Pumpkins popping up

In July, I found a cute little volunteer plant in the garden, no bigger than my thumb.  I went on holidays, and when I got back, pumpkin vines had taken over the whole garden, with leaves as big as my head!  I ended up with 12 big beautiful pumpkins, which did a whole lot better than the tomato volunteers, which bravely produced fruit but then were hit by blight and went rotten.  The parsley volunteers (pictured) are doing just fine.

My theory is that because I make my own compost and put it on the garden each spring, seeds that have over wintered in the warmth of the compost bin are ready to sprout in the spring.  Because I don't cultivate with a rotor tiller, the seedlings don't get mown down. 

The 12 pumpkins made a great display on my front steps.  They did become more yellow, but never achieved that bright orange I was expecting.  And that's the thing about gardening.  You don't always get what you expect, and there's often a surprize.