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Post by txdirtdawg on Nov 23, 2012 10:54:43 GMT -5
Sorry to hear that Gulf. I know you have a distance thing from the house to the patch, but could you run some extension cords, lay out Christmas lights and cover with plastic or something along those lines? Just to get past Saturday? I'm assuming you're heading back Sunday.
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Post by gulfcoastguy on Nov 23, 2012 14:46:30 GMT -5
It's about 300 feet from our nearest plug. Squish vines are also big and spread out. Maybe the forecast is wrong but I went ahead and picked one anyway. Christmas lights would drive the poor old lady 50 feet from the patch crazy though.She was puzzled as all get out with the mystery moschata.
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Post by txdirtdawg on Nov 23, 2012 18:57:14 GMT -5
Gotcha. Hope you don't get the freeze. Still, that would give the young woman something to talk about for some time to come. 'Dang fools putting Christmas lights in their garden. What's the world coming to?"  |
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Post by gulfcoastguy on Nov 25, 2012 23:45:29 GMT -5
Dead as a doornail.
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Post by garrett on Nov 26, 2012 19:43:20 GMT -5
agggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.you got hit gulf?
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Post by directsunlight on Nov 26, 2012 20:22:42 GMT -5
I cut up a zucchini pumpkin the week before we left for vacation. It was ok, just you had to throw away the pulp in the bell, like you would for a pumpkin. It's kind of crazy to peel, too-- had to put the peelings in an old Stouffer's lasagna pan because they were so big. It produced 4 quarts of zucchini!
There are a few more in the house still, along with one spaghetti squash and a few butternuts. Has anyone tried to put a tarp over vines when the weather gets cold, and did it do any good? Someone at school suggested that to me, after the fact, but nothing else is big enough, & maybe not even that.
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Post by gulfcoastguy on Nov 26, 2012 22:31:33 GMT -5
agggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.you got hit gulf? Yep I had more and bigger squish on the vines than in the rest of the season. Green of course. It dropped down to 26 to 29 over night. The two vines that had headed uphill under the pinetrees survived. Unfortunately I had picked the only squash on both of the saturday morning. |
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Post by gulfcoastguy on Nov 26, 2012 22:34:07 GMT -5
I cut up a zucchini pumpkin the week before we left for vacation. It was ok, just you had to throw away the pulp in the bell, like you would for a pumpkin. It's kind of crazy to peel, too-- had to put the peelings in an old Stouffer's lasagna pan because they were so big. It produced 4 quarts of zucchini! There are a few more in the house still, along with one spaghetti squash and a few butternuts. Has anyone tried to put a tarp over vines when the weather gets cold, and did it do any good? Someone at school suggested that to me, after the fact, but nothing else is big enough, & maybe not even that. I've done that for kuta squash back when Parks Seed still carried them. Unfortunately the way my moschatas traveled and rooted I'd have needed about 1/4 acre of tarp. |
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Post by garrett on Nov 27, 2012 19:43:07 GMT -5
my roach punkins are bigger and heavier this year...smiles
the 2 biggest hubbardsare sizing up sllllllllowly....but no weight to them?
a lot lighter than i expected for ther size.
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Post by txdirtdawg on Nov 28, 2012 11:13:43 GMT -5
Well the Mystery Moschatas are coming out of the garden at a faster rate than I expected. The striping is getting that salmony color and the vines are withering at a fast rate As the vines wither I am cutting the squash and taking them inside to cure. Some are getting a buff-orangy cast to the non-stripe areas. I assume they will ripen to complete buff-y/orange-y coloration. I took another 2 out of the garden yesterday. Looks like a couple more will be ready to take in a day or 2.
At this rate, I'll be able to convert that area to winter greens/onions in 2-3 weeks. The holdup may be the very large Argonaut/Long of Naples/PDC whatever the heck it is and may-be-a-cross fruit. It is still all green.
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Post by garrett on Dec 1, 2012 19:14:25 GMT -5
well i obtained a second load of rice hulls.....
i may leaf and manure it and use it fer punkins this year....i dunno yet........
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Post by garrett on Dec 5, 2012 20:09:28 GMT -5
ordered some big max......
gotta back fill the ricehulls....maybe in january.......
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Post by coffeebreak on Dec 6, 2012 18:30:45 GMT -5
Red check the Pumpkins seeds that I gave you I thought I gave you some big max type The name should have been blue moon or big moon on the pack This is what they will look like  Charles |
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Post by garrett on Dec 6, 2012 20:12:01 GMT -5
that's purdy charles......
i swear i see a buttercup ancestor there?
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Post by txdirtdawg on Dec 6, 2012 22:06:01 GMT -5
Hey GCG, a little feedback for you on the Mystery Moschata.
I cracked the first one tonight. Approx 4 lbs - on the smaller side of the ones I am getting. Shell was good and hard. Moreso than any butternut type I've cut. I suspect they are a long keeper. Flesh was orange. seed cavity was decent sized, but there was still a lot more meat than say a pepo pumpkin would have - a thick band between the skin and seed cavity. Flesh was pretty dry. After roasting there were some strings, but not many and they seemed to disintegrate upon stirring well. The ripeness condition was that the markings had that salmony color, and there was some buffing going on in some of the previously dark green areas. The whole squash had taken on sort of a dry filmy white-ishness to it. I've read about a type that does that, but can't remember the variety - maybe Japanese? Anyway, I think about another month would have improved it even more. The flesh was sweet. Not as sweet as a butternut, but definitely in that family. Given the extra cure time, I suspect it will be as sweet or sweeter. This was one of the round basketball shaped ones.
Bottom line my view on this squash at this time: Long DTM here. Took until I think mid-late November to pick the first one. It has been more productive in this droughty season than the other winter squash types. Flavor and texture have the moschata halmarks that I like. Vines show a vitality that kept them ahead of the SVBs and squash bugs, of which there was an abundance this year. Time will bear out if it is a long keeper, but it has the indications.
Definitely a keeper. Thank you for letting me try this one.
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Post by gulfcoastguy on Dec 6, 2012 22:34:34 GMT -5
You're welcome Dawg. I'll have some extra mater seed that Blane gave me if you are interested: a purple, a yellow, and a white all potato leaf if you are interested. There might be a pink/red also.
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Post by txdirtdawg on Dec 7, 2012 21:52:34 GMT -5
Oooh, I might be interest in a purple, red or pink (or whatever color mixes - I know Blane likes the striped multicolors). If you end up having some extra you don't need, I'd love to try a couple of seeds. I'm really just not a fan of oranges, yellows and whites for the most part.
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Post by garrett on Dec 20, 2012 19:32:04 GMT -5
well uncle wants a bunch of big max fer his kiddos wedding next fall.
so all hands on deck...lol
gotta finish the back punkin patch for sure now....
what do 40-50 lb punkins sell for?
not in uncles case but for gen public?
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Post by directsunlight on Jan 2, 2013 3:33:09 GMT -5
Yes, the zucchini R. is a keeper. I mean that literally. I've still got two orange versions of the fruit, large and still ready to be used. Those who said they lose their flavor when they mature, didn't live where I do, because I was amazed that the last one was as good as the day I picked it. Y'know, I'm just saying it's nice, when something turns out to be better than everyone says it is...
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Post by LinFL on Jan 6, 2013 22:22:15 GMT -5
We ate my pumpkin harvest tonight. Yes - the whole harvest was two Seminole Pumpkins, exactly 3lbs total - roughly 1.5 lbs each. They were not as sweet as I had hoped, but had a nice flavor - just a bit of brown sugar made them perfect. (Would they have sweetened up more if I had stored them longer?) The vines set more, but I accidentally knocked one baby pumpkin off, my kid knocked off another, DH ran over a section of the vine with the lawnmower (sigh), and bugs ate into a couple more fruits and ruined them before they could ripen. The vine itself looked pretty decent up until the weather turned cool. Squash vine borers killed some sections of it, but since it rooted at every node, the rest of the vines kept going. Bugs also ate into one of my Long Island Cheese pumpkins. The other fruit didn't ripen by the time the vine completely died. The Musquee de Provence didn't ever set any fruit. I don't think I will grow any pumpkins this year. Though maybe I could grow the Seminole as ground cover in my front flowerbed of doom. (I have killed more plants in that bed...don't know why.) It might just be tough enough to grow even there. Anything green there is better than my usual failure, and pumpkins would be a bonus. The neighbors would probably consider a pumpkin vine an improvement! However, it might get tricky keeping the vines from climbing the straggly rosebushes and then up the house. I can picture them now climbing the front porch columns.  |
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Post by directsunlight on Jan 12, 2013 15:55:33 GMT -5
Musquee de Provence is good but it does take its time. Two years ago, the last time I did a spring garden, the plants produced 3 pumpkins then shut down for the summer. I thought they were going to die but watered them to see what would happen. In early September the vines started looking a lot healthier and within a couple of weeks they started setting fruit. Still they weren't ripe when the first frost came the first week of November. Some were very close and I cooked them in the week or two after that; some of them rotted outside when they were left out there to ripen (didn't have a lot of room in the kitchen then) but I got a total of 3 more that I could cook.
All that's to say they set fruit poorly when temps are in the high 90s or 100s like a lot of pumpkins. It'a really good wnter squash-- looks nice and tastes good and is resistant to SVB.
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Post by directsunlight on Jan 12, 2013 16:00:11 GMT -5
We ate my pumpkin harvest tonight. Yes - the whole harvest was two Seminole Pumpkins, exactly 3lbs total - roughly 1.5 lbs each. They were not as sweet as I had hoped, but had a nice flavor - just a bit of brown sugar made them perfect. (Would they have sweetened up more if I had stored them longer?) The vines set more, but I accidentally knocked one baby pumpkin off, my kid knocked off another, DH ran over a section of the vine with the lawnmower (sigh), and bugs ate into a couple more fruits and ruined them before they could ripen. The vine itself looked pretty decent up until the weather turned cool. Squash vine borers killed some sections of it, but since it rooted at every node, the rest of the vines kept going. Bugs also ate into one of my Long Island Cheese pumpkins. The other fruit didn't ripen by the time the vine completely died. The Musquee de Provence didn't ever set any fruit. I don't think I will grow any pumpkins this year. Though maybe I could grow the Seminole as ground cover in my front flowerbed of doom. (I have killed more plants in that bed...don't know why.) It might just be tough enough to grow even there. Anything green there is better than my usual failure, and pumpkins would be a bonus. The neighbors would probably consider a pumpkin vine an improvement! However, it might get tricky keeping the vines from climbing the straggly rosebushes and then up the house. I can picture them now climbing the front porch columns. In the front yard I've tried strawberries, huckleberries, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, and blueberries. None of them have done any good. I got to eat some strawberries and some miniature carrots & that's it. I finally am going with blackberries-- I noticed briers grew just fine there so figured, why not? |
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Post by garrett on Jan 12, 2013 18:39:46 GMT -5
good luck this year my friends.....
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Post by garrett on Jan 27, 2013 3:16:28 GMT -5
get er done ya'lls.....
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Post by garrett on Jan 27, 2013 16:39:22 GMT -5
I continue to find more punkin seeds as I clean the kitchen.....lol
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Post by kay on Feb 4, 2013 19:34:12 GMT -5
Well, I'm going to try pumpkins again this year. It will be the 'lil Hooligan" grown up on a trellis.
Someone was asking about selling the larger (40+ lbs) ones. They always seem to go first at the pumpkin stands around here
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Post by garrett on Feb 5, 2013 20:56:11 GMT -5
found my speckled hound seeds...lol
gonna drop some kaki and big max this weekend iffin i can finish the beds......
probly about 3-4 weeks away from finishing beds the way i wants em.....
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Post by gulfcoastguy on Feb 6, 2013 19:32:35 GMT -5
I dumped about 8 pickup loads of leaves on Dad's garden. I might sneak some Tatume squash or Mawali watermelon in there. BTW after pitchforking all those leaves I had to pop a couple of Ibus.
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Post by txdirtdawg on Feb 6, 2013 22:04:21 GMT -5
you could drop a few 2nd generation MMs in there too. Tell him they self-seeded from last year. ;D
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Post by gulfcoastguy on Feb 6, 2013 22:34:05 GMT -5
you could drop a few 2nd generation MMs in there too. Tell him they self-seeded from last year. ;D From 250 feet away? He may be 83 but he isn't senile yet. Other than Tatume I'm taking a 2 or 3 year break from squash. I've been experimenting for 20 or so years and the best I've found yet is Tahitian Melon winter squash (southernexposure.com). Butternut Violina used to be my favorite but between one year and the next the seed from the site not to be named produced totally different fruit. There was a hybrid cross between a maxima(kabocha) and a moschata on Pinetree seeds that actually tastes slightly better. |
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