Hellooooo!
Won’t you join us for a pumpkin collecting day?
We are not picking them all, as they are not all ready.
However, we are picking the ones that are either ready, or have had their vines chewed by little creatures, or have plum fallen off the vine.
The boys LOVE the pumpkin patch.
They trample right through it, sniffing about.
And so, we get collecting…
The leaves do an incredible job at hiding their pumpkin babies.
I am always surprised how, just when I think I know where all the pumpkins are, another is revealed under a huge leaf.
Matty especially LOVES the pumpkin patch.
I am sure it smells like all sorts of little creatures.
He hunts them out, then he lets his little big brother have them.
Yucky.
Matty found a punkin!
Or two.
Yay!
A Cinderella and a Jack-O-Lantern.
Then I got to pick a HUGE, I mean HUGE, Jack-O-Lantern myself.
Perfectly round too.
Sooo heavy.
The one in the center of the cart below is quite large, but that green fairytale pumpkin takes the cake.
It’s massive.
Now that one is sooooo heavy.
Something chewed its stem off the vine though.
So, we’ll see if he can ripen up off the vine.
He is still pretty as a greenie.
You will find some sugar babies intertwined amongst the basil as well.
I planted 4 kinds of basil seeds in sooo many places.
I was so paranoid about not having basil, and now I have so much, I am not sure what to make of it.
Lovee is taking a bunch to a local Italian restaurant for me.
We will also have lots stored in olive oil, and in pesto, in the freezer for winter.
It keeps beautifully in the freezer packed in olive oil or made in pesto, and is always a huge treat during the cold months.
I am a huge basil fan.
Did Matty (short for Matisse) find a sugar baby?
Oh yes he did.
Gotta love those mid-sized, perfectly round, sugar babies.
Delicious too.
Oh and, did I tell you that the pumpkin patch exploded so huge, that it has overtaken the little breezeway between the pumpkin patch and the vegetable garden?
It’s insane stuff, I tell ya.
A bit messy, but exciting.
The patch is about 120 square feet and growing.
We also have some rotting ones as you can see below.
I am tyring to turn them, but the vines are very fragile.
A few of the fairytale pumpkins are the only ones having rotting issues.
Their skin isn’t as tough as the big orange Halloween guys.
But, they are my fave for roasting.
Incredibly orange flesh, and beyond delicious.
So, what can I say?
It’s been a grueling summer.
But good too.
It’s ending too fast.
Even though I love autumn.
I have so many more things I wanted to do this summer.
It rained like crazy for 3 days, now it is hotter than hot and sunny again.
There are so many mosquitoes I could cry.
More than ever really, because of the rains.
But, pumpkins make the world better.
So, we are happy campers.
I love pumpkin days.
I can’t wait to see how the rest of the lil’ guys still growing out there, turn out.
For today we have…
Mister Scarecrow can not wait to get a new head.
And I can’t wait to carve one.
The scent of a candle burning inside of a pumpkin makes me crazy, I love it so.
Happy Pumpkin Day!
😉
WOW! You’ve had an amazing crop this year! And I love all the different shapes and sizes. I made a couple of pumpkins yesterday and posted them today! We’re all thinking of Fall…although it’s still hot! Hugs!
Your pumpkins are beautiful, Vanessa! What a crop you’ve got, too. I love the variety you planted. Not a pumpkin in sight here yet ~ it’s just been way too humid for me to be thinking about Fall. I will get my Fall decor out, though, next week in the hopes that the chilly air is not far behind!
I am not ready for fall at all. But I have had to plunge, cards for
my shopand such. It is always so hard to transition from summer to
autumn in Arizona. Every time Halloween comes, I am left wishing it had
been two weeks later… when the weather turns…
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 8/27/2012 1:57:50 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
My oh my oh my….I am sooo insanely jealous! I have intense pumpkin envy right this very minute. I am so in love with pumpkins I actually might marry one some day! Can you believe that? That is precisely how much I love pumpkins…all kinds. I love orange pumpkins and flat, green pumpkins and plumpity white pumpkins. I’m not picky! I’ll marry them all!
Thank you for sharing the lovely photos.
xoxo
Kim
Gerushia’s New World
http://GerushiasNewWorld.blogspot.com/
Miss V, I have had pumpkins on the brain all weekend! I spent all day Sunday shopping for a painted Halloween gourd for my upcoming Halloween party!
I also spent Sunday evening sketching Jack o lanterns! Those orange riff raff bring so much joy! Your lot look like such characters!
Bring on Halloween!
xxxQueen Creative
Yahooo!!!Let’s give a great holler for P-U-M-P-K-I-N-S!
What’s that spell?!!! PUMPKINS!!!huh?!!!PUMPKINS!!!!hehe
LOVELY pumpkins Vanessa! and OMG, how cute those 2 great hunters are!!!always GLAD to see them roaming about!!
guess what I had for breakfast?!! yep, a yummy
poached egg at least 5 minutes because I don’t like runny, a little suspicious of them if they are runny!!!hehe
Congrats! to all the winners!
Pumpkins are such happy orbs of love. Sunny and bright, mysterious and magical, good and goardy, masive and magnificent, all wrapped in your pumkin patch. Mr. Matty is quite the pumpkin hunter!
Mosquitoes are my arch nemesis. I have feared going out into the Delicious’ backyard kingdom to do yard work because of nasty wee beasties. I’m hoping by the weekend it will be dry enough that I can sneak out and not be bombarded -lol-
Have a great day.
Always, Queenie
Gaahhhh…I have to keep coming back to look at the happy goodness that is your pumpkins. I can’t help it!
xoxo
Kim
Too bad you are not my neighbor lovely!! xoxo
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 8/27/2012 4:15:03 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
I want to live in your pumpkin patch! It is so fabulous! I’ve had lots of blooms on my plant, but no pumpkins so far. 🙁
love & blessings
~*~
I have never seen a green pumpkin! What a beauty! Oh this years celebration will be quite amazing I think 🖤Debi
psss.what good helpers those handsome boys are 🙂
Pumpkin harvest is coming early! It isn’t even September! I wonder if the pumpkins grow at different times depending on when they were planted and location and such…I don’t know much about them, obviously. Do you get even more pumpkins after that bountiful picking?
Also, I have a question for you. I know in earlier posts you have mentioned baking pies out of your pumpkins. But which ones are good for baking? Can you just go to the store and buy any ol’ pumpkin, gut it, and bake it? I really wanted to make a from-the-pumpkin pie last year, but I didn’t know how and I didn’t know what type of pumpkin to use. Help!
Laura, the male blooms will all come first, them some females after about
16 males :))
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 8/27/2012 4:43:10 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
Well, it isnt supposed to be green, but it is pretty. It is supposed
to be caramel orange – alas, some mice ate the stem before it could ripen,
hoping it ripens indoors ;)))
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 8/27/2012 5:01:52 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
There will be more pumpkins through September – these are early
birds. They all come at different times depending on when the vines finish
flowering males and gift a female or two. And the planting times
etc. Just depends.
OKay so, jack-o-lanterns are not the best for cooking with – but the
smaller orange sugar babies are great for cooking.
The fairytale pumpkins are by far, the best for cooking with. They
are stunning and have the deepest orange delicious flesh ever.
Kabocha are a squatty green, they are good too.
Just roast them in your oven, cut in large pieces, place face down in
baking or roasting pans in your oven, roast (times and temps I have to look up
in my kitchen). Let them cool, scoop out the flesh, and puree it in a
blender or a food processor. I prefer the food processor.
If you have any questions, hit google because that is what I do, and the
pumpkin tips are endless 😉
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 8/27/2012 5:14:37 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
How exciting to see. I was out checking our pumpkins today and they are definitely coming along beautifully. I also can’t wait, but we have awhile yet. I think I will put some out in October for the neighbors to find.
Thanks for the insight! I have always wanted to learn how to do this and I will try it this autumn, around Thanksgiving and Halloween, and hopefully impress my family with my pumpkin skills! Teehee 🙂
Oh, Vanessa, your pumpkins are beautiful!!! I really hate summer here in Long Island. It is hot and the humidity is what gets to us here. Even so, when it is done, I always wish it could have been a little longer so I could get to the beach one more time. The best part is that summer gives way to Autumn – which I love. And, come to think of it, it’s time to break out the Spells & Potions jars I made with your labels last year! So excited!
Ok, call me crazy but I sense the pumpkins are all talking amongst themselves. They all know they were grown in the Famous Fanciful Gardens of Miss Vanessa. They are proud to mingle together in that wagon knowing that many will grow but only the best get to be prized specimens viewed by many over bloglandia. Ooh how I long to be like Linus and sit in this patch and ponder the Great Pumpkin!!!
While back at my house I shall open another can of pumpkin this year! Yikes, well at least I can dream as I view Vanessa Lovely Gardens! ; )
Oh wow! I rarely ever get jealous of anything, so it’s always a little overwhelming to me how jealous I get of great American pumpkin patches (and all your Halloween nick nacks)…
So many beautiful colors and shapes, and I love the fact that you have set aside a part of the garden as a small pumpkin patch. We have a big weedy garden we never know what to do with (a lawn is out of the question), but I haven’t actually thought of making a pumpkin patch before (duh). Thank you for the inspiration!
Oh Vanessa your pumpkin patch is such a marvelous sight to behold. 120 sf…that is crazy HUGE!! Me thinks me needs to take gardening lessons from you :-). Me own wee garden is a bit cramped at the moment, but I’m still getting plenty of vegis…yippee!!!
your boys are so darling out there in the vines and that Matty, how nice of him to share his caught critters with his little big brother…dbl eeewwww!! Hopefully Matty knows he’s NOT supposed to catch the bunns!! Does he know this?? Please say he does!! OH! Did you know that bunns love rosehips?? Such a delicacy for their wee little bunny taste buds “-).
Love you bunches and bunches!!!!!
cori
Oh Katarina, pumpkin patches are awesome, I must admit. This one this
year is HUGE, its crazy how big a pumpkin patch can get. I will name one
pumpkin after you this year 🙂
Hi Vanessa…how ARE you??? 🙂 Oh, this post had been smiling from ear to ear. I LOVE pumpkins! I do very much adore fall and you have brought it to me. We won’t see pumpkins for about a month yet. What a variety you have…how I wish I could have helped you and the furry babies pick them!!!! 🙂 Gorgeous – all of them. I’d definitely swap you green beans for some of those beauties – if we lived closer. 🙂 xoxo
Matty ~ Hunter of Fanciful Fields Forever!
Some of those pumpkins need to be glitterized…….
Another good thing to do with Basil is to simply hang it upside down and dry it. It’s great as a tea for upset tummies!
I agree with you. I have gobs of it hanging here and there. I love it dried as well.
Wonderous crop this year Miss Vanessa. I would love to walk through your pumpkin patch…and choose my very own.
Nothing here in Michigan is ready to be picked yet. They are just in the beginning stages of growing. Hopefully there will be a good crop this year inspite of the dry weather.
Thank you for sharing…
Your pumpkin patch is wonderful and pumpkin hunting dogs must come in handy 🙂
I’ve left you a blog award on my blog Witchery Grove if you would like it.
http://witcherygrove.blogspot.co.uk/
J x
LOVE your little (and big!) pumpkins…I’m with you on that candle-in-the-pumpkin fragrance…:)
Hugs,
Anne
Gorgeous!
That big fat, flat green one is my favorite. It’s like a wheel of some exotic, moldy cheese.
Man in the Moon Cheese Pumpkin