Cucurbits Ideas, Tips & Guides

Accidents happen. This is one of the universal truths of life, and it’s also true of pumpkins, my favorite fall fregetables.Take this scenario, for example:You’ve b

If you’re growing pumpkins in your garden, you may have seen white spots appearing on the leaves and vines.What’s up with that? It’s likely that your plants are i

Just like Linus from Peanuts, I’ve always searched for the Great Pumpkin… well, a great pumpkin, anyway!I admit an utter fascination with state a

There are two ways to approach saving seeds to eat from homegrown pumpkins.With the first, you focus on the seeds themselves, and do

There are two main reasons why I don’t like to see holes in the cucumbers I grow in my garden.The first was best stated by a work fri

Don’t you just love win-win situations?Choosing which type of cucumber plant

Friends and neighbors who have you in their lives to grow pumpkins to share with them are fortunate indeed. Pies, fall displays, jack-o’-lanterns – all are provided for.You can extend this good fortune by saving seed

While I didn’t become a committed vegetable gardener myself until my late 20s, my introduction to the joys of growing one’s own food came a decade earlier in the form of a brown grocery bag of delectable crookneck squash.We link to vendors to help you find relevant

With so many different varieties of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) available, it can be hard to know which one to pick.Cucumbers are members of the Cucurbitac

One of the bright spots of the fall season – aside from Halloween! – is the pumpkin patches, filled with their beautiful bounty.But while you may be imagining lush patches filled

There are so many common expressions that don’t really hold up to scrutiny.Pretty as a picture? Not some I’ve seen. Sle

It’s almost Halloween, and that means pumpkin carving!But what can you do to keep those gorgeo

Maybe you have a small yard, or a tiny patio garden that you lovingly tend.Or maybe your garden is already ch

Cucumbers are one of these veggies that really is best eaten right off the vine. So what should you do if you have an abundance?Fortunately, there are several easy and delicious ways to store cucumb

Wouldn’t it be nice if we all had gardens so big that we could give the cantaloupe their own big old patch to spread their vines?If you do have a garden that large, I am sincerely glad. The tho

Is there anything more autumnal than walking into your garden, the scent of turning leaves in the air, to pick a pumpkin for Halloween?I think not. And that’s why, this year, I decided to grow thre

No pain, no gain? Zucchini plants have never heard of that.This variety of summer squash

Is it your dream to grow a pumpkin so big you could crawl inside of it? Then I have good news for you: your dream is completely attainable.All it takes is a dedica

Instead of pondering just how many pecks Peter Piper could pick, here’s a much more enjoyable way to spend your time:Figure out which variety of pickling cucumber would be

As the Robert Frost poem “Mending Wall” says, “Good fences make good neighbors.”They also make a good support for vining cucumber

What’s that expression? Quality is more important than quantity? Or is it the other way around?When you grow cucumbers, both aspects are important, parti

There’s nothing more frustrating than watching your beautiful pumpkin plant produce gorgeous flowers but no plump orange gourds. Over and over, they flower with nothing to show for their work.You want them to be ready in time for Hallowee

Back when I first started gardening, I thought leaving a pumpkin vine to grow every which way was the only way to keep it alive and well.Turns out, this isn’t necessaril

About 10 to 15 years ago, no one I knew had a clue what a Mexican sour gherkin was.If you had asked how to grow mouse melon, cucamelon, or sour

When you grow your own melons at home, you get to choose from a delicious array of options.If you think you don’t have

Cantaloupe is like candy in melon form.For some reason, watermelon gets all the summertime hype. Some

Most people who are worried about “storing pumpkin” are looking only for ways to store the portion of puree that’s left in a can of pie filling after doing their baking for Thanksgiving.But when you grow your own Cucurbita pepo, C. moschata,

Pumpkins are such friendly looking gourds, aren’t they?It’s hard not to smile when you see them ador

Zucchini is a favorite among gardeners and foodies alike.The versatile squash can be bl

Oh my gourd-ness! It’s easy to see why people go so crazy for ornamental gourds.Nothing says fall quite like harvestin

It’s cute, really, for me to look back on the little bamboo hoops I erected for my pumpkin plants earlier this summer.I’d never grown the Cucurbits before, an

To me, pumpkins are the paragon of autumn, my favorite season. So this last winter, I decided to grow a few varieties indoors in early spring for a summer transplant into the garden.But the gourds began to flower while th