In the vegetable garden we often find this plant, the pumpkin, which can be both a vegetable and a fruit.
It is one of the five types of cultivated squash.

The pumpkin seeds, which you have kept in the right season, are sown in pots by March-April.

It appears that sowing outside can be affected by frost. It needs organic matter and abundant sprinkling near the root in rich, well-drained soil that is exposed to the sun. Spreading a mulch or laying the fruit on a tile will prevent the pumpkin from rotting in contact with the earth.
It is the beginning of September that it starts to mature. The pumpkin is harvested when the foliage and the stalk are dry and yellow.

An opportunity to zoom in on this sweet chestnut fruit.
Scientific name: Cucurbita maxima
Family: Cucurbitaceae

Pumpkin is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae originating from the tropical regions of South America (Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Chile).
The term also refers to this fruit that is consumed as a vegetable. It is also found in a sweet version, especially in more exotic dishes: soup, mashed potatoes, gratin, pie, pie, jam ...., even ice cream.
This plant was introduced by the Portuguese in Europe and China in the sixteenth century, like all squash, often confused with each other and even with gourds or gourds, which have been known in Europe since ancient times.

Do not confuse pumpkins and gourds that belong to two different varieties.

In normal language, the term pumpkin is more or less synonymous with pumpkin.
The pumpkin is round and orange in color.
The handle is hard and fibrous, with five angular sides, without bumps at the attachment point. His meat is fibrous.
It is she we use on Halloween.
Walt Disney caused confusion: in Cinderella, one of her most famous cartoons, the fairy turns a pumpkin into a beautiful carriage, while, as in the original text of the story of Charles Perrault, she talks about a pumpkin.

The pumpkin is more or less flattened, the color ranges from reddish orange to dark green.
The stalk is soft and spongy, cylindrical and wide in the vicinity of the fruit.
The meat of the pumpkin is sweeter, tastier and less fibrous than that of the pumpkin.
The pumpkin is an annual herbaceous plant with long stems, very powerful, creeping, possibly climbing, that cling to each support by tendrils.
The leaves are large, whole and form five rounded lobes. The flowers with individual genera are yellow-orange. The fruits are very polymorphic.
They vary, depending on the varieties, by their shape (spherical, more or less flattened, elongated, bumpy ...), by their size (from less than a kilogram to more than 200 kg), by their color on maturity (white, yellow, orange, red, green, blue green ...).
The flesh is thick and yellow-orange in color.
The seeds are slightly convex, oval, smooth, white and fairly large: 2 to 3 cm long.
There are three to ten per gram.
Of tropical origin, the pumpkin requires artificial heat if sown before May.
The light garden grounds are suitable for this culture; piles of compost are very suitable; but in general it is useful to dig a hole before planting and then fill it with potting soil or compost.
The pumpkin must be watered regularly because this plant needs a lot of water. Six months elapsed between sowing and harvesting.
Pumpkins are harvested at full maturity and are eaten cooked.
Very light in calories and concentrated in micronutrients, they can be prepared in many ways as a vegetable or dessert: naturally rich, the high nutritional density makes it a vegetable to consume regularly in the context of cancer or heart disease prevention. vascular.
A consumption of 150 grams can cover all daily needs for provitamin. Pumpkin contains 95.6% water.
It can easily be stored from six months to a year in a moderate and dry place (home interior).

Pumpkin festival in the pottery
One of the most beautiful gorges in the country gathered in a garden of 1 ha.

Homemade and 100% organic production.
Even more animations this year with the return of puppets, archery, a chess initiation outdoors, a kite workshop, the wizard Maxime Mandrake, ...
The test stand is also waiting for you with its new recipes.
There will also be: waffles, pancakes, jam, pasta, cookies, sausage rolls, soup and ... chocolates, all in pumpkin!
Another novelty, the party will evolve to the "0 waste" where it is possible ...
In this regard, ask for your 10% discount coupon through our site and do not hesitate to give it to your friends, we will book surprises for our best customers ....
The precise program will be available in the coming days on our Facebook group of Potironnerie or on cucurbita.be

Where: 136 Chaussée d'Ophain: 1420 Braine-l'Alleud: Telephone: 0477476208: http://www.cucurbita.be

For Halloween, Pumpkin or Pumpkin ?

If you plan to decorate your garden as a result of the Halloween party, you should choose a pumpkin without hesitation.
On the one hand because of the lower price, but mainly because it is much easier to empty a pumpkin and to process its meat with a knife.
It is indeed less compact and loosens more easily.