{ Posts Tagged ‘pumpkin’ }

Plants with curls

Now that my garden is fast asleep, I fulfill my gardening urges by sorting through my garden photos. We all admire plants for their colourful blooms and interesting foliage, but what about their other unique attributes.

Take curls for example. I found these two examples of plants with curls in my garden photos, but I know there are many other plants that showcase these curly tendrils. Of course I admire the plant’s ”whole package’, but sometimes it’s fun to focus on one interesting aspect. So today, it’s all about curls!

Yucca tendrils

Yucca tendrils

Pumpkin tendrils

Pumpkin tendrils

Fried pumpkin flowers anyone?

Well, it’s official. My pumpkin crop has failed – again! That having been said, I still found a scrumptious, lip-smacking use for the flowers. pumpkin-flower

Last year I discovered a new recipe while I was flipping through Jamie Oliver’s cookbook ‘Jamie at Home.’ In the book, he has a recipe for Fried Zucchini Flowers. I tried it with zucchini flowers, but I also tried the recipe using pumpkin flowers. I was amaze at how distinctively different they tasted. The zucchini flower was mild and buttery, while the pumpkin flower was extremely flavourful – almost peppery.

Stuffed with fresh mozzarella cheese, dipped in a white wine batter and then deep fried, they were delicious. So now, every year I grow a few pumpkin plants in hopes of growing a decent sized jack-o-lantern, but I also grow them to harvest the yummy flowers. Since I only harvest the male flowers, I don’t sacrifice my potential pumpkin crop. Only the female flowers develop into pumpkins.

pumpkin-fryingHere’s a photo of the stuffed flowers, battered and frying in vegetable oil. Unfortunately, they didn’t last long enough on the plate to get a photo of the finished dish. Next time!

Mourning my wee little pumpkin

My excitement over discovering my wee little pumpkin was short lived. A week after I photographed his progress and wrote about him, I noticed the leaves on the vine wilting. Upon further inspection, I noticed that the whole plant had been chewed, cutting of my wee little pumpkin’s lifeline.

Now I don’t know who the culprit was, but I assure you if I ever find out, they’re going to be in BIG trouble! So for a second year in a row, my attempt to grow a pumpkin for Halloween has been foiled. The two other vines in my pumpkin patch have a few flowers on them, but so far I haven’t found any other pumpkins growing.

Although the nature of gardening is always unpredictable, it’s the trail and error that make gardening as a hobby enjoyable. Whether you fail or succeed, there is always a lesson to be learnt. Today’s lesson…..build a protected fortress around next year’s pumpkin patch that is under 24 hour surveillance to prevent hungry critters from enjoy a midnight snack!

My wee little pumpkin

I spent some time gardening this weekend, and finally got around to weeding my pumpkin patch and low and behold I discovered a wee little pumpkin growing.

Earlier this spring, I bought a package of Mr. Fothergills ‘Jack O’Lantern Pumpkin’ seeds and sowed five seeds indoors. Once they sprouted, I nurtured them lovingly until I was able to transfer them outside. Three of the five plants survived the great outdoors and have continued to thrive. Since we had so much rain this summer, I didn’t really pay much attention to my little pumpkin plants since I didn’t have to worry about watering them.

I’ve had loads of flowers on the vines for the past month, but didn’t think I had any pumpkins bigger than a golf ball until I discovered this little guy who is now the size of a large baseball.pumpkin

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that my pumpkin continues to grow over the next two months. I’ve never had much success growing pumpkins. Last year I tried growing a giant pumpkin and was very disappointed with my crop. I ended the season with one green pumpkin about the size of a football. Wish me luck!