Amy’s Garden

Pumpkins

Last summer, when we were still living at our old house, Lydia and I planted some pumpkin seeds. Since we didn’t have much room, I ordered a variety that was small and grew on small plants. It was fun watching the big pumpkin blossoms grow, the tiny green pumpkins emerge, and the round orange pumpkins ripen.

But there was one problem. Worms.

I’m not sure if that thing oozing from the pumpkin is pumpkin flesh or the worm itself. In any case, it was gross and I wasn’t about to consume the pumpkins. Into the compost bin they went. Such is the fate of a laissez faire gardener like myself.

Fast forward to this summer. We are living in our new house, which is sadly void of any garden yet. Our old house has not sold yet, and we go back there occasionally to check on it. Keith told me after one visit that there was some kind of squash growing. He said it looked like a giant cucumber.

I went back a few weeks later and discovered elongated, bumpy pumpkins that looked ripe. They were growing in the bed where I had dumped the last of my compost before moving the compost bin to the new house. I’m guessing the pumpkins I planted last year were a hybrid, and that is why the seeds (from the compost) did not produce the same fruit. We cut the ugly pumpkins off the vine and brought them home.

I was excited that we had so much free orange vegetable for my beta-carotene loving son. However, I was a bit nervous about cutting into them, because there were a few worm holes. I didn’t need to worry. They were hard as a rock. My knife couldn’t begin to cut through. Wow, those worms must have sharp teeth.

They sat in our sun room for about a week. This evening I noticed more worm holes on the pumpkins. I asked Keith if he would like to practice his pitching skills. He was happy to oblige. Maybe some deer or groundhogs can get some use out of them.

Just another fun evening at home with the Tyndalls.

For future gardens, I would love to grow heirloom vegetables, whose seeds always produce the same kind of fruit from which they came. A great local place I have yet to visit is a seed savers’ mecca. Maybe they even sell worm-free pumpkin seeds.