About two weeks ago I planted a bunch of pumpkin seeds. A special batch of seeds that I scraped out of a Halloween pumpkin in October of 2023. I left the seeds out to dry for several months then slid them into an envelope and marked it 1/2024. The envelope went into a drawer to be forgotten until late June 2025. There must have been 50 plus seeds in that envelope.

In June 2025 I planted about 10 in a pot and one in a tiny little plastic pot for fun. I placed these inside the home next to the window facing the sun. The rest of the seeds were planted in two flats and placed outside in the warm sunlight. I watered as often as possible, every other day on average.

The mystery occurred soon enough. The seeds planted in pots and kept indoors sprouted almost immediately while the ones outdoors didn’t do anything. The ones indoors were leaping out of their pots in a race to the sun. They stretched and stretched to the breaking point. I took the pots with the sprouted seeds planted them straight into the ground. If the birds, bunnies, and squirrels stay away these seeds have a chance of becoming pumpkins.

What about the seed planted outside in the flats. Nothing came of them. No sign of a sprout. I decided to replace the seeds with something else. I took those flats and slid my fingers in the soil and felt nothing. A portion of a single seed was the only evidence that pumpkins were even planted there. I went through both flats. All the seeds were missing some animal, bird or otherwise, made off with each and every seed. The mystery of the pumpkin seeds was solved. The difference between indoor planting and outdoor is the critters who come around and take the seeds when their planted outside.