Although the pumpkin patch ended up buried in weeds, we've begun getting a good harvest of winter squash. There are a lot more out there that I'll gather after the first frost. Most will end up as winter treats for the sheep.
Paul
I recognized the long gray squash, my father grew them fifty odd years ago. He called them "banana squash" and some got up to fifteen lbs and were tasty. Thanks for calling up an old, old memory. Looks like a good haul.
Unfortunately we can't grow winter squash here in SE Texas, our winters are to hot I guess. We have to do with summer squash. I might try one winter squash plant next month if it actually cools off.
We have one Gypsy pepper plant that is rapidly approaching it's third year in the ground and is still producing heavily. We're sort of babying it to see how long it can last. All the other sweet chilies are slowly dying off now.
George
Hi Paul,
That is a thing of beauty!
What are each type of squash?
And, do you have a picture of the patch itself (don't mind the weeds, we won't care).
-T
a nice variety of yummyness! :)
why sheep food and not for you to eat?
will sheep eat turnips?
we have butternut only planted. a few are orange. we planted seeds from an orange fruit but only two in that planting were orange. the rest are all the dark green. we'll eat them no matter what. i could live off roasted squish.
songbird
The football-shaped one up front is a Blue Hubbard, that big long one is a Giant Argonaut, the two orange ones are Red October, the round yellow ones are spaghetti squash, and the smaller tan ones shaped something like light bulbs are Butterscotch Squash.
The Butterscotch are great for dinner; my wife splits them into halves, removes the seeds, adds butter and bakes. She used to top with brown sugar before we started our current diet. One half squash for each of us is just right.
This is the pumpkin patch when the plants just started to grow:
Three columns and seven rows with the hills six feet apart. I'd run the tiller around the hills to keep the weeds down before the vines started to run. No pictures of the over-grown patch yet.
Paul
We eat a lot of squash and pumpkin pie but generally grow too much for just ourselves, so the sheep get the excess as a winter-time treat.
We've never grown turnips, but since the sheep eat beets and carrots, I suppose they'd eat turnips also.
The Butterscotch are very similar to the Butternut, probably just someone's trade name for their variety.
We once baked a custard in a pumpkin. It was said to be a favorite of George Washington.
Paul
Pavel314 wrote: ...
they sell seeds for the purple top turnips by the lb at the grain elevator. a few $ each lb. i scatter them around along with the daikon radish. really helps get more worm food going and the radishes really have a deep root and can get large. pokes into that clay pretty good. :)
p.s. rotting turnips smell like beer.
i think their flavor is different enough to us that i would not consider them the same. we used to buy the butterscotch often, but since we've been growing our own we haven't needed to buy many that often. our choice actually in the mid-winter after the squash has run out or for some variety is to get some sweet potatoes.
i love anything like that, i bet it was delicious!
most pumpkin pies are basically a custard with pumpkin pulp mixed in and spices. we don't usually do anything with pie crusts any more though (instead we like crumbles or graham cracker crusts). i mostly like things right out of the skin best of all. trying to reduce sugars as much as i can (which for me with my sweet-tooth is a challenge). not because i have any issues, but simply because i eat a lot of sugar and could use to lose a few lbs yet. those are the easiest extra calories for me to target.
well, time to get out there, gotta check the red peppers and get them picked and then work on some weeding and transplants.
may rain later. rain in the forecast all week for both day and evenings. figures as it is also finally the moderate temperatures that i can get out more and work harder/longer.
the weekend was beautiful! :)
cheers,
songbird
Love the picture. My minds eyes goes wild when I see such. I see them, growing. I see the harvest. I see the dinner table. Truly a thing of beauty!
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