The Patch Post

Prairie stories, growing tips, and reflections from our Kansas garden. Follow the seasons with Autumn Prairie Pumpkins.

Maggie standing in a frost-bitten Kansas pumpkin patch at sunrise, collapsed blackened vines and frost on the ground behind her, intact tan heirloom pumpkins resting among the frozen foliage

Can You Eat a Pumpkin That Froze? The Morning After the First Hard Freeze

The thermometer on the porch post read twenty-eight when I went out this morning, and the whole patch had gone soft and dark overnight. Every...

Read more →
Maggie carrying a bowl of pumpkin seeds out to two brown hens at the chicken run on an autumn morning in Newton, Kansas

Are Pumpkin Seeds Good for Chickens? Notes from the Coop Gate

The hens hear the knife before I am halfway across the yard. That is October here. You start cutting into a cured squash for soup,...

Read more →
Maggie on a frosty Kansas porch rail in early November beside carved jack-o-lanterns left over from Halloween

What to Do with Pumpkins After Halloween: The Walk Past the Porch

There is a particular morning in early November when you step out for the paper and the porch pumpkin has gone soft on one side...

Read more →
Maggie sitting on a Kansas farmhouse porch step on an October morning with a carved jack-o-lantern and uncarved heirloom pumpkins beside her

How to Keep a Carved Pumpkin From Rotting: Notes From the Porch Step

The jack-o-lantern on our porch step made it to Thursday. By Friday morning the grin had gone soft at the corners, and by Saturday the...

Read more →
Maggie at a Kansas kitchen table on an autumn evening with a carved jack-o-lantern and a bowl of freshly scooped pumpkin seeds

What to Do with Pumpkin Seeds After Carving

The kitchen table is a happy mess. There is a candle already flickering inside the first jack-o'-lantern, a newspaper soaked through with pulp, and a...

Read more →
Maggie in a sage-green Autumn Prairie Pumpkins t-shirt behind a bowl heaped with orange pumpkin guts and pale seeds, whole pumpkin on the counter

What to Do With Pumpkin Guts: The Bowl Nobody Plans For

There is a bowl on the kitchen table right now that nobody planned for. It came out of a Long Island Cheese that had been...

Read more →
Autumn pumpkin patch at sunrise with a large shade tree casting a long shadow over the nearest vines while the rest of the patch lies in open sun - do pumpkins need full sun - Kansas heirloom pumpkins

Do Pumpkins Need Full Sun? Notes from the Shady End of the Patch

There is a mulberry tree at the north end of our patch that I have been meaning to deal with for three years. Every September...

Read more →
Maggie at a Kansas farmhouse kitchen counter in autumn with a halved pumpkin, a bowl of freshly scooped pumpkin seeds, and seeds drying on a linen towel

Can You Grow Pumpkins from Store Bought Pumpkin Seeds? Notes From the Kitchen Counter

There is a bowl of seeds on my counter right now, still a little wet, scooped out of a pumpkin somebody bought at a grocery...

Read more →
Illustration of Maggie in a sage-green Autumn Prairie Pumpkins t-shirt among autumn pumpkins and winter squash in Kansas

Why Is My Pumpkin Stem Rotting? Notes From the Curing Shelf

I carried a Long Island Cheese in from the porch this morning with a cup of coffee balanced in the other hand, and my thumb...

Read more →
Flat illustration of two tan heirloom pumpkins resting on a bed of golden straw in a Kansas patch at sunset, one tipped to show its pale cream underside, thick green stem and vine visible

Should You Rotate Pumpkins as They Grow? Notes From a September Crouch

There is a Long Island Cheese sitting in the low corner of the patch that has been lying the same way since the middle of...

Read more →
Maggie at the edge of a frosty Kansas pumpkin patch at sunrise, with ripe pumpkins resting on straw under white frost covers

How to Protect Pumpkins from Frost: Notes Before the First Freeze

The radio gave the overnight low as forty-one, and I stood in the doorway with my coffee longer than I needed to. Forty-one is nothing....

Read more →
Maggie standing in the Autumn Prairie Pumpkins patch at sunrise with orange pumpkins resting on beds of golden straw behind her

Should You Put Straw Under Pumpkins? Notes From the Low Corner

There is a low corner of our patch that holds water three days longer than the rest of it. I found a good pumpkin sitting...

Read more →
1 2 3 … 8 Next »