Pumpkin confusion

[sleepyowl]

I had what I thought were pumpkin plants growing in my garden, they came out of a pumpkin seed packet & the plant is acting very pumpkinny but the fruits look more like round courgettes than a pumpkin, I know a couple of years back I had cross pollination problems & ended up with a pumpette but this year I have not grown any courgette plants for this to happen. So the questions are is there a pumpkin that starts out courgette like in fruit & then goes orange? or is there a kind of courgette whose plant acts like a pumpkin?

[Millymollymandy]

Do you still have the seed packet cos that will tell you what you are growing! Yes pumpkins will start off looking small and not orange but grow and take on colour (whatever colour they are meant to be!) with age. Pumpkins usually send out shoots that grow out in all directions whilst courgettes don't and their leaves are quite different - courgette leaves are much bigger and more serrated than pumpkins.

[sleepyowl]

I can't remember what the hybrid was but they were definitely pumpkins as I grew courgettes in my first year & my other half turned his nose up at them so never bought any again & the packet definitley had a picture of pumpkins on it

[prison break fan]

I'm having the same problem, but it is my own fault as I planted both pumpkin and summer squash near each other and now don't know whats what! I expect it will all taste okay!

[Peggy Sue]

Oops I ahd no idea you shouldn't mix squash close together- I have courgettes, pumpkins, butternut, marrow and veg spaghetti all close

Whats more I can't really remember which plant is which

And even more confusing, I've never grown butternut before so not sure whta to expect AND I've never even seen Vegetable Spaghetti and pics on the net look just like pics of unripe butternut

[Silver Ether]

ha ... I thought I was the only one to be daft and get em mixed up .. mind it's not exactly my fault they were all labeled then we had a storm that blew young plants around the garden and all the tags got knocked out ... So I am watching got to see where the pumpkin, butternut and ornamental gourds are growing..

[Bluemoon]

I don't think that growing them close together will make any difference to this year's crop the only thing affected will be the seeds so unless you are seed saving it won't matter. The reason it's important to keep sweetcorn varieties separate is that it's the seed that you actually eat and the flavour can be altered by cross-pollination.

[Helsbells]

Oops I ahd no idea you shouldn't mix squash close together- I have courgettes, pumpkins, butternut, marrow and veg spaghetti all close

Whats more I can't really remember which plant is which

And even more confusing, I've never grown butternut before so not sure whta to expect AND I've never even seen Vegetable Spaghetti and pics on the net look just like pics of unripe butternut

Oh dear, I had no idea either. Mine are all happily growing together. Wonder what I will get!

[Peggy Sue]

Now I know my mystery squash was indeed vegetable spaghetti- delicieous ad very exciting!!

[celticmyth]

And i've got the same prob.Bought a supposed Pumpkin from a stall that was raising money for young adults with special needs(they'd grown them all themselves from seed) and it has 1 large green fruit that looks suspiciously like a marrow

[Peggy Sue]

Just seen a friend who planted some seeds supposed to be pumpkin and they are tall plants with hairy soft leaves and yellow stock like flowers!!!

[Mrs Moustoir]

Lots of confusion here too as DS switched all the labels around between pumpkins, courgettes and squashes when we planted the seeds. As MMM says - courgettes have bigger leaves but as for the others - it is wait and see here!

[sleepyowl]

I'm still having problems they are still looking like marrows on a pumpkin plant in fact even more so now

[celticmyth]

Mine too Sleepyowl,but mine is starting to fatten up at one end so now looks like a marrow-coloured butternut squash on a pumpkin plant

[moogie]

oooooooooh I didn't know neither!
Now I understand why some of my squash did turn into big round courgettes!