06 August 2012

Pumpkins' progress

In late May, the pumpkin patch was just a newly-ploughed part of the hay field:


After a dry July, the plants were just about getting going but there were still a fair few bald spots to be seen in between them when I took this photo on July 19th:


Now we've had some reasonable rainfall, the plants have really taken off and there's hardly any earth visible. It's well-nigh impossible to tell where one plant starts and another finishes.


The only clues are in the fruit growing on each vine. This one is Crown (I think):


And I'm not sure what this one is (there are a few candidates), but it's a lovely buttery colour:


And this one (possibly New England Sugar Pie?) is just beginning to turn orange:



Maybe I read Cinderella too often as a child, but I always think there's something magical about pumpkins and I love watching them grow. Pumpkin is a great word, too - originally (the OED tells me) it was 'pumpion', but it turned into 'kin' somewhere along the way.

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