Growing Today: Jarrahdale Pumpkins

SO you might think that this is a photo of some gorgeous flower like the MORNING GLORY that closes up in the afternoon.  Perhaps you think it is a hibiscus blossom getting ready to open up into dinner-plate sized glory.  Maybe you know that this is just a humble pumpkin flower...

and THIS is a humble pumpkin.  A tiny little pumpkin growing and growing at warp speed.

That little pumpkin might not look like much right now, but if the growth of the pumpkin PLANT says anything about the growth of the pumpkins that will develop along that plant, it is going to be sublime.  Check out this pumpkin plant that was planted first.  See those arrows??  ALL of that foliage is from ONE plant.  To put it in perspective, see that clump of about 15 pumpkin plants?  They were planted just a few weeks after that first massive plant.  In any case, we will have quite the harvest this fall...anybody need a few pumpkins??

Here are a few of the pumpkins planted 4 weeks after the first...

...and the bombastic yellow blooms...

By the way, if you don't see bees buzzing around in your pumpkins, just use a little paintbrush and transfer pollen to make sure fruit develops...

See that plant above??  The picture below was taken 2 weeks earlier...

The lesson?  You need lots and lots of space to grow pumpkins! 

I'm actually using these crazy growers to held shade out weeds as I wrestle my garden back under control.  Besides these plantings in the veggie garden, there are about 10 more pumpkin, watermelon, cantaloupe and zucchini plants among all the flowers because the big broad leaves shade the ground so well and as I've learned...one little seed can cause quite a ruckus in the garden with its growth...

In case you are wondering...that first lighter, almost peachy colored flower and that humongous plant is a Jarrahdale Pumpkin.  The gorgeous blue/grey Jarrahdale pumpkins.  I have about 5 plants which should yield a good harvest.  The rest of the pumpkin plants are literally from a pumpkin that fell off the front porch and landed in a pile of leaves.  It rotted and this spring I had about 30 little plants.  I just pulled them up and transplanted them when they were about 2-3 inches tall.  The plan next year?  Toss one of the Jarrahdale pumpkins in the pile of leaves and hope for baby Jarrahdale's next year!   They are the beautiful blue/grey pumpkins.  I can't wait to show off the decorating this fall...and if my plan works, NEXT fall should be killer!

Are you growing pumpkins for this fall???