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Squashes or pumpkins? Is that the question?

MAT COWARD rises over such semantics to offer step by step, fool-proof cultivating tips

YUMMY: (L to R) Winter squash; Roasted delicata squash. Pic: (L to R) Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man)/Chanticleer Garden/CC and Sarah Stierch/CC

LET’S not tie ourselves up in sectarian debates about which squashes count as pumpkins and which pumpkins should properly be referred to as squashes, and just accept that hereinafter the term “winter squashes” means any member of the cucurbit family which, when mature, develops a hard skin.

It’s that thick rind over dense flesh which enables the fruit to be harvested in autumn and stored through the winter.

There are lots of varieties on offer in the seed catalogues. They vary in fruit size and shape, and in their outer and inner colour. More importantly in choosing which to grow, they do take up different amounts of space.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
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