Monday, September 29, 2008

Punkinstein's Progeny Progress Report

Again, my apologies for the latest lapse in posting recently. As I mentioned in the comments to the previous post, I've been sick again and work has ramped up considerably, thus cutting into my blogging time. Add in some exhaustion and a lack of inspiration and that will define a "Fall Funk" as far as I'm concerned ... *Sigh* Anyway, we're making do here at Casa IVG as Fall rams its inevitability full into our faces, and as I write, a round of thunderstorms is moving in...

While I was doing some work stuff today, I sent Fernymoss out with the camera (he was already mowing, so this made a good break for him, or so he said) and here are some of the sights he captured in the late afternoon garden. First off is, of course, her Highness, the Most Exalted Queen Pepa (Approximately) posing not so obediently next to our most recently discovered pumpkin in the back veggie garden. As you can see, she could probably care less that we wanted a cute picture next to the pumpkin, her attention was elsewhere. And, as you can also see, Punkinstein has a serious case of powdery mildew, which we're not too concerned about since it's late in the season, it's been rainy and moist lately, and the pumpkins seem to be doing just fine ... at this point I think we're assured of at least 3 decent sized pumpkins by Halloween ... now whether or not they are all perfectly orange, that remains to be seen....

Here's a shot of the original (first) pumpkin I discovered a while back, though now it's clearly in transition from green to orange and has some rather nice markings on it ... if it still looks like this around Halloween, I won't be bothered a bit, and in fact, I rather like this look!
And here we have the one that has been eluding us for a while ... the one closest to where Punkinstein originally established his territory, the compost pile. We both had figured there were pumpkins back there, but neither of us had found one, until today. Obviously, this one is more advanced than the others so far and will be a prime contender Jack O'Lantern within the next month! Really, this is a banner year here at Casa IVG that we can say we harvested both our own corn stalks and pumpkins (grown totally organically). At least we haven't been able to brag about that in previous years, despite better efforts to that end ... I guess sometimes if you do leave it all up to Chance, it does pay off from time to time....
And finally, here's Queen Pepa looking through the fencing that's supposed to keep her out of the back veggie garden, but doesn't really keep her out. According to Fernymoss, this was one of the few times he could get her to look directly at him while he was trying to get her to pose for the camera. But this is a typical Pepa look ...even with the weedy purple morning glory in the foreground. No matter what she was really thinking at this time, I'm sure that we can all speculate ... but I'm willing to bet that she understands that Fall and Winter are on their way, and it's just a matter of time before things wind down for the winter in the garden. We too, have to accept this and make our peace with the season. I'm just not willing yet, thus the Funk.

Acceptance coming soon, I expect.

10 comments:

Roses and Lilacs said...

I'm glad you're feeling better. We missed you.

Love the photo of Pepa.

I hope you are good at pumpkin carving. I can't wait to see some jack o lanterns.
Marnie

Annie in Austin said...

Hope you feel well again very soon. The speckled pumpkin is quite decorative just as it is, IVG - but you've got a whole month before Halloween for the colors to mellow even more. Maybe there's a market for organic corn stalks!

What did you think of Pushing Daisies? Did you like it well enough to tune in for the new season on Wednesday?

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

olivia said...

Hey toots!

Thanks for taking a moment to pop up a post to alleviate our worry-warting ... wish we could do the same for you! Hang in there ... Fall is the best season, and your favourite holiday will be here soon w/ your own home-grown pumpkins (how cool that is ... :)

boran2 said...

Welcome back to the blog, IVG! Glad to hear that you're better. Punkinstein and friends seem to be doing very nicely. And Queen Pepa seems to be enjoying herself!

Larry Kollar said...

Hey, nice pumpkins!

An old farmer a mile up the road has a couple hundred pumpkins & other kinds of gourds/squash for sale. I might have to buzz up there this weekend.

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi Marnie!
Thanks for the kind thoughts, and don't worry, you'll see them here during the Halloween blogstravaganza!

Fernymoss carves a much cooler pumpkin than I (he's the artistic type I'm not), though several years ago I did one of those Martha S. inspired 'Haunted House' pumpkins and it did turn out pretty cool. :-)

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi Annie, always nice to have you pop by!

I really like that speckled one too, but we'll see what another month does, though the green one may still be pretty green by then, and that's cool too! Nope, the corn stalks are taken (by us) and will be going up in front around our spooky scarecrow dude.

Funny you should mention Pushing Daisies ... I just got the discs Sat and we started it that night and have been doling out an episode or two per night in prep for the Wed premiere. We're savoring and loving every moment so far ... so again, thanks so much for pushing this one into my sphere a bit. :-) It's a great concoction of a little bit of Tim Burton, Amélie with its own unique quirk. I just love the hyper saturated colors (that shouldn't surprise you) and the whole look, and the supporting cast is outstanding, especially Swoosie, Ellen and Kristen.

Looking forward to a good run (short or long) of the series as long as they keep up this level of quality!

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hey Olivia!
Glad to see ya, and thanks for the kind thoughts. I've just been so burned out from being sick and working lots that that the blogger in me just had to shut down for a few days and go away. I did feel real guilty though!

We're going to start getting some stuff out this weekend to decorate and the corn stalks will be cut down and go out front soon, the pumpkins to follow when the plant gets zapped.

Fall is a great season, I agree. It's just what follows that I'm not so fond of....

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi B2,
Thanks! Not bad for a renegade pumpkin plant, eh? Something tells me they like growing directly in compost! LOL

Oh yeah, Queen Pepa always enjoys being the center of attention anywhere, as long as the focus is on her, and she can ignore you. Such are terrier whims....

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Yo FAR!
You should plant some pumpkins down there ... I'm kind of surprised your MIL doesn't have those on her agenda as well.

I've noticed the arrival of all sorts of squash around here lately, and it's something we love to see. We like having those in the winter months ... tasty comfort food.

BTW are you still having those gas shortages there? Guess I should get my butt over to the Manor to find out what's been shaking!