Growing Mini Pumpkins - The Easy Way!

I've taken a break from blogging for a couple weeks, but that's just given me a chance to line up some great falls posts.  First up, our mini pumpkin adventure!  It was the easiest thing we've ever grown!  And for just 50 cents and a whole lot of waiting you can grow your own mini pumpkins too!

Fall 2011 Holding Miniature Pumpkin

We pick out large pumpkins every fall at the pumpkin patch, but I also like to pick up a few mini pumpkins for the kids as well.  They're super cheap and their size makes them great for the little ones to handle and explore.  Sometimes we paint them or just use them as decoration.  

Last year we sat them on the porch with the large pumpkins.  One just happened to fall off into the flower bed, and me being the lazy gardener that I am, never bothered to pick it up.  Ever.  I just left it lying there in the flower bed, walking past it whenever we went outside or came back home.  

Pretty soon, I forgot it was ever there, that tiny little pumpkin rotting in the flower bed.  In the spring, my tulips came in again and my hosta grew bigger.  I had no idea what else was about to sprout in that small flower bed.

I'm sure I thought it was a weed at first, but as I already mentioned...I am a lazy gardener.  I don't weed often.  Eventually it grew bigger and bigger, and I quickly realized it was not a weed.  That miniature pumpkin was back!

We've enjoyed watching it grow over the past couple of months.  The leaves were huge and beautiful and the blossoms were bright bright yellow.  The little ones looked forward to checking on their pumpkins each time we'd go outside.

At first it looked like we might get several mini pumpkins.  But only two of them really started to grow past the blossoming stage.  Two is a good number though.  There is one for each of them.  

Last night we had the first major frost.  My son thought it had snowed because the ground was so white from the frost this morning.  I decided it was time to pick our pumpkins and get them inside.

They each pulled their pumpkin off the vine, being careful to leave enough of the stem.

They are so proud of them!  Their little miniature pumpkins!  We did nothing to them but watch them grow.

Fall 2012 Holding Miniature Pumpkins