Grew White Pumpkins, from the workbench

…because Petersik Pumpkin Farmer is the new guy in town. Well, Accidental Pumpkin Farmer I should say. Yep folks, I grew a pumpkin without even trying. Personally, I am kinda amused by the whole thing. Sherry’s a bit less keen about our surprise fruit. Here is how it happened:

See those pumpkins we painted last year? When they were past their prime I – without truly thinking – tossed ’em in one of our Hands-on compost bins. Apparently, if you are trying to grow pumpkins, nutrient rich compost is a strong place to “plant” a fruit filled with seeds. But if you are trying to maintain a compost bin, I would not recommend it.

I did not realize I was on the path to pumpkin growing until this past spring when I used some of said compost to assist out our edible garden… and some mystery sprouts popped up next to each of my plantings. After plucking the “weeds” a few times we successfully eradicated what we did not realize at the time were pumpkins trying to grown next to our basil and bell peppers.

Then one day I noticed a bigger version of that “weed” poking out of the compost bin. That is when I put two and two together and realized what I had done. Sherry was a tad annoyed that our compost had been compromised, but I was honestly too excited by the idea that I had began growing a pumpkin to even care. So she agreed to let me follow my crazy accidental pumpkin dreams and see what would happen (especially because we had a second compost bin that we were still able to use without pumpkin interference).

What we got was a crazy vine. I sadly do not have any pictures of it because I honestly never thought it would work, but you can see a smidge of its wide leaves poking out behind me in my glass bottle video. Those, my friends, are pumpkin leaves.

I in fact thought it was a cool plant. It wrapped itself around our fence, grew big leaves and even sported a few blossoms that would open during the day (like the one pictured below from someone else’s garden). All of this made me quite excited to see what magnificent pumpkin(s) would be growing come fall.

But then it died. I do not know what happened. I did not give it any special care all summer, but upon returning from our Ithaca trip all we had was a shriveled brown ghost of what it had once been. Sadness.

The story still has a glad ending. As I pulled the dead vine from the fence the other day I discovered this:

I know I will not be winning awards at the state fair or anything, but I have to say I am still quite proud that my accident trip into pumpkin farming produced at least one (teeny compact) cool white pumpkin. And it is not even oddly shaped or covered with warts, it is a fairly cute little guy if I do say so myself. Perhaps I will plant this one somewhere intentionally so its legacy can still live on! After Sherry has some decorating lively with it of course…

Do any of you intentionally grow pumpkins or have any pointers for me if I decide to give it another go? I am inclined to think it is fairly straightforward to do if I made it this far without trying.