Dianne and the Pumpkin Vine
One of hubby’s friends from work gave us a pumpkin from his garden a few months back. It was so yummy I kept the seeds and planted them at the front of the RUC.
Well, I’m sure you’ve heard of Jack and the Beanstalk – we now have Dianne and the Pumpkin Vine.
This baby has decided it just wants to cuddle the front of the RUC. It’s trying to make it’s way to the first floor!
There are biggish pumpkins
And littlish pumpkins
and flowers…
…some with native bees on them
(can you see that cute little native bee? They don’t sting and they make the BEST honey)
And to add colour to the garden, the hibiscus are blooming in orange, and…
…red
It’s almost winter here and I’m loving the cooler weather.
I’ve only got one question – how do I know when a pumpkin is ripe enough to pick?
***Have a great week!***
Dianne Gray author 
Beautiful! Good for you for actually growing pumpkins…but my favorite flower is the hibiscus and these were gorgeous! Thanks for the pictures…
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Luckily I live in an area where everything grows to immense proportions, Sheila (but unfortunately the weeds do as well) so I don’t have to put a lot of effort into gardening. The hibiscus is glorious but hubby wants to pull them out to put in a new driveway – over my dead body 😀
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Never surrender, Dianne! Do not pave paradise to make it a parking lot (or a new driveway, for God’s sake).
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Haaaa – you’re so much like me! I’ll tie myself to them so they’re never replaced with a driveway! 😀
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I think you have to *thunk* it to tell if it’s ripe. 😀
Hope you get some great pumpkins off that lovely vine.
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Oh – I know exactly what you mean, Nancy – I’ll try it. Thank you! 🙂
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that is very cool, Dianne. Don’t they turn orange when they’re ready? Or–my favorite problem-solver: Google it.
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They’re kind of purple and they stay purple, Jacqui so it can be a bit confusing – and you’re right about Google: it’s my best friend 😀
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You’re ready for winter and I’m jumping for joy it’s finally spring. But at least we both still have pretty flowers around us. That’s where our seasons converge. 🙂
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Winter is beautiful in the tropics, Carrie. No tropical storm threat, no melting away in the humidity, no snakes on the dog walk – haaaa, I guess there’s a load of reasons to love it 🙂
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You had me at “no snakes.”
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😀 😀 😀
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You’re heading into winter and we’re feeling like the dog days of summer already. We’ve missed spring. Your photos are gorgeous, Dianne! I’ve never seen an orange hibiscus…it’s a beauty!
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I bought two orange hibiscus, Jill and only one of them is doing well (although the one that’s not doing so well was mowed over when it was tiny by hubby’s uncle) 😉 I absolutely love winter here – the coolest it gets is about 19C (or 66F) and it’s such a relief from the suffocating heat xxxx
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I have pumpkin envy… we had a volunterr pumpkin vine sneak up with the potatoes -makes sense from a baked dinner perspective- but it was all leafy show, no-go with flowers or punkins so it’s gone to compost heaven. I think the best way to tell if they are ripe depends on the type, size, colour change, noise when tapped, if the neighbours are checking them out…
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Haaaa – yep they are at the front of the house so the neighbours may be taking notice 😉 You’re the only other person I know who calls random vegi growth ‘volunteers’. The best volunteers I ever had were rockmelon (but I think you already know that from a short story I wrote about it.) I haven’t seen any posts from you for a while – I’m sure I followed your new blog – I need to go and check again 😉
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Hmmm… don’t bother checking…April whizzed by without a post from me, thanks to Life and Hort Cert 3 major assignment but I’m still around the blog world, my sanity saver ☺
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I think what you Aussies call pumpkin we in North America call squash. A pumpkin is a type of squash, but specifically refers to the type that turns orange and is most commonly associated with Halloween. If that’s what you’re actually growing, harvest when they turn orange. Otherwise, pick your squash when they seem like they’re not getting any bigger and have a kind of hollow sound when you tap them.
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Thanks Janna. I didn’t realise the difference – sometimes our interpretation of words can get a bit confusing. We have ‘squash’ here but it’s a smaller type of pumpkin so I guess we’re on the same track 😉 I’ll be outside knocking on my pumpkin/squash this week! 😉
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I’m not a gardener so I can’t help you with your pumpkins. 😉 Your flowers are beautiful! I would love to live where things grow like they do with yours. 🙂 Except I don’t do well with heat and humidity. That’s why I left Texas. Well, one of the reasons. xxx
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You’re like me Jackie – I love the warm weather, but not the stinking heat where humidity is 100%. Having said that, the cold plays havoc with my MS so I’m kind of stuck having to live in the tropics 🙂
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We should all be stuck like that! LOL I’m soooo jealous. XXX
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I call those self-seeders “volunteers,” too. It’s a fairly common term in the American Midwest where I grew up. You’ll have to let us know how they taste once you’ve harvested them!
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First one down, Jacqueline! It was absolutely delicious!!! YAY xxxxx
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I can see delicious pumpkin soup in your future, Dianne.
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Haaaa – you are right! You are truly a seer! 😀
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Yummy! I love all things pumpkin. Here they turn orange when they’re ready to be picked–aside from that I don’t know! Cute bee!
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Those little bees are gorgeous and their honey is very sought after. I’ve tasted it when we found a nest inside a door at a friends house. We got a bee keeper to move the hive to a safer place and the honey was awesome. There are a lot of them around the farm which is a really good sign of a healthy environment 🙂
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Love those colours! Pumpkin pie is a favourite with my daughters. Envy all around.
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Oh – I’ve never made pumpkin pie, Allen. I’m going straight to google to find a recipe – thank you! 🙂
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Oh, I love your pumpkin vine. Squash plants are so beautiful. When I grew pumpkins, I just waited until they were a pretty orange, but that’s pretty amateur advice. Hee hee. Enjoy your lovely winter.
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I’ve been told they’re not real pumpkins by my American friends, Char. We’ve always called them pumpkins in Australia but I believe they’re actually known in the US as ‘squash’. But they’re still yummy!:D
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Wow – I hope you’ll be able to swing on that vine like Tarzan soon! 🙂 If you don’t, then maybe the creatures will. I love seeing such beautiful flowers this time of year – we’re still looking forward to lots of blooming here. Happy Fall!
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Thank you, Sheila! This is such a wonderful time of year 🙂 If I catch anyone (or anything) swinging on the vine I’ll be sure to get a picture for you xxxx
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Am I jealous of your pumpkin vine? Ah, yes, I am green (and purple and orange) with envy. That pumpkin vine loves its location and obviously loves you. What do you do with the pumpkin once it’s ripe and ‘thunks’? Do you roast the pumpkin seed? Enjoy your fall there. We are jumping up and down because it’s – finally – spring. No hibiscus though in New England. Yours are glorious.
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Apparently pumpkin seeds are very good for you, Pam – thank you for the idea and I am going to do just that! 🙂 Yum yum yum xxx
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And it’s fun to do! 🙂
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The orange hibiscus is gorgeous!!! And that’s so cool that you’ve got all those vines growing around! Totally freaking awesome! Keep working your magic, woman. ;D
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Oh Daphne – you always make me smile!!! xxxx
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I like the baby one. 🙂 🙂 I was going to suggest pricking with a knitting needle, but isn’t that what you do to cakes to see if they’re baked? And it seems a bit spiteful. 🙂
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Haaaa – it might scream if I prick it with a knitting needle 😀 And yes, that baby one is (was) so cute, but it’s growing quickly 😉
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I hope you find some treasure at the end of your pumpkin vine Dianne – or maybe the pumpkins are the treasure 🙂
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I’ve already tasted one and you’re right, Andrea – they really are the treasure! 🙂
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That’s wonderful. We are such terrible gardeners, that I’m a little jealous. Though, in truth, our soil isn’t the greatest and we don’t know how to take care of plants well besides, but hey, when we get something that works with little intervention from us, it’s quite amazing! Bees that don’t sting! I had no idea such a thing existed. Wonderful! With the other dangers of your animals down there, you deserve that.
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Haaaa – yes! the bees that don’t sting. Who would have thought in this part of the world we would be lucky enough to get those little beauties 😀
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Very cute out of control pumpkin vine ;). But that hibiscus is killing me! How glorious!
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That hibiscus is wonderful, Luanne 🙂
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Like some kind of silk.
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Wow, those are amazing. It’s so exciting when things grow in abundance!
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Oh yes, Mary! I just love the plants – but sometimes the weeds are stronger and it can be a bit of a chore trying to get them under control 😀 xxxx
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The gift that keeps on giving. 😀 So many pumpkins and it’s nowhere near to Halloween.
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Pumpkin scones, pie, soup, muffins… you name it, I’m searching for the recipes Sylvia! 😀
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What a beautiful update, Dianne!
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And a yummy one too! 😀 xxx
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Yum, DianneI love pumpkin soup but use to always pick the pumpkins too early too. My chooks use to scatter the seeds about and we would have pumpkins growing everywhere.
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I’ve got some big ones on now, Kath, but I’m still not sure when to pick them. I did the tap tap test on the last one I picked and it still wasn’t ripe enough (but it still tasted awesome!)
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