Musquee de Provence Squash

The first of these lovely Musquee de Provence pumpkins developed a big bad spot, so we cut the bad spot out and roasted the rest.

When Lily cut it open, she found that some of the seeds had sprouted - inside the pumpkin.

Pretty neat, huh.

The rest of the flesh of this squash was very stringy - like spaghetti squash.  Not my favorite.   I much prefer a smooth dense texture in my eating squash.

The others were a bit smoother, but still kind of stringy.   I roasted them all anyway and we liked the taste, if not the texture.   The flesh was very wet.   I pressure canned it the way I did last year.  Pureed, it is wonderful and has made some fantastic pies.  

Bottom line:  5 stars for looks.   4 stars for taste.   We could grow this again and I'd be happy. 

Winter Squash Roundup 2013: Part 2

Pretty!    Notice the big ones in the back?   Those are Musquee de Provence.  

Because French pumpkins are somehow more....je nes cest pas quoi.   Which means I don't know what.  No. Really.   That's what it means.   "I don't know what".   And which is probably spelled wrong.   Because French is not one of my languages. 



So I should probably leave that alone and just focus on my lovely squash. 

Here's the Musquee de Provence up close. Notice that they're bigger and orange-r than the Black Futsu in the middle up there.

I got three of them.   I love them.

What I didn't get was any from the Rouge Vif D'Etampes pumpkins that I planted.   And that's really sad because I really wanted red pumpkins this year.   That's what 'rouge' means.  Red.

I have no idea what the rest means and I guess it doesn't really matter, because I didn't get any anyway.   Maybe next year.  

This is a Queensland Blue.   I like these squash and so do the squash bugs  We only got one of these before the squash bugs and the borers got them.    I'll keep trying though.  That blue really makes me happy. 

Another Squash Update

Yeah, I know it's kind of obnoxious to keep posting pics of baby squash, but I have a little squash obsession and I think it's only fair to share it with you.   Some people show off pics of their kids and dogs, I show off pics of my squash.   It's a crazy world.

Also, excuse all the hands in the pics.  Not super attractive, but I wanted to give you an idea of how big they are getting.

This is Australian Butter Squash.   Sort of chunky and exactly the color of butter. This is our first time growing this one.  I can't wait to see how big it gets and what it tastes like. 

This one is Honeyboat Delicata.  It's pretty prolific.  I've got at least six fruit right now and they set pretty early.  They're a little longer than my hand.  I think they're supposed to turn more coppery when they're ready to harvest, so I'm waiting.  

This is Black Futsu.   I tried it last year and it finally set fruit in late September.  They were adorable and tiny but too late to ripen.   I decided to try again this year.   You can see how big this one is getting.   It'll have an orange area when it's ready.

This one is a summer squash - Golden Marbre Pattypan.   I love the stripes.   These get a bit bigger than my palm and dark yellow when they're ready.

And this one is a Musquee de Provence.  You can see how big it is already and it's just getting bigger.   I have two more big ones like this one.

The little white things are some volunteer baby white pumpkins.  We keep throwing the remains in with the chickens and every year we get more of them as volunteers from the chicken dirt we amend the garden with.