In an earlier post I wrote about Ms. J's mystery plant, which we thought was growing a melon. But the vegetable grew even larger, and became orange instead of yellow, and then it obviously was a pumpkin. It had grown hanging down inside a tall tomato cage, which was even taller because it was in a large pot. Ms. J. is very short of stature, and I have a very touchy back, so we talked a strong young man we know into lifting it up and over and out of the tomato cage. He had to lift it up over his head, so I am sure Ms. J. and I could not have managed it, even as a joint effort. She hasn't officially weighed it, but we estimated it to be at least 20 pounds.
Meanwhile, my summer squash plants have only recently begun to slow down production. One yellow straightneck squash managed to hide in the clover near the edge of the garden, and was over a foot long when I discovered it.
I went searching on the internet for ideas, not being sure what to do with such a large squash of that variety. I found this website, and decided to try making the stuffed squash. I successfully removed the seedy part, and then cut away the remaining flesh, leaving enough for a good "wall."
I chopped up the flesh I had removed and sauteed it with onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and rosemary. I added some leftover diced chicken, mixed it all up, and scooped it into the "boats." It seemed a bit colorless, so I sprinkled on some paprika.
Following the instructions, I covered it loosely with foil and baked it at 375 degrees for about half an hour. Steam blurred the photo of the finished product.
It was tasty enough, but the stuffing fell apart very easily, making it difficult to eat without making a mess. Another time I would think up something to hold it together better, like maybe tomato sauce.
Holy sheets! I can't say I've ever seen a pumpkin that size.
It's impressive, that's for sure!
Nice pumpkin! Ours have only just now started to flower; they were planted a bit late and the cool weather here is always a challenge for growing things. Maybe if El Nino gives us a nice long Indian summer we'll get a pumpkin out of them. ... With the squash, I'm not a cook, but I think you can bake them with just butter and they come out pretty well. I don't know; it's been a long time since I had squash, but I think my mom used to make them that way.
I haven't tried baking summer squash like that, only winter squash. But I bet it would work!
I planted a few late-in-the-season plants that were half price at a local store, and they aren't going to produce anything in time to harvest them: The pepper plant and acorn squash plants are bare, while, the cantaloupe plant has one or two fruits about the size of a duck egg.
I had this mystery "Volunteer" come up where I KNOW nothing had been planted.
When I first moved into my home I kept a bird feeder hanging from the corner of the eaves of the garage, which was directly above where this sprouted, but that feeder hasn't been there in several years.
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Have you figured out what it is? Looks sort of like a squash or gourd. It's weird how volunteer plants show up like that. I had hollyhocks along the side of our house for years, but gave them all away a few years ago because the deer liked them too well and I got tired of dealing with the deer fence. This year a hollyhock showed up there. (And the deer ate it.)