Hello, friends!
It’s October, which in my house means there are TONS of apples that seemed like a great idea at the u-pick orchard but now are hogging up the entire basement fridge and beckoning me to bake.
It’s been almost a week, and I haven’t baked anything yet but my sights are set on the Long Island cheese pumpkin I picked up at the orchard that day.
If you aren’t familiar, the Long Island cheese pumpkin gets its name not from its taste or anything funky like that, but from its shape: It’s flat like a wheel of cheese. But that’s where the similarities end.
This pumpkin has an extraordinarily long shelf life; it will last the winter in the basement, no problem. Its seeds roast up softer than any others I’ve made (drizzle with a little oil and sprinkle on some salt, pepper and cayenne, then roast on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned, tossing a bit. Such a great snack!)
I highly recommend you track one down and bake a Long Island cheese pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. Just replace it in your usual recipe. It’s nice in soup too, pureed with roasted fennel, onions, leeks and apples. Here’s a recipe from Chef Stephan Bogardus of North Fork Table & Inn that I’ve been making for Thanksgiving for the past few years. It’s fantastic and always a hit!
And, yes! You can grow cheese pumpkins at home! You’ll have to wait until spring to plant them, however. But you know what you can plant now? Garlic!
I posted an Instagram story yesterday detailing exactly how I plant garlic, step-by-step. If you’d like to give it a try, check out my instructions. And while you’re at it, give me a follow — I’d love to see you there!
For more great gardening tips — 365 of them! — pre-order my 2022 Day-by-Day Gardening Calendar.
It’s like a complete gardening course in a wall calendar! By the end of the year, I promise, you’ll have earned a green thumb!
👉👉If you’re enjoying this newsletter, why not share it with a gardening friend?
💡 If you do one thing this week…
Cut the grass one last time, shorter than you usually do — down to 2” — and leave the clippings on the lawn.
📬 Ask Jessica
DEAR JESSICA: Do you know what this thing is that invaded my flower beds overnight? I have about six in total. They are slimy at the tip, and underground there are white egg-looking encapsulated things that are soft and sometimes hard. —Nancy Stepkowski, Locust Valley
DEAR NANCY: I get a question about these every couple of years, and boy do I enjoy it when I do. The last time I wrote about these in Newsday, the Z-100 Morning Zoo radio show in New York read my column on the air. And boy, did those guys enjoy it. I’ll tell you exactly what I’ve told others in the past. You’ll probably enjoy it, too.
You’d better sit down, though. What you have is a “shameless penis” mushroom.
I kid you not; that’s the literal translation from its Latin proper name, Phallus impudicus. Although sometimes it’s more politely called a “stinkhorn mushroom” my job is to give you all the facts. And so there they are.
Stinkhorns show up without warning, growing (sometimes 10 inches in a day) straight up out of the ground from an egg-shaped mass, as you’ve described. Then they add insult to injury by oozing a gag-inducing, foul-smelling slime from their tips, as you’ve also reported.
The fungus is common in North American forests and often grows in home gardens on mulch, as its spores thrive on decaying wood debris.
They’re harmless, but if you’d like to eliminate them, dig them up and seal them tightly in plastic bags before placing them in the trash. Then remove the surrounding mulch, which may contain spores, and dispose of it in the same manner.
👏 Sunday shoutout
Rachel Hearn-Somma shares this photo of her cheery front yard garden, taken back in August.
Send me your photos, along with a description of your garden, and you might be featured next!
📧 Send me your feedback!
I welcome your comments and suggestions, so please send them along — as well as any topics you’d like to see covered and questions you’d like answered in the Ask Jessica section.