Visit the kelpforest....

Big pumpkin at the grocery store; had to be sneaky because you're not supposed to take pictures there. But it was such neat shade of orange (almost red) with yellow and green as well that I couldn't resist.

Pumpkin at Albertson's
Huntington Beach CA
Kyocera Switchback phone camera
12 October 2008

Dad decided to pick up an early Halloween decoration.

aqua_permanens said this was freaky, and I think it's totally random, but it did turn up the first guy I had a serious crush on...

( ... is love thingie. )

And Happy Thanksgiving to people on my list who may or may not be spending the day in the kitchen. I am getting out of it this year, because John invited himself and the rest of us to his mom's, and I'm bringing salad and the following. Ruth in my garden club brought it to our meeting Monday night refreshments and it was pretty tasty and simple to make. Think of it as pumpkin pie you dunk cookies in:

Pumpkin Dip

2 cups confectionary sugar
1 8 oz package cream cheese
1 15 oz can of pumpkin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
(I think nutmeg and cloves would be good too, but that's my own opinion)

Mix the sugar and cream cheese until well blended. Stir in the pumpkin and spices and mix until smooth. Store in fridge until ready to use, and serve with ginger snaps, vanilla wafers, graham crackers, apple slices, or whatever else you think sounds good with pumpkin.

Actually, I used about a quarter of the amount of sugar, because the pumpkin pie filling I used was already sweetened, and it tasted fine.

Is this any where near you? I thought you mentioned Keene, but I can't remember where it is. Looks like a lot of fun!

A town and a pumpkin pro carve a niche for themselves ...
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1020/p13s02-lihc.html

Lots of pumpkin carving tips too!

Damn, how did it get to be Friday already? It seems like I just came in Monday morning.

I seem to remember someone in my garden club saying that you couldn't plant anything in August, because it was hot enough that plants just couldn't get established. However, this has been a very cool summer, and a week or two of marine layer in the mornings have allowed the pumpkin plant to be nearly taken over by powdery mildew.

This morning I tried spraying the leaves with the baking soda/water mixture, but when I checked it before I left for work, it had dried to look almost exactly the same. I was trying to remember the mildew spray I saw in Sunset a year or two ago; it had baking soda, a bit of dish soap, and some other stuff in it, but I can't remember what it was. ML suggested lemon juice at lunch, and I almost think it might have been vinegar, but I'm not sure. She said possibly sulfur dust as well. I'll try that tomorrow morning - I think I still have some from when my potted amaryllises got fungus gnats.

That damn pumpkin has grown to about thirty pounds in a month! I just don't want the vine to die before it's stopped growing. I need to find a piece of styrofoam to put it on so it doesn't rot. It seems like the vine is putting all its effort into this one fruit. Any new one that has started lately get to be about apple-sized and then rots. There are still a lot of flowers, but when I checked them a few days ago all of them were male. I didn't see any female flowers at all. I've never grown pumpkins before, so I don't know if this is what they normally do.

( The Monster in question (and friend)... )