The pumpkin featured in last week’s issue of this newspaper was quite an achievement especially for a first time grower.
This past summer when Daniel was at home for six weeks holiday he went on a planting binge. He dug, manured, weeded, begged and bought seeds from everywhere, watered and coaxed the hot, dry soil to produce something. After being told it was really too hot to plant at this time of the year he went ahead anyway.
Potatoes, corn, sorrel, bananas, beans and hundreds (it seemed) of pumpkin seeds all went in the ground. He also built a scarecrow to scare away the birds.
Well, except for potatoes and pumpkins the results were not great. Pictured here is one of the four or five pumpkins which actually managed to stay on the vine. As you can see, this particular pumpkin grew way up on a fence and hung precariously there until it got help. With the use of a stool for the weight, and some odd pieces of cloth and twigs to prevent it from getting wet and rotting, this pumpkin is still hanging in and increasing in size. Except for a photograph, Daniel has not seen it yet – but everyone is amused at the ingenuity and innovation used to keep this pumpkin on the vine until he comes home for Christmas.
– Contributed by a backyard farmer
