Hot pumpkin lerve!

We have, in the spirit of SOLE, been trying to grow pumpkins. It seemed so easy, hell, doesn't every compost heap sprout the ubiquitous punkin vine??

Umm.. no.

Last year we had mucho vine, nada punkins.

So this year, while trolling for tips, I came across Possumchops. She runs a fabo site about growing and using vegies from her own garden.

Anyhoo.. we have been discussing the vagaries of punkin sex, and this is what she recommends:

This is what a boy flower looks like. You'll see the long stem and the typical male feature on the inside of the flower.

I don't have any girl flowers, as all the very early ones are being killed off by the rain. This is a photo of one at its very early stages, before the flower is finished developing, but I will take a guess I will lose it too with the wet. But you can see the little bulb of the baby pumpkin is formed before pollination occurs.

And here's one we successfully prepared earlier. Pollinated by Grumbles himself, just pull off a boy flower from the vine and poke a girl flower gently, making sure the two parts on the inside touch.

Tada!

How kinky is THAT!!!.

So, tonight after work, I am off for some hout punkin lovin'. And hopefully lots of punkies for recipes in Winter.