Finally!

Our giant Jarradale pumpkin/squash vine:

This vine has been growing and growing and growing all summer. First we saw lots of flowers, but no fruits. Turns out that the first flowers are all male, so no fruit setting there. Then we saw a few fruits that start out looking like this:

All too soon, though, they all seem to end up like this:

Sometimes they would get a little bigger than this, but they all seemed to wither and die. Imagine my surprise, then, to find this growing down the slope, away from the main plant and in the shade:

This beauty is 6 inches in diameter. Yes, I measured it, so I could be sure to let D know how big it is. We don't have any idea why the others didn't develop. Was it too much sun, not enough fertilizer, wrong amount of water, too hot out. Who knows?

I would have dragged D over to marvel at the pumpkin tonight, but it was raining. Definitely over the weekend, we'll check it out. I just hope it keeps on growing properly!