I posted about a week ago about the pumpkin vines taking over the front garden. Well, just before the official start of Autumn yesterday, they weather seemed to be getting a bit cooler (turned out that was just to lull us into complacency before the end of season heatwave the last two days!), I started to think of getting the autumn planting into the ground. Of course, that was next to impossible with the pumpkin vine crawling over everything. The ideal is to let your pumpkins stay on the vines until they die off, then harvest. This means the skins get nice and hard, and the pumpkins will keep for longer. However, a few questions lead to the fact that pumpkin vines may not, in fact, die off here in Brisbane, where we get no harsh winter weather or frosts. And certainly mine are showing no signs of slowing down! So DH put on his gumboots and gloves, and braved the pumpkin vine jungle to see what he could find. All up, 9 mature and ripe pumpkins, and at least another half a dozen that need a few more weeks. Luckily I've found a space around the side of the house for the first autumn planting, so these can have a little longer. I mean, really, can you ever have to many pumpkins?
