Monday Harvest Recap- It's Pumpkin Time!

Our crazy, warm sunny days continue here in Oregon. Today I took advantage of the lovely weather and harvested all of my squash and pumpkins. The Winter Squash this year was pretty much a bust simply because I got the plants in the ground too late. But the pumpkins, which I grew from seed, did really well. While I was a bit disappointed in only getting 2 pumpkins from two plants, I was really happy with the size of the two pumpkins that did set.

• Pumpkin "Howden" - 22.8 lbs & 29.4 lbs
• Winter Squash- "Delicata" - 2 lbs. 1.6 oz.
• Watermelon- "Blacktail Mountain" - 12.2 lbs.

Now that the show season is over, I get to relax and share my dahlias with family and friends. Because I didn't get my dahlias completely planted until the middle of July, my dahlia garden is now if full bloom in mid-October. With sunny, dry, warm weather in the long term forecast, these bouquets won't be the last that we enjoy this year.

Color in the Pumpkin Patch

The excitement in the Kitchen Garden this week is the first glimpse of orange in the pumpkin patch! While one pumpkin is still a solid, glossy, deep green, this pumpkin has suddenly started to turn orange. It will be interesting to see how long it takes it to completely transform.

Howden Pumpkins

My two Howden" pumpkin plants are both doing well, even with the extreme heat of the last few days. Both plants have set multiple vines which seem to be growing by leaps and bounds every day. The plants haven't set any pumpkins yet, but all of the vines have many immature fruit on them. It will just be a matter of time before the the female blossoms open and pollination commences. Until then, I have certainly been enjoying the male blooms on the "Howden" plants. They are some of the prettiest squash blossoms I have ever seen; large, star shaped, and bright yellow-orange.

Howden Blossom

Both of my "Howden" Pumpkin plants that I started from seed have open their first male blossom. I think all squash blossoms are so pretty. The first open blooms let me know if won't be too terribly longer before I have small little pumpkins setting on the vines.

We Have Some More Germination!

As soon as I got home from work tonight, I went right over to my seed trays to see if anything had "happened" while I was gone. Happily, I had some surprises awaiting me.

I now have all 12 of the "Addis Pickle" cucumbers up and growing. I don't know if it is because I bought fresh seed this year, or if they just normally exhibit quick germination, but they certainly beat all of the other vegetable and flower seed that I planted that day.

I was especially happy to find that 3 of my 6 "Howden" pumpkins had appeared. There was no sign at all of them this morning when I pulled the trays out of the greenhouse.

I now have 3 "Dancing Petticoats" Cosmos up and growing.

And I was excited to finally find my first Zinnia had appeared. I now have one "Red Metemorph". Hopefully the warm weather that is in the forecast for the next 4 days will encourage a lot more of the seeds to germinate. It will be a fun surprise each day, to come home from work, and see what is new.

After dinner I worked for about an hour potting up dahlia tubers. I managed to get another 28 planted tonight, so I now have a total of 223 in pots. I should finish up with two more small potting sessions.

Mini Jack Pumpkin

The first "Mini Jack" pumpkin has matured down in the big garden. I didn't get these pumpkins planted until early July, so I wasn't too sure if there would be enough time for me to harvest any pumpkins. As you can see, the pumpkin is splatted with flecks of dirt from our recent rains.With the cooler, wet weather I am not too optimistic that I will get many more ripe mini pumpkins this year.

The Dahlia Garden in Early September

Monday was the final day of the holiday weekend and I finally had some time to work in the garden and take some pictures.

While the garden is not at peak bloom, I am certainly seeing more and more color each week.

As you can see,  many of the plants are quite tall this year. I got horribly behind on my garden "to-do" list this Summer and at least half of the dahlias weren't stopped in a timely manner. Hence, lots of tall plants this year. At least this doesn't affect bloom quality - you just might have to look up to see them!

I can't decide if I should keep "Jac's Julia" for another year or not. It doesn't produce many blooms, but the ones it does certainly are pretty.

"Clearview Debby" is a new-to-me variety this year and I just love it. I will definitely be saving my tubers this year and planting a lot more of this variety next year. It's a BB sized formal decorative in a light blend of lavender and white.

"Lolita" just glows in the garden, especially on an overcast day. 

"Camano Susan" a BB sized semi-cactus in orange.

"Bracken Sarah" is such a soft beauty. A BB sized formal decorative in a light blend of yellow and orange.

I have wanted to grow "Hollyhill Tigress" ever since I first saw it at a show. It's quite the striking variegated waterlily.

"Creekside Volcano" lives up to its name. Hot colors!

This "Crazy 4 Jessie" bloom is only about half open but you can see how pretty it is going to be. A BB sized incurved cactus in a dark blend of dark red & yellow.

A young "Embrace" bud.

Two plants of "Lakeview Glow"

"Sorbet" a B sized semi-cactus form in a dark blend of white & purple.

"David Lam" a dark red collarette.

"Purple Sparkler" a purple and white collarette.

"Odyssey" a miniature ball in a light blend of lavender and white.

"Fidalgo Julie" a stellar in a dark blend of orange & red.

"Cornel", a red ball. I have grown this variety for years.

This is a new variety for me this year. "AC Rooster" is a red stellar.

"Higgo Wonder" a BB sized laciniated in a dark blend of purple and white.

Martina" a white & purple dark blend miniature formal decorative.

Joal Louisa" a white waterlily.

"Tioga Autumn" a B sized laciniated dahlia in a light blend of pink and yellow.

"Embrace" a bronze BB sized semi cactus.

"Chimicum Les C" a dark red miniature ball.

There are now nice size buds on the "Bright Bandolier" sunflowers. It won't be too long before I finally have some sunflower blooms in the garden.

I am excited to have my first blooms opening on the "Persian Carpet" zinnias. 

There were quite a few bees working the first open female flower on the "Mini Jack" pumpkins. It looks like I won't have to worry about hand pollination with this group.

Now that the rabbits have finally quite munching on the morning glory plants, I have some blooms to enjoy! Above, a "Scarlet O'hara" and below a "Grandpa Ott" flower.

More & More Color

We had planned to mow around the big garden yesterday morning. However, the morning rain showers that we experienced literally put a damper on our plans. The rain did let up in the afternoon and we decided to proceed with our plans. We got everything mowed in about 1 1/2 hours. The grass was a bit wet but not bad too bad. It was however quite humid. After I finished mowing I took a stroll around the garden. My 2 plants of "Franz Kafka" are in a full blooming flush right now.

"Sean C" CO PR/db/wh/pr

This must be my 7th or 8th "Haley's Dream" bloom. It's another early bloomer.

My 2nd nice "Dagmar" B IC OR

"Sandia Joy" WL YL

"Pam Howden" WL  LB  YL/OR/DP

Another early bloomer for me; Tahoma Alicia" MB DP

"Pooh" CO BI RD/YL/yl

I was also excited to notice on my walk that one of my "Mini Jack" pumpkins had its first male blossom open up today. The vines are just starting to crawl. I think if we have another warm, dry September like we had last year,  I just might get some baby pumpkins to set and mature.