Garden Tips: Winter squash and pumpkins are signs of autumn

You know fall has arrived when tree leaves start turning red and winter squash, including pumpkins, start showing up everywhere, along with pumpkin lattes and a plethora of pumpkin culinary delights. What do you know about these squashy signs of autumn?

A squash is a member of the gourd family that has edible flesh. A winter squash is squash that is harvested when it is mature with fully developed seeds. When mature, a winter squash has a tough skin or rind that enables it to be stored for a month or more, depending on the type of squash and storage conditions.

From the botanist’s perspective, squash are members the cucurbit (Cucurbitaceae) family. This family is native to South and Central America, and may have been cultivated in these regions long before corn became a cultivated crop.

Squash have many cousins in their family, including decorative gourds, utility gourds, cucumbers, melons and summer squash. There are also several species of winter squash. The Cucurbita pepo species includes spaghetti, delicata and acorn squash. Because most C. pepo squash do not have thick skin, they are not suitable for long-term storage.

Winter squash, with harder skins that store well for up to several months, are the Cucurbita maxima species that includes hubbard, marblehead, buttercup, banana, golden nugget, Turk’s turban and kabocha squash. Other species that store well are Cucurbita moschata, which includes butternut, ponca and waltham squash, and Cucurbita argrosperma that includes cushaw squash.

All pumpkins are winter squash, but the term pumpkin is an inexact, nontechnical term that refers to a roundish winter squash with orangish smooth ribbed skin. However, not all winter squash that are called pumpkins are round and orange.

Pumpkins vary in appearance, characteristics, and use.

Many pumpkin pies come from pumpkin cultivars of C. moshata that have tan colored skin and an elongated fruit shape. This type of pumpkin is used to make canned pumpkin used in making pies and baked goods.

Gardeners trying to grow gargantuan pumpkins for giant pumpkin contests usually plant cultivars of C. maxima. These have creamy white to somewhat orange or yellow skin, and a spongy stem. These pumpkins can weigh in at 100 pounds or more. Selections of the cultivar Atlantic Giant produces most of the winners of pumpkin contests.

The Cinderella pumpkin, also known as Rouge Vif D’Etampes, is an heirloom variety that has grown in popularity. It has flattened fruit with deeply furrowed orange-red skin. It is often used for decorating, but its flesh is supposedly good cooked or in pie. Other heirloom pumpkins on the market are the Jarrahdale pumpkin with blue-green deeply ribbed skin, and the warty Galeux d’Eysines, with salmon-colored skin. Both are a departure from the typical orange pumpkin, and are reported to have tasty sweet flesh.

When it comes to carving, look to the cultivars and hybrids of C. pepo with orange skin and a deeply furrowed woody stems. Also, most of the cultivars with naked seeds for eating come from C. pepo, as well as do the miniature pumpkins used for fall decorating. In addition, there are some cultivars of C. Pepo used for making fresh pumpkin pies.

This would be a good weekend to get winter squash and pumpkins, if you did not grow them yourself. I want to get one of the carving pumpkins with white skin. How about you?

This story was originally published October 16, 2016 at 6:48 AM with the headline "Garden Tips: Winter squash and pumpkins are signs of autumn."