Thursday 2 May 2013

To Sow Or Not To Sow

Last year I planted out some Queensland Blue pumpkins.  I have been told they are lovely eating so I thought I would give them a go.  Also my mother in law mentioned she liked them so I though I would grow a few plants and give some to her.
I ended up planting out 3 plants and nurtured them including hand pollinating   But then it rained and rained and rained and the vine rotted away.
In the end I got one pumpkin.  It better be bloody good.
Mean while over in the compost bin a common jap pumpkin sprouted with no assistance from me at all and it is growing so big that it is taking over our yard.  It is covered in baby pumpkins and all going well we should get a great harvest.
Maybe in future I will just wait and see what pops up in the compost.  They always seem to do the best.

Is this a familiar story at your place?

7 comments:

  1. That's funny isn't it...you hear of that type of thing happening often. I bought a book you might be interested in...I've written about it on my blog today....
    http://oursimpleandmeaningfullife.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/baking-in-country.html
    Regards Kathy A, Brisbane, Australia

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  2. yes! We have no pumpkins this year, they just didn't start well in the dry. I have a massive tomato plant growing out of my compost :)

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  3. YES! I composted the garden and got two random plants that provided 7 large pumpkins!

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  4. Yep! The only time I've successfully grown pumpkins was when a seed sprouted under the fence of the chook pen. The vines grew out over the council land between our house and the road and they were HUGE! We ended up with about 15 big Queensland blue pumpkins that were fabulous. This year, like you, I worked so hard on my pumpkins, but nature had other ideas and our vibes shrivelled in the heat.

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  5. Hi Fiona,

    We're at Boonah and having the same problem. The last couple of years were great and we had heaps of pumpkins but this year I think it may top out at 4. We also had a poor result with zucchini, choko and capsicum - all too wet here too. Enjoy your blog.
    Cheers, Barb Mc

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  6. I haven't grown Queensland Blue but most years we do okay with pumpkins. Ironic but this year we had the opposite problem to you with the same result! It was too hot and we had NO rain and my first pumpkin set about a month ago. It's too cold now and it will come to nothing! Ah well. You have to keep trying, don't you.

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  7. Yes, self sown usually does better around here. I planted some pumpkins as a ground cover/mulch at least 12 months ago. Now I have no idea where the original plants are but there are pumpkins everywhere.

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