You will remember that I've noted previously that vegetables are great teachers? I was referring to tomatoes at the time. Well I've also learned a new lesson from my pumpkin patch at Struan Farm, where I'd planted out spaghetti squash, Marina di Chioggia and Musquee de Provence pumpkins (maybe also Jarrahdale or Queensland Blue, but I can't remember now either way on that one). Over the summer I watched in horror as the spaghetti squash grew to huge proportions while there were no pumpkins in sight. In fact, we'd wanted relatively more pumpkins than spaghetti squash, you know how that works.
Yep, spaghetti squash is an Alpha Male, a veritable bully of the vegetable world. It pushes everything else out of the way. Fortunately for me the squash have grown and matured, making way for a few pumpkins to grow and hopefully ripen in time before the first frost. The squash are so huge there is no way we can possibly eat this much/many. I spend a bit of time each day cheering the pumpkins on, willing them to grow and ripen. (Must confess that a few spaghetti squash have gone straight to the compost bin.) I think I'll end up with one-two Marina di Chioggia, two-three Musquee de Provence, and one mystery. The pumpkins have told me in future they need their own space, like people do, and they've stretched out of their fenced patch to grow around the surrounding lawn and water tank to make their point.
It's funny because most people would say that pumpkins can grow anywhere, like wildfire. That's simply not the case when they have to fight it out with spaghetti squash. Lesson learned. Next year: just pumpkins in the patch!
Comments