Adventures in Accidental Agriculture

LOOK!! I have my first pumpkin!!

And another one is well on its way to making its place in this little plot of Harvest Land, USA.

Look at how gigantic this plant is! My daughter planted it a little over a month ago and it has multiplied in size so much so that it's taking over!

There's only one problem....

...this plant is not growing freely in some fenced off designated area for pumpkins in the garden we share with my mom in her backyard. No, it's growing in my front yard. More specifically, in my intricately manicured bed by my front door. If I don't keep it pushed out of the way, you literally have to step over it to get to the front door.

This was not a successfully planned and executed endeavour at gardening.

It was, as honestly as I can put it, a total accident.

My daughter got seeds from her teacher the last day of school and in overhearing mommy and daddy talking to nana about growing our own fruits and veggies, I think my little JB decided to take this whole gardening thing into her own little "green" hands.

When it began growing, we had no idea what it was at first.

I thought my landscapers had planted a new ground cover.

My husband thought it was a weed.

We were left in the dark concerning our mystery plant until we had visitors come and those visitors were so impressed with our squash and how well ours was doing and wanted to know our secret to getting it to thrive so.

All they got from me and Mr. Simpleton were puzzled looks. 

"You do know that's squash, right?" they would ask us.

"Oh, uh, yeah! Well, no, no not really. We knew it was something but....are you sure it's squash?" 

All we got in return was a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look.

My neighbors on the other hand, (we live in a supremely manicured and polished neighborhood *said with a strong British accent and a pinky finger held high clutching a Mint Julep*), have been less impressed with our green thumb. 

"Ahem, your pumpkin squash looks, uh, like it's doing well. Do you, uh, intend to keep it there?"

Gag me.

Yes, for now we do intend to let them run amuk in our front yard. And I'll be bringing you all pumpkin pies in a month. So take your nose and your mint julep back to your own front yard.

Looks like the Mason abode is well on our way to a healthy harvest in autumn!

Come on over for some pumpkin pies!

And pumpkin bread....

and pumpkin cookies...

and pumpkin soup...

and pumpkin pancakes...