Just a brief Friday post to end the week and show all the different shapes, sizes, and colors that pumpkins, squashes, and melons come in.
New England Sugar Pie Pumpkin
A classic pumpkin that is commonly used in baked goods due to its sweetness. These pumpkins stay relatively small (less than 5 pounds), and the one shown in the picture below likely won’t grow much bigger. These will ripen to the classic orange color that we all know.
Seminole Pumpkin
This is the most recent of our pumpkins/squash to produce identifiable fruits. The Seminole pumpkin is green throughout much of its growing process before ripening to a tan/buff color. These won’t get much bigger than they are now – about 6 inches in diameter.
Candy Roaster Melon Winter Squash
This Candy Roaster Melon is easily the largest of our fruits to this point. It’s currently about the size of a basketball. This variety can range from 6 to 30 pounds. Ours is probably somewhere in the middle of that range. When fully ripe, it will be a vibrant orange color with green stripes.
Ali Baba Watermelon
We have several watermelons on the vine, but this one is the largest. It’s about the size of a college-size football and could reach 30 pounds. Unlike other varieties that have a dark green color, the Ali Baba maintains a light green rind the entire time.
Noir des Carmes Cantaloupe
I’ve shared pictures of this exact fruit multiple times on the blog, but it’s beginning to change its appearance, an indication that it’s ripening. This won’t have the light tan “webbed” rind that the fruit we call cantaloupe in North America has. Instead, this will ripen to a yellow and green color. It has likely reached full size.
Tigger Melon
This is another melon I’ve shown a lot on the blog. This Tigger melon will become a beautiful orange color with white speckles or zig-zag stripes when it’s ripe. These small fruits only weigh about a pound when fully grown, but the plants produce plenty of fruit.
Red Kuri (Hokkaido) Winter Squash
Part of our late batch of squash, the Red Kuri is a winter squash but will become vibrant orange like a pumpkin when it’s ripe. This squash is on the smaller side at 3-4 pounds, but grows well in cool climates.
There you have it. These are almost all of the pumpkin/squash/melon varieties we have growing. It’s so fun to see all the different shapes and colors that they take, not to mention the sizes they can be when fully ripe. Do you have a favorite pumpkin or squash to grow and eat?
One Rabbit Riot 