From Pumpkin Plants to Herbs to Pumpkin Plants: A Year Long Project

Last October, after counting pumpkin seeds, the kids wanted to plant some to grow some pumpkins. We planted some next to our rotting pumpkin so that we could see the new grow while the old decomposed.

They sprouted! The kids documented what they noticed in a pumpkin journal. 





We were worried they would not survive Fall Break, but they did, and the sprouts turned to vines! 



Miraculously, our vines even survived Winter Break! I have a feeling some wonderful custodians might have watered them for us. Then buds formed!





Finally flowers bloomed. 







We faithfully documented every stage of our pumpkin plant. They knew without bees, pumpkins couldn’t form, so we researched and decided to self pollinate them. Unfortunately, we could never get both a male and a female flower to open up at the same time.



We noticed the vines were looking thinner, but then in April, a whole bunch of new sprouts popped up! We nurtured those, and when they flowered, it was Spring, so we took it outside so that the bees could do their job...but then we came back the next day...

To find our vines destroyed! The kids were heartbroken! We had been taking care of these plants for months, trying to get pumpkins to start. 



They were heartbroken.



Another teacher caught the culprit and showed us photo evidence... it was a squirrel! 



I took our the rotted pumpkin so no more squirrels would trample our plants. We decided to plant something new. A discussion about herbs started so we decided to plant some. 



We plated lemon balm, lavender, sweet basil, and rosemary. We already had peppermint in our school garden. 

We checked on them every day and all of the sudden, giant pumpkin sprouts popped up! I’m guessing they were planted at the same time, but are definitely a different breed of pumpkin because they are huge!

We tasted all our herbs! They really were fascinated by them! If we had more time, we would have made tea!









Peppermint was the favorite, but if we didn’t count that, most preferred rosemary! Lemon Bslm was a close second. 

Our new vines are growing bigger by the day and now have flower buds on them! I told the kids I’ll take them home and keep their families updated on their progress over the summer! This was the best way for them to learn the pumpkin life cycle, even if our plants didn’t fully cooperate with us! So that is how our pumpkin plant investigation in 7 months turned into an herb interest, then back to a pumpkin plant interest!