Flowers and plants

• Introduction
• Well known species to eat

Cucurbitaceae, not only are eaten, but there are also many varieties for decoration only. Gourds are very popular since about 1990. Many are one-year, but there are also perennials. Mostly it are plants with very long crawling or climbing stems. The fruits can have many shapes and textures like round, globe form till bottle forms. There are species which have a very hard shell such as most bottle gourds and there are species who have a soft shell like cucumber.

Cucurbita is the species with most different shapes. Many of those come from America. We all know the Turkish hat and pumpkin. Some are eaten such as Cucurbita maxima. This one even can weight a 100 kg. Try to grow the species Yellow giant, the biggest pumpkin. Most often we see the small species like Cucurbita pepo. There are many shapes and textures like smooth, wartlikes, and colors from green, to yellow, orange, red and even pink.

To grow gourds by your self is easy. Take care for a rich earth with lots of nutrition.  A compost heap is most ideal. Food and water are essential. After 15 May (Dutch climate) you can sow outside. You can choose to let the plants crawl or to climb. In the last case the fruits will hang free. Fruits on a wet soil must have something under it to keep them dry and prevent rotting. If there is too much rain you remove the old flowers carefully, to prevent rotting.
Harvest the gourds when they are completely ripe and have a hard shell. Some species you can keep a long time or even you can dry them.

Well known species to eat:

Cucurbita pepo

Cucurbita maxima

Cucurbita mosschata

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Last update of this page 23.05.2004