Pumpkins!?!

I forgot to mention that I am actually now a pumpkin grower. Last year I bought a pumpkin for a friend's pumpkin carving party, but I never cut it open. It was sitting in my garage and it started to rot so I stuck in a landscape area behind my house. Early in the spring I tilled the entire area under and mulched it. I have been contemplating what to plant there when I noticed something growing. At first I thought it was weeds and I even pulled a few up.

The stems were rather thick and there was an odd smell . Looking at them, they resembled watermelon seedlings, but they weren't quite right. I was wondering if my neighbors' kids had spit out some kind of melon seed in my yard, when I remembered the pumpkin. I have since thinned it out to about 10 plants, which is still quite a few. I expect I will pull up a few more as they get bigger.

This past weekend I also planted some marigold seeds around the pumpkins to help keep the bugs down. I got the seeds from a friend who had collected them from some plants she had a couple of years ago, so I am not 100% sure they will actually germinate and grow. Luckily it has been raining on and off the last several days. That should really help the seeds get started. I guess I need to take some pictures and post them.

Now I am really looking forward to the fall.