The Great Pumpkin Experience

My Hubby & I would LOVE to grow GIANT Pumpkins. But so far, we haven't had much success. In fact, the pumpkins here at WildWoods Manor seem to have a mind of their own!

Last year, I had planted pumpkin seeds in what I thought would be a great place for them to grow. Instead, the pumpkin seeds that had been left in the compost pile for the winter sprouted.


We had two vines grow nicely out of the compost and give us 6 basketball size pumpkins (and one small pumpkin that began to rot before it could ripen - it was fed back to the compost pile). They were great in our outdoor displays at Halloween.


Well, instead of putting them on the compost pile, I left the 6 Pumpkins where they sat and covered them with leaf mulch once they had begun to decompose. Hoping all the while that they would sprout. Well, I didn't have to hope too hard!

There are now pumpkins sprouting all around the front yard! (Got to keep them pesky squirrels out of them!) Amongst my crinum lilies, amid my rose bushes and by the front fence.




And that's not the only place! Remember the little pumpkin that didn't ripen? The one I fed back into the compost pile? Well it's progeny are sprouting as well. Only this time they are sprouting in my flower pots out in the courtyard! You see, I make my own potting soil from compost, rice hulls, & wood chips. The compost is rich in nutrients and the rice hulls and wood chips give the mixture 'fluff' - helping to keep the compost from compacting too much. There were some pumpkin seeds in this year's batch of compost potting soil.




I am letting all the pumpkins 'do their thing'. We may be covered in Pumpkin Vines by Fall.....