I Think You’re Bonkers

First we dug out the insides… (Dino doing his own, Mimi doing mine - hers turned into semi liquid mush)

Then they designed things for me to carve - No way was I letting them loose with a sharp knife, the pumpkin skins were quite tough really. 

Dino wanted a Werewolf….

Mimi wanted a skeleton, but was happy with a Skull ….

The innards have made a HUGE pot of pumpkin soup for dinner tomorrow.

No eggs so far today. Hens seem happy though so not worried but I have told the kids to stay out of the pen and leave the poor things alone today.

We weighed Mimi’s pumpkin today - it’s 7kg and it’s turning slowly orange! She’s very pleased. 

Edited to add - Nope, they were just working out the nest box and taking very long turns in there. One egg so far and one hen sitting in there and refusing to come out or let anyone else in. Umm, that’d be Red, and she’s mine. Stroppy bugger.

Today we cleared 3 of the 4 squash/pumpkin plants from behind the shed. I know there were 4 plants in there, I found 2 labels and I know the one left is a Howden pumpkin but it never set any fruit. It can come out another day. So, I pulled plants for a Howden pumpkin (another one) and a Spaghetti squash and something unlabelled.

Now, we grew Howden, Jack O’Lantern and Lumina pumpkins and I know where the Jack’s went.  So the mystery plant was either a Howden or Lumina pumpkin.

However, we have a mystery fruit and the plants were so tangled that if it weren’t for having 3 root ends I’d be convinced they were 2 plants, if that makes sense.

Fruit on the right - the darker green one with the wider base, is definitely a Howden pumpkin - I traced the stem from the root and label, and it looks exactly like the one Mimi grew. But the fruit on the left? Not a clue. It’s clearly something else…. Answers in comments please….. 

Mimi with her HUGE pumpkin for you.

We declared a draw in the end ….

His is the greener one on the left - nicer shape, lovely markings and slightly lighter weight at 1.11kg. But it recovered after almost being lost to a late frost and Dino nurtured it to that size. He’s very proud. Mine is the all orange one on the right. It’s a bit bigger at 1.53kg. It had the advantage of benign neglect and a lovely sunny spot to grow in. Both will become small lanterns for Samhain and the insides will be soup or pie. 

Dino’s - 12cm tall and 48cm girth

Mimi’s - 26cm tall, 70cm girth

Mine - 16cm tall, 51cm girth (and going orange!)

This morning we got up early and headed out to the local cinema to see the Spiderwick Chronicles, which was fun and it’s a good family film as long as you don’t have a kid that’s easily scared or overly sensitive. Freddie Highmore is fab as the twins and the creatures are ace - we liked Hogsqueal best…. The local cinema has a kids thing on a Sat morning where all tickets are £1 for those 2 films - think we may well go back depending what is on!

After that, and sort of taking a roundabout route home, we popped into Focus for paint and after some food I painted the bathroom - it’s now uneven blue rather than uneven dirty magnolia with torn paper. It needs another coat, which will help with the unevenness, and there’s enough in the tin to do that in a couple of days, or when I remember and get round to it. I found a couple of things to go on the wall too and that helps liven it up a bit, but we will be getting a bigger mirror for in there soon.

While the paint was drying we spent an hour or so weeding in the garden and discussing many many things - such as why some people don’t want to live with other people, why the cabbage whites can smell broccoli a mile off, how the flowers in the garden are attracting more varied wildlife now and pondering whether the chickens will like the sunflower heads to peck at, and if they’ll be brown or grey, or what…..  Lost all the broccoli after the shelter got torn and they were all covered in caterpillars, bleurgh.

Pumpkin measuring: Mine is 16cms tall and 50cms girth, Kids is 12cms tall and 48cms girth. I have some pics, and more garden pics but I’ll have to tinker and upload later.

Compared to 6 days ago….. 

Mine is 14cms long and 42 cms round now!

Dino’s is 9cms long and 36cms round - but it’s a better shape, more pleasing somehow.  

Mimi’s plant is rampaging across the garden and no fruits - yet. The Lumina is staying small and no fruit yet, I don’t think we’ll get much, if anything from that. Which is a shame, but I have seed for next year….  

(For Kris, who wanted to know…) Is 12 cms long - stalk to top - not bending the tape measure round! and 39cms round the fattest part.

The kids can measure theirs tomorrow. 

Dino’s and that’s his hand, which isn’t that much smaller than mine.

And mine.

Good eh? Sunflowers just starting to open, pics when they’re fully open and lovely, promise. Also got a medium sized mug FULL of peas for tea and I’ll have to go pull some carrots to go with them. Must sow more carrots too….  

Novelty plant….

That’s the flowering sundew, in a 5in pot with a 6 in flower spike. It’s pretty isn’t it? The flowers only lasted about 48 hours and are dying away now. No idea if we’ll get any seeds and they’re so fine they’ll probably be gone by the time we notice. but there are lots of baby sundews in there as well as the big one so I may have to do some repotting before they come in for the winter.

Especially for Witchy, nice tall sunflowers…

They’re about up to my shoulder now, maybe a bit taller but they keep trying to fall over! They are close to flowering though and that will be spectacular!

See, flowers! 

My best veg bed (that even made Kris jealous! I must be doing something right…)

Left to right there is; salad leaves, with peas above them; carrots, with chard behind; and then the peas that are just ready and the ones I pulled and podded yesterday and this morning are sitting in my fridge for tea tonight, along with some of those carrots - nice fat orange ones as the last few purple ones need to fatten up a bit. There are 2 more rows of carrots and a tray of loo rolls not quite ready to go out. Yesterday we had Lava soup made with home grown garlic, onion and carrot - but bought tins of tomatoes. Still very nice and lead to a pondering of what the colour would be with purple carrots and red onions? Would we get purple soup? Red soup perhaps rather than the usual rich orange? We’ll have to try it and see won’t we!

And finally, the pumpkin comp…..

That one is mine.

and that one is Dino’s. I think he’s done really well seeing as his plant almost died in a late frost. Oh and it looks like my buddleia might flower this year after all! I think it was a purple one?

Oh, lots of writing, maths and reading going on as well, along with making cubes from nets, lego, micro machines, cooking, and many many discussions on many many things…..