Update on pumpkin plant

Looks like we are going to get some baby pumpkins!  There were plenty of "male" flowers starting out:

And then finally, a few "female" flowers appeared.  You can see the difference on the stamen (middle-inside) of the flower:

You can also tell the female flower by the "fruit" underneath the flower:

But the fruit will only become the pumpkin if the female flower is pollinated.  We found this out the hard way last year when we had our pumpkin plant at our apartment.  Unlike tomatoes where the flowers eventually become the fruit, the pollen from the male flower needs to get into the female flower.  I sort of had to use this same analogy when Graham and Charlie asked me how they got into my belly. Ha ha!!!

So, just in case the bees and other insects were not quite doing their job pollinating, we decided to hand-pollinate. Not sure if these pumpkins will be ready by Halloween but we should be getting some for Thanksgiving.  We will needs lots of it to make pumpkin pie since Graham wanted to plant little baby pumpkins!

And while we're still on the topic of planting, I was able to harvest some tomatoes and some red sweet peppers for our salad last night. Yay! :-)

I might have to branch out and plant some more/different veggies.  Supposedly green beans will help replenish the soil too (and our soil probably needs a lot of help!).  I will have to check the almanac to see when I can start planting green beans.  Might have to get rid of some rose bushes or move them to the front so I have some more space in the backyard.  Phew - that front yard is another project!