Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Early Pumpkin Harvest

It seems that fall has decided to make an appearance a little early here on our homestead because we are already harvesting pumpkins!


We've never grown pumpkins before so we were really excited to have a little pumpkin patch this year. And it was totally free! Last fall, one of David's students gave him a pumpkin and we saved the seeds and planted them in our garden this spring. The vines have been spreading like crazy over the past couple months and it has been so much fun to watch the pumpkins grow.


I really couldn't believe how the pumpkins were growing so rapidly. In just a few short weeks they reached full size and the color began to morph from green to orange. It was so amazing to watch the tiny specks of orange grow day by day until the pumpkins were ripe. And I'm not sure how the one got all the warts, but I think it is so cool! We have some more pumpkins ripening on the vine at the moment, so I can't wait to see what they look like when they're ready to pick.


Have you ever grown pumpkins?

~Tammy

PS - Don't forget to visit Meg and Staci today for their posts in the Homemade Living series. Next week I will share my post along with Daisy and Mary.

Shared with From the Farm Blog Hop 

61 comments:

  1. Love your warty pumpkin. We grow a pumpkin patch every year. One of my favorite pumpkin stories - Many years ago, we grew giant pumpkins. The vines went everywhere, with one traveling under our fence into the neighbor's yard. A huge pumpkin grew on the end of this vine. We ended up giving this monster to our neighbor, who carved it into a jack-o-lantern for his granddaughter. Enjoy your pumpkin harvest!

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  2. I have never grown a pumpkin - but I always wish I would...I can't believe how well yours have done! Yay for pumpkins and I love a distinguised warty pumpkin...it gives it character!

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  3. lovely pumps !
    yes I have tried to grow some and didnt do so well.
    I suppose the weather may have a lot to do with it and the soil and our soil is so high in clay
    -Kat-

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  4. My husband and I grew pumpkins once. It was so much fun watching them take shape and grow.

    This summer we did not plant anything except some basil and peppers.

    Your garden is beautiful.

    Blessings!

    Sue

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  5. Wow, those are some nice looking pumpkins!

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  6. I have never tried to grow pumpkins. Yours look great!

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  7. Every year I say I am growing pumpkins and every year at this time I think "next year". My husband got a new tractor this year and we got some major projects outside finished so MAYBE ;) next year. I want to plant a variety. Love yours!

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  8. I've tried growing them for YEARS...at first my female flowers didn't get pollinated so the next year I made sure to pollinate and then I had babies. But then the babies rotted....or I got powdery mildew...or a squirrel would eat them. I struggle with the pumpkins. Maybe I should ignore them! lol

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  9. Those look great!! We grew pumpkins last year and they did okay, but we mostly got mini-sized pumpkins. I'm not sure it's cold enough down here for them to do all that well. Hopefully we will have better luck this year though. Yours are a really good size!

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  10. I loved the warty one. Bought one last year.....expensive!!! Youwill have a blast decorating with them...Ihave never tried to grow pumpkins but when I go buy them I always say I am going to...yet, another year....no growing my own...enjoy yours! Pumpkin Blessings!

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  11. Yes we grow them, though usually grey skinned ones. Are these for eating or decorating? Years ago we had an American exchange student staying with us and he was horrified that my mum cooked up "cattle food" he'd only eaten pumpkin pie before. We don't grow the right sort of pumpkins for decorating here, ours have very hard skins, but are delicious roasted or made into pumpkin soup. S:)

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  12. Oh they look wonderful I love the warty one too. That is really weight lifting with a twist:) B

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  13. Your pumpkins are lovely, especially the warty one! I grew some last year but only ended up with two pumpkins. I usually just buy mine from the Farmer's Market. :)

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  14. Oh, that is so neat! We can't really grow pumpkins down here in Florida, so a pumpkin harvest seems especially magical to me, like something out of a storybook. I love your pictures, as usual!

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  15. Really awsome to see your early pumpkins.We had them grow the first year we were here and had a blast. The second year we tried the vine leaves got too moldy, think it was too rainy. Now its been years since we tried. Your excitement has me wanting to try again next year :)

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  16. I have never grown them but have always wanted too! Awesome pumpkins. So ready for fall now...even posted about fall today. Ha.

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  17. That is so awesome! We grow pumpkins every year, but we usually have a hard time getting them to turn orange.. there are always a few that stay green, even after killing frost has come & we have them sitting on our porch for Oct/November cheer.
    Might be that they take a long-ish growing season & ours is pretty pinched.
    Still - we love growing pumpkins! They're super exciting for the kids - so visually rewarding as they grow. :)
    Love your lumpy, bumpy pumpkin, too!

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  18. Your pumpkins look great Tammy! I always like the really unique ones.. they make for a creat carved pumpkin. We have grown them in the past but now go to a huge pumpkin farm ~ it's a family tradition.

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  19. How cool is that?! I've not yet had luck with pumpkins, but I'm not giving up!
    Are you gonna cook them or use them for decoration?

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  20. Wow - good for you!! I love pumpkins. Well, I love Fall, so anything Fall-related is my fav. :) I think it's great that you thought to save the seeds and plant them.

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  21. You guys are so cute. And your pumpkins too! Thanks for the smiles.

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  22. Lovely post! This is such a North American experience because in P.R. we don't have pumpkin harvests; but I saw a huge one in New Jersey once, long time ago! So many veggie dishes done with these.

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  23. They are wonderful, Tammy! I really do love the warts, too! I am sad to say, that I think I am going to loose all of my squash and pumpkins this year. We have a blight that is going through the squash vines, and I don't know if I will be able to stop it. I have never dealt with a blight before, so plenty to learn on this one!

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  24. I feed lots of pumpkins to my chickens in the fall so theres always a couple that grow for the seeds that end up in our manure pile- It's sort of a self perpetuating cycle!

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  25. i love the idea of growing your own pumpkins. I haven't done that yet. Maybe next year I will think about it in time to plant them.

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  26. WOW really early!!! Cute pictures and nice pumpkins!! I LOVE pumpkins, I can never have enough. I like eating them enough but I like looking at them even more! I always grow pumpkins and usually buy a bunch too from a local guy. When I'm done eating some and enjoying the rest for decorations, all the critters enjoy a huge feast of them. The goats LOVE them as much as I do, but not so much for their looks :)

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  27. That's crazy how quickly they grow! I like the photo of your boots with the pumpkins :-)

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  28. What kind of pumpkins are they? We grow pumpkins. I have four vines in the backyard and I'm not sure what they are. I've ruled out butternut squash. So that leaves jack o lantern or a New England pumpkin pie pumpkin. I'm not sure why I grow them... My husband and I don't like anything pumpkin. So I give them away or cook them down and trade it at the food swaps I attend.

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  29. Love the pics! I've got butternut squashes galore this year, I find pumpkins a bit too huge to work my through!
    Janie x

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  30. Wow, nice! The pumpkin with the warts is cool. We did grow pumpkins one year, the vines went everywhere. Have a great day!

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  31. Wow!
    Pumpkins are not widely eaten in Ireland. Will you make pie with them?

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  32. Love the warts. Very Halloween-ish. :)

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  33. LOVE! I love autumn and this just confirms that it's coming up SOON!!

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  34. Our neighbor was just saying they have some pumpkins already! So early!!
    Nice looking pumpkins :)

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  35. Awesome! We love to grow pumpkins! But we didn't get around to growing any this year...hahaha! They look great!

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  36. I have never grown pumpkins but I love them and I love going to pumpkin patches in the fall :)

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  37. I think it would be awesome to have your own pumpkins growing!!

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  38. That is early for pumpkins! They look delicious.

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  39. We used to grow pumpkins when our boys were small...they loved growing them...but not for a long time...maybe I'll grow some next year! They are fun!! Have a great day!!!

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  40. I love pumpkins - those are really unusual! I've never grown large pumpkins, but I have grown guords and mini pumpkins. Surprisingly the raccoons didn't like them! xo

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  41. I love growing pumpkins and squash! Your pumpkins look great :)

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  42. Such interesting pumpkins! Will you be eating them and will they last till halloween? You have the makings of one very scary looking wort face pumpkin!!

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  43. I love those pumpkins !!! I have never harvested any.. BUT you do make me want to live on a farm and do something great sister... HUGS and keep those pics a coming and Take some pics of little pearl.. HUGS

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  44. Wow, wow, wow! Your pumpkins look great.

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  45. oh wow, they look awesome! we are trying to grow pumpkins...we'll see! have a great weekend!

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  46. They look great! Now it's time for some pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes... Yum - enjoy!

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  47. Whoohooo your patch is amazing! I grew a small patch last year and it was fun. Yours is rocking!

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  48. It's been years since we grew pumpkins. These look fun and so early as many readers have already said. I like that you use mulch in your garden. 2 thumbs up! :-)

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  49. I LOVE that warty pumpkin, that would be the one I'd choose for my front porch!

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  50. Yeah! Pumpkin harvest! We haven't grown pumpkins because of the lack of space, but it would be fun to grow at least a bush variety of sugar or pie pumpkins some year...our guys are all grown up to want one!

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  51. I love your pumpkins! I can't wait to get some this fall-our crop failed, but the local garden center has a fun corn maze AND lots of pumpkins to choose from!

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  52. Such lovely photos! I have grown pumpkins before but nothing that comes close to the size of those treasures! We are too lazy to take the shell off the seeds and just boil them in salty water and toast them in the oven! Yum!

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  53. Visiting with you from Jackie's blog. I enjoyed reading about your chickens in the previous post.
    These pumpkins are great. This is my fav time of year. We tried once to grow pumpkins. We bought seeds for the super duper big pumpkins. Despite our best efforts, we harvested one pumpkin about the size of my fist!!! LOL

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  54. oh my that's just great it is amazing when that happens , well done!
    Great pictures wonder if you make anything special with those lovely pumpkins.

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  55. I LOVE growing pumpkins (and squash and melons.) It's magic watching them grow!

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  56. We tried pumpkins for the first time this year, I'm addicted! I love your pumpkins, do you know the variety of the warty one? It's adorable!

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