My best pumpkins came about by accident. We had carved our jack-o-lantern on the front porch and some seeds feel into the flower bed. They sprouted in the spring so I thought I'd let them go. I guess pumpkins aren't used to such delux treatment because they really grew, and grew, and grew. At one point they covered over a third of the front yard. And the pumpkins were the nicest, roundest, cleanest ever. People would walk there kids down the block to show them the pumpkins. This was in Columbia, MD where few people get their hands dirty so it was quite an attraction. But then, being Columbia, I was cited by the home owners association for having an illegal vegetable garden -- gardens cannot extend beyond the back wall of the house. I responded that it was not a garden, I hadn't planted it, so it was a weed. So then I was cited for a weed. By then it was time to pick the pumpkins and give the lawn a chance to recover. Still a key memory event in my family.
