A big volunteer pumpkin/squash plant appeared early this season in the middle of my onion bed. I was thinking it was likely a pumpkin, and since I had brought all my pumpkin seedlings to my parents garden, I thought I'd let it grow. Its always fun to have a mystery plant.
The vine has now overtaken the onion bed (I'm cutting off a few leaves here and there to give the onions sunlight), and is running into the sweet potatoes on one side and potatoes on the other. It has produced many male flowers and finally now has its first female.
I am thinking it doesn't look like a pumpkin. Maybe a buttercup squash? I can't remember what I put in my compost bin last year, but I have grown some nice varieties of buttercup in the past.
6 comments:
I agree it looks like a buttercup. My uncle's farm has lots of pop up buttercups this year, from seeds brought in with manure.
Love your blog.
Can't wait to see what it is!!
I have mystery squash growing in my compost pile this year too! Its amazing how much larger the squash in the compost is than the ones in my garden!
It will be great to see what turns out to be! ;) Great picture! :)
The best squash I grow is always from somewhere in the depths of the compost heap. It pokes out from the side and practically emerges like a palm tree. It never looks familiar. Something from last year? Some sort of uber-super-squash? It's always enormous, misshapen and delicious. Inbred but adorable in its ugliness. We call it Junk Yard Squash - an unromantic but nonetheless accurate homage to the mystery fruit. Him: "What's for dinner tonight?" Me: "Fried Junk Yard Squash."
This squash did not set. There are so many male flowers on the plant and I am watching for another female.
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