Pumpkin patch practices and gourd garden grooming.
#102173
I am so envious of your beautiful pumpkin harvest. All the different sizes & colors are amazing.
Do you know if any of the small pumpkins are actually gourds? I bought one at a farm stand a few years ago & haven’t been able to find one since. There are no pumpkin-shaped gourds in the seed catalogs. I just like having a pumpkin that doesn’t have to go into the compost pile at the end of the season!
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#102320
My “ pumpkin” is actually a gourd; it’s 3 years old and dried. It is the size of Jack Be Littles, though. I was hoping someone else had seen the gourds or seeds for them somewhere. I would also like to know if anyone had tried carving one. Thanks for the reply.
#102511
Pumpkins are Cucurbita pepo, just like small ornamental gourds from which some of them hardens as they mature, so they can be dried.
Through breeding we got some small orange varieties of pumpkins, which are actually a gourds. Sometimes you can dry them, you can not tell exactly which ones, but this depends on various factors, variety and genetics (if they have enough hard shell when they mature).
You probably referenig on gourds in catalogs from Lagenaria siceraria types of gourds (which all dry up), but there are no specific pumpkin shaped varieties from this species.