This is the time to consider planting pumpkins. There are lots of choices, big ones or little ones.
Most gardeners already have tomatoes in the ground. I'm growing tomatoes but not in the ground.
I'm assuming that all of us have planted a seed and watched it grow.
This year I'm growing pumpkins, but not the giant 1,000-pound pumpkins featured at the Auburn Community Festival in October.
I'm growing the old-fashioned variety, the mini baby-jack pumpkins, miniatures that will be only three to four inches and deeply ribbed and have that distinct pumpkin color.
I bought the Renee's Garden seeds when my wife and I were at Filoli.
Kids (of all ages) love them and they make welcome gifts and colorful holiday decorations and centerpieces.
These pumpkins mature much earlier than their bigger cousins. I transplanted two of my mini jacks into a five-gallon pot and gave the plants with leaves to my grandsons, one age 7 and the other 2 and a half. The little guys immediate went for the hose to start watering.
I like the idea of getting youngsters involved in watching plants grow.
My mini-jack pumpkins, Cucubita pepo if you want the botanical name, are deliciously edible.
I'm looking forward to baking them whole for individual servings of stuffing, cranberry sauce or pumpkin soup presented right in their bright orange shells.
In the kitchen with my grandsons, we will hollow them out, then stuff and bake them for dandy little soup or vegetable tureens.
I'm growing my mini jacks in pouches. I'm doing what I call vertical gardening.
The fun with gardening is experimenting. In some pouches, I'm growing six plants. In some pouches, I'm growing just one plant.
It should be interesting to see the differences in size of the pumpkins produced.
Will the crowded pumpkins produce smaller pumpkins?
I hang the pouches from "S" hooks on the south side of the house. I have to water the pouches every day in the hot weather, sometimes twice a day if it is very hot.
For those without a lot of space, having a vertical garden offers lots of opportunities.
I'm also growing tomatoes in my pouches. Again, I'm growing either one tomato per pouch or six in a pouch. Six in a pouch are the patio tomatoes.
I'm also growing Early Girl, Tom Cat and Sungold in the pouches.
I do have to water the pouches by hand, but that way I can watch the growth.
Last April at the Auburn Garden Club plant sale, we offered tomatoes in pouches grown by Mike Malvey, Mr. Tomato for the club, but we did not get a lot of interest.
For those with limited space, living in an apartment with a balcony, or having a deer problem, vertical gardening in a pouch may be an interesting option.
Saul Wiseman can be reached at swiseman368@sbcglobal.net