Question for the vegetable and garden experts

[WrenchDad]

Hey guys, I have a compost pile (mostly horse manure and grass/hay )but last year I threw some old pumpkins and various other rotten squashes and stuff people gave me on the pile. Now of course they grew and I have stuff I cant identify. I have some regular round pumpkins growing and turning green to orange but I also have some squash type that is green then turns yellow/orangish but only partially. They aren't big like pumpkins and don't finish like pumpkins. I cut one open and it is real firm and has seeds like a pumpkin. It could be some type but I have know idea. Any body know. The pictures show how they start and how they look turning colors. (they only seem to turn on the side facing the sun) They have been this way for about two weeks. my foot is for size reference.

 

[piglet]

My wife says all the different plants you threw in there can cross breed to create something new.

 

[WrenchDad]

My wife says all the different plants you threw in there can cross breed to create something new.

That would be cool, I don't know what I'll do with them I'm not sure If you can cook them or how. I have some other funky things growing I'll post tomorrow. If that's the case my guess is it might be a zuccimpkin or maybe a summer squampkin. I know there is definitely pumpkins in there.

 

[buckeye]

Try it.:laugh:

But. I think you had some cross pollination.

 

[WrenchDad]

Try it.:laugh:

But. I think you had some cross pollination.

I agree 100% I didnt plan on "growing" any of it ,Thats just where I dumped my left over stuff from last year. It is very dense like a Pumpkin but almost no smell. The seeds were suspended in the webbing like a pumpkin. There is a green cast to the flesh. I tasted it (raw ) and there was no pumpkin flavor I also tasted the inside of the seed and I'm getting just one slight flavor and that is leaning towards Zuccini. As I look closer at the green section the skin resembles that of Zuccini.

 

[tippycanoenm]

almost looks like an acorn squash to me......

 

[WrenchDad]

almost looks like an acorn squash to me......

It's about that size but nothing else similar to the acorn squash, plus I know for certain there were'nt any of those in the pile. As far as I know the options are carving pumpkins, summer squash , decrative pumpkins( tall redish orange with warts), Zuccini,and a small decrative gourd. The inside is very pale like the inside of a pumpkin (and kind of stringy if you scrape it) but solid like a zuccini near the skin. I'm going to bake a half tonight and see what happens.

 

[WrenchDad]

These are a couple more things I have growing. The round one I'm pretty sure is a pumpkin The longer oblong green and yellowish/orange one I have know idea.

 

[manchester1]

Not sure what that is but some guy on my route had a bunch of those growing in his fence last year. I never saw him to ask. Part cucumber part pumpkin.ut::laugh:

 

[Eliminator]

A Gourd of sorts I'd say...

Gourds are related to melons, squash, pumpkins, and cucumbers, all members of the Cucurbitaceae or Cucumber family

 

[dajsnipe]

I ve had several crosses in the past few years, some are good others were just nasty. Saving the seeds will normally result in the next seasons crop reverting back to one of the parent plants, but you never know.
I ve never been able to reproduce a specific fruit from the seed I harvested but I am working on it.

 

[WrenchDad]

I baked it and when I hit it with a fork it shredded like a spaghetti squash. It didn't have a whole lot of flavor, almost neutral. I saved the seeds (they looked like pumpkin seeds) I'll dry them and plant next year.

 

[dajsnipe]

It probably crossed with spaghetti squash, it'll be cool to see what the seeds produce.

 

[massacre]

Vegetable husbandry is weird.

Call any vegetable
And the chances are good
That the vegetable will respond to you

 

[WrenchDad]

That's what I thought, but I didn't have any spaghetti squash. The inside was almost white (with a green tint like a zucchini) And the seeds were suspended like a pumpkin.

 

[dajsnipe]

If any neighbors planted spaghetti squash it could be from them. Anything within 1/2 mile is well within range of honeybees

 

[WrenchDad]

If any neighbors planted spaghetti squash it could be from them. Anything within 1/2 mile is well within range of honeybees

I never thought of that, I just figured it was something from what I had close by.
I cut one of these open last night, just to see what it looked like inside. Smaller seeds than the last one (yellow and green one.) but the same internal structure as a pumpkin. This one smells a lot more like a pumpkin than the other. They have some orange in them so I'm pretty sure they are pumpkin based.