Move Over Mary Poppins!

The real life adventures of one nanny, her husband, child, dogs, house, and whatever else crosses her path.

My Photo
Name:
Location: MA, United States

Find me at http://camerondgarriepy.com, and http://twitter.com/camerongarriepy

Thursday, June 03, 2010

The Great Pumpkin; or Good Things Come from Neglect

Last fall, my Mom took Felix to her local garden store to pick out his Halloween Pumpkin.





Yes. I know he's wearing the fire helmet backwards. He wasn't yet two. So?

So, when I asked him if he wanted to cut out a face for his jack-o-lantern, he looked at me as though I'd suggested lopping off one of his limbs.

"I don't WANT you to cut it!" he yelled, indignant.

Needless to say, we didn't have a jack-o-lantern, which was okay, since we trick-or-treated with friends two towns over, and Mark would never leave a lit candle on our front porch. He's the paranoid smart one.

An uncut pumpkin will keep nicely on a front porch as November arrives in New England and the temperatures drop. Ours stayed right where it was through the first snows of December, into frigid January, until Mark plopped it in an adjacent plant pot so its eventual decomposition wouldn't stain the mahogany decking on the front porch.

And there it sat. Until I moved the whole pot to the backyard gate, intending to compost the contents and recycle the cracked plastic pot, in early April. Two weeks ago, I noticed that a small, fuzzy pumpkin leaf was sprouting from the ruins.
Two days ago, I saw that a full fledged pumpkin plant was living in the pot.

Today, it has a proper home.
So the cycle can continue...

Labels: ,

6 Comments:

Blogger Jen said...

How cool is that? I think my green thumb fell off a few years back. The only thing I manage to keep alive is aloe vera. You can't kill that stuff.

6/3/10, 4:59 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I grew a pumpkin once! It was bigger than the dog! Good luck growing a great big one for Hallowe'en! Maybe this year Felix will let you make a face on it. Maybe. One of my grandsons wore his Bob the Builder helmet for two solid years, after he was Bob for Hallowe'en. :) Felix's fire helmet reminded me of this. I love little boys and their car and truck and building obesssions. :)

6/3/10, 6:20 PM  
Anonymous kris said...

So very very cool! I love this story! And how excellent if this year's jack-o-lantern face is painted on the pumpkin you grow yourself?

Love that.

6/3/10, 9:47 PM  
Blogger Cameron said...

@Anonymous
For Felix, it's his Pixar Cars die-cast cars. He carries them in a little bag everywhere we go...

6/3/10, 10:48 PM  
Blogger Cameron said...

@kris
I think painting will have to be the way we go. He's a stubborn wee monkey, and has already embraced the sense of "tradition" in the sense that once we do something one way, THAT is how it's DONE.

6/3/10, 10:52 PM  
Blogger Cameron said...

@Jen
You know, I've never had an aloe, and I'm usually pretty good with succulents....

Hrm. That sounds wrong.

6/3/10, 10:52 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home