What a useful vine: edible leaves, edible flowers, edible fruit, edible seeds (known as pepitas) and edible fragrant pumpkin seed oil used in salad dressings.
Pumpkin (Cucurbita) is a sprinter among vegetables. You can almost watch it grow providing the conditions are favourable. It is constantly hungry and thirsty but very grateful for the care it gets: it becomes totally edible (I have not eaten its roots yet, though).
The most exciting way to get acquainted with this wonderful garden wanderer is taste pumpkin flowers right after they open early in the morning. There are two kinds of them, both tasty: male and female flowers. The former are more numerous and produce pollen. The latter transform into the gigantic fruit which can weigh as much as... 450 kg (1000 pounds). Incredible! I advise that you eat only the male individuals and save the female ones in order to secure impressive harvest in the fall.
Pumpkin (Cucurbita) is a sprinter among vegetables. You can almost watch it grow providing the conditions are favourable. It is constantly hungry and thirsty but very grateful for the care it gets: it becomes totally edible (I have not eaten its roots yet, though).
The most exciting way to get acquainted with this wonderful garden wanderer is taste pumpkin flowers right after they open early in the morning. There are two kinds of them, both tasty: male and female flowers. The former are more numerous and produce pollen. The latter transform into the gigantic fruit which can weigh as much as... 450 kg (1000 pounds). Incredible! I advise that you eat only the male individuals and save the female ones in order to secure impressive harvest in the fall.
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