RIP pumpkin patch

So, last night I harvested most of the pumpkins, for jack-o-lantern carving with the kids. We did all of the big ones and some of the small ones, and saved the seeds for roasting.

Sugar baby pumpkin patch drying up


Jack pumpkins


Sugarbaby pumpkins


still ripening






Here is a pic of one part of the new garden, with the companion plants wheat and peas. I planted them at the same time, but the peas are a bit stronger. Next time I'll give the wheat a week headstart.

Wheat & Peas coming up

October Pumpkins in the desert - believe it or not!

Bringing in a summer pumpkin crop is quite possibly the most gratifying accomplishment in my Arizona Victory Gardening career. I've got about 8 sugar babies, and about 7 jack o lanterns getting fat and orange right now!

A nice fellow was driving by on his bike the other day while I was watering, and he stopped and chatted for a bit. He was a gardener too, and he didn't even know it was possible to grow pumkins in Phoenix!





Sugar Baby

That was my first sugar baby, matured in late Sept, from a mid June planting.







Immature sugar baby








Immature jack o lantern



The pics are a couple weeks old, showing them maturing nicely but still green. Most of them are orange now, and the vines are dying off (I'll try to update pics soon).





The coolest part of growing pumpkins is the beautiful huge orange flowers in morning, which always attract swarms of honey bees.

bee in pumpkin flower