Happy Halloween!
I'm happy to say that this is not the only pumpkin that I got out of the garden this year. For some reason my garden was plagued by squash vine borer this summer, which killed off many of my squash plants. The ONLY one not to take a hit was the french pumpkins. These plants were very vigorous growers and it grew roots at almost every node along the vine- whether it was touching ground or not! This feature of the plant may have been just the adaptive feature it needed to survive my horrid summer of the squash vine borer.
This doesn't happen very often... but the pumpkins actually look just like their picture on the seed packet!
The picture above was actually taken about a week ago. When I heard that a frost - our FIRST frost please note - was inevitable, I began hauling in the remainder of the pumpkins. All together I got five french pumpkins from five plants - one pumpkin per plant. Each pumpkin weighed in at an average of 15 lbs. Yes, these are pumpkins you can eat (though I haven't eaten one YET hee hee). My experience with this pumpkin was so wonderful that I will definitely grow it again and again!!
Today I was inspecting my pumpkins for blemishes and possible rot (so I know which one to eat first) when I noticed a hole by the base of one of the stems... curious I took a knife and cut away at some of the soft tissue. After a few moments I could see the black face of a squash vine borer larva. UGH!! DIE DIE DIE!
How dare they! Taking a sewing needle I plucked it out!!
This whole incident has me a little unnerved. The pumpkin I found the squash vine borer in was the FIRST pumpkin I brought in the house... like a week and a half to two weeks ago. I was beginning to feel a little untrustworthy of the neighboring chipmunks and wasn't sure if they would be tempted to nibble on my pumpkin... this one being the only one that began turning orange.
So far on all the other four pumpkins, which were brought in later, I have not noticed any signs of squash vine borer on the fruit. I wonder if these little suckers, in their tunneling rampage up the stems of a squash plant are actually aiming at eventually hitting the fruit of the plant itself. This would make a cozy little home wouldn't it? (think James and the Giant Peach) Also, how long do these guys remain in their larval stage before they pupate? This really brings home the rule of disposing of diseased plants/vines instead of throwing them in your compost... because the larva are still hanging around inside! *shivers*
On a lighter note, its Halloween! (The best holiday of the year in my opinion) One of the non-edible garden plants I like growing are gourds. Last year I had more gourds, but the variety I got this year was just fine. Nothing like growing your own seasonal decor, huh?
Also if you grow corn, don't forget to save the stalks! This is such an easy seasonal decoration that I can't imagine paying money for a bundle of corn stalks, which I've seen for sale for $5 or $6- crazy!
This Halloween was spent in the garden, even with temperatures around 45 F. With the recent nose dive of the weather, its put me in full winterizing mode. Slowly but surely I've been cleaning up the garden, pulling all the weeds I can find and working in as much compost as I can find the time for. A few weeks ago I started a new compost pile in anticipation for autumn clean up... now the new compost pile is getting so large that its a wonder how I'll be able to continue adding to it... I still have a yard worth of leaves to go!
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