The Pellitteri Pumpkin Patch

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We went all out this past Halloween and I bought 1 tiny pumpkin to put on our front porch…we’re such a festive family! Anyway, this was definitely a Madeline-sized pumpkin and it just sat on our front porch not doing much of anything. Eventually my laziness took over, and although Halloween AND Thanksgiving had both passed, I still left that poor little pumpkin on our front porch. Snow fell, and the pumpkin did not move. In fact, eventually it became frozen to the cement on the porch.

One day when it was unfrozen, I decided to pitch it off the porch since I didn’t think pumpkins and Christmas were supposed to go together. I threw it in a pile of snow next to the porch and it quickly sunk in and was hidden. Fast-forward to spring. All that was left of the pumpkin was a tiny rotten remnant that I finally picked up and disposed of in the trash. As spring progressed I began noticing tiny little sprouts springing up next to the front porch in our newly landscaped area. As I pulled them I noticed that these were not weeds, these were sprouts from pumpkin seeds that had worked their way into the ground.

So, I pulled them because I did not want to have pumpkins overtaking my hydrangeas, lilies, and other beautiful new landscaping. When David found out about this he was disappointed and told me I should leave them there because it would be fun to grow pumpkins in our front yard. I explained to him that I was pretty sure that pumpkins were an invasive type of plant and I didn’t want them destroying my front landscaping.

In a valiant attempt David decided to transplant the sprouts to the backyard to an area where we couldn’t grow grass up against the house. So, I stopped pulling them and throwing them out and thus began David’s stint as a pumpkin farmer.

At first I have to admit I was rather annoyed at his persistence and desire to grow pumpkins since I couldn’t imagine you could successfully grow pumpkins from rotted old seeds from that tiny pumpkin. David continued to water his little sprouts and keep an eye on them every day. It was his new hobby, plus he said Madeline would have fun watching pumpkins grow. I couldn’t argue with that, so I kept my mouth shut and let him keep up with his project.

Well, let’s just say that about 3 of those transplants decided to take and we now have some serious vines growing in our backyard. I have to admit that it is pretty cool, and I check on them daily and help David make sure they stay watered and looked after. I will say that I was right about them being invasive…1 little seed turns into a HUGE vine and they are spreading pretty quickly along the backside of our house. It will be pretty interesting to see how they grow and if we actually get any pumpkins out of them. I have a feeling that if we are successful this will turn into an annual tradition for us. I can just see it now…we will be those neighbors that everyone around us hates because our backyard will turn into a huge eyesore because David will insist on planting more and more every year. Who knows within the next few years maybe we can start a little stand outside of our house and sell pumpkins! I’ll be sure to keep you posted as the growing season progresses!

This is a week old and you would not believe how much they have grown since then. They are seriously going to overtake our yard!

Okay, I was originally only going to post the first picture, but I decided to go take another picture so you can see how much they have grown in only 1 week! Crazy!

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Filed under Pumpkins

Tags: backyard, growing pumpkins, Halloween, hobbies, rotted pumpkin