Why I Oughta...

My compost bins grew this Fall - from two bins and a tumbler to three bins and a tumbler.  I've long wanted to add that third bin, but it took this Fall's leaves to compel me to act.  Below, you can see the new third bin - on the left - and this photo serves as an 'early winter' snapshot of our three bins (in terms of how full they are) as the composting process slows down with the temperature drops: The new bin (on the left) is almost exclusively leaves.  The pumpkins that you see in the middle bin are there (for now) as I break them down into chunks and layer them in every time I add more leaves to the new 3rd bin.  I put in a bunch of leaves on top --> chop up chunks of pumpkins --> layer them on top of the leaves in the 3rd bin.  I've done that for the top 12-inches-or-so and as that bin continues to compress I'll keep adding leaves.   One other thing to note:  on the bottom right, there are two white plastic garbage bags that are laying around.  Those

Menards has seemingly gone BIG on Tim Burton's Nightmare before Christmas movie with Jack Skellington, Sally, Oogie Boogie and even Zero items across their line.  From inflatables to stuffed plush, the licensing deal that they've struck with Disney appears to be their signature character line this Fall.  In the photo above, you see three lighted pumpkins:  Sally, Jack Skellington and Oogie Boogie all have a built-in LED light that lights up their interiors.  They're cute and I could see the Jack or Oogie Boogie one on the porch.  The Sally one is teal colored and I wonder if it might become part of the trend/used as an identifier of an allergy-free house that the whole movement that the 'Teal Pumpkin Project' has delivered in most neighborhoods.  Could be a nice shortcut for some folks? Below is another look at a different set of these same Nightmare Before Christmas characters, but instead of 12" to 16" versions, these are tiny ones - like the size

Back in June, I planted two kinds of pumpkin seeds in the far reaches of our backyard from the packages you see above:  Big Moon and First Prize Hybrid.  I seem to have failed to post about the seeds or seedlings to date in the [ garden dairy ].  But, today, that changes.   For the past week or two, I've noticed A LOT of flowers and quite a bit of bee activity.  Like they were drunk on pollen after hanging out in the various yellow flowers that these vines have put out.  Turns out...they were busy bees.  (get it?!?) It seems that our pumpkin vines have started to fruit.  Here's a look at the tiniest of pumpkins that you've ever seen: I don't know which of the two varieties this one is.  But, the more pressing matter is the race against the clock.  We have just a month and a half until this thing needs to be on our front porch.  Will it get there in time?  I have these pumpkin pedestals on hand that I hope to put into place as this (and others) grow i

That's the "Alien pig Queen" on the top courtesy of the Bird. A scribbled-on two-eye and a heart (drawn by his sister) guy faithfully sawn based on some of the drawings of the King of the Ball Tossers. And....a masked guy as created by the oldest one - The Babe. Unlike in past years, these have stayed inside our front porch, not on the outside porch.   Here's a post from back in 2014 showing the ways I have kept them free of squirrel bites .

No, I'm not talking about New York City.  I'm talking about "Big Apple".  As in..."big pharma" or "big tobacco" or even the recently-coined "Big Uni" by the guys at Uni-Watch . That's the best way to describe Apple Holler in Sturtevant, Wisconsin. We've been to a bunch of these apple orchards and pumpkin patches.  Apple Holler is a combination of those two experiences and it is - based on how crowded it was when we went - quite popular. So, why is it, exactly, "Big Apple"? Well, let's start with the parking.  It costs you $5 to park your car. Then, if you want to go pick apples, they charge each person $20 to go in the orchard.  Yep....$20.  Sure, they give you a little tiny bag that can hold like a dozen apples.  But, every person that goes in, it is $20.  Kids, too!  That means, for us it was going to be $80 just to pick some apples.  No thanks. We went up there with some friends, so it was great to

Over the weekend we went up to the Highwood Pumpkin Festival and came face-to-face with this massive wall of carved pumpkins.  It was pretty neat to see them all stacked up on the scaffolding around the downtown.  We even contributed two carved masterpieces to the collection in the hopes of breaking the Guinness World Record , but I'm not sure that they got there this year. The festival is just seven years young, but they're doing a lot of great things to bring their community together and raise money for a cause.  I'm not sure how Nat found out about the fest, but I'm glad we went.  Oh...and we made a stop our way home, just because we were in that neck of the woods.  But, that's for another post on another day.

If you have read anything (and I mean anything!  Heck... even People Magazine has covered it !), you likely know about the impending pumpkin-pocalypse.  For what seems like the second time in a few years, the agricultural experts are predicting an epic Thanksgiving pumpkin shortage. Brace yourself, people. And it is thanks to all the rain we had here in Illinois : If the beginning of fall means pumpkin is basically your only food group for the next few months, you better hurry to the supermarket.  According to crop experts, canned pumpkin yield could be off by as much as a third this year in Illinois. The Midwestern state — which is responsible for about 90 percent of the U.S.-grown pumpkins — experienced a record rainfall in June causing the shortage, say farmers.  “I would not wait until Nov. 20 [to buy canned pumpkin],” University of Illinois’s Department of Crop Sciences professor Mohammad Babadoost told the Associated Press. “I’d buy it whenever it comes to the store.

In the garden, we have about six of these pale green pumpkins/gourds of some sort growing on the vines.  These were part of a white pumpkin seed packet that we planted earlier this summer.    They're about the size of a 16" softball currently. As they grow and fatten up, I'm thinking they'll get brighter white.  But...I'm not sure they'll be a part of *our* Halloween festivities this year.

I am now the proud (that's right....PROUD!) owner of six - count 'em - six pumpkin pedestals. What's a pumpkin pedestal?   From Gardener's Supply : Growing pumpkins is so much fun, but can be frustrating when the fruits are misshapen or rot before they ripen. These ingenious supports elevate pumpkins, squash and melons up off the ground, allowing air to circulate. This promotes even ripening and minimizes rot. Fruit stays cleaner and develops a more uniform shape. The smaller side of the pedestal supports a pumpkin up to 10" in diameter and weighing up to 20 pounds. Flip it over and the larger side holds a mature pumpkin up to 14" and 30 pounds. Makes me want to go all-in on pumpkins again this year.  But...I can't help but recall how they TOTALLY took over the entire place.  

We've lost six or so pumpkins (that we grew ourselves!) on our front porch to critters this year and after the girls had carved their pumpkins last night, I figured we had to find a way to make them last until Friday. First....I filled a spray bottle with bleach and hit every 'cut' surface.  We'll see if that does anything to stop the mold? Then...as you can see...I took out a little bit of fencing and wrapped them up.  You can't eat what you can't get to, right? Come and try me, squirrels.  I dare you.

I've tried growing pumpkins for a few years and either mold or critters ruin the fun.  This year, I saw a few promising 'fruits' that had blossomed and I decided to try to keep the critters away with some fencing.  This is the biggest pumpkin that I've ever grown that doesn't have a single nick in it from squirrel teeth. Gnome for size reference...

We may have created a bit of a problem by planting so many different varieties of pumpkin seeds.  With this cool, wet weather, they're thriving.  Still hoping for a giant jack-o-lantern for October.

In addition to the Jack-O'-Lantern seeds that I planted over the weekend , I also put in these Big Moon seeds right in the same area.  From the look of the seed packet, these are supposed to grow big but have a neat shade of orange on the flesh that give these a bit more romantic look to them. I've put in 2 different 'hills' of the seeds, so once the seedlings emerge, I'll thin them down to 3-4 strong growers and hope to stay on top of them as they grow.  I'm thinking I should invest in some of these pedestals for these guys this year.

I put these seeds in the ground this weekend.  They list 110 days until maturity which would put me right around the first of October.  That's a tad early, but I've always seen my pumpkins lag behind as the temperatures start to drop in September.  Will this *finally* be the year that we grow enough big pumpkins to carve ourselves?  Every year I think I've figured it out and every year we go to Sonny Acres to buy pumpkins come October.

Our trip this year really cramped our Jack-O-Lantern style this year.  We made it out to Sonny Acres just this week and had some slim pickings of the pumpkins. In year's past, I've gone crazy.   See the Owl Pumpkins here .  This year, it was all about the Babe.  She wanted to carve her pumpkin with a very specific pattern.  That's what you see here.  She had her heart set on the star eyes, so Nat was able to help make those happen. The Babe couldn't be more proud!

Though they're about a month behind of where I've had them in past years, we finally have some pumpkin blooms popping out.  I've put them in a different spot this year and probably got them in the ground a bit late, so we'll see what we have by Halloween.  I'm going to give them a little boost with a fertilizer this week and I'll try to pinch off any other blooms to make sure the vine puts all of it's energy in this little guy. Here's a photo of early pumpkins in 2011 . Here's a photo of the early pumpkin plant in 2012 .

I have news for you folks:  We're 100ish days until Halloween and that means it is time to get your pumpkin/gourd seeds into the ground.  Based on the package, I'm actually a bit late, but with some care, I think I can get these guys up to speed.  Since we're not eating any of the pumpkins/gourds I'm growing, I have no problem giving them a feeding or two of fertilizer to get the fruits nice and big. I have planted these in a totally different part of our yard.  Totally separate from our vegetable garden both because of the above mentioned fertilizer, but also because of the bugs that these things draw.  I want to be able to use some Seven on them if I need to and (although it says it is safe for vegetables that are being eaten), I prefer to not do that on the rest of our plants/fruits. Having not grown this type of swan-neck gourd in the past, I have no idea how successful we'll be, but I figured it would be nice to have a few of these around come fall.

I planted four different kind of pumpkin seeds in Late June and after a month, we have some definite winners and losers.    The only problem is that I didn't label the seed locations.  So, I don't really know what's doing well and what is suffering. You can all see that big vine/plant in the middle of the photo.  It has gotten itself wrapped around the wheelbarrow handle.  That one is doing great.  But, see that little green spot on the far right hand side of the photo?  That's a different variety of seed.  Not doing so well. And in this photo, you can see a 3rd variety on the far left.  It is doing better than the little scrubby one, but hasn't taken off like the big vine.  I'm guessing that the big one are the Sugar pumpkins and the gourds are the ones on the left/right.  Time will tell, I guess?

Just two and a half weeks ago, I stuck a variety of pumpkin/gourd seeds into the ground in the far reaches of our yard.  After some TLC (once we got back from vacation), we finally have some nice seedlings that have popped up.  I *believe* these are the Boston Marrows, but all three varieties have sprung up seedlings.  Mid-October is going to come fast and we're not getting any luck with rain, so I'm going to have to babysit these with the hose every few days.

I yanked these pumpkins out of our garden early yesterday morning.  They aren't HUGE - about the diameter of  basketball, so I would have preferred to left them to grow a bit longer.  Unfortunately, the calendar dictates that if we're going to enjoy them out on our front porch, the time had come to cut them off the vine. The neat part of these is that last year, Nat bought one of these pumpkins from Trader Joe's and right before we chucked it in our compost bin, I scooped out some of the seeds, dried them out and saved them for the spring.  Not all of the plants worked out but with this outcome, the effort was worth it. Those other Jack-be-Littles on the right side of the picture are all compost orphans:  they just popped up based on the seeds we threw in the compost bin last fall.