A few years ago, in early December, I received an email from a pool friend with a question about storing pumpkin seeds. "Is it possible to eat a pumpkin that combines the characteristics of different pumpkins?"
My mother grew Indian corn, herbs, and some pumpkins and planted them in the fall under the terms of our contract with my mothers to enter into our plant rental business. And we saved his offspring.
There are many different pumpkins that you can find around the world. Among the main cucurbits, there are several species of the genus Cucurbita, mainly from North America such as Malabar and turban pumpkins, Crescentia cujete or tree pumpkin or squash from the American tropics. Luffa gourds are native to Asia, as are wax gourds, snake gourds, fox gourds, hedgehogs, and bison/coyote gourds. Also called Bitter Melon/Balsamic Apple/Balsamic Courage Gourd.
Archaeologists have found pumpkin seeds 13,000-11,000 years ago in Peru and 11,000-6,000 years ago in Thailand. DNA studies have shown that bottle gourd, which originated in Asia, may have been one of the first Asian domesticated plants. The skull appears in many forms throughout history, from Elsham powder to the jar and when it is ready to eat, bitter melons, relatives of the skull, are even mentioned in the Bible.
One thing I learned about pumpkins a while ago is that if you grow them in your garden with other pumpkins or lots of pumpkins, they will not go back to where they were originally grown. Pumpkin or Cucurbita argiosperma, Maxima, Moschata or Pepo gourd belongs to the same plant family as pumpkins and squashes.
If you try to save one type of seed and harvest it correctly, you may find something else the next fall. In fact, I have done such jobs and it annoyed me. What I'm saying is that if you grew that pumpkin last year, there's a good chance it will turn into the pumpkin or pumpkin seed you want to grow. otherwise not
Cross-pollinated pumpkins are generally inedible. The triterpene cucurbitacin, obtained from indoor gourds and cross-pollinated, is restored to its former state by the high content of this triterpene. Eating too much pickled cucumber can be bitter or even poisonous, a phenomenon called toxic cucumber syndrome. I tried the bitter gourd and only got one bite.
Professional seed growers usually pollinate by hand, eliminating the possibility of random pollinators introducing pollen from another source. Professional seed growers also cover vegetables with paper bags.
For example, if you grow a row of pumpkins from your pumpkin and a bee from the pumpkin returns to your pumpkin to bring you unusual pollen, you will have another unusual hybrid. If you're always watching bees and avoiding other members of the Cucurbitaceae family, you're fine. Buy new seeds. It is more reliable.
I hope you enjoy walking through your indoor or outdoor garden and are ready to start next year. Planning what you want to grow for your family can be a great start to the new year. I have my first seed catalogs. Happy New Year to all my friends and readers!
You can email me at ericlarson546@yahoo.com. I will do my best to answer any questions about the garden. Thank you for participating in our column. Our website is ohiohealthyfoodcooperative.org and a link to the column will be posted soon.
Erik Larsen of Jeromesville is a landscape designer and gardening enthusiast and a founding member of the Ohio Association of Professional Landscape Designers.
This article in the Manfield News Journal: Saving pumpkin seeds and pumpkin cross-pollination.
