Squash

Squash

Oct 25th, 2009

by Dan.

Yesterday I asked you to identify what this was:

Arjan and Dad Who Writes thought it was a giant courgette. Don’t they know that giant courgettes are actually called marrows? Arjan I can forgive because his first language is Holandish (or is that Netherlandese), but for Dad Who Writes there is no excuse. Go away and study your Alan Titchmarsh more carefully next time.

Over on flickr, JJ Daddy-O suggested it was a zucchini – which is actually the US word for courgette anyway (those wacky Americans). I’m not sure what the US word for marrow is, probably “xisuduw” or something. Then again everything is supposed to be bigger over there, so perhaps they would just regard it as a medium sized gherkin.

Anyway, this is all irrelevant because it’s not a courgette, marrow, zucchini, xisuduw, or gherkin. It’s a pumpkin.

Honestly, it is.

I’ve got three more that look exactly like it too. The reason that it’s green not orange is that it isn’t ripe yet, but I’ve no idea why it’s elongated like that. It’s not because of the variety because I got three normal looking pumpkins from the same plant, see:

Maybe it’s that uranium fertilizer I’ve been using.

Anyhow according to the internet there isn’t much of a chance of it ripening now it’s been taken off the vine (which I had to do as the parent plant was going rotten and yucky). I’m not sure if there is anything you can do with mutant unripened pumpkins. Anyone got any suggestions?

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Who am I?

My name's Dan and I live near Huddersfield in the North of England. I’m a 34 years old part time stay at home dad. For three days a week I'm also a community mental health nurse but you won’t find me blogging about that here. I’m married to Kerry and we have two children - Amy (6) and Evan (3). I keep chickens, grow veg, and take the occasional long walk. If you want to know how other's describe me then take a look here. If you haven't been here before feel free to say hello in the comments.

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20 Comments on “Squash”

#1 Dad who writes
on Oct 25th, 2009 at 10:23 am

I knew radioactivity was involved somewhere. How people find the patience to garden is quite beyond me! I’m always seriously impressed, especially when it involves veg.
Dad who writes´s last blog ..Assault

Dan Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
@Dad who writes, I get all enthusiastic every spring, and then my attitude slowly turns to apathy as summer progresses. Any crop is more luck than anything else unfortunately
Dan´s last blog ..Squash

#2 DJ Kirkby
on Oct 25th, 2009 at 10:24 am

You can make pumpkin pie, it is seriously yummy, want my recipe? DM me your email address. Please tell me how you grew pumpkins, I’ve enver had any sucess. The plant takes over the whole garden but never produces any pumpkins!
DJ Kirkby´s last blog ..Clever hands

Dan Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 10:35 am
@DJ Kirkby, dghughes28@yahoo.co.uk

will pumpkin pie work with unripe pumpkins?

I put them in the same bed as my sweetcorn. I heavily manured the patch first (we have clay soil if that makes a difference). I started them off early in pots on the windowsill. And (I think this is the main thing) it’s been a horribly wet summer, which acounts for both their size (lots of water) and there unripe state (no sun). It was seriously more luck than judgement I think.

#3 Arjan
on Oct 25th, 2009 at 11:12 am

so if the pumpkin is a mutant….because it’s grown in your garden and you eat stuff from the same garden, that must mean it’s gonna be any moment now that you’ll be sprouting a third arm or whatnot.

Are you turning green yet?

You could get an airpistol and shoot at it and watch how it splatters..or you could use that trebuchet that friend of yours has and lob it towards the Scottish border?

Kerry Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 11:56 am
@Arjan, Arjan’s idea of giving them to Oli sounds good :)

Oli Reply:
October 26th, 2009 at 1:06 am
@Kerry, I’ll pick it up next week and if it’s still in a projectable state, I’ll give it a go! Might need to strengthen the throwing arm first?

Dan Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
@Arjan, my feet are green, but the’ve been that way for a few years now. Perhaps I should wash more.
Dan´s last blog ..Squash

Arjan Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
@Dan,

is having ‘green fingers’ also an English expression? In Dutch it means being good at gardening.

#4 Steve
on Oct 25th, 2009 at 11:41 am

When I saw the title of this post I thought you had gone to extreme lengths to get to the top of the Weight Loss league.

I can lend you a raquet if you like?
Steve´s last blog ..Illuminated

Dan Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
@Steve, errr – no thanks. That game looks far to energetic for me.
Dan´s last blog ..Squash

Oli Reply:
October 26th, 2009 at 1:07 am
@Dan, aww, I was going to challenge you to a game!

#5 Clair
on Oct 25th, 2009 at 12:59 pm

Surely, if it’s a mutant pumpkin, it WANTS to be carved into a halloween lantern! Preferably one that makes it look like a zombie. Have a look at http://www.zombiepumpkins.com/ for inspiration!
Clair´s last blog ..Scadbury

#6 Kelloggsville
on Oct 25th, 2009 at 11:01 pm

I had 3 normal looking marrows and one round one on my marrow plant. I was totally bemused. Then the round one started to go orange. Then I realised the pumpkin and the marrow were all growing in amongst each other and it was a pumpkin. After telling everyone I had a round marrow, I felt a complete prat!

I would go for the carving personally with yours! have fun.

x
Kelloggsville´s last blog ..Parking Violations

#7 JJ Daddy-O
on Oct 26th, 2009 at 1:50 pm

I thought a “courgette” was a) a small warship or b) ladies underwear. I guess I am just not as “hip” as you guys.

#8 Erin
on Oct 26th, 2009 at 5:14 pm

Could you not roast the seeds anyway?

P.S. We call a marrow a “freaking huge zucchini.”
Erin´s last blog ..Bodies in Motivation

#9 Barbara
on Oct 27th, 2009 at 4:53 pm

Give it to Dad Who Writes so he can do throw it at stupid sandpit woman.
Barbara´s last blog ..Prepared

#10 TheMadHouse
on Oct 31st, 2009 at 12:16 pm

We had a green one too, but it ripened on a shelf in the kitchen. We too put ours in with the runner beans and the corn. The corn was a toal failure, but the pumpkins did well. Our neigbour even got two which had invaded his garden.
TheMadHouse´s last blog ..Dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s

Dan Reply:
October 31st, 2009 at 6:35 pm
@TheMadHouse, I suspect we don’t have the climate for corn over here. It did look impressive while it was growing though.
Dan´s last blog ..Reasons to love blogging, part 1

#11 real estate
on Feb 27th, 2010 at 7:31 am

real estate
This looks terrific. I think it would be a nice Thanksgiving main dish since it’s just my husband and me this year.

20 Comments on “Squash”

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