Pumpkins will grow in Texas, friends! I accidentally proved this in our consistently rainy North Texas springtime weather this year. Here’s our white Cinderella pumpkin growing on the vine in March…
Early this spring, I chucked last fall’s pumpkins into our compost pile thinking they would just squish down and eventually turn into dirt. Well… One of the Connecticut field pumpkins sprouted and so did a couple of Cinderella pumpkins!
I did nothing other than keep adding grass clippings (okay, Mr. Ethereal did!) and forking over the compost once to aerate the whole pile. I left the three pumpkins vines alone to grow…
I guess I never took any photos of them growing! I meant to but every time I went to photograph them, I was in the middle of taking other photos and thought, “I don’t want them to show in those pictures.”
I was saving the pumpkins to feature by themselves, but really, they were ready to harvest in early June…
Three made it full term and the other flowers never matured. It just got too hot here in July! I left the three on the vine… Well, because I was still giving them water (to keep the vines alive and hopefully get more pumpkins), the nice Connecticut Field rotted on the vine from just too much moisture on its underside… :(((
Then, I harvested the two remaining: one pale orange Cinderella and the creamy white Cinderella… I brought them inside to sit on the nice cool dining room tile flooring. THAT would keep them nice and cool! Or so I thought…
Then there was a weird smell…
I thought it was the new dryer in its plastic packaging that I was smelling. It smelled like someone was smoking pot! Awful… REALLY awful!
Well, once I noticed the pumpkins (about two days later), I FINALLY I took a look at them and the orange Cinderella was water and mush all over the floor. I shoveled it into the trash can and took that mess outside, cleaned the floor, turned on the kitchen fan, and eventually the yucky smell went away.
Only the white Cinderella made it…
It is nice and dry and no mold spots on it. I think I will try growing pumpkins again next year since three did grow. I’ll do it the same way and make sure to rotate them and get them off the ground this next season.
So that’s the story of our Texas pumpkins! And if you haven’t seen this month’s Pinterest Challenge post about decorating an early fall mantel, you can find that here.
Happy early fall hugs,
Barb 🙂
Yay for pumpkins. My daughters did the same, grew in her compost pile. If you put a piece of wood under them they won’t rot on the bottom. Then when you bring them in give them a bleach wash. It keeps them from rotting. Beautiful pic!
Hi Corine, thank you for the idea to wash the pumpkins in bleach water! I’ll do that next year. 🙂 Just getting back to a bunch of comments on WP as I am home today and have more time. 🙂 Hope you are having a great week and I hope to have WP up for tomorrow’s Share Your Style. Google is being maddening with it’s “not safe” for my site… (eye roll!). Hugs to you, Barb 🙂
That’s great (well, at least the white one is)!
Great pumpkin gardening story. I live in Florida and only a few varieties of pumpkins will grow here. Heat and humidity are so awful for growing them, but I am encouraged by your accidental pumpkin growing this year.
Hugs,
Kippi
Hi Kippi! I’m glad that you CAN grow at least a few pumpkins there in Florida!! Two of the three rotted but that was my fault for watering the compost pile around them. I should have picked them sooner and put them inside on the cool tile. They grew from last year’s pumpkins which lasted over six months before squishing outdoors. 😉 Hope all is well with you and happy fall!! Hugs, Barb 🙂