PUMPKINS, SQUASHES OR GOURDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 206, 19 November 1927, Page 26 (Supplement)

PUMPKINS, SQUASHES OR GOURDS

These are popular names o£ many varieties and species of plants belonging to the cucumber family. Thev are tender, half-hardy annuals, natives of warm countries, and cultivated the world over. They cross readily with one another, and so make it difficult to keep one variety distinct if other sorts are grown in the same district and happen to be flowering at the same time. Thus we have hundreds of varieties of squashes and pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. Their cultural requirements are simple. If the plants are required to be grown quickly they should be planted on a bed of manure, and being gross feeders, will thrive well. They can also be successfully grown on ordinary ground without manure, provided the soil is moderately rich. The seed should be sown from September to December on small hillocks, four feet apart each way. three or four seeds being planted on each hillock, and when germinated hoe out the weak plants, leaving one or two strong plants. Vegetable marrows and squashes are suitable for training over trellis or summer arbours. Squashes and pumpkins will soon be bearing flowers plentifully and often amateur gardeners complain .that the flowers are falling off without any fruit settin™ This is probably due to faulty pollinating. The only remedy is to pollinate by hand. Two sorts of flowers are produced on the plants, those with an embrvo marrow immediately behind them (the females), and those which are backed merely by a stalk (the males). Every morning when the sun is shining pick one or more of the male flowers and strip away the petals, and rub its central column against the centre of each female flower. In the rubbing pollen wiU be transferred from male to female, and thus the work of nature will be asWhen your pumpkin vine swings its best and' biggest fruit over into your neighbour’s backyard don t wait until nightfall to secure what is justly you... Rather follow the intention of the idb •wise Solomon in regard to the bab> halve it.