a new obsession?

[bluelacedredhead]

Will do! I'll keep you in mind if I have some to share.

[johno]

Alan, did you plant any of the squash seeds I sent you? (I'll understand if you didn't...) Just wondering if any of them proved useful?

[Alan]

Johno, not this year, about the same time I got yours in the mail I got a huge order from Grin and Native seeds/SEARCH and got more than just a little bit overwhelmed with squash, however, your stuff is in what I call the "cue" pile for next year. I'm going to offer a nice winter squash mix of seed through the Seed Project too, there will be 5 or 6 types of hubbards, Kobacha types, native american types and more!

[americangardener]

Great Alans got an Obsession.. and now i got a craving to go eat some squash. After reading all you guys talking about how you cook em... it made me hungary.

Good thing my sister and aunt will be cooking up some squash later today for some kinda pre-thanksgiving diner diner at the church. They better leave me some.

Alan.. i'm still waiting on my seed orders to be coming in.. i should be getting some more mochata types in the next few weeks. If they come in.. i'll contact ya.

Dave

[Alan]

Thanks American, I would love to grow them, any type of interesting squash you come by feel free to send me some because I'll definetly put them to good use.
-alan

[americangardener]

Will do Alan...

So far i've only gotten a bunch of pepo types from argentina and mexico. Mostly calabasa ones. Supposedly grown by the native tribes there many years ago.

I learned from trialing so many Maximas this past season that i should be growing less space consuming varieties. Last season i had a ton of vines but very few squash due to getting a late start... and the drought didn't help much either. I'm hoping to do better next season.. and with the pepos i'm hoping to cut down on the maturity times. We'll see.

If you're interested in any pepos, i got plenty of extra seeds. Bout 35 varieties.

LMK
Dave

[Alan]

Hmmm, I don't believe I have any of the Calabasa types, as a matter of fact I know I don't, actually I don't think i've ever heard of them, are they like acorn types?

I would love to try some of them out if you have extras, or if you have some delicata types (other than sweet dumpling) or interesting acorn types or "mini-pumpkin" types, I would like to play with those too.

Thanks american!
-Alan

[flowerpower]

I immediately thought of a pumpkin when I read Calabasa.

Alan, I did buy a few Hooligans, and I have Jack Be Little and Baby Boo . Also one of those Carnival Squashes is flat like a pumpkin and they should look more like an Acorn. But I am still using them all as decorations. So I am just saving seeds as I use them or I see a soft spot.

I found another source for the Neck Pumpkin-right in Rochester NY. I just got on the mailing list for the catalog. It comes out Mid December

gardeners.harrisseeds.com/cart/detail.asp?subcat=104&product_id=00775%2D00%2D01

[bluelacedredhead]

FP, did you find any neck pumpkin seeds in the mix Alan sent?

Harris huh?

[flowerpower]

In the 2 pks, there was only one seed for the neck pumpkin. So I will send that to the Great White North. lol Lots of interesting looking seeds in there. Harris price is 4.95 / oz. How many seeds is that? Maybe a few of us could split it?

[americangardener]

Alan..

Calabaza is the generic spanish term for squash. I spelled it with an S because that's what i've seen more commonly in the names of the squash. It's hard to say exactly what any of these varieties i have will look like. I've seen pictures of em that look just like acorn squash, others look like the L. I cheese squash, and others that look like pumpkins.

I did try to find all bush varieties though.. don't know if i succeeded. I did google for some images of em, but i couldn't find any that were specific to the varieties i got. I got mostly Calabaza de Castilla, C de Mantaca, and C de India types. Mostly from either Veracruz, Durrango or Guanajuato Mexico. They're all named as pepo types, but i've seen where other places have em classified as Mixta types. If i get some time, i'll try and get you a little more info on the varieties i have.

I'll start putting some in your envelope for ya.. i figure you'll like em. And then i'm still waiting for my moschata types to arrive. Can't say how long that'll take. And as for delicata types, i've only got one squash that we haven't eaten yet. When the cook gets ready to cook that i'll try to rescue the seeds... she has a bad habit of feeding all my squash seeds to the tree rats. But hopefully i'll get em first. It's just a common delicata squash, don't even know the name, but i know it's not a sweet dumpling. She already gave all those to the tree rats.

AG Dave

[Alan]

Dave, thanks so much, I'd definetly love to have samples of any of those and would be happy to grow them out and trial them and maybe do some breeding work with them.

I appreciate it so much friend.
-Alan

[bluelacedredhead]

FP, Here's what Harris says for seed count.
Seed Count:
(Seeds Per) Pkt. / Lb.
Summer Squash / 30 / 4,000
Winter Squash / 30 / 4,500 Winter Squash (large) 30 2,000

Depending on whether they consider Neck Pumpkins just an average winter squash seed @ 285 per oz OR 125 per oz for large... It's still cheaper than the 250 seeds for $11.95 that the Seed Savers.org asks for the PA Dutch.

I'll chip in some stamps

[flowerpower]

I just got am email from Harris comfirming my addy. I figure it is a bargain either way on the seed count. But I would say its a small seed. I really hope they are very curved.

[bluelacedredhead]

Yippeee!!! I hope so too. The only Cushaws I even came close to selling were ones with 'necks'. It's just that butternuts are more familiar so selling a butternut with a neck shouldn't be quite as difficult..I hope