Dive In!

Last weekend we made our annual trip to a local pumpkin farm.  One of the kids' favorite parts is the corn pool. You might ask, what is a corn pool?  Well, duh!  It is a pool filled with corn.  No, really, they take a shallow pool and fill it a few feet deep with dried corn kernels.  I don't think I've ever seen anything like this anywhere else.  The kids love digging and wallowing in the sea of yellow corn.  One of their favorite things to do is to jump into it.

One, two, three...

JUMP!

 And the crowd goes wild!!!! (Rawwwwwwww)

They also enjoy burying each other up to their necks...

And slithering through the corn like a snake...

Me, I personally enjoyed sitting and taking it all in while snuggling with my sweetie...

My stepson enjoyed snuggling with this little sweetie... This is the son of my friend Melissa from Illinois.  We visit each other at least a couple times every year.  She likes to tease me about how many cornfields and how few Starbucks there are in Iowa.  I like to tease her about how you have to take out a loan or sell your first born child in order to do activities near Chicago.  I'm starting to see city mouse, country mouse parallels here. Anyways, her son is almost 2, and he was a lot of fun for all of us, especially the kids.  He did NOT like the corn pool at first, but relaxed a little and starting rolling around by the time we got out.  He even ended up with corn in his diaper!  I think everybody ended up with corn in weird places...but my son had everybody beat...

What?  Isn't that how you carry your corn?

It's Creepy How Old This Pumpkin Is...

The pumpkin from yesterday's post is a YEAR old.  Maybe that is normal and I'm overreacting, but I think it probably should have rotted by now.  I purchased this cute little pumpkin from a grocery store somewhere, I don't remember which store, about a year ago for fall decorating. I understand that under ideal conditions, some hard squashes can last for a very long time, however...

1.  This squash has NOT lived under ideal conditions.  It has been subjected to extreme temperatures (but not frozen and then thawed) and wild temperature swings.

2.  It has been packed and transported during a move.

3.  It sits in my kitchen now and gets subjected to the odors and humidity of cooking and cleaners.

4.  It has occasionally sat in direct sunlight for long periods of time.

And now, a year later, it is not even soft.  Considering how fast some other things rot, this disturbs me a little.  What the heck did they spray it with that it is so well preserved?   I am glad I am not eating that pumpkin.  I keep thinking of the advice of Michael Pollan:  Don't eat anything that is incapable of rotting.  I suppose at SOME POINT, this would eventually rot.  Now I am on a watch to see how long it does last.  Any thoughts?

Wordless Wednesday: Guess How Old This Pumpkin Is?

The Nasties Escape the Freezer!

Saturday and Sunday night we had our first freezing temperatures of the season.  The first night, there was hardly any damage...only a little singe on the top of the basil.  However, the next night, even though the temperature was one degree warmer, there was more damage.  I guessed two nights in a row had its toll.  I was pretty happy with the results though.  All that got damaged was the tops of the squash plants and a few leaves here and there throughout the garden. Here you can see the pumpkin plants looking a bit freezer burnt.

Amazingly, the plants are still alive and doing okay. 

Here, the moonflower plants have the same look. 

I honestly expected the nasturtiums to be dead when I came out in the morning.  But they were still shining their happy nasturtium perkiness.  Some of my mounding nasturtiums are getting very big and lush since the temperatures cooled off at the beginning of September.  They all seem to prefer the slightly cooler temps.  I've learned that nasturtiums do not really care for extreme heat.

All my nasturtiums have an abundance of blossoms.  This one has beautiful buttercream yellow blossoms that the moths love at night.

My spitfire is still doing well, if not a little dry. We haven't had any rain in over a week.  The flower has taken on a funny mottled look. 

Some of the nasturtiums have even decided to make a run for it.  A few of them grew under the garage door.  They look really funny because they are all flat and reaching for the sunlight. 

The flowers are starting to look strange on this spitfire as well, but the plant is healthy and growing without any sign of frost damage. 

No matter what, a frost or freeze that kills most of my summer plants will come soon, even though I snuck through this time.  Maybe my sign should say, 'Welcome Fall, Good-bye Nasties...'

This was a wonderful experience, blogging and sharing with other gardeners about the same plant.  I am so grateful to be given the opportunity to participate.  I can't wait to do it again next year if possible.  

I'm growing Nasturtium "Spitfire" for the GROW project, thanks to ReneesGarden.com for the seeds.

Castor Bean Seed Giveaway!

The first frost is coming tonight, and as part of my preparation, I collected my castor bean seeds.  I've heard that the seeds are dangerous around children because they are HIGHLY POISONOUS.  One seed is enough to kill a grown man.  Part of the reason they are dangerous to children (people say) is because they look like chocolate bonbons.

I don't know about you, but these are the most spiny, vicious bonbons I've ever seen.  Maybe the actual seed inside the seed cover looks like a chocolate jelly bean, kind of...but it's a stretch.  Regardless, they should be treated with caution around children and animals.

Because my castor bean plants did so well, I have a lot of seeds.  I am willing to share them with people who would like to try growing castor bean plants in their yard. 

Castor bean plants need full sun, and can't withstand frost.  Mine got upwards of 8 feet tall, and so heavy I could barely prop them up when they fell over.  I would recommend staking them with a heavy metal stake, I am going to do that next year. I did not really do anything to them...they grew fabulously with only an application of manure tea. 

I will be giving seeds away to as many people as I can...all you have to do is follow my blog, and leave me a comment telling me about it.  I will give seeds to as many people as I can until they run out.  At this time, this giveaway is only open to US residents.  Thanks for reading!