Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Too much of a good thing

Okay, the pumpkin vine thing is getting a little out of hand. When we had a couple of pumpkins and 10 or so feet of vines, it was a fun accident and a good way to teach Abby about how things grow. Apparently cutting off the first two pumpkins gave the vine the energy it needed to go into growth hyperspeed. This is now what the side of our house looks like:

I'm not sure if you can tell, but the vine reaches all the way back to the fence. The two lengths running parallel to the driveway are around 10 feet long and growing substantially each day. And all of those yellow flowers have the potential to turn into big pumpkins. To give you a better idea of how big these flowers and leaves are, I had Matt hold his hand out next to a bloom for perspective:

I'm sure you can see how this could very easily get out of hand. I don't want to get rid of the vine, just...contain it. I'm sure we're violating some city code by growing produce in the front yard. I'm hoping we'll at least get a few more pumpkins out of the deal. Matt assures me that he can get rid of the vine in no time if necessary, so I'm content for now. If a school bus pulls up in front of our house for a field trip to the pumpkin patch, though, it's all over.



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Turn this pumpkin thing into a money maker! Everybody on the BUS! It's a fieldtrip to see the Great Pumpkin Patch ( for a small fee of course)Come on get inventive! Sell some seeds! Open a Pumpkins R Us Store, all pumpkin all the time! Pumpkin tie dyed shirts, pumpkin candy, of course pumpkin pie and the ever popular pumpkin candy! You could even have your own pumpkin parade! with floats, marching bands and beauty queens! I say go for it! Let your pumpkins Shine!

Gloria Brown said...

If you advertised and charged a fee to get in, you could make some serious Christmas money!

Alice said...

I just had to LOL at the pumpkin patch statement.

Anonymous said...

Nance- you could be on to something here! This year at Thanksgiving, have Matt pitch out a couple of handsfull of corn! You could grow a corn maze, sell apple cider and have a hay ride all in the confines of your own back yard. Abby could be the tour guide, and E could keep the crowds in line or formation or whatever! Holly could sell the tickets and Jerry could charge to let the kids spit shine his bald head. It's a fortune 500 circus in the works! Come one, come all to the Bunch's Pumpkin Patch/Hay Ride/Corn Field Maze Circus! And you don't even have to leave your yard to have all the entertaiment your children deserve!