# Pumpkins



## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol: Okay giblets...I'm not sure if this should be in the garden thread, or here, or...where??? Here's the story... Okay...I am a big procrastinator....when it came time last October to throw out my old pumpkin...it was still orange and lovely, so I couldn't do it... I put it next to the garage... Time got away from me...and then my husband was going to throw the pumpkin out three weekends ago....
Guess what? It's like it's been preserved...I can hear the dried seeds bouncing around...but the outer shell is hard and you can lift it with two fingers.... I'm kind of amazed and thrilled all at the same time... There are some mold spots that need to be bleached off...but otherwise it is hard as a normal gourd once it's been dried....
I'm kind of loving it...








I never knew you could do this with a pumpkin!!!
This just opens a whole new world of possiblities!!!


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## bobzilla (Nov 13, 2008)

Way cool J


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

I've never seen that before....wicked cool Jana!
On the other hand its like a mummified Pumpkin5.
You could use it for a decoration and also as a maraca. Shakity shake!

Where ever you stored it is the perfect place to dry another one. Maybe the winter conditions were just right for you this past year and it may not happen again next year. Who knows.


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

You must have been lucky as to where you put the pumpkin for it to dry so well, but I can see it being a great way to have pumpkins ready for Halloween. Although you would have to plan on it for next year with this years pumpkins. Mmmm Pumpkin5 making a thread about pumpkins, 
Here is a link to gourd drying info:

http://www.amishgourds.com/store/page/456714


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:^Thanks Peeps. I guess I will chalk it up to being lucky... Maybe the Pumpkin Gods are smiling....:biggrinkin::rolleyekin:


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## The Halloween Lady (Aug 18, 2010)

Wow, that is really very lovely! Looks like something you'd buy at Smith and Hawkins!


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## Copchick (Apr 10, 2012)

Wow P5, that looks awesome! My pumpkins always get mushy and decayed. You are so lucky that it dried so nice. Like Lunatic said, where you stored it must have been the perfect conditions. I like the pumpkin just like it is. You should plan on this year buying the leftover pumpkins after Halloween. I'm sure they'll be greatly discounted and see if you can replicate it.


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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

I have never seen anything like this before. there really is a great Pumpkin!


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## azscoob (Oct 6, 2010)

Could be hubby messing with you, it's a funkin with a few BBs inside!


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## Bethene (Jan 19, 2008)

wow, that looks great P5, how cool,, mine also always rot and turn to mush


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

How cool is that! And such a nice shape!


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## Lizzyborden (Sep 7, 2012)

That's really cool! Haven't had a real pumpkin in years but always remember them turning to moldy mush.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

Now what are you going to name it?


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

Haunted Spider said:


> Now what are you going to name it?


:joluh, Pumpkin6 (of course)!:googly: Or Dapple...it's got lots of mold spots on it.


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

Yeah but isn't pumpkin6 a darker shade than 5? Probably have to go with 3 or 4.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

I'm amazed, like everyone else here. A mummified pumpkin! I bet you couldn't do that again if you tried. But I hope you can, and will try. I have a couple of dried gourds with dark mold spots on them. I've never thought about trying a dab of bleach. Thanks for the idea. And thanks for sharing P6, or P3 or 4 or whatever.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

It's really quite beautiful.


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## Uruk-Hai (Nov 4, 2006)

VERY cool! Interesting possibilities for sure.


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## deadSusan (Jun 26, 2013)

This is very nice.


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:Okay....it must be my orange thumb....because you all remember my dried pumpkin from 2013? Well here is my dried pumpkin from 2014! Seriously? I read it can't be done...and yet...two years in a row I have a pumpkin that has dried out like a gourd. I know, I know....pumpkins are gourds...but there is no way to actually dry them out. I guess it is the size of them. I am shocked, thrilled and waiting to see what 2015 brings. This one was left on my front porch step throughout the whole winter and spring....now it is dried and has that lovely mold pattern. I should just go into business....


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

scareme said:


> I'm amazed, like everyone else here. A mummified pumpkin! I bet you couldn't do that again if you tried. But I hope you can, and will try. I have a couple of dried gourds with dark mold spots on them. I've never thought about trying a dab of bleach. Thanks for the idea. And thanks for sharing P6, or P3 or 4 or whatever.


:jol: P.S. Scareme....I actually DID try..... Ta Da!!!


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## willow39 (May 5, 2015)

cool!!!!!!!
a big pumpkin


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## Copchick (Apr 10, 2012)

Love it! You're quite successful at getting those pumpkins to dry out. Mine just end up being mush. Do you have a pic of the end result of the one from 2013 or did you leave it as its? Any plans for this one?


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

I forgot a carved pumpkin in my garage. It looked and smelled like a crime scene. Never again.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Neat! Mine always turn to mold / mush, too... carved ones do it very fast...within the next week or so. Whole ones go bad within several months.

Kind of surprised to hear it "can't be done" but also a bit surprised it happened naturally on a porch! I would have figured an oven or big dehydrator on low heat for several days might be a fast way.

The mold is cool, but obviously a toxicological issue. Wonder if spraying with something like lysol before the process might help? Though I'd probably go in and spatter black paint back on it to get that cool look!


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:Well folks, three years in a row....here is my pumpkin from 2015. This guy was left with four other pumpkins on my front porch steps after Halloween, and one by one the pumpkins rotted. As they would start getting mushy, I would dispose of them, until only this one remained. I think it irritated my mother-in-law to no end, because she kept saying throughout the Christmas season, "your decorations look great, but you still have four pumpkins on your front porch". Then in January...."you still have two pumpkins on your porch"....and February..."you still have a pumpkin on your porch".... Finally I broke down and I just told her, until that pumpkin turns to mush or hardens into a gourd, on my porch is where he'll stay. And low and behold, in April, he had finished his transformation....from pumpkin, to pumpkin-dried-gourd. Yay for me!








Of all the pumpkins, I didn't think this one would make it because of his warts, I thought they would be a point of mush...but they are like little rocks on his skin now.


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## Lightman (Aug 25, 2014)

Quick....clear coat it several times and keep it for this years haunt...LOL. 

Of course it would probably continue to rot underneath clear coat layer for a while.


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

No wonder you are Pumpkin, you have a way with them


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## bobzilla (Nov 13, 2008)

Is that by any chance the genus
Pumpkinus Wortamus :googly:
Very cool P5!


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:Thanks guys! I keep hoping one of my fairytale pumpkins will "gourdify" but so far, no cigar.....dang it. I am happy with the three I have though.. When the pumpkin gods smile on you, roll with it.:biggrinkin: BTW Robert, not sure of the proper name of those pumpkins, I do like the warts though. I get a few every year for my front porch.


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:WOW! I didn't have any luck last year for 2016, but looks like one of my wartie pumpkins from last Halloween (2017) is on it's way to drying out. The first step is the mold takes the pumpkin, then it begins to dry out. From what I've read, it's best to leave it out in the weather and make sure air is circulating around it. I tilt it from time to time and let the bottom be off the potting bench. The other two pumpkins I had beside this one have already rotted, but this little guy is hanging in there! I had four pumpkins total that I was experimenting with the "gourdification" and three have rotted, but left really cool stems, so all is not lost. That will make four gourdified pumpkins for me. I will have to take more pictures since the stupid photobucket pictures are lost. I think the wartie pumpkins have an edge as far as drying out, so just in case anyone wants to give it a try.:jol:

2017 gourded pumpkin by Jana Pumpkin5, on Flickr


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

Bodacious!


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:It's gourding up, I don't know what else to call it so I'm calling it the gourdification of pumpkins. I am so excited, the pumpkin is almost covered in mold and it is very light, not completely dried out, but well on the way. With my other three dried pumpkins I can shake them like a maraca, and I can hear the little pumpkin seeds inside.
Gourdification of the pumpkin2 by Jana Pumpkin5, on Flickr
The other side:
Gourdification of the pumpkin by Jana Pumpkin5, on Flickr


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## bobzilla (Nov 13, 2008)

Good Lord!
There is fungus, among us! :jol:


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:Yes it is covered in mold, but like anything in nature, it is really beautiful.....even in the ugliness of the mold, the destruction of the lovely orange skin, it is something else.


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