Blue Pumpkins
It's not too late to look for this pumpkin at farmer's markets and roadside patches. It's called World of Color, and there are other shades; green, peach and white, differing from other colored varieties with its gi-normous size. I have nothing clever to say about it, except "How cool is that?" The seeds come in a blend of all colors, if you're already thinking about next year. And what gardener isn't? I'm not much into perfect pumpkins, I like how this one bears a Frankenstein scar on its cheek.
Black Spots
I usually employ a method called "Lazy Man's Mulch" this time of year. It involves raking your leaves into the flower beds and forgetting about them until spring. It does several things; provides leaf litter for tiny creature habitat, gives an extra blanket to your plants in freezing weather, adds a few nutrients to the soil and most importantly puts off chores performed in the cold. There is a risk that the debris will harbor disease but I haven't had a problem so far. But this year the late rains and mild temps seem to have brought a bounty of no-fun fungal diseases to just about everything in the garden. Witness the spotted leaves on this red-twig dogwood. In this case it's best to rake and remove the leaves and leave the composting to the city.
