Harvesting a GourZuchumpkin! What's next?

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Well, I haven't bragged about our crazy overgrown, not-producing-much garden this year.

How about a cross pollinated Gourzucumpkin! Yep....trust me it was real.

This is the last submarine Zucchini I picked from the garden in early October. It was very large and heavy and dark green with a bit of dusky orange mottling. I thought it might be turning rotten, but I brought it in and put it on my island  in a basket.

Under the pile of golden pumpkins, Delicata Squash, Butternut Squash I realized this week it had turned completely orange and wasn't squishy anywhere it was actually HARD? 

oldnewgreenredo

 I had pumpkins planted in our first big raised bed, five feet away I had 2 Zucchini plants planted in the next raised bed. To the west 8-10 feet I had two gourd plants by the corn. We did get one small lumpy green/orange gourd. 

Now, you tell me, does this looks like a Zucchini when it was dark green and now does it look like a Pumpkin?

That's my longest knife, so it's pretty good size. The skin was so hard I called Hubby to help as my poor wrists couldn't even dent it.

oldnewgreenredo

Here's three of my pie pumpkins to compare. I like the small ones because they have nice thick meat and keep well.

Well after almost breaking our wrists hubby came up with this way to cut the (Creature)  Zucchumpkin, see the quick video above! 

oldnewgreenredo

We really had to whack it. I was beginning to wonder if I should waste gas baking this thing? 

Here you can see the hard outer shell----on the edge...no wonder we could hardly get through it. 

Curious, and since I was baking some other pumpkins, we cut it up for baking.

oldnewgreenredo

The seeds looked like pumpkin seeds only very 

thick...nice thick meat on the sides, not watery like Zucchini at all, and very firm.

oldnewgreenredo

Well, I baked it and it was sweet and delicious, the seeds were baked also as they were easier to pull out that way. If I had saved some they probably wouldn't produce as they would be a hybrid.

oldnewgreenredo

Can't wait to make a Gouzuchumpkin PIE...LOL.

What else is going on...we killed ourselves this week cleaning up the yard with the last of the nice weather and snow forecasted for today and tomorrow. Yep, finally our gorgeous golden Autumn is dying. Today the yard is filled with snow covered leaves. 

oldnewgreenredo

This was taken Thursday...the last of the red colors in the Forest Preserve.

We finished clearing all the outdoor Halloween in time and it is successfully stored. 

Hubby is having two eye surgeries starting this week, 

so I will be the driver as he is blind as a bat without his glasses. His prescription will likely change, so we figure a minimum of three weeks or more 

of not much going on.

Unfortunately that may curtail our Christmas lights and decorations outside, sigh...I won't be able to handle it all myself. Aging just means everything takes longer.

Harvesting...

Inside is a small disaster dragging all the plants in,...

oldnewgreenredo

We brought in one raised planter with all the Herbs...I have room for a new Basil, as ours were just DONE!  Here are Chives (2), Parsley, Oregano, Thyme, some Rosemary and I'll add a Basil. We should be good for cooking all winter I hope. I have a HUGE Rosemary plant also, I brought in.

oldnewgreenredo

Right now the Rosemary is on the table along with everything else. I had 5 huge sunflower heads that had seeds, so I sorted and bagged, labeled and dated them. Also bagged the seeds from the Sunflower small heads (not that many seeds) since the Gold Finches demolished. I still have my Zinnias and other flower seeds to harvest, but they are in a huge bouquet drying on the island. We had loads of flowers still blooming when we had to clean up the yard.  

oldnewgreenredo

'Tis the Harvest Season

Fall, Leaves, Fall

Emily Brontë

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;

Lengthen night and shorten day;

Every leaf speaks bliss to me

Fluttering from the autumn tree.

I shall smile when wreaths of snow

Blossom where the rose should grow;

I shall sing when night’s decay

Ushers in a drearier day.

But, I'm collecting seeds and planning for new crops. 

A gardener can't help but believe in the future, 

or why would we plant a seed? 

Happy Harvest from our Home 

~~~~~~~To YOURS!~~~~~~~

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questions, and suggestions.

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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own or I am in possesion of the originals, 

I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or products used. 

Please do not use my photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. 

Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

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Sandi

Deja Vous Fall

                                                                                                 AdFreeBlog

This post was featured at 

Farmhouse Friday #418 10/11/25

Hi, All!

Vintage Fall and Naturals 

on the Front Porch

Good Morning, it's finally FALL!

Oldnewgreenredo

Slowly, I have been starting to do Fall as temperatures have finally tempered here in Chicagoland. Yesterday was spent in the garden, pulling up done plants, 

and trying to find our pumpkins and squashes. 

We had some great growth, but not lots of produce. 

oldnewgreenredo

 I found this NEW great greenhouse garden frame for $4.00 at a craft store discount aisle,  I showed it in an early post here: Somethings Old….

 I thought this would be great for a REDO vignette for Fall, with the rich rust coloring on the metal.

oldnewgreenredo

I wanted to use different things on our porch this time, 

I thought this would be a great addition for cool Fall nights, an OLD kerosene lantern.

Here is a closeup of my Grandfather's watchman's lantern cleaned up from an early post:

Junkin' in the Garage

oldnewgreenredo

I confess the garden-shed frame was tucked away behind the settee on the porch all summer. The porch has  new railings and stairs---with NEW 'out of stock' materials since May---holding up the whole show for almost six months--that's a YELP story for another day.

oldnewgreenredo

Still not 100% done, the porch is ready to style a bit and use now.

 We bought the larger pumpkin at the local grocery store, as ours were too small. 

The gourds are from years past; dried and left natural grown in our own, GREEN, garden. 

 Every time I walk by, I fiddle with the gourds, and occasionally I find a walnut stored in there by one of our local squirrels.

Do they really think the corner of the stairs and my Fall vignette is a hiding place?

 I did spray the gourds with some Johnson's Wax-Pledge when they were fully dry to enhance the color and seal in the dustiness of the gourds.

oldnewgreenredo

Here's our Zinnia's--oops we found out they were Sunflowers in July. I picked one of the dried blossoms and used it for the 'GREEN' element in the front.

Another sprig of smaller sunflowers was put in the back. 

Adding a few pinecones and that is pretty much it. 

I'm sure this will change when my Fall bins are delivered by hubby, from upstairs in the garage.

oldnewgreenredo

The craft wood Scarecrow was from a painting project I taught at Michael's back in the 1990's. I taught free-hand painting without patterns---back then, which was out of the norm. 

Somewhere I have a photo  of 14 of these all painted differently by the students.

This scarecrow is a favorite of the Grand Girl as the arms move up and down. He has long since lost his "Pumpkins for Sale" wired sign. My gosh, he is OLD and vintage now.

oldnewgreenredo

A straw hay bale waits over in the corner with the houseplants, for a pumpkin or two or three--

they are really small!

The pensive angel tile was a NEW rescue from 'HomeGoods' two seasons back.

oldnewgreenredo

The one plant that was very happy outside this summer was my Rosemary--I'm wondering where on earth I am going to keep it in the house this winter. It smells so good.

oldnewgreenredo

Here's a  view of the entire seating area--with a lightweight throw REDO

 for those cool nights-perfect color for the porch from GoodWill-$2. 

I added smaller mums in the summer planter box.

 Grampa's OLD lantern and a stoneware candle pot from my potter days, probably from the 1980s, finish off the table top. A REDO antique crate serves as a table between the chairs. 

oldnewgreenredo

So Finally---beginning Happy FALL, 

from my OLD front porch to yours.

If you enjoyed this post, please join via Blogger or the FOLLOW IT in the upper right corner of the blog page.

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All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use my photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

And Always, Thanks for stopping by, 

Sandi

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle

Finally Beginning Happy Fall!

Ad-Free Blog

Beginning Fall on the Front Porch

Good Morning, it's finally FALL!

Slowly I have been starting to do Fall as temperatures have finally gone down in Chicagoland. Yesterday was spent in the garden, pulling up done plants, 

and trying to find our pumpkins and squashes. 

Not the best year--all my pumpkins are very small,

except for two FairyTales (one in a tree) which are not even a bit orange yet.

So last June, I found this NEW great greenhouse garden frame for $4.00 at a craft store discount aisle,  I showed it in an early post here: Somethings Old….

 I thought this would be great for a REDO vignette for Fall, with the rich rust coloring on the metal.

I wanted to use different things this year on the refurbished porch, 

I thought this would be a great addition for cool Fall nights, an OLD kerosene lantern.

Here is a closeup of my Grandfather's watchman's lantern cleaned up from an early post:

Junkin' in the Garage

I confess the garden-shed frame was tucked away behind the settee on the porch all summer. The porch was a mess, undergoing new railings and stairs---with NEW 'out of stock' materials since May---holding up the whole show for almost six months--that's a YELP story for another day.

Still not 100% done, the porch is ready to style a bit and use now.

 We bought the larger pumpkin at the local grocery store, as ours were too small. 

The gourds are from years past; dried and left natural grown in our own, GREEN, garden. 

 Everytime I walk by, I fiddle with the gourds, and occasionally 

find a walnut stored in there by one of our local squirrels.

Do they really think the corner of the stairs and my Fall vignette is a hiding place?

 I did spray the gourds with some Johnson's Wax-Pledge when they were fully dry to enhance the color and seal in the dustiness of the gourds.

Here's our Zinnia's--oops we found out they were Sunflowers in July. I picked one of the dried blossoms and used it for the 'GREEN' element in the front.

Another sprig of smaller sunflowers was put in the back. 

Adding a few pinecones and that is pretty much it. 

I'm sure this will change when my Fall bins are delivered by hubby, from upstairs in the garage.

The craft wood Scarecrow was from a painting project I taught at Michael's back in the 1990's. I taught free-hand painting without patterns---back then, which was out of the norm. 

Somewhere I have a photo  of 14 of these all painted differently by the students.

This scarecrow is a favorite of the Grandbaby as the arms move up and down. He has long since lost his "Pumpkins for Sale" wired sign. My gosh, he is OLD and vintage now.

A straw hay bale waits over in the corner with the houseplants, for a pumpkin or two or three--

they are really small!

The pensive angel tile was a NEW rescue from 'HomeGoods' two seasons back.

The one plant that was very happy outside this summer was my Rosemary--I'm wondering where on earth I am going to keep it in the house this winter. It smells so good.

Here's a  view of the entire seating area--with a lightweight throw REDO

 for those cool nights-perfect color for the porch from GoodWill-$2. 

I added smaller mums in the summer planter box.

 Granpa's OLD lantern and a stoneware candle pot from my potter days, probably from the 1980s finish off the table top. A REDO antique crate serves as a table between the chairs. 

So Finally---beginning Happy FALL, 

from my front porch to yours.

Sharing at these great blog parties :

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And Always, Thanks for stopping by, 

Sandi

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions or posts. Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission. Thank you for your cooperation, Sandi Magle