Field Guide: Pumpkins - Gardenista

Field Guide: Pumpkins - Gardenista
From Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow to Harry Potter to Cinderella’s coach, a squash somehow has managed to carve out a permanent place for itself in our mythology of magic and superstition.
Pumpkin, Cucurbita: “The Horseman’s Head”
Scientists have spent decades deciding that the answer lies in the stem–a true pumpkin has a prickly stem set at a 5-degree angle from the yellowy orange fruit.
Photograph by Erin Boyle.
Best Jack-o-lantern? Or buy pumpkin seed now to plant next May. The best varieties?
Photograph by Christine Chitnis for Gardenista.
Casper Pumpkin Seeds from Homestead Seeds.
Cheat Sheet
Photograph by Janet Hall.
Keep It Alive
Photograph by Janet Hall.
A classic carving pumpkin is Charisma.
Carving a pumpkin this week?
Photograph by Erin Boyle.
Let us not overlook the rest of the squash family.
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