With a knife in my hand, I wandered out to the front yard...........

(don't be alarmed..........it's not a horror blog post)

which now has been taken over by pumpkin vines and brightly blooming zinnias.

 If you look to your right, you can barely see Sophie as she romps around in the thick growth.

I had only meant to have a small patch of pumpkins in the front yard so that I could look out in between my writing and enjoy the view. I did not think that they would take off and grow this well. Of course I really enjoy the view now.........

A few posts back I showed you this pumpkin, which at that time was 49 inches around. I have watched it grow and have been so delighted with it, that I have had a hard time deciding about cutting it..........however, more pumpkins are wanting to grow, so with the knife, I cut it from the vine.

 

It was so large and heavy that I struggled getting it to the front porch. It reached 56 1/2 inches around and weighed 62 pounds!

Most of all it is just a really pretty pumpkin.................

don't you think??

It is so big that it makes my regular size pumpkins look like miniatures.

I've been asked by friends and family about what I plan to do with it.

I am not going to carve it. I am just going to enjoy looking at it on the porch.  I am sure there is a lot of good pumpkin inside of it  that could be cooked down for pies ............but I will do that with my other pumpkins.

When the large pumpkin finally gets wilted down towards late fall, I will take out the seeds and keep them for next year's planting.

In fact, I think I won't have grass in the yard any longer.................

I think I will have a pumpkin patch instead.

 



This year, I have let my main large zinnia/flower garden

rest.

Although, my loyal scarecrow, Gertrude, watches over it all.

For years, this garden has produced the most beautiful zinnia and other flowers. But the last couple of growing seasons has not had good results. Along with letting it rest, I have been adding compost,  tilling in the weeds that grow, and trying to remove all of the thorned grass burs that love a vacant field.  All of this, in hopes that the ground will start "living" again and hopefully next year will produce well.

I am also wanting to design a specific look to this garden. Adding unusual paths and "garden art" that I create along the way. These stones are nothing more than plain and boring chunks of concrete that were broken up from a field next to our property. The farmer was more than happy for me to carry these off .

Since I have learned how to be creative with cement, I embellished a few of the stones with cement, using my pumpkin and gourd leaves to leave a decorative impression on them.

I also used pine tree cuttings and pine cones.

Now the path will have an interesting look to it along in the garden.

Since I have a large amount of beautiful leaves in the pumpkin patch, I decided to preserve some of those in cement as well.

These will be beautiful in my garden design..........

and to work with the cement pumpkins I am making.

I have also created bird baths as well as shallow watering dishes for the birds and  small reptiles to enjoy a drink from. Now that the weather is cooling, I will be spending much of my days out in this area...............hoping for beautiful results by planting season next year.

How about you?

Do you have any problematic garden spaces that you want to work in?

I would love to hear!



Storm clouds are forming across the prairie

and a cool breeze, as well as a big drop in the temperature, lures me to put my needle down and to step away from my studio

 to come out and enjoy the gardens. Looks like I am going to have a good "small" bunch of pumpkins this year. I can now see them poking out above the large leaves, as I look out over the grounds.

I planted fairy tale pumpkins as well and they are starting to grow.

I am delighted................This is a very large pumpkin still growing in the patch......

It measures 49 around! Think of the pumpkin pies this fella will give!

My Zinnia gardens are producing their own symphony. They are growing in just about every corner

there is along the grounds and under the trees as well as in the gourd and pumpkin patch.

I have a new visitor to the garden this year. I have not seen bumble bees in all the years that we have been out here until this year. I had been told that the poison sprayed on the surrounding cotton fields have killed most of the bees off. Here at Pleasant Prairie.............the main reason I have name this place as such..............I have started to see many creatures come to visit and stay.

 

Here is the little Pomegranate tree that I planted last year. I call it my
"one hit wonder" because last year and now, this year I have only gotten 1 pomegranate from it. It is full of blooms in the early spring, but either the high winds blow them off or the birds play havoc.

But I am content to at least get one. I love the way they look in form and color.............

don't you?

The patch of decorative gourds has stated producing and each day their is some

new and unique character waiting to be plucked and brought in to be placed into the fall basket.

 

I am eagerly looking forward to fall's arrival. Caramel apples, the fairs with the smell of funnel cakes and grilled corn, and of course pumpkin pie are what I always look forward to.

How about you?

Is fall your favorite time of year?

What do you like best about it?

I would love to hear!