[NickieL]

They started out like this----and I didn't even plant them! nature did...

Then they grew a lot and started doing some of this:

Then they grew a lot more....

And some more....

then started to turn color....

and now....

And my neighbor told me they wouldnt amount to anything. i have 4 pumpkins on this vine The ones he gave me to plant have NADA. I finially pulled those ones up so I could make room in my garden for fall stuff.

 

[NickieL]

Well, the seed packet said gourds need strong support, so I planted them near my patio supports....They began life like this:

Not too impressive yet....

after a while they finially started to grow.

About a foot of growth a day...

Pretty soon, they were at the top of my patio....

And even though I was pinching them back some, they kinda went nuts.

 

[NickieL]

They were stearting to bloom and set fruits...

All the meanwhile, they were still growing....

Now the fruits are pretty big...

i just have to wait untill the stems turn brown to harvest!

 

[NickieL]

 

[southerngurl]

How pretty. I enjoyed the pictures.

 

[COSunflower]

BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL photos!!! I love the succession of stages - THANKS!!!!

 

[A'sta at Hofstead]

How super! You have a gift!

 

[Ravenlost]

Very nice! The only pumpkins I have this year were also volunteers. They've taken over the back yard and I won't let hubby mow.

Don't you love gourds? I grow them every year on my chicken pen to give the chickens shade.

 

[turtlehead]

Nickie, fantastic story through photos.
Thanks for sharing the journey.

 

[moonwolf]

neat pics. You got some nice pumpkins out of those 'volunteers'. lol
good going on all the growing 'management'. Are you going to make bird houses out of the gourds?

 

[NickieL]

neat pics. You got some nice pumpkins out of those 'volunteers'. lol
good going on all the growing 'management'. Are you going to make bird houses out of the gourds?

They did get out of hand quite a bit if I ignored them for a few days! One day after a week of too hot to garden, I stepped out my door and the vines had invaded the whole porch and were even grabbin for my door! Silly gourds! I find prunning them anyway helps the fruit to form and rippen and keep it more manageable in my small garden...I hope to make a purple martin complex building with my birdhouse gourds, I have 6 on the vine, and hopefully they will ripen before frost...thats questionable in zone 5 around here and they won't dry if they are not ripe when picked. Its a lot of fun growing these things..though they become monsters if not watched carefully!

 

[AnnieinBC]

Wonderful pictures Nickie! It must be quite warm where you live, in order for your pumpkins and gourds to grow like that???

mrsfluidp

 

[elliemaeg]

My, what lovely pumpkin pics. You are a fantastic Photographer!!!!!!!

 

[Rockin'B]

Great pics! Thanks for posting them.

 

[NickieL]

Wonderful pictures Nickie! It must be quite warm where you live, in order for your pumpkins and gourds to grow like that???

mrsfluidp

Naw, they will grow even in a cool summer like that around here. They just tend to get more mildew then.

 

[dreamermama]

Nickie, I really enjoyed your pics. Lovely plants too! Tell me, what are those bright flowers behind your gourd plants? They are stunning.

 

[Messianic4]

GREAT PUMPKINS....Mine won't be ready till my birthday....if the squash bugs stay away....

 

[NickieL]

Nickie, I really enjoyed your pics. Lovely plants too! Tell me, what are those bright flowers behind your gourd plants? They are stunning.

Those are shirley poppies and flanders poppies....annuals. All you do is sprinkle the seeds, they come back forever reseeding themselves. Love em. they don't hold up in the heat though, they were fried by our hot spell and I need to pull them up----I'll be saving seed of course as I do this. I use them to fill in empty spaces untill perenials fill in or to cover dying bulb foilage and to brighten up the beds not in flower.

 

[NickieL]

GREAT PUMPKINS....Mine won't be ready till my birthday....if the squash bugs stay away....

I have plenty of squashbugs on some of the gourds way up high where the toads can't get em, but none on the ground pumpkin....they eat jsut about anything. Toads are great. I do however have terrible vine borers.... :flame: yet this vine has a very strong will to live and is thriving despite it. I will have to take a picture when it's not raining of the vine borer damage.

 

[Lynne]

Nice crop - thanks for sharing...