Put your out-of-place pumpkins to good use

Now that Christmas decorations are up in the house and the light extravaganza is plugged in outside, the pumpkins I bought before Halloween seem out of place in my yard. Remember when you were ready for fall? I was so excited back in early October to find the right size, shape and personality of the pumpkins that I was going use to decorate. Alas, pumpkins and Santa do not mix.

There is a Reddit group for photos of squirrels eating things - thanks for the pic!

Put those pumpkins to good use! I smash them open for the birds and squirrels to eat the seeds. Then you can put the orange carcass in the compost bin or, as I do, just leave it out on one of the flower beds to decompose. By spring it will be completely gone and the soil will have some new organic matter to start the growing season.

There is Still a lot of Summer Left

Finally some tomatoes are developing on the Brandywine plants. It was all blossom-drop-all-of-the-time in July. According the to the University of Maryland Extension, it can be caused by heat which

we had a lot of in July here in D.C. The cherry tomato plant is slow this year, not flowering as much as previous years. There is still a lot of summer left in the mid-Atlantic and I am hopeful to get a good crop of tomatoes this year.

The green beans, and hopefully some wax beans, are starting to come in now. I should have enough for dinner later in the week!

Sadly the Cinderella pumpkin, or whatever that plant is, has not survived. I think it was the dreaded squash vine borer that killed it. A few weeks ago I bravely dug one of the buggers out and was so proud of myself. The plant perked up again and I thought all was well. But then the leaves started yellowing again, and I got busy at work, getting home after dark, and did not dig around for more worms. Plus, if I did get a fruit now, in mid-August would it even have time to ripen? I give up!

I was away last week so I was excited to get home and see how everything had grown. The zinnias do not disappoint again this year. They have filled in beautifully in their bed and I will have cut flowers for another two months. This is mix of Parks and Thumbelina.

Garden Progress in Mid-July

It has been very hot and humid in the Washington, D.C. area lately, and there has been wonderful rain over the past few days.  Everybody is happy in the garden because they aren't parched-at least for a few days.

Clockwise: Parks Mix zinnia are super cut flowers; funky fresh carrots taste so good; pumpkin; stuttgarter onions are getting picked as the leaves dry out, really great flavor.

S.L.O.W. Tomatoes
A few weeks ago I noticed that my tomato plants were growing very slowly. Fish fertilizer was recommended so I gave it try. Here are after and before photos and the Brandywine has grown a lot with the fertilizer, probably doubled in size. The other tomatoes have grown, too, but not as much as this one. It has started flowering, too, so I am still hopeful that this guy will produce.

Left: Taken July 23 after using fish fertilizer. Right: Taken July 3 before using fish fertilizer.

Are these plants really pumpkins?
I have been documenting my experiment this year to grow pumpkins for the first time. I was able to get two types of seeds at a seed swap this winter-Jacky's and Cinderella. Two Cinderella plants and one Jacky's plant were transplanted early this spring. The Cinderella plants took off (pictured top), growing like mad with long, winding vines, while Jacky's (pictured below) is healthy but much more contained and no vines.

Then Cinderella produced some little fruits that have since all died. I read that it could be that they were pollinated sufficiently. And looking at some photos again, the little pumpkins were not round but kind of flat in the bottom-see the photos below. So I am thinking that the Cinderella plants are not pumpkins after all because of how differently they are growing as compared to Jacky's and the way the fruits looked on the vine. Anybody have any ideas about this?

Are these really little pumpkins or some kind of squash?