Incredulous Pumpkins - Gardener's Paradise

October Feature: Pumpkins

Once you've grown a monster pumpkin you will want to get some photos... but then what? Get creative... Find more ideas HERE.

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"Autumn tones shine on the trees And October days are growing short Now the garden's bright with leaves In the fading sunlight caught." ~By David Squire~
Once you've grown a monster pumpkin, you will want to get some photos... but then what? Don't forget to save some seeds for your garden next year. Roast some of the seeds for snacks. (Great with a seasoning) Of course you will want to do a jack-o-lantern & bake a few pies. Try out several other unique ideas & recipes below. Pumpkin Seed Ornament: (Great family craft) Cut circular shape out of cardboard. Punch a hole and thread it to hang later. Glue pumpkin seeds ( with pointy sides over edge about halfway) Working toward center, add layers, with the seeds slightly overlapping. Glue a whole clove in the center then spray paint it. You could use red or green paint and save them for the Christmas tree. (Do both sides for a nicer look) Mama Turkey was scolding her babies after realizing they had trampled Mr. Jones flower bed - "If your grandpa could see you now he'd turn over in his gravy." Pumpkin Soup: From "The Herb Companion" � tsp salt � c butter 1 c light cream 3 c chicken broth 1 tsp curry powder 1� c cooked pumpkin 1 garlic clove, crushed 1/8 tsp ground coriander 1 c chopped white onion 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper Saut� the onion and garlic in the butter until the onion is soft. Stir in the seasonings and cook 1 minute longer. Add the broth and bring the mixture to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Stir in the pumpkin and cream; cook 5 minutes longer. Pour the soup (one cup at a time) into blender jar, cover, and blend until creamy. Serve hot Flora's Pumpkin Fudge 1 tsp Vanilla 1/4 cup Butter 2 1/2 cup Sugar 5 oz Evaporated milk 1 cup Pumpkin, puree 1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar 1/4 tsp Ground cinnamon 1 cup Chopped pecans Simmer sugar, pumpkin, cream of tartar, cinnamon, and milk mixture in a sauce pan until it reaches 236 F on a candy thermometer. Pour over vanilla, butter, and pecans. Beat until creamy. Pour into a dish and let cool. Pumpkin Spice Potpourri: 8 Cinnamon sticks 1/2 cup of whole Allspice 2 cups of sunflower petals Ribbon cut orange peel (3 oranges) Aprox. 6 cups of Dried strawflower 12 drops of Pumpkin Spice Essential Oil This potpourri lasts almost a year but you may need to add a few extra drops of pumpkin spice oil to freshen the fragrance occaisionally. Place this potpourri in a room where you'll be entertaining guests this Thanksgiving. ON THE TOPIC OF PUMPKINS: My neighbor in Alaska once grew a pumpkin so large, my three year old niece was able to climb in and hide inside it after it was carved out. - Little Sun S. Heard of Ribera, New Mexico ------------ Rose B, mother of three, in NC "Last year, I was given a pumpkin that had been sitting around as a painted (rather than cut) jack-o-lantern. I cut it up thinking it was still firm, should be ok for pie. I found out something interesting -- the seeds had started to sprout inside the pumpkin! Some of them were trying to grow down through the flesh! So, I didn't get any seeds to toast, and I could only use part of the flesh, but, oh well, it was a BIG pumpkin. Pumpkin can be used interchangably with sweet potatoes in recipes. Thus, if you can't find the family pumpkin pie recipe, but you have the one for Aunt Sue's prize-winning sweet potato pie, just substitute an equal amount of pumpkin. Or, if you've been waiting to try out a great pumpkin recipe, but your gorgeous gourds were broken by a Linus wanna-be (that's the Peanut character who waits for the Great Pumpkin), use some sweet 'taters or yams instead." ------------ Susan F of brantford, ontario - "grow the vines on a trellis to lessen insect problems." ------------ Lorraine of Bronx NY - "I use carved out pumpkin as a planter for fall Mums" ------------ Mary of Redding, CA - "Instead of carving out the top of the pumpkin, carve out the bottom. It will last much longer this way." ------------ Vickie of Brookville - "Picking out the perfect pumpkin for carving was always so much fun when my son was little we would make a day trip out of it and the memories will be with me forever and now that he is married he still likes to take a day trip to go find the ideal pumpkin to carve. A tradition continues!" ------------ Jennifer of Ottawa - "Use small battery operated lights inside your jack-o-lantern. Then they won't blow out" ------------ Dorothy of LaGrange. Ga - "At age 3 & 4, my children were looking forward to their very 1st Halloween pumpkin! We looked and looked, to find what they thought would be the PERFECT one. We took it home, carved it just so, and placed it on the front porch just so, for all the neighborhood to see. The kids' Dad came home from work, and tripped on the thing, because his arms were full of work he had brought home. It rolled off our high porch, and immediately splattered all over the concrete below! The kids were devastated. Their poor little crestfallen faces were more than their Dad could stand. He slipped away while we were out trick-or-treating, and when we returned loaded w/all the candy we could carry, there sat the Biggest, most funny "punkin" I ever saw! The kids were ecstatic, and it was a few years later, my husband explained how the "Magic Punkin" came to be on our front porch" ------------ Rita of Kalamazoo Michigan - "When I was growing up people grew pumpkins as a vegetable for eating. We had lamb roasts and with that were included roast potatoes, parsnips, onions and pumpkin. We had never tasted pumpkin any other way until I met a young American - who has been my husband for 42 years - and he told us about his favorite dessert - Pumpkin Pie. We were astounded at that idea as "pie" to us included Steak and Kidney Pie and Meat Pies so we thought he was kidding! He sent back to the US to get a pumpkin pie recipe from his mother (I didn't know then that she couldn't cook or bake!) and gave it to my mother. She used real pumpkin. We didn't use a pie crust (the recipe didn't call for that!) and to our palates that was the strangest tasting thing we had ever eaten as I do believe that the recipe that my motherinlaw sent called for the wrong amount of cloves! Today Pumpkin Pie is still my husbands favorite dessert - and as far as I know noone in my family DownUnder has ever tried pumpkin pie since 1960 - and I still like roast pumpkin!" ------------ Melanie - of Winnipeg, Manitoba "I remember being in Grade 1 and having my picture taken in the back yard beside a pumpkin my Dad had grown. It was huge, about half my size. And now the joy I got last year at growing my own pumpkin, thirty years later. It was about four inches across and three inches high. My first pumpkin, and I grew it" ------------ Deborah of Newport News, VA - "When my granddaughter was born Oct 19th her first photo was on the top of a huge pumpkin which was bigger than she was - she weighed 5lbs and the pumpkin probably weighed 10 or more. What a great picture though." ------------ Paula of Grangeville, ID "I truly enjoy memories of taking my girls on a quest for their pumpkins during Harvest Festival. One that stands out in my mind happened long ago, near Avila Beach CA, and included a hayride down to the pumpkin field. Each girl made their own discovery of the "best" pumpkin, and returned to the wagon with the most delighted expression on her face! We rode back to the owner's fruit/vegetable stand where we then enjoyed hot apple cider or hot cocoa before returning home" ------------ Wendy of Canada - "I just wish to comment that my husband has made pumkin pie and tarts "from scratch" for years. They are much better than making with the "tinned" pumkin mix ! He adds what ever amount of the spices he chooses (and the real whipped cream also adds a special treat)." ------------ Terri of Texas - "I remember as a young bride getting the brilliant idea that I was going to save us tons of money by cooking and processing our own pumpkin for pies. I had never done anything like that nor even seen it done. Nevertheless, I dug into the project... literally. I had forgotten how much goop is inside a pumpkin! Suddenly, the roasted pumpkin seeds I had planned for didn't seem like such a good idea after all. After emptying the large pumpkin, then began the process of cutting, peeling, and cooking. Imagine my surprise when I started mashing up the pumpkin and discovered it was full of strings! Canned pumpkin never looked like this! A little know-how and a food mill would have made this a much more successful undertaking. I did finally get some of it pressed through a sieve and de-strung. All in all, I ended up with no roasted pumpkin seeds and about 4 cans worth of mashed pumpkin. Whew! Glad those days are behind me!" ------------ Tamera of Saugus, California - "In first Grade our class took a field trip to the local Pumpkin Patch. Now coming from a small town, we had all grown up together and knew each other pretty well. We were your normal kids, the ones who played tag, bars, hop scotch, merry-go-round and chase the boys. Although these games brought us endless hours of recess delight, it also brought our mom's hours of bandaging blistered hands, polishing scuffed shoes and patching the knees in all of our pants. But we didn't care; we were at school to play, and play hard! Well, all of us but Jennifer. Jennifer never played with us. She always sat on the bench in her perfectly clean dress, tights (with no holes in the knees!) and her shiny patten-leather shoes. We always asked her to join in the fun, but she always said, "No, I don't want to get my clothes dirty." The day of the pumpkin patch field trip she was looking particularly clean and pretty, while the rest of us tumbled off the bus looking like the bedraggled little bunch we were. The pumpkin farmer lined us all up near the pumpkin patch and talked (for what seemed like an eternity!) about farming and how to grow a pumpkin. Finally the moment arrived.....we could go out and pick any pumpkin we wanted, as long as we could carry it home. A herd of stampeding first graders trampled through the pumpkin patch, each in search of the biggest, most perfect pumpkin we could handle. Victory wasn't long for me. After rejecting several small ones and dodging a few rotten ones, I spied MY pumpkin. I checked to make sure that it wasn't rotten on the back side...it wasn't, it was beautiful. I had just picked it up and was making my way back to the bus when I spied Jennifer. She was standing there in her perfect dress, perfectly clean, looking at a perfectly gorgeous, giant pumpkin. A twinge of envy siezed my heart, but not for long. Jennifer was leaning over the pumpkin trying to see if the back side was as gorgeous as the front, but she somehow lost her footing and toppled head-long over the pumpkin and into the rotten backside. All that could be seen of her were her white tights and shiny black shoes, kicking frantically above the top of the pumpkin. I don't remember if Jennifer ever found another pumpkin, but I do remember that it was the only day in elementary school that Jennifer's dress didn't stay perfectly clean; and I always wished that it has been because she had broken down and had a little fun playing with us, rather than getting slimed by a giant rotten pumpkin.." ------------ Mary of Redding, CA - "Living in an apartment duplex, there's not a whole lot of room...especially in the "kitchen". I remember when Steven, my son was still a young boy. My husband, Gene is like a kid, himself when it comes to Halloween. Gene and Steve used to sit on the kitchen floor carving pumpkins together and making quite a mess. It was worth the clean-up seeing how happy they both were. Now, my son is into his third year in the Marines and we still have the same small kitchen. But, I will always cherish those memories. Happy Halloween." ------------ susan of larksville, pa - "A brew of pumpkin seeds steeped in hot water was said to be the "cure" for pin worms" ------------ Brenda of Plymouth, Ma "Last year having purchased a large pumpkin it sat out on the porch awaiting Halloween. I made the mistake it was amuseing though. I told our dog Little Bear this was our pumpkin to take care of it. He has a long love and hate relationship going with the gray squirrels that frolick near our home. He took his job seriously everyday watching the pumpkin. We had more fun watching him and it gave him something to do. It was a wonderful fall. I must go buy another one soon. Little Bear will be three on November 11th and is a black male full blooded cockerspaniel. As for the squirrels i think i heard them saying PUMPKIN when i came in from work this morning." ------------ Elaine of Ontario, Canada - "Pumpkins aren't just good for pies. Washed, chopped, cooked, and mashed they make an excellent vegetable with butter and salt." ------------ Cheryl of Dunbar, PA "The year I tried to grow pumpkins didn't turn out too well. I got golf balls and my mother-in-law ended up with a beach ball" ------------
Browse Tips for gardens in October: October Tips for Bulbs October Tips for Flowers October Tips for Vegetables Tips for General Yard Care October Tips for Fruit & Berries Tips for Lawns & Groundcover

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