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PUMPKINS FOR
HALLOWEEN AND THANKSGIVING
If
they plant their pumpkins right, Mississippian’s could have their
jack-o’ lanterns and eat them, too.
Although
it’s only about three months to Halloween, there are a number of pumpkin
varieties that mature from seed in 90 days. As an added bonus, several of
these early varieties are not just ornamentals.
They are edible as well.
Pumpkin
varieties that mature from seed in 90 days included some long-established
varieties as well as some new “hot” varieties.
Small
Sugar is a 90 day, deep orange variety that is good for pies as well as
ornamentation. It will grow
from 6 to 10 pounds in weight.
Funny
Face hybrid is another 90-day pumpkin, with a bright yellow skin and an
edible thick yellow flesh that keeps well.
Spirit
hybrid matures in about 95 days from seed to as much as 15 pounds.
It has bright orange skin with a thick yellow, edible flesh.
Jackpot
grows from 10 to 18 inches in diameter in 85 to 90 days, Jackpot pumpkins
have glossy orange skin and a symmetrical round shape, making them a good
jack-o’-lantern. Baker rates
the Jackpot as excellent for pies.
For
gardeners with children, the newly released Baby Bear pumpkin is a good
choice. It has a
jack-o’-lantern shape, but scaled down to 1 ˝ or 2 pounds.
Small enough for toddlers to pick up, the Baby Bear is high in beta
carotene (as are most pumpkins) and makes a good pie filling.
Also, children like roasted pumpkin seeds.
Other
edible miniature pumpkins include the Pumpkin and Jack-Be-Little varieties.
Both varieties mature in as few as 90 days.
At three to five inches in diameter, with bright orange skins, they
make excellent table decorations. Because
of the warm climate, producers have mid-summer alternatives to growing only
the 90-day varieties. These
alternatives may require more gardening expertise, however.
For example, it’s possible to cut the maturity time of 110 and 120
day varieties by 10 to 14 days by using drip irrigation and mulching with
brown or silver plastic.
And
Halloween isn’t the only holiday where pumpkins fit in.
A pumpkin pie from a garden patch is a real treat for thanksgiving or
Christmas dinner. Thanksgiving
is more than four months away, which gives gardeners time to grow
practically any pumpkin variety from seed, with or without plastic mulch.
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