Pumpkin Roundup
October 15th, 2010 by John Wolfe
Just took the last pumpkin off the vine this morning and decided to snap a couple photos to close out my Halloween garden updates. The four pumpkins pictured were the strongest of the patch’s yield. There was a fifth pumpkin (taken off the vine in July), but I made the mistake of putting it in the fridge prior to letting it cure a bit and it’s since gotten moldy on me. Many others produced along the way, however, despite being pollinated, they never fully developed and eventually withered and rotted on the vine.
Overall, for trying to grow my gourds in a sand trap, I’m pretty happy with the turnout. Even though I loved the experience of growing pumpkins, in an effort to keep my schedule as free as possible for continuing to expand on both the site and haunt, I have plans to make the garden very basic next year. I’m probably going to go with corn and a pumpkin tree (it produces pumpkin-shaped peppers) from the seeds Camile sent to me.
October 15th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
The pumpkins look beautiful.
October 15th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
John those pumpkins look great. When I grew pumpkins years ago I ended up with three I think. One for each of my boys. They are very easy to grow but take up alot of room in the yard. I think the pumpkin tree is an awesome plant.The small peppers look just like pumpkins. I was thinking the same thing about next year. Corn and pumpkins. Even though the local store has some giant pumpkins for $4 . And we usually take a trip to the Alleghany State Park every year before Halloween/Samhain and stop at a pumpkin farm and pick up a ton of them including red also known as “Rouge D’Etant “and green pumpkins. I wanted to get an Australian Blue Pumpkin or a white pumpkin also known as Lumina, Cotton Candy or miniature Baby Boo. I didn`t know there were some many different pumpkin types till last year when I looked into it.
Keep up the great work on the garden and I will be waiting for the next blog on your “Angel of Death”.
October 15th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
These are thee most gorgeous and amazing photos of pumpkins ever John! Truly you have an outstanding eye for photography my friend. I have yet to see you take a bad picture. Actually I would expect nothing less than perfection regarding the eye for detail you have. In all that you do John, and I mean all, you have this amazing effortless and graceful way of doing things in such extraordinary detail. Right down to photography and I bet you’ve never taken a class in your life! Meaning, most have to “develop” that eye for detail after many years of perfecting their skill. It would seem as though you were born with it
Yet more reasons to thank your mom for bringing you into this world and that “book” continues to grow.
When I first saw the photo upon opening the page I immediately thought those were store bought for some reason. Once I began reading, I was all the more delighted that this incredible collection of healthy gourds in the pic were from YOUR garden. They look fantastic, perfect color, excellent stems and you know, in their own ways, they each sort of have their own personalities.
I adore the second photo. The orange really pops out up against the corn stalks. You know John, I bet your yard haunt looks just as disgustingly delicious in the day light hours as it does at night!!! Especially this year with having so much more color out on the “cemetery” with the pumpkins. How soon do you begin to set up on Halloween night John, excluding set up time for the webcams this year? Excellent post and big congratulations John, you did a superb job with raising your garden. These pumpkins are gorgeous and when those seeds from Camile have come to the vine, please be sure to take pics of those and share it with us. Can’t say I’ve ever seen peppers shaped like that before.
October 15th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
Good that you were able to save 4 !
We had 14 for a while, but then, all but 3 shriveled up. 2 of them started getting scratched and chewed on, and ended up having holes in them just as they were turning orange, so we cut them loose. BUT, the one that survived is a beauty! 60 or 65 pounds and almost perfect. I’ll send ya a picture. xox donna
October 16th, 2010 at 2:12 am
Gorgeous, John! Yes, pumpkin growing takes a lot of effort. Corn is always worth it–for eating and the cornstalks are awesome to tie up for Halloween displays when they dry out. Squash works great too–zucchini and summer squash–they are very proliferative in the summer garden and easy to grow.
October 16th, 2010 at 6:25 am
Hey, those look pretty good–almost too pretty to carve!
October 16th, 2010 at 11:58 am
Julie,
Thank you!
ssflipo13,
Thank you, my friend. I found a pumpkin at a local farm a few days back that I’m totally in love with and had to buy. It’s probably around fifty-five pounds; a gorgeous color orange; has deep indentations between all of its “cheeks” and has the thickest stem I think I’ve ever seen! Though I’ve decided not to grow them again, this particular pumpkin is sort of teasing me, because I keep flirting with the idea of what it would be like to plant its seeds. Considering it’s so beautiful and was raised in New Mexico soil, I’m sure its seeds would do well in my backyard. Every time I look at it, the pumpkin taunts me: “Come on, John, you know you want to try growing gourds for another year, but this time only using my seeds.” So, I have to stay strong in the face of its pressure.
Your trip to the Alleghany State Park sounds like a lot of fun! And I hear ya about pumpkin varieties — I didn’t realize there were so many either until I started reading a book called For The Love Of Pumpkins over the summer. I found a couple in there I’d love to try planting too, specifically the Peanut Pumpkin (it has a warty skin that looks just like peanut shells) and the Jarrahdale Pumpkin from Australia. The book also has the White Pumpkin you’re talking about and another one that’s a mixture of white and orange that they’re calling “One Too Many Pumpkin.” One Too Many looks like it’s got a sprinkling of snow or frost all over the top of it. Very cool!
Thanks again. I’m hoping to have the final Angel of Death progress video posted by next weekend. I’m not going to show him entirely finished in the vid, because I’m really wanting the final look to be revealed in the Halloween 2010 photos, but I’ll definitely have one more update before Halloween.
Goldie,
Thank you so much! I haven’t a clue what I’m doing when it comes to photography, but taking photos of my haunt has definitely helped me get a better idea of certain elements I like to include in my photos. I love trying to create lots of interesting perspective stuff: working with the spacing of objects, contrasting the foreground and background against one another in stark ways and exploring funky positions for placing the camera (and my body/tripod) to take photos are some of the things I like to play with.
Hopefully the haunt’s going to look even better in daylight hours this year compared to years past, considering all the additional organic items I’m wanting to include. During Halloween day, the haunt usually looks pretty raw until around 5:00 pm — that’s when it finally starts coming together. I remember in 2008, my uncle and cousin were asking me around 1:00 pm if it was going to be finished on time. If you were to drive by anytime during Halloween afternoon, you’d probably think it wasn’t going to be ready, but thankfully it always gets finished around dusk. Personally, I don’t really know how it all comes together like it does cause everything’s such a blur, but it always gets there right on schedule — a huge part of that is thanks to my family’s help!
Setup itself actually starts around 8 am on Halloween morning and usually takes right up until dusk with very little stop time. This year, we’re hoping to get a lot of it done (excluding setting out the props) two days ahead of time, so I’m not running around like a chicken with my head cut off on Halloween. I love the entire Halloween experience, but it would be nice to have Halloween day be a bit more chill than it has been in the last four years. Of course, now that I think back, it was always non-stop when we used to host the haunted hallway and maze in the ’90s too.
Thanks again for your kind words and I’ll absolutely be sharing some pics with you guys of Camile’s pumpkin tree.
Donna,
Sorry to hear about what happened to some of your pumpkins, but congratulations on the one that did make it! Sixty-five pounds? That’s a beauty! It’s great hearing from you, Donna, and I look forward to seeing your pumpkin.
autumnforest,
Thank you! I think what also helped me decide I wasn’t going to grow pumpkins again next year was all the maintenance involved in getting rid of squash bugs. I did everything organically and because of that the squash bugs had a field day going after my pumpkin leaves. I’m such a softy that I can’t stomach having to kill anything and thanks to going organic, I had no choice but to kill hundreds and hundreds of squash bugs and their eggs by hand and by foot. I know there are some plants that are said to help prevent squash bugs if you plant them near your squash and pumpkins, and those may help, but I’m not sure it’s guaranteed they’ll do the trick and I can’t bring myself to have to kill them by hand again next year.
The awesome thing was that nothing bothered my corn. Corn was actually the lowest maintenance plant in my garden. Aside from watering and weeding, it required nothing else. So, I think corn’s definitely on the agenda for next year.
Stephanie D,
Thanks! I hear you about not wanting to carve them. Thankfully my display’s also going to include store-bought pumpkins, so I think they’ll be the ones getting the knife.
October 16th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Oooo- a huge pumpkin grown in New Mexico soil?!? How can you resist trying it?!? If nothing else, dry and save the seeds in case you change your mind sometime in the future. K and I will be calling around the local pumpkin patches this weekend specifically to see if they have pumpkins that were grown in our climate. Our Texas summer was brutal this year and not one thing we planted made it all the way through the heat this year. So we’re going to try only locally grown goodies next year aside from the pumpkin trees.
Your babies look fantastic, John! And Goldie is right- the first thing I thought when I saw your picture was “Look at that wide variety of personalities in those guys!” We’ll be anxious to see what kinds of faces they get when they’re carved! Since you are going to have your home grown pumpkins in your display I’d love to see some daytime pictures of them if you have time during set up to snap a few. I know how busy that last day can be right before the kiddos start arriving! I’ve had a couple of years that I’ve been to busy to stop and put on my costume let alone take pictures so I understand if you don’t.
One thing I do that you might find good is the morning of Halloween I make a huge pot of chili and let it simmer quite low all day. As we set up and bustle around getting everything ready we take quick chili breaks throughout the day to keep our energy up. In years prior to making chili, I’ve gone the whole day of Halloween eating nothing but Halloween candy and drinking Cokes and I’m a tired, sugar and caffeine crashed wreck by the time the kids arrive. So all that was to say, take care of yourself and eat well throughout the day and I’d be happy to send you my chili recipe if you like!
Can you believe we’re only 2 weeks out?!? Oh, so much to do and then all too quickly it’ll be over! I’m so glad we have you and SOS to come to so we can get our Halloween fix all year round and to be able to hang out with other folks who understand! What a great blessing! Thank you, John!!!!
October 18th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
That’s a great idea, Camile! I didn’t even think of that. I’m definitely going to save its seeds now. Wait till you see what the pumpkin looks like! Goldie saw it on webcam the other night and she was pretty bowled over by it as well. I also think that’s an excellent idea about sticking with Texas-acclimated varieties for your garden next year. With the kind of intense summer weather we have throughout the southwest (including here), it seems to be the only way to go. Though this was my first year for raising anything, I saw how certain plants did better than others in my particular area too.
Thanks for your kind words about the pumpkins, Camile! I sure appreciate it. And I’d definitely like to take some daytime shots of the setup prior to the corpses being displayed. With the cornstalks being back this year, the huge abundance of leaves I’m planning on having, crosses displayed with lanterns dangling and the pumpkins being setup in the cemetery — I’d love to take some late afternoon or early evening pics near dusk.
I can totally relate to everything you shared about your Halloween day prep. Mine is almost exactly identical! I do usually get some breakfast, but that’s my only true meal all day long, other than a quick slice of pizza (well into the night), on the run between taking photos, checking fog fluid levels, relighting candles, handing out fliers, etc. Usually all this is happening on three hours of sleep from the night before, too. I always say my energy comes purely from passion and adrenaline on Halloween day and night, ’cause it’s certainly not coming from food or rest. In the midst of all the hectic activity, I always find a peaceful feeling, however, where I recognize I wouldn’t trade what I’m doing for anything else in the world and I certainly wouldn’t want to be anywhere else other than where I’m at right now.
I’d love to have a copy of your chili recipe — I’m not guaranteeing I’ll take the time to eat any of it
but my mom has cooked chili for us before on Halloween night and I’m sure she’d love to try your recipe too. When she has fixed it, I’m usually the last one to eat, cause I grab it on the run around 8 pm. My grandpa’s always telling me to slow down and eat, but I fill up a bowl and head right back out to the haunt.
Right back at ya — please take good care of yourself too, my friend. And, no, I can’t believe we’re down to a couple of weeks. It’s incredible how fast time goes. Prior to building Season of Shadows, I used to be so disappointed when Halloween was over. But now, I look forward to interacting with you guys throughout the entire year and getting an even earlier start on next year’s prep. I recently told a friend in an e-mail that my New Year’s is technically the first of November, since my calendar year ends on October 31st.
Thank you, Camile, for being such a great part of the site and for sharing your wonderful comments and contributions.
October 18th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
Oky doky… it’s more like a chili stew than just regular old chili because I tend to leave the veggies in large chunks and it’s not very spicy and my amounts of ingredients always changes for each batch but here goes…
2 lbs. ground beef (oh, wait a minute, skip that, you’re a vegetarian, huh?!?) hmmm…. I’m at a loss for what to substitute…
3 bell peppers, one red, one yellow and one green cut into large pieces
lots of fresh Roma tomatoes- I usually get about 1/2 a bag’s worth, cut them into 1/4′s or 1/8′s and munch on them as I’m cooking
1 large brown onion diced I usually only use about 1/2 of the onion because I want my haunt to be spooky, not my breath..
1 can of kidney beans
2 large cans of peeled whole tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
cumin powder to taste
chili powder to taste
I brown the onions with the meat in a large pot until both are about 3/4′s of the way cooked then I add the kidney beans. At this point I add a bit of salt and pepper and then add more later if it needs it. I also start adding the ground cumin and chili powder as the meat cooks. I wish I had more exact measurements to give you for the spices, cooking is an experimental and a not-exact science for me so go with what you like. I also add some of the juice from the can of kidney beans- maybe about 1/2 of the juice but if I’m in a hurry I skip the bean juice. Then I add the bell peppers and fresh tomatoes. The canned tomatoes get cut into halves and get dumped in with all their canned juice next. Can you tell I love tomatoes? lol!
Then I impatiently stand around and try to will the whole mess to cook faster and usually, in the spirit of being the family taste tester, I eat bowls of it standing over the cooking pot long before it’s done.
I also usually make a batch of corn bread to go with it. I think that’s it. It seems like I’m forgetting something but I’ll be darned if I can think of what it is. But I’ll soon figure it out because in the course of typing this I’ve made myself hungry for chili so I’m going to make a batch tonight. LOL! If I have forgotten anything I’ll add an update. ::big goofy grin::
October 19th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Awesome, thanks, Camile! It does sound very much like a stew or even like a goulash — better yet, that should be spelled “ghoul”-ash (get it?
) instead. Yeah, I’m a vegetarian, but I’m thinking the meat could be left out entirely and it would still stand strong as a vegetarian chili. They also make a lot of soy-based meat substitute products nowadays that actually taste pretty darn good, maybe those could be experimented with as substitutes for the beef too.
It sounds really good and just the thing to warm you up as the temperatures start to dip during the last week of October! The entire description you provided gives me that warm fuzzy feeling, very similar to the feeling I get when I think back to how my mom used to make us hot apple cider after returning home from trick-or-treating when I was five-years old. We’d all go down to the basement — past the jack-o-lantern sitting on a table in front of the screen door, its candle almost burnt out — to watch scary movies in the dark as we sipped our cider.
I hope your chili turned out great from last night. Thanks again for the recipe. I’ll mention it to my mom since Halloween is always a big family event. If she doesn’t have a chance to cook it, I’m definitely going to try it after Halloween, and that’s saying a lot cause I never cook anything other than scrambled eggs (though I’m a vegetarian, I do eat eggs) and toast.
October 25th, 2010 at 9:35 am
When I become an old hermit living in the country, I’ll have my own pumpkin patch.
October 25th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
Are you still gonna have electricity, then? Cause you’re gonna need a DVD player, Barry, if you keep entering my giveaways.
Of course, I guess I didn’t think that through since you’d have to have electricity if you’re still capable of entering even when you’re an old hermit… lol.