Jarrahdale pumpkins
Baby Pam pumpkins
Long Island Cheese and Cinderella ‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’ pumpkins
pumpkins from my garden this year
Big Rock pumpkins
pumpkin from Spain - Calabaza RoteÑa
So many varieties!
I've been confused about when a squash is a "pumpkin"? I've read that a pumpkin is, by definition, a round orange winter squash. But shape can vary from tall to fat. And in addition to orange, but they can be green, white, red, yellow or blue-gray. Usually smooth, they can also be heavily ribbed or knobby. A very technical explanation I read is that pumpkins have stems that are more rigid, pricklier, and squarer than squash. It seems its more a tradition whether a particular winter squash is called a pumpkin.
The Jarrahdale seeds were sent to me to try by Botanical Interests and they were fantastic in the garden. I got three nice big pumpkins from two plants. The vines are about the biggest I've ever seen and they scrambled all over my garden fences. The variety is from the town of Jarrahdale in New Zealand - a cross between Blue Hubbard squash and huge red Cinderella pumpkin. Its nearly identical to 'Queensland Blue', the variety that Barbara Kingsolver made into Thanksgiving pumpkin soup in Animal Vegetable Miracle. I've read that the thick flesh is orange, medium sweet and absolutely delicious! It smells almost like a cantaloupe when opened! I'm looking forward to making something special from mine for Thanksgiving! I have a nice pumpkin soup recipe.
I like growing Baby Pam for cooking. They have small vines and produce lots of pumpkins, each the perfect size for a single recipe.
The Big Rock are nice for carving. For the past two years, I've gotten one 10-15 lb pumpkin per plant.
I'm thinking about pumpkins to grow next year. Long Island Cheese and Cinderella ‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’ look like fun. I photographed them at the Topsfield Fair this year. Chiot's Run has a nice post on the Cinderella here.
My brother-in-law sent me these photos of the knobby green pumpkins in his garden in Spain. Wow! That's a great variety. I asked him what it is and he said, "I don't know its just the pumpkin that's grown around here". Today he emailed and said its commonly called Calabaza RoteÑa. He says it tastes great. This would be fun to grow.
© Skippy's Vegetable Garden
6 comments:
Your pumpkins are lovely, Kathy !
Your BIL's Calabaza is amazing ! Never seen the likes of it before. I'll be hunting it down for sure. Thx for featuring it !
Fantastic, I hope to do better with Pumpkins and Squashes next year, think I will try the Baby Pam on your recommendation. It was the big boys that didn't do well, the Summer Patty Pan types were good and delicious. Are you still looking for Beetroot recipes, I have a good one for a relish that lasts a good 2 to 3 weeks in the fridge? It goes really well with cold chicken or turkey, and Thanksgiving is coming up. You may have done this already but Beetroot makes excellent vegetable crips(chips?) as do carrots,parsnips and sweet potato.
Marian(LondonUK)
Yes. I would love beet recipes. I'll make a new post now to leave them at. I've tried chips. A great reminder. They are delicious.
Wonderful post Kathy, I did NOT have any success with my pumpkins unfortunately. Your look so fab.
I'm not at all jealous...xoxo Tyra
Was intriguied so went to google "calabaza rotena" and this came up:
http://www.gardeningrealm.com/pumpkins/
the nerve of some people!
Kathy, I'm from Australia, now living in Northborough MA and always sad in Autumn that I cannot find the fantastic pumpkin varieties so readily available there. Queensland Blue and Jarrahdale are two of my favorite, so I was excited to see that seeds of J may be available. I am novice gardener when it comes to this cool climate, so am learning a lot from your blog..Thanks!
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