Seminole pumpkin is a perennial vegetable in South Florida, great cover crop, disease resistant

Seminole pumpkin (winter squash) is a Rare Heirloom Perennial Native American Pumpkin that Stores Up to a Year. It is very easy to grow and it is resistant to most bacterial and viral infections. Caterpillar infestations are easily controlled with organic BT spray.

Seminole pumpkin is a great cover crop to grow over your lawn. It reduces the need to cut the grass and you get pumpkins! There is a reported story that a single plant was started, 4 years later it tool over 4 acres and there were 400 pumpkins at any one point. The fruit is green and turns beige when ripe. It can be eaten at any stage. All parts of the fruit are edible, including the skin, and it can be eaten raw. Young fruits can be pickled, and the seeds are eaten raw or roasted. The flowers, leaves, and young stems are eaten as a green vegetable or added to soups.

Seminole Pumpkins: Easy to Grow Yet Strangely Variable in Genetics - from David The Good YouTube channel:



Video: John from http://www.growingyourgreens.com goes on a field trip to a green market in South Florida to learn about the Rare Native American Seminole Pumpkin. In this video you will learn about this Perennial Pumpkin that can grow year round in Florida. After watching this video you will learn how just a dozen plants produced over 300 pumpkins in just 13 months:



Cultivation

The vines will grow widely spreading along the surface of the ground, rooting at nodes, or they may be grown on trellises or other supports. They have a strong tendency to climb on upright objects, clambering over other plants, or growing up tree trunks and limbs. Leaves on older fruiting branches die back but younger branches will continue the growth of the plant.

Video: The Seminole Pumpkin, a local favorite! See how they're grown, then back to the kitchen to make a pie for dessert - from SGTV:





Video: Squash can be used as a Living Mulch to Conserve Water, Suppress Weeds and Create Micro Climates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YarGB-OA28I



Basics For Seed Starting Cucumbers, Zucchini & Squash: Heavy Feeders & Heat Lovers - TRG 2015: Squash, Cucumbers and Zucchini... And Melons and Pumpkins are warm weather crops. They love water, nitrogen and organic matter. You really have to give them what they want to grow well. If you are starting them indoors they need to be started in larger containers, fed and transplanted at week 4 or 5 into the ground.

References:

Seminole Pumpkin | Eat The Weeds and other things, too http://bit.ly/1CzHOSt

Echo farm info sheet on Seminole pumpkin
https://www.echocommunity.org/ne/resources/c202c2a6-f40d-46c5-870d-c09c2750e2fa.pdf

Related videos:

2014 Seminole Pumpkin Harvest & Easy Winter Squash Recipe! - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr1ilggZ5xA

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