The Patch Post

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

Illustration of a fair-skinned woman with an auburn bob and round glasses in a rust pinafore holding coffee at the edge of a Kansas pumpkin patch before dawn, watching Arietid meteor streaks in the pre-sunrise sky

Watching the Arietids Meteor Shower from the Morning Patch

The coffee was already warm when I stepped outside. It was not yet five, and the sky over the patch still held its dark, the...

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Illustration of a Kansas gardener with auburn hair and round glasses sipping coffee on a porch step overlooking a green June pumpkin patch during National Garden Week

National Garden Week from a Kansas Pumpkin Patch

The coffee was still too hot to drink when I noticed the first bee of the morning working the squash blossoms along the east row....

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Illustration of a woman with auburn hair and round glasses standing in a Kansas pumpkin patch gazing out at the low golden sun in the long light before the summer solstice

The Long Light Before the Solstice

The light comes up over the patch a little earlier every morning now, and it lingers a little longer every night. By the time I...

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A woman watching fireflies glow over her Kansas pumpkin patch at dusk with a mug of coffee

How to Attract Fireflies to Your Yard (Without Really Trying)

The first one rose out of the bean rows a little after nine, while the sky still held a thin band of orange in the...

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Autumn Prairie Pumpkins grower with auburn hair and round glasses holding coffee at a wooden table in a golden-hour Kansas heirloom pumpkin patch

What “Human-First” Means at Autumn Prairie Pumpkins

What it means that we are a human-first company: real hands, real soil, and seeds packed by the people who grow them in Newton, Kansas.

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Illustrated woman with auburn hair and round glasses standing at the edge of a Kansas pumpkin patch at dawn under a low golden June strawberry moon, coffee in hand

The Strawberry Moon Over the Kansas Pumpkin Patch

The first of June came in soft this year. I was out at the edge of the patch before six, coffee going cold in my...

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Woman holding a basket of ripe strawberries at a Kansas farm stand in late May with pumpkin seedlings in the garden behind her - illustrated art style

The First Red of Summer

The strawberries showed up at the farm stand on Tuesday. A flat of them, deep red all the way through, the kind that smell like...

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Woman tending pumpkin vines in a Kansas garden on a late May morning with coffee in hand - illustrated art style

The Garden Is Running Now

The vines crossed the edge of the bed sometime last week. Not by a little. By a good yard, reaching out into the walking path...

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Illustrated woman with auburn hair pressing heirloom seeds into a Kansas garden on Memorial Day morning, golden light, coffee thermos on fence post

When Memorial Day Means Seeds in the Ground

The Chelsea Flower Show wrapped up in London this week. One hundred and sixty-eight thousand visitors over five days, the world's best garden designers, plants...

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Illustrated woman with short auburn hair and round glasses sitting on a garden porch step with a coffee mug, overlooking a lush Kansas pumpkin garden at sunrise, warm storybook art style

The Long Way Home

The coffee was just right this morning. I had it on the back step while the light was still low, watching the garden warm up,...

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Woman kneeling beside blooming pumpkin vines with a bee on an open orange blossom, Kansas garden, morning light

What the Bees Know About Pumpkin Pollination

There's a bee working the squash blossoms this morning. She has been at it since just after sunrise, moving from the wide open orange cups...

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Woman with auburn hair and glasses tending a spring garden at golden hour - pumpkin vines climbing a fence post, coffee in hand

The Show Garden You Don't Need a Ticket For

Somewhere in London right now, a garden designer is standing back and looking at a flower installation the size of a small building. The Royal...

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