Last year, we had only one sugar pumpkin grow. We kept it, and in January – when it started getting a little soft – I put it outside and covered it with about 6 inches of composted rabbit droppings and bedding, etc. The experiment was to see if the pumpkin would result in a pumpkin patch…

I was very happy to see that last week, the pumpkins started to emerge from under the straw and compost…

And this week – there are many little pumpkin plants working their way to the surface. I don’t know what will happen with them – but my  intention is to let them do as they please and fight it out for the strongest plants to survive.  I hope that there will be many pumpkins that can be processed and frozen and one extra that we will keep to start the pumpkin patch for next year…

What will happen remains to be seen, but the experiment is going very well so far. My thinking is that pumpkins are full of seeds and the hard shell protects them through winter and breaks down to feed the plants as they emerge in spring. It’s a built in system that really doesn’t need to be helped. Plants want to grow and we have put them in a place where they can vine out and fill the back of the garden, so conditions are right and we just need to be patient. It’s the most difficult part of this – the waiting. But it is the only thing that can be done at this point. We’ll wait and see what the Great Pumpkin experiment yields…

Edited to add new photo 6.8.16