Happy Fall...oh wait....HUH?

Over the past few months, my husband and my son have become gardening machines.  Every single day, several times a day, you can find both of them tending to the garden.  Watering, weeding, admiring...

The garden is technically three years old, but this is only the second year anything has been planted.  Marty's carpel tunnel surgeries last summer put a big halt to anything that required daily care using his hands.  The first year was kind-of a bust, with most of the crops dying, rotting or just not growing.  We did manage to get about a thousand jalapeno peppers (which I am allergic to), a few squash, and a few carrots....but that's about it.

This year, we've already harvested (and eaten most of) all of the potatoes and onions.  We are waiting to harvest squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, banana peppers, okra, beans, strawberries (if the rabbits will leave them alone...grrrrr), and watermelon.

And we've got one little surprise waiting for us too....

When Marty was planting the squash, he noticed this plant coming up.  It looked like a squash plant, so he just assumed that's what it was.  Over the weeks, it kept getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger.  The leaves were HUGE! So huge, Marty ended up cutting out over half of the plant so the rest of the squash in the area could actually get some sun.

Here is the huge plant after 1/2 of it had already been cut out!

He then noticed a little bud:

Well, it sort-of looks like a squash plant.

Then, it turned into this:

Uhhhh, that doesn't look like a squash.

Then it grew into this:

And lo and behold, this is what it is:

A PUMPKIN!  In JULY!  In 100 degree heat!

Don't get me wrong, I am THRILLED that we are able to grow pumpkins.  Do you have any idea how much money that is going to save me on Fall decorating?  LOL  But, I was kinda hoping we could have pumpkins sometime around time that I can actually USE them?  You know, like in OCTOBER?

Do you think I could keep these fresh looking until then?

Can you freeze whole pumpkins?  LOL

Oh well, I guess I will have to decorate for Fall in July!

Happy Fall, Y'all!