Before the First Hard Freeze
Before last night's hard freeze (26-degrees F) I took a photo of one of the pumpkins we tried to save by draping the vines with sheets. 
My cousin sent the seeds from Germany for this one because it's one they use to make their pumpkin soup. This teardrop shaped variety is more meaty and less watery than the variety we grow for Jack-O-Lanterns in the U.S.
Stringer Nursery in Tulsa had the seeds last week but I didn't notice the brand name. If you see the seeds let me know what variety they are.
When we were in Germany Kurbis soup was being served in the restaurants but we ate it at family and friends' homes.
While searching the Internet for the variety of the seeds, I found a food blog entry about the soup.
Click here to read more about the yummy cream of squash soup we love so much at the Matters of Taste blog.
The butterfly bed by the front gate was gorgeous until last night. This is a sunset photo, just 8-hours before most of them turned black and began their long winter's nap.
That mum in the front (it's actually on the side of the bed) is a mum that I bought last year at the Muskogee Farmer's Market. Or, maybe it was two years ago.
The trick I learned this year is to prune, prune, prune until August, in order to keep the plant short enough to hold the weight of the eventual flowers.
As much as I dreaded the results of the freeze, I have to confess that it was nice to have a day off enjoying the realization that all that's left to do this fall is plant the garlic and daffodils. Well, plus tend the lettuce experiment in the cold frames.
My cousin sent the seeds from Germany for this one because it's one they use to make their pumpkin soup. This teardrop shaped variety is more meaty and less watery than the variety we grow for Jack-O-Lanterns in the U.S.
Stringer Nursery in Tulsa had the seeds last week but I didn't notice the brand name. If you see the seeds let me know what variety they are.
When we were in Germany Kurbis soup was being served in the restaurants but we ate it at family and friends' homes.
While searching the Internet for the variety of the seeds, I found a food blog entry about the soup.
Click here to read more about the yummy cream of squash soup we love so much at the Matters of Taste blog.
The butterfly bed by the front gate was gorgeous until last night. This is a sunset photo, just 8-hours before most of them turned black and began their long winter's nap.
That mum in the front (it's actually on the side of the bed) is a mum that I bought last year at the Muskogee Farmer's Market. Or, maybe it was two years ago.
The trick I learned this year is to prune, prune, prune until August, in order to keep the plant short enough to hold the weight of the eventual flowers.
As much as I dreaded the results of the freeze, I have to confess that it was nice to have a day off enjoying the realization that all that's left to do this fall is plant the garlic and daffodils. Well, plus tend the lettuce experiment in the cold frames.
posted by Martha at
7:35 PM
4 Comments:
That is a great orange color and the flowers gorgeous! I will try to cut my mums longer next year and hope it works out. Thanks for the tip.
Cutting mums - I started in June and stopped in August. It actually worked!
Good luck with yours, Tina.
Hi Martha,
Informative post! I have 2 questions: did draping the pumpkin w/it's own leaves work to protect it from frost? And re: the mums, could you guess how many times you cut them back? I usually do two heavy prunings, ending in July, but perhaps I should try a few more and continue a little later into the season.
Hi Ellen -
Actually, I pruned the mums on three occasions, though I wouldn't swear that I cut every bud each time. Three prunings yielded a wonderful result. The blooming height of the pot was controlled and none of the stems flopped under the weight of the flowers.
The German Kurbis vines died, every single leaf was black the next day. The draping did nothing to keep the vines going.
However, we ended up with 7 Kurbis - plenty of Kurbis soup for the two of us and a few guests.
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