Pumpkins

At LP Farm Store a variety of winter squash is grown. This is an older post from 2019. New squashes have been added in 2025.

I sometimes get asked what's the difference between a pumpkin and a winter squash?  I really don't have a answer to that question.  They both belong to the Cucurbita family and than they branch off into other families.  All pumpkins are winter squash: mature fruit of certain species in the genus Cucurbita.  Subspecies include pepo, moschata, argyrosperma, and maxima. Quite confusing so I just say a pumpkin is a squash!  I grow approximately 60 different varieties of pumpkin

My favorite question is: can you eat gourds?  I'm sure you could, but you're teeth might not appreciate biting into them.   Gourds are used as decorations for Thanksgiving, fall, and Halloween decorating. I love growing gourds, as you never know what you're going to get. When picking the gourds it's like going on an Easter egg hunt.  Autumn Wing gourds look like alien birds, Crown of Thorn gourds look like Pac Men, and Lunch Lady gourds........, yeah they're big and warty.

How do you plant a pumpkin patch? What are all the steps invovled?

Pumpkinist?  Is that even a word and what does it mean?