Jarrahdale pumpkin (Botanical Interests)
Waltham Butternut and Baby Pam Pumpkin
This year I'm growing 3 types of pumpkins: Baby Pam, Big Rock and Jarrahdale. Also two winter squashes: Butternut and Lakota.
I have lots of Butternuts so far! Maybe 8 or 10! Very exciting. Also several Baby Pan Pumpkins. The big squashes are just starting to bloom and set fruit. I have a couple Jarrahdales that have set fruit. I'm keeping an eye out for Big Rocks and Lakotas.
I planted too many big squashes for my little plot. The vines are overtaking more beds by the day.
8 comments:
Kathy - your little butternut is just too, too cute, absolutely adorable! We always have mashed butternut for Thanksgiving and Christmas; sometimes I make squash soup. The dogs seem to like it, raw or cooked & cooled. I've never tried the Baby Pam - what sort of flavor does it have? Kind of nutty? Do you boil it or bake it? Is it hard to peel?
- Daisy
They all look beautiful! Do you trellis your butternuts and other heavy squash or melons? If so, what do you use? I staked my buttenut plant with a 6 foot 1 by 1/2 inch stake and I'm pretty sure that was a bad move!
Thankfully I only have one set squash, so the whole thing might not give out on me...any advice would be helpful for next year. Thanks!
Growing one kind of pumpkin and some animal is biting off the blossoms...not happy.
So cute! I love the little pumpkin. I planted way too many squash plants this year too and ended up having to tear some out because they were taking over my whole yard!
It is an exciting time of year for pumpkins and squashes. After weeks of male flowers, all my rambling pumpkins are producing loads of baby pumpkins. The trouble is, the season here isn't really long enough to let them keep growing to their full length. The season slows down in a few weeks and I must pinch out the ends to help them mature.
I should probably pinch Matron, but couldn't bear to because what if something happens to the ones I leave? I let them all go.
Some of my squashes climb up my fence. This may be a problem for the big Jarrahdale that is setting up high. I will need to build a support for the pumpkins it grows so it doesn't break off the vine. Not sure yet how I will do this, but will post.
My FAVORITE recipe for Butternut squash is to mash it 50-50 with sweet potatoes and some butter. I could eat it all winter! I'll definitely post the recipe, but its simple. Boil peeled squash chunks til done, boil sweet potatoes til done then peel. Food process together. Put in oven proof pan, dot with butter and keep warm in oven til you eat it. Ahhh. The only good part of winter.
Thanks for the question about the Baby Pam flavor. I didn't think of eating it. Silly. I tend to think of pumpkins as ornamental only.
I've been told Jarrahdale, my big gray pumpkin, is good eating. "Drum-shaped fruit with heavy, rounded ribs and slate gray skin. Medium sweet, thick orange flesh of good quality."
Baby Pam, I was pleased to read, is described as: "Small Pumpkin - No other variety has such starchy, sweet, smooth, bright orange flesh, making Baby Pam superior for pie and other pumpkin recipes." Super! I love pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, etc. Baby Pam produces about 1.3 fruits per plant an average of 2.7 lbs each.
Big Rock is my other pumpkin. I can't find a flavor description. It produces an about 0.85 fruits per plant an average of 18.5 lbs each.
Waltham Butternut produces about 3-5 fruits per plant about 4-5 lbs each.
Kathy I did the same thing. I have 4 Butternut vines and 4 cornfield pumpkin vines. This was my first year growing them and I had no idea that they would take over my garden area.
TSannie:
The critter eating your blossoms is most likely a groundhog (woodchuck) if you have them in your area. i caught one in the act. he also climbed my 3ft high fence! i had no idea they could climb.
keep up the great work on your blog. I love reading it every week.
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