Whilst I have been unable to do much around the place, Kim has been helping me in the garden. Over the last 3 weeks she has been clearing away the dead pumpkin vines and I have been throwing them into the compost bin when I got home from work. Thanks for the help darling! I will make a gardener out of you yet.
There are so many hybrids in the batch, mainly because I planted seeds I collected from an Australian butter that I grew last year, and they obviously cross pollinated with a Queensland blue, and a Japanese pumpkin. There are some amazing shapes and sizes. There is an Australian butter shaped like a Queensland Blue, a Queensland blue shaped like an Australian butter, an Australian butter the same colour as a Japanese and a solitary Butternut the size of my fist!
Hopefully the flesh tastes okay. We have already had a glowing report from our friends next door who swapped me a six pack of home brew for an Australian butter pumpkin. They cooked up some pumpkin soup and said it was fantastic!
I also planted a few seeds of Turks Turban, which were very small. More ornamental than anything else and bit of a curio.
All in all I harvested 13 pumpkins this year, which is about on par with what I managed to grow last year. Next year, I will plant some true to type Australian butter, as they seem to do the best in my climate, and besides I think that they taste far better than the humble butternut anyway.
What are your favourite pumpkins or squash?
Hi Gavin… we just harvested our Gramma pumpkins and have been making soup and Gramma pie.
http://towardsustainabilitywiththreekids.blogspot.com/2011/04/grammas-pies-and-much-more.html
Marita
Great work Gavin and Kim! What an interesting bunch of pumpkins!
Thats a pretty good pumpkin harvest. I never got to plant any this year but will be ready for next season.
Visited with my parents yesterday and mum gave me one of her Queensland Blues. These are my favourites, but I also like the Jap ones.
Hope you have been having great weather over your way, like we are.
Tania
i like a dry flesh, green skin which i like to eat (roasted)
the smaller ones tend to have less flavour, although for soup a smoother texture is better, arrr pumpkin soup, i believe i could live on it.
I have only recenlty been introduced to the pink banana pumpkin and it taste beautiful..its sweet nice for steaming and roasting and making pies and other desserts.
I planted 4 butternut plants last year and let the vines ramble all over. We harvested SIXTY EIGHT pumpkins ranging from fist-sized to a few over 40cm long! We had so many, I didn’t bother planting this year, but now we’re down to our last 4 pumpkins (only lost one to rot!) and now I’m regretting not having planted at least one plant!
Your pumpkins look amazing! Are the blue ones any good to eat? The ones with little “turbans” are adorable.
We harvested 7 pumpkins. 4 of them were the size of basketballs. They were all my favourite Queensland Blues because I like the drier flesh of them. I adore pumpkin in any way except for pumpkin pie. Been an Aussie I was never brought up on pumpkin pie and now I can’t acquire a taste for it. It amazes me that some places only use pumpkins for cattle food. Different countries different traditions.
These look fabulous. I love the Turks Turban. I have never seen these before.
I must admit that I have never grown pumpkins before but it is something that we certainly eat. These will definitely be on my ‘to do’ list.
Hi Gavin, love your blog, what do you recommend for storing pumpkins and gramma’s…..I was given four and have them on the carport roof at the moment, but I think they would be dried now….do I leave them there over winter, or put them somewhere else?
@ Marita, where did you get the seeds for that variety? It looks interesting.
@ Bec, thanks, looking forward to eating them.
@ Tania, I don’t think I have met a pumpkin that I didn’t like. Qld Blues are the best keepers. Last for well over 8 months.
@ Brendie, I was hoping for a few more Butternut as I think they make the best soup, but will make do with the Australian Butter.
@ Joyful, sounds like an unusual variety. I couldn’t find any pictures on your blog, can you tell me where you got the seeds from?
@ anon, that is a fantastic harvest. I am envious!
@ JustAGal, the blue ones are fantastic to eat. They are best roasted with skins on!
@ Carmel, I agree. Winter would not be the same without Pumpkin as a staple vegetable.
@ Bruise Mouse. Give it a go next season, but make sure you give them lots of room to grow.
@ nellymary, I leave them outside in the cool weather under cover and out of direct sunlight. Some people I know store them in a dark cupboard, but then if I did that, they would go to waste and rot. Out of sight, out of mind so to speak. The Aussie butters last about 6 months and the Qld blue store for over 8 months.
Gav x
Hey gavin here is a picture of a pink banana pumpkin http://mrsmacgregorsgarden.blogspot.com/2011/02/name-that-punpkin.html..you can purchase seeds from greenharvest..i got mine from a neighbour who fell in love with the pumpkin after buying it from a farmers market