Out in the Pumpkin Patch.....

We are starting work on the details of the rooftop garden this morning.

Tessie wants small raised plots where she can raise spell ingredients, among other things. One of the other things is a pumpkin patch. No self respecting witch goes without a pumpkin patch.

I started the patches with a double thickness of quarter inch foam core. It makes no difference what color, because they are going to be completely covered anyway.

They can be any size you want, but keep in mind that the gardener has to be able to reach the middle of the plot to sew the seed, weed and water. I made these 1 1/2" by 3 as per Tessie's request. I did four to start. She may add more later.

I put fast grab glue on one side of each of them and sprinkled them with model railroad ballast. That was what I had on hand, so that is what I used. Nice sandy soil for growing pumpkins.

Next I cut some old baseboard, mitered at the corners to fit around the edges, and painted it white. I glued that on and let it dry.

I went and found the "pumpkins" that April gave me for Christmas. They are some kind of dried seed pod and look exactly like various sizes and shapes of 1" scale pumpkins. She found them in a thrift shop......I trained her well. She has a great eye for things that will work in mini.

Then I whipped out 4 different sizes of leaf shaped punches.

Here you see some of the leaves after they have been shaped with a ball stylus. To the right is the basis for the stems. I simply poked holes in the foam core right through the dirt.

I stuck the pumpkins here and there, making sure that there was a stem that lead to each one, and glued them down.

Then one at a time, starting with the larger leaves and filling in with each smaller size in turn, I filled the vines.

Lastly I took some very fine paper covered wire and wound it around a needle to make the curly tendrils here and there.

Tessie is already making plans for pumpkin pies. She likes the big one in the back.

I was hoping that she would wait at least until I filled the rest of the beds.....No such luck.

She took one look at the first bed and said, "Mmmmmm.....Pumpkin pie....Pumpkin bread....Pumpkin soup.....

I guess I should get back at it and fill the rest with veggies. She is going to have them all cooked and eaten before I even finish the last patch at this rate!

Back to work. See you tomorrow.