My Growing Pumpkin Concern

You must admit, it’s not every day that someone comes to you with a pumpkin dilemma. But that’s what I’m doing here. You see, I planted these babies from seed a couple of months back and didn’t really know what to expect. I started them out in a little seed tray and watched them develop on my window sill. Within a week, they’d outgrown the seed tray. I just figured it was because daddy was here to look after them and patted myself on the back for being an excellent parent.

Soon they were ready to be planted outdoors and I chose a nice little sunny spot for them at the front of the house. There were only four plants and at this point each covered around a square foot. The minute I put them in the ground however, they realised they had some breathing space and decided to stretch their legs. Big time. Then the fruits began to appear. I couldn’t have been more proud of my nurturing efforts.

But here’s the issue. It’s only August 1st. The fruits may be the size of apples at the moment but they still have a couple of months growing to do. As you can see from the pictures they’ve already outgrown the patch of earth they were alloted and have crept up the path onto a brick wall. Despite my vigorous pruning, their expansionist tendencies are not waning. What if they decide to take over my neighbour’s garden too? It could be a diplomatic incident.

Not only that, but as each plant has roughly four pumpkins, I’m going to have to figure out what the hell to do with sixteen pumpkins at Halloween. I mean they’re going to be huge, you can’t just stick sixteen pumpkins under the sink. I’m going to have to build an extension onto the house.

And then there’s the whole question of how to cook them. Ok, at halloween I may sacrifice one of them for a lantern but the rest I’m going to have to eat. I don’t even know if I like pumpkin. What the hell was I thinking about, growing pumpkins?

This is where you come in. I need suggestions, people. There’s no hurry but between now and halloween I need recipes, recipes, recipes. I’ll try and think of a prize for the best one, anything, just someone tell me what to do with sixteen pumpkins so I can sleep at night..

-George

Tweet This Post