Pollinating The Pumpkin

I have never planted pumpkins before and all these darlings grew from seeds and peels I buried in the soil as compost.  A well meaning friend taught me how to differentiate between male and female flowers but her instructions were not very clear. Or perhaps I was too dense. Females have a bulb below she said. So I looked inside each flower everyday for that bulbous thingy instead of outside. I thought bulbs outside were baby pumpkins! Yesterday it dawned on me.  Female flowers are few and far in between!  This one opened this morning so I rubbed my hands in glee and set out for the choicest male.

Here he is. Nice and fat and powdery.

This is way easier than a finger. Or electric toothbrush. Though the garderner used that more for his tomatoes. Grow pumpkin! Grow....!