Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Wild Pumpkins Have Invaded My Garden

There are two mystery vines growing in our garden. I thought they were muskmelon and left them because they are so easy to grow. Well, the vines didn't look quite right. The leaves were too big for melon and the vines were too thick. Then one of the monkeys touched the a vine and said it had stickers. They did have spiny vines, not really stickers, but definitely prickly. There were plenty of male flowers, but I had not seen any fruit yet. The things are about eight feet long and I have had to train the vines to keep them out of the pathways. I finally found a female flower and I think we have pumpkins. I have never successfully grown a pumpkin, so we will have to see what happens. Once again, my garden has gone wild. I don't have the heart to pull them out. They are going to get huge and my garden is tiny. Wish me luck.

Oh, btw, we don't spray here. If a bug has to be disposed of it is done by hand. We prefer to let biodiversity balance the bug situation. Wisdom of the Trowel has an awesome beneficial bug post. Check it out.

10 comments:

  1. Good luck with your wild pumpkins! Can't wait to see the pictures when you get fruit!

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  2. Pumpkins are hard to grow. I have only ever had luck with getting ONE single pumpkin from a vine. Hope you have better luck. Be prepared to feed it alot of that compost the boys stirred for you.

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  3. Hi pg and tina, you two were lightening fast on the comments tonight. Thanks for the well wishes. I fertilized them to give them a shot. Looks like I am going to be a vine wrangler this summer. If I get pumpkins halloween is going to be sweet.

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  4. It sounds like a lot of fun to watch the pumpkins. To me that is what gardening is all about, unexpected surprises, patience, and hopefully success. Good luck!

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  5. What better way to try a new plant than to try to grow it as a volunteer? Lucky you. Good luck, I've never grown a pumpking before. It would be awesome not to have to buy your pumpkins for Halloween though, wouldn't it?

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  6. Hope it works out! I wonder how the seeds got there? Maybe an animal tracked them in...weird. Kudos on not spraying bugs! I agree with the idea of letting bugs "duke it out" on their own. If you have bad bugs, the beneficials usually show up regardless, just not always as fast as we'd like.

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  7. Hi Jane Marie, we are going to give it a shot.

    Hi cinj, It will be fun if we have our own pumpkins for halloween. The kids will love it.

    Lisa, I threw all the pumpkin stuff in the compost pile last year when we made jack-o-lanterns.

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  8. Debbie ... The "Great Pumpkin" came one night and decided that you would be a wonderful mom to his offspring .. so the majic pumpkin seeds landed in your garden and you now have the honour of raising a special "child" ? LOL
    Monkeys make room for one more ? LOL .. don't forget the pictures girl ! : )
    Joy

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  9. What fun, a plant surprise! I just discovered potatoes growing in my compost.

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  10. Hi joy, thanks for the linky love btw. I like you explaination better than mine. The great pumpkin, snicker.

    Hi amy, I've had potatoes in the worm bin before.

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