I grow Seminole Pumpkin both to eat in place of squash when it is young and also let some mature into small pumpkins. I have given up on growing squash here because if the vine borers don't get it powdery mildew does. The vines are tough and I have never had a squash vine borer bother them. If you pick them green when they are about the size of a baseball you can cook them with the skin on or off. Because of their size a mature pumpkin is just the right size for a pie. I also use the ripe ones for any recipe that calls for butternut squash.
The vines can grow up to 100 feet long and will climb a tree if there is one around. You can keep cutting the vines back if you don't want it to take over your yard. They do put down roots as they grow along the ground. One of my vines grew over an 8 foot privacy fence so cut it at then fence line and forgot about. My neighbor ended up with a nice harvest of them too.
|