These pumpkins don't look very scary now but I'm hoping they will do so by the time Halloween comes round. I only grew one pumpkin plant and this is the fruit which it produced, one pumpkin is smaller than the other but it's still large enough to carve. As a child, it was always swedes which we carved, and tough going it was too. It's much easier to carve a pumpkin.
I was pleasantly surprised on Sunday to find that I was able to harvest some climbing beans from the late sowing I made. I suppose the mini heatwave helped them along, though how long they'll go on producing for depends on the weather. There's still plenty of runner beans being harvested too.
Those are good-looking pumpkins! I only managed to produce one this year, but some friends brought us four at the weekend so plenty for carving AND soup!
ReplyDeleteWow, didnt realsie you got more than one per plant! Thye both lok a good size.
ReplyDeleteColder here this morning to - I put away my flip flops a while ago, and this morning it was cold enough here for gloves on my early morning dog walk - or maybe Im just a wimp!
Gill xx
Classic-looking Halloween pumpkins, Jo. Did you weigh them?
ReplyDeleteFine looking fellows there Jo ~ can't imagine them looking scary. I picked the last of my beans at the weekend - not as good quality wise as a couple of weeks ago but ok to use in soup, which the weather forecast suggests might be in order. Still wearing crocs and no socks but not for much longer.
ReplyDeleteI remember the swede carving. My dad used to do it bless him. When I told my husband about swede carving he didn't believe me. I did think it made me sound a bit like a Dickens character 'we couldn't afford a pumpkin so we made do with a swede'!!! But I don't think I saw pumpkins until I was in my twenties. It is amazing how we take for granted the vast choice of fruit and veg available now compared even with my childhood in the eighties. Happy pumpkin carving.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to seeing them again when you carved them!
ReplyDeleteIt's been dry, and mostly sunny here but a lot cooler with a frost forecast tonight! Flighty xx
Hello Jo,
ReplyDeletePerfect pumpkins! They are going to make excellent lanterns.
We always had swede lanterns too, I can still smell that strong aroma!
Touch of frost here this morning.
I'm still picking beans Jo. In fact the dwarf french beans with their lovely mottled burgundy colour are still producing fowers and going strong. We had them in a stir fry last night together with spinach and the last of the tomatoes. It all made a tasty if somewhat thrown together meal with mushrooms, prawns and noodles!
ReplyDeleteIt's been very chilly here today but beautiful sunshine - perfect!
Jeanne
x
Those pumpkin look so cute something that look like it came out from a fairytale storybook.
ReplyDeleteyou definitely didn't seen pumpkins when I was a kid. I don't think they were grown for shops, I thought they were an american thing that could only be grown over there. I couldn't understand how the swede I painfully hacked never looked like the things on scooby do. My mum hadn't explained that they were different veggies.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to have enough for carving and for eating, Rachael. I've never tried pumpkin soup.
ReplyDeleteYou're not a wimp, Gill, I'm in socks and boots now. My pumpkin plant tried to grow more than the two pumpkins but the plant couldn't support them.
I haven't weighed them, Mark. The biggest one is a little smaller than a football so they're not huge but they're perfectly formed.
The weather has warmed up a little again here, Anna, so you might get to wear your crocs a little longer yet. I've got lots of beans bagged up in the freezer so we'll be eating them for some time to come.
Pumpkins weren't seen in shops when I was little either, Wellywoman. I remember using household candles in the swedes too, rather than tealights.
It's warmed up again here, Flighty. We still haven't had a frost but we must be due one soon.
I remember the smell too, Bluebell, especially once the candle had been lit. Still no frost for us yet.
Your meal sounds delicious, Jeanne. Those made with whatever's in the fridge at the time are often the tastiest. We've had some sunshine over the last few days too, it's been lovely. Like you, I hate those drab, grey days.
They are typical pumpkins, Malay-Kadazan girl. I've grown some very peculiar shaped ones previously so I'm pleased that these have grown so well shaped, they'll be ideal for carving.
Halloween wasn't celebrated like it is now when I was little, Rhiannon, we carved a swede and that was about it. Like you say, pumpkins weren't widely available in the shops like they are now.