Seed Saving Information
All members rely on insects for pollination. Each plant produces both male and female flowers. All members of the Cucurbitaceae family will accept pollen from other varieties within the same species. The progeny of any uncontrolled crosses produces plants and fruits that are widely varied and bear little resemblance to their parents. Luckily there are lots of species, and it’s easy enough to just choose one member of each species to grow each season. (i.e. you could grow 3 pumpkins each year without crossing, one each from maxima, moschata and pepo species).
Cultivation Tips
All members of this family respond to nutrients and water. They are gross feeders. If the plants have free draining, friable soil, with loads of nutrients and moisture, they’ll take off.
If you don’t have really good, rich, well-composted soil then you’ll either have to dig in loads of manure or fertiliser. An alternative could be weekly foliar spraying with fish (and phyter), which also helps to keep the powdery mildew away.

To grow quality pumpkins and melons and get heavy crops you must have a deeply worked (double dug or deep, free draining) soil. Plants in this family must have air, moisture nutrients available to the roots however watering from the top once fruit begins setting will affect the quality of the pumpkins and melons. Pumpkins will not keep well. Given the right conditions this family will produce many more fruit.

GOURDS

Nga Puhi NZ

This gourd was sent to us called Nga Puhi and it is a beautiful round gourd with a neck. If you’re keen to try growing and drying gourds the seed must be planted so that the seedlings are ready to go out as soon as it’s warm enough for main crop corn into a warm sunny place. Pick out the tip of the main leader once it reaches 1 metre and then the laterals will grow and set fruit sooner. Leave the fruit on the plants until the tendrils opposite the fruit dry off. If you make sure the gourds are sitting on a flat surface while growing they will sit flat when dry as well. After harvesting, sit, not touching any other gourds, in a dry airy place until they are completely dry, when you can use them for carving or decorating and collect the seeds.

Ruka Gourd NZ

Ruka Gourds are very similar to the Nga Puhi Gourds.I suspect they were once the same, both coming from the north, beauiful shape for making bowls etc or carving, see Nga Puhi above.

Bottle NZ

This is the original gourd we were gifted years ago. The gourds are variable but mostly huge and very long. Growing and drying instructions same as above.

CUCUMBER (Cucumis sativa)

Deka Cucumber OS

This is an old Russian Heirloom, especially selected for pickling cucumbers. They are the traditional outdoor green type and make excellent gherkins and pickles, however they are also good for eating. It’s a really hardy variety and a heavy cropper.

WATER MELON (Citrullus lanatus)

Sweet Siberian OS

Medium sized, round melon. Apricot coloured flesh, full-bodied, good flavour, and sweet. An excellent Heirloom melon that grows in marginal melon growing seasons and places because it’s a short season, cold climate cultivar.

Souters NZ

A really special NZ Heirloom, round, light green skinned with a light red flesh. They taste really good, sweet and are a nice size, i.e. not too big. This one has been around in this country for a long time and had resurfaced from the Bay of Plenty area.

Yellow Od’ham Meated OS

Over the years we’ve done many watermelon trials. Unless you’re in a very special area watermelons are hard to grow because we have short seasons and not a lot of heat. This is one that we selected because it was reliable in our difficult conditions. It is a round melon with yellow flesh and is a sweet reliable cropper.

PUMPKIN

Cupola NZ  (Curcurbita moschata)

These are remembered by a few old timers, they have really long necks with no seeds in so they are great for cutting off slices and baking. They are moshatas like the Butternuts and Chucks winter, and have similar flesh; very sweet. The ends the seeds are in are good for stuffing.

Some people eat these ones raw.

Chuck’s Winter OS (Cucurbita moschata)         

Heirloom American variety. Chuck’s Winter is a member of the Butternut family and looks like a butternut, except that it has a distinctive flavour, and grows very large. This is a long season pumpkin, and a very good keeper, and they do not turn from green to tan until late in the season, just before they are to be picked. Excellent for baking or stuffing, very sweet with excellent flavour. Very vigorous plant.

Waltham’s Butternut OS (Curcurbita moshata)

A well known old fashioned butternut, smaller than the Chucks’s Winter and a little larger than our NZ heritage cultivar below. All the butternuts are sweet, moist, great for stuffing and for slicing to roast. They are keeping pumpkins and require a full growing season to mature well enough to keep over the winter.

New Zealand Heirloom Butternut NZ (Curcurbita moshata)

This is the first NZ heritage butternut seed that we have had sent in to us that has proved to be still viable. It was very old seed  like the other lines we have tried to keep alive, but this time we had success so we’re  really thrilled to be able to offer you this seed  this year, and hopefully we’ll keep it alive from now on. It’s a lovely small , sweet, butternut, great for small families, and if you’re trying to save your own seed a pumpkin from the moshata family is essential. Being a keeper is a bonus.

Green Chestnut OS (Cucurbita maxima)             

These are the sweetest driest little pumpkins I’ve ever come across. Similar to a butternut. They are great steamed or baked and are my kids favourites. A bush pumpkin that does not need much room.

Red Kuri OS (Curcubita maxima)

Beautiful as an early squash. Small and round with bright orange skin. Great for steaming with summer veggies. Sweet and moist.

Triamble NZ (Curcubita maxima)           

These are the 3 lobed Triamble so many of you have been asking for. A good tasty solid orange fleshed pumpkin, good for everything - good keeper. This pumpkin will make many people happy I know.

Ironbark NZ (Curcubita maxima)

Well remembered extremely rare pumpkin with thick hard grey crumpled skin. Has orange flesh and is a long keeper. Cut with an axe! Needs a long growing season.

Gem Squash

(Curcurbita pepo)

Produces small round hard shelled squash.  Excellent flavour, especially baked. Vigorous grower and likes to climb.

Zimbabwe Squash NZ (Cucurbita pepo)

Very similar to Gem Squash, but obviously originally from Zimbabwe these are slightly larger fruit, not going yellow for along time, but staying green. They are also delicious and well worth trying.

Kamokamo Ruatoria NZ (Cucurbita pepo)        

These seeds were gifted to us by a Koro in Ruatoria who’s been saving the seeds for many years - they are a mix of all his favourites - long ones and round ones. They are great eaten when young as zucchini along with the male flowers and tendrils - or later when baked or in the hangi. Kamo kamo are vigorous vines so they need somewhere to travel; they love fences!

COURGETTE

Crook Neck Squash NZ (Curcurbita pepo)

A most attractive looking squash better tasting than all other courgettes except perhaps Kamo Kamo. Turning a bright orange / yellow colour. Swan necked fruit are eaten sautéed before the skin becomes hard or baked if left. A very good producer.

SCALLOPINI

Green Bennings NZ (Curcurbita pepo)

These are the space ship shaped pale green courgettes that can be eaten whole when small, or stuffed when they’re bigger. They have a delicate flavour when young

MARROW

Long Green Bush NZ (Curcurbita pepo)