plants (in the front in the photo) are performing very differently. One is sending out long shoots and the other is mounding. All of them are flowering so that’s a good sign. I started a small crop of beans in the patch hoping to get a harvest before the pumpkins took over the plot. Now I am not so sure if they will survive…

Onions ready for harvest?
This is another new addition to my garden this year. I put the sets in the ground on March 1. They all came up and look really good. So now I am not quite sure when to pick them.

Clockwise from top left: Cherry tomato, onions, heirloom tomato, lettuce and bell pepper.

Carrots
The Nantes and Tendersweet carrots are looking good, might be ready for picking soon. I did a couple of rounds of seeds back in March and April as some sprouted, some did not. I really like growing carrots.

Tomatoes
Mixed results so far with the tomatoes. A bunch of cherry plants reseeded from last year so I kept one plant to see what would happen. It is looking good, flowering. I bought Brandywine seedlings at a plant sale in the spring thinking I would try heirlooms this year. The birds decapitated the plants recently so they seem a little small for late June.

Lettuce and Pepper
The lettuce is the big surprise this year. Another new entry in the plot this year, all of the varieties (arugula, spicy mesclun, gourmet blend) I planted have performed really well. The “gourmet blend” from Burpee in particular has resisted bolting in the heat and has lived A LOT longer than I anticipated. I preemptively pulled out most of the arugula and spicy lettuce a couple of weeks ago before it really heated up here and would most likely bolt. But this lettuce just will not succumb to the heat. I had planned on using the space the spring lettuce is in to be a summer red bell pepper. I just can’t bring myself to pull the lettuce out so I squeezed the pepper in there, too!

Repelling Birds from My Urban Garden

Pests in the garden is a common topic of garden blog posts, guest speakers at garden clubs, and posts to garden list servs. When I had a plot in a community garden in Washington, D.C., the deer were a menace. Most gardeners had an 8-foot fence around their plot, but the deer still got in. Fighting the deer got to be too much for me so I gave up the plot. They are always going to win because it’s survival for them.

The Birds
Luckily my yard in Maryland has not been found by deer, but I do have a menace – birds! They pull up seedlings, pull leaves off plants and eat the bean seeds before they sprout. Last year’s green bean and wax been crop, one of my favorite vegetables to grow, was decimated. I barely had one meal’s worth of beans. I was so disappointed and frustrated.

My Search for a Solution

• I found some interesting garden covers on Pinterest.
• Tried fox urine, and then coyote urine.
• Tried larger mammal urine. ;)
• Saw this on Pinterest the other day, using plastic forks to keep rabbits out.
• Human hair works for some people and my hair salon will give me a bag-full.

And the Winner Is
My own invention, hangers from the dry cleaner!
And it doubles as art! And I didn’t have to buy anything!

So far, so good. You can see my been seedlings in the photos. I tried sticking them in upside down in their natural shape. And then I unraveled one and twisted it around. I am happy with this solution, for now. But I know the birds will figure out a way to get around them. It’s basically a race-will the plant sprout before the bird finds the seed.

What creative ways have you kept the critters out of your vegetable plot?

June 15 is #BloomDay

June 15 is Garden Blogger' Bloom Day. What's blooming in your garden today?

Not much here, near Washington, DC! I feel like the flowers are in transition - spring blooms are long gone and the summer plants are just maturing. But I have a couple of bits of color.

Purple yarrow is looking good. I planted this for the first time last year. It likes the hot dry front yard.

One of my favorites, purple coneflowers. I started these plants from seed last year and it's doing great. Almost 5 1/2 feet tall and still growing! This will bloom all summer. That's catmint and coreopsis fading in the background.

Birth of a Pumpkin Patch

When I start planning my vegetable garden early in the year, it is mostly based on growing food that I will actually eat. In my process, I review what grew well in previous years, I consider what I really liked eating, I look back at my notes to see what I can do differently to help those plants that did not do all that well and flip through the catalogs, websites and blogs for inspiration. 

Going through that process, I have introduced carrots to my garden. Kale is very sexy right now, and grows well in the spring here, so I have added that. I also added what I would call exotic lettuce mix for my daily salads. I love eating zucchini and summer squash but the leaf mold in my humid climate is a huge pain so that is sadly off my list.

Clockwise upper left: Pumpkin and beans in background; my mix of mix of compost, peat and vermiculite; pumpkins and beans; pumpkin growing. Repurposed edging created the raised bed.

But I felt like I had a boring list of what I ALWAYS grow. Stuff like green beans, wax beans, cherry tomatoes, herbs, arugula, radish, all of the same stuff that I have had some success with. Old reliable!

And then the idea of pumpkins popped into my head. After doing a little research I learned that I could grow them successfully in my region on the country. I scouted out a sunny, more out-of-the-way spot in the yard to keep husband happy for the raised bed. I repurposed some edging bricks that were not being used, bought a mix of compost, peat and vermiculite, and got the bed ready. 

Two varieties are growing-Jacky’s and Cinderella-seeds that I got at a seed swap in February. Three plants went in the ground on May 16. I started the seeds indoors to get a jump on the growing season. Ironically, two random plants that I think are pumpkins have sprouted in my back flower bed, the result of a pumpkin from last fall that I had a decoration. The squirrels had done a number on it so I smashed it open for the birds and squirrels to eat and then I threw the shell on the flower bed to decompose over the winter. Viola, two plants have sprouted. 

I also planted Lemon Queen sunflowers, French marigold, Autumn Beauty sunflowers on the edges. A stem of one of the pumpkins looked like it was rotting so I covered that whole section of the stem with dirt to try to save it. Because it is going to take a while for the pumpkin plants to fill the space, I snuck in a crop of beans. So far everything is doing really well. I think it worked, we shall see.

Growing Herbs at Home

It kills me to buy fresh herbs at the grocery store because they are so expensive and you have to buy so much of it. Herbs are easy to grow at home year-round, though, in a container on a balcony, in a garden bed or in a sunny window. 

Growing Herbs at Home
I just learned it is NOT a hot weather plant like I had always thought. Another favorite is Thai basil which is a beautiful purple plant and has a more licorice flavor. It’s really fantastic.

Basil

If you are just starting out with herbs, choose varieties that you know you will use. I grow oregano, parsley and basil every year. This year I am adding mint in a container, too. Cilantro, which I love to use in green salads, has not been easy for me, but I keep trying! And

Parley

I have a thriving tarragon plant that started as an experiment two years ago. I had gotten an herb in a CSA share one time and could not remember what it was but I really wanted to grow it. My guess was tarragon. I was wrong, but it grows really well, and does not die over the winter in zone 7a so it lives very happily in the corner of my raised bet. Maybe you know the herb? It was a lemony flavored roundish leaf. Any guesses?

Caring for Herbs
To ensure success growing herbs this summer, read about the conditions that the plants need, like anything else you grow. Some like sun and heat, others do better in the cooler spring and cilantro does not transplant well. A little bit of research will really help.

Thai Basil

Don’t let your plants flower, or “go to seed.” Once the plant starts to flower, it will get bitter and taste pretty bad. So keep cutting back the plants - don’t worry, it will keep growing back. And if the basil grows like crazy in the heat of the summer, cut some off and bring it to the office. You will be a hero!

Using Herbs in Your Cooking
I like adding fresh raw herbs to green salad and pasta salad. They add a fresh, bright flavor. I also cook with them in soups, sauces and in marinades (here’s a favorite chicken kebob recipe that I make all summer long that features parsley). Playing around with herbs can make an old stand-by recipe something new, you just have to experiment.

Preserving Herbs
Like tomatoes and zucchini, herbs can be prolific in your garden so preserving the leaves for later use is something you might want to do. You can dry the leaves, preserve them in olive oil or preserve them in sea salt (I have not tried this yet).