I just published an article praising some Carroll Gardens residents for having put decorative pumpkins out to pasture on December 19, 2024, while the gourds, which had likely served as Halloween and/or Thanksgiving decorations, were still in reasonably good shape to the eye of one observer. In that post I noted that there are too many – even if not as many as in prior years – graphically rotting pumpkins in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Carroll Gardens. Today, I break new ground in my series of reports on pumpkins in Brooklyn by covering the borderline pumpkin, the pumpkin which has been left on the job too long and is bravely hanging in there against the sometimes-freezing elements (not to mention subsequent thawing), but is now showing definite signs of wear and could take a dramatic turn for the worse at any moment.

This post is part of my collection of articles about rotting, non-rotting, and inorganic pumpkins.

On the afternoon of January 11, 2025, I was walking up a block in a more purely residential stretch of Carroll Gardens than where I documented the pumpkin pile a few weeks earlier. My attention was arrested when I noted an orange object in an over-grown yard.

Photograph taken from curb right over tree pit of a fenced off front yard for a Carroll Gardens Brownstone. In the foreground we see a Christmas Tree left in the tree pit. Behind the fence we see an orange thing in the overgrown yard which is a pumpkin in a knit hat.
Do not miss the discarded Christmas Tree in the tree pit (not as dry as others we have documented).

I had a feeling I knew what this was.

Photo taken through three cast iron bars, which make up the foreground, separating sidewalk fron overgrown from yard in Carroll Gardens. The focus is on an orange, somewhat decaying pumpkin sitting atop a flattened pumpkin while wearing an orange knit hat.
This photo reminds me vaguely of a squirrel photo I used in my second New Leaf Journal article.

A pumpkin with a hat! Atop another pumpkin.

As a threshold matter – I note that I love the orange hat on the pumpkin. This is the finest pumpkin decoration I have seen since the pumpkin with arms, a nose, and a surgical mask back in 2020. The hat really adds character to the pumpkin. But when I look at this photo – when I see the pumpkin with the hat through the bars separating the sidewalk from the yard, I feel sad.

Firstly, it was close to freezing that afternoon. This is not outdoor pumpkin weather. It was also set to be above freezing the next day – I have reason to believe that freezing and thawing cycle is not a good recipe for pumpkin longevity. Secondly, the pumpkin with the hat, and its pumpkin pedestal, already looked worse for wear. To be sure, they were not yet in the state of the worst pumpkin putrefaction cases I have documented in these pages, but you can see that they were on the brink. The bottom pumpkin was clearly in poor shape – I doubt it still had a stem. The pumpkin with the hat was doing less badly – perhaps owed to having a hat, but its skin was clearly wilting and it was developing some growths on its right side (not the worst we have seen). While I feared that the pumpkin with the hat was in more imminent danger of collapsing into the pumpkin it was sitting on after one more freeze-thaw cycle, it was also in danger of collapsing onto itself.

Photo of an overgrown front yard in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. The focus is on an orange, somewhat decaying pumpkin sitting atop a flattened pumpkin while wearing an orange knit hat.

This wider shot makes our pumpkin duo look very alone. This pumpkin with a hat was being pressed into service far longer than any pumpkin should be and under conditions that no pumpkin should have to endure. I am not sure its friend was with us by this point. The pumpkin with a hat continued to stand bravely against the elements, but it was on its last legs (consider that a figure of speech in this case).

I commend whoever decided to give the pumpkin a hat, but I condemn them not showing the pumpkin with a hat proper respect. With that being said, I cannot deny that said pumpkin was hanging in tough, even though I feared that it would not be able to do so for much longer (I have not checked in on it since as of the publication date of the instant article).

After reflecting on the matter, I came up with a possible solution to the pumpkin problem. If an outdoor pumpkin is holding up after prime pumpkin decoration season, which I will define generously as the being the last day of November instead of 11:59 P.M. on Thanksgiving, I invite the outdoor-pumpkin-placers to bring their pumpkin indoors where they can continue to enjoy its aesthetic presence. This proposal has three benefits:

  1. It is kind to the pumpkin;
  2. It will better preserve the pumpkin; and
  3. People are more likely to put the pumpkin out to pasture if it is showing signs of rotting in their home than they are when it is outside their home.

Ideally, the pumpkin with the hat would have been allowed to retire no later than December 19, 2024, when I found the pumpkin pasture pile. But in the alternative, I think the pumpkin with a hat would have done better if it were brought indoors and offered some face wipes to clean up after outdoor duty followed by some hot cocoa or whatever it is that gourds enjoy most.

I conclude by asking readers to remember that what is happening to the most creative pumpkin I saw in 2024-25 is no fault of the pumpkin. I for one choose to remember it for its courage and perseverance in adverse conditions.