沙漠菜园: Getting Ready for Halloween???

It’s a beautiful summer day outside, yet my mind is on fall and Halloween?

为什么?

Because, this is what I discovered 日益增长的 in my vegetable garden this morning…

Okay, maybe you cannot see it yet, but once you part the leaves…

你可以看到一个白色的南瓜正在快乐地生长.

I’m so excited to have a 南瓜 日益增长的 in my garden again.

You might be scratching your head at this point and wonder why I have a 南瓜 日益增长的 in the middle of summer.

Look at any vegetable 植物ing calendar for zone 9a deserts and you will see that 南瓜 seeds should be 植物ed in mid-June if you want 南瓜s ready for Halloween.

南瓜 vines are fairly easy to 成长 and they will spread out a lot!  We found that out the hard way when we grew our 第一个南瓜藤蔓 几年前.

Even though 南瓜 vines 成长 well, they rarely form 南瓜 fruit (是的，严格来说南瓜是一种水果) when 植物ed in the middle June as recommended.

2010年betway旗舰版下载的第一个南瓜 

BUT, 南瓜s will often form if you 植物 the seeds a couple of months early.  I’ve 成长n 南瓜s from seeds sown in spring before (click here).  Unfortunately, I have had no luck having 南瓜s from from seeds sown in June (as recommended).

So my plan is to allow my 南瓜 to continue 日益增长的 and then pick it when it is ripe in late July  or early August.

然后我会把它储存在冰箱里, dry place where it should (hopefully) keep until I put out 秋天的装饰 in September.  I’m hoping it will last through October, but we will see.

*顺便说一下, 我妈妈有一只白色的, 传家宝南瓜 that she purchased last October that is still doing well and shows no signs of rot.  

I 植物ed some 传家宝南瓜 seeds from a 南瓜 that I bought last fall, 藤蔓长得很好.  I hope to see a 南瓜 forming on that vine soon.

From what I have observed, 传家宝南瓜s with hard outer skin/shell seem to last a long time.

I’ll keep you updated as to how my 南瓜 patch is doing and when my new 南瓜 is ready to pick!

诺艾尔约翰逊, 又名, “阿兹植物女士”是一位园艺师, 认证树艺家, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, 成长, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, 干燥的气候. 她通过自己来做到这一点 咨询服务，她的在线课程 101年betway苹果下载和她每月的会员俱乐部， 穿过花园门. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."