Pumpkin is a native of South America and is recognized as one of the oldest cultures on Earth. It is useful and pleasant to taste, it has been actively used in cooking and traditional medicine from ancient times to the present day.
Pumpkin: vegetable or fruit?
The fruit of this plant is called pumpkin. It is covered with hard bark, under which there is a juicy and fragrant pulp and seeds. Until now, scientists have not found the answer to the questions: “What is a pumpkin - a vegetable or fruit? Or maybe it's a berry? ” According to a botanical definition, a pumpkin can be recognized as a fruit or a berry. However, in terms of consumption, it is considered a vegetable. Therefore, the question of its belonging to fruits, vegetables or berries remains open.
Variety of varieties
Today, a huge number of pumpkin varieties are grown. They are divided into several categories and differ in size, color, taste of the fruit. Information on what types of pumpkin come in (with photos and descriptions) can be found in many gardening publications. Its fruits can be huge and small, spherical and flat, smooth and bumpy.
Hard varieties: Acorn
Often this pumpkin is called "acorn." Outwardly, its small fruits really resemble acorns. The peel can have a different color - from deep green to orange, as well as a combination of these colors. Juicy orange pulp has a sweet taste and delicate aroma.
Aport
Belongs to mid-season grades. Pumpkin is almost round in shape, saturated orange. The plant is a bush with large fruits (up to 7 kg). Orange-yellow juicy pulp has a sweet creamy taste.
Spaghetti
The name of the variety speaks for itself. When cooking, the flesh breaks up into individual fibers, which are very reminiscent of spaghetti. The color and shape of the fruit are similar to melon. At first they are painted in greenish color. When fully ripened, they acquire a light yellow skin color.
Freckle
Bushes of this early ripe variety give small fruits, not more than three kilograms. They are covered with a light green peel with light spots. The variety is high-yielding, well stored, needs abundant watering. The pulp is orange-yellow in color, very juicy, sweetish, pear-flavored.
Country
The variety is mid-season. The fruits have an oval shape, the peel is painted in orange-green colors. Their weight does not exceed five kilograms. Juicy, orange flesh is tender and sweet, with a delicate aroma of vanilla. With proper care gives a very large crop. Attractive in that it can be grown in all regions. It retains its taste after harvest for four months.
Large-fruited varieties
These are the most unpretentious and cold-resistant varieties. The weight of some fruits can reach 100 kg.
Common
Perhaps one of the most common varieties. Fruits can be weighing 25 kg or more. However, small fruits are most delicious: they are sweeter.
Mushroom winter
This is a late ripening variety. Fruits fully ripen 140 days after planting. The plant has long lashes. Fruits of a characteristic flattened shape, gray, weighing more than three kilograms.
Bright yellow or reddish flesh has a pleasant taste. It is juicy, very tender, dense. The fruits are well preserved for five months.
Winter sweet
Considering the different varieties of pumpkins (with photos and descriptions), each gardener chooses the sweetest and most tender types. Winter Sweet is also one of these. This is a late ripening variety with long lashes. Fruits are slightly flattened, weighing up to 6 kg. The peel is divided into segments and painted in dark gray.
The pulp is orange, very juicy and sweet. The variety is recommended for use in baby food and juice preparation. The plant tolerates drought well.
Medical
Early ripe variety recommended for diet. The gray peel is very thin. The pulp is yellow, not too sweet, but very juicy. The fruits are superbly stored for a long time. The plant is resistant to low temperatures (up to -2 ° C).
Tradeswoman
Mid-early table variety. It can be grown in various regions. Fruits are flattened slightly, light orange in color, weighing more than 15 kg with smooth bark. The pulp is orange, juicy. It is stored up to 5 months.
Sweetie
Another mid-season variety. It develops well in fertile soils. Fruits ripen simultaneously up to eight pieces, weighing about 2.5 kg. The bark is colored reddish with green spots. The pulp is very tasty, bright orange in color: crispy, dense, juicy. It contains 1% carotene, up to 8% sugars, vitamin C in large quantities. The variety gives a good harvest.
Baby
Climbing mid-season pumpkin. The fruits are covered with gray peel, flat, weighing no more than three kilograms. Saturated yellow flesh is not too juicy, sweet.
Russian woman
Early ripe climbing grade. The fruit is bright orange in shape, resembles a spinning top. The weight of the fruit is about four kilograms. Sweet orange flesh has a delicate smack flavor. The variety is cold-resistant, productive.
Muscat varieties
Pumpkins of these varieties have an excellent taste, have a long shelf life, but at the same time they are more difficult to grow and care. In addition, they are better developed and bear fruit in the southern regions. Such fruits can be eaten raw. Despite the fact that they are very gentle and moody, in a more severe climate they can also be grown, but for this you will need pumpkin seedlings. The fruits can be harvested a little immature: at home they will mature.
Butternut
Outwardly, small fruits (not more than 1 kg) resemble a pear. The pulp is juicy orange, fragrant and sweet. Such a pumpkin can be boiled, baked, stewed, but it is better to eat it raw.
Vitamin
Late-ripening variety with long lashes. Oval green fruits weigh up to 6 kilograms. The pulp is very tender, tasty and sweet (5-7% sugar). It contains a lot of beta-carotene, it is extremely useful when consumed raw, it is used for making juices and in baby food.
Of course, we have not presented you all varieties of pumpkins. It is impossible to do this in a small article, since today there are a huge number of them. To conclude this short review, we would like to highlight the sweetest pumpkin varieties, since for many gardeners this indicator is decisive when choosing a plant.
These varieties include:
- Baby
- Atlant.
- Azure.
- Large-fruited.
- A smile.
- Russian woman.
I would like to dwell on the last grade in more detail, since every year it becomes more and more popular.
Russian woman
This is an early variety: from the moment of planting in open ground to the onset of technical ripeness, no more than 105 days pass. The plant has 3-4 side lashes. The length of the main one is up to three meters. The shape of the fruit resembles a spinning top or turban of a rich orange color. Its weight does not exceed four kilograms. Bright orange flesh is very sweet, tender.
Pumpkin Russian woman with melon aroma, has a high yield, long shelf life and excellent taste. This variety is suitable for cultivation in the Central region (including the Moscow region). The Rossiyanka pumpkin variety has fruits painted in a saturated orange color with a smooth surface. The pulp is tender and very juicy, colored in orange.
Landing
Many beginner gardeners are interested in how to grow pumpkin in the open ground. Planting pumpkins is carried out in two ways: seeds and seedlings. Pumpkin Russian woman (reviews confirm this) is not too picky in leaving. Sowing of seeds is carried out in May – June. The sowing pattern is standard - 60x60 cm with a planting depth of not more than 5 cm.
Sowing seeds is possible only after the soil warms up to +12 ° C. Vegetable growers with experience recommend sowing seeds on a polyethylene film spread across the soil, in which it is necessary to make cross-shaped incisions. When the plants grow, the cuts should be gradually expanded. This method will help reduce moisture evaporation and improve soil warming, which will favorably affect the fruiting of pumpkins.
Pumpkin variety Rossiyanka prefers areas well protected from winds with fertile, moist and loose soils. Two days before planting, dig in the selected area and apply nitrogen-containing fertilizers (20 g per square meter).
Seedlings
Pumpkin Rossiyanka, reviews of gardeners allow us to say this, will give an earlier and higher-quality crop if you plant it with seedlings. How to grow pumpkin in the open ground in this way? First you need to grow seedlings at home.
To make it healthy and strong, use peat pots with a diameter of at least 15 centimeters. Today, ready-made nutrient soil can be bought at a store or prepared on its own on the basis of turf land and humus in a ratio of 1: 4. For every ten liters of soil mixture, add 4–5 grams of ammonium nitrate, the same amount of potassium salt and superphosphate. After the appearance of the first two true leaves, seedlings can be transplanted into the open ground.
Temperature mode
For young shoots of Russian pumpkin, even short-term and insignificant frosts can become destructive. For the plant to fully develop and bear fruit, it is necessary that the air temperature be at least +22 ° C. At lower values, growth may slow down, the timing of flowering and ovary formation will shift.
Therefore, young shoots protect against temperature changes and rotting at the beginning of summer with a film or other covering material.
Care
The pumpkin is not picky Russian woman. Reviews of gardeners indicate that simple measures are necessary for the development of the plant:
- pinching of the lateral lashes and the main stem (after the appearance of several fruits);
- regular watering, weeding and loosening;
- top dressing.
Watering
Pumpkin Rossiyanka has a powerful and well-branched root system, which penetrates into the soil by three meters. Water the plant should be at least once a week. Irrigation is carried out by standing warm water. Room temperature should be water for irrigation. 4 liters are poured under each plant.
Watering should be increased during the fruiting period (once every five days). In August, watering is reduced so that the fruits accumulate sugar, and a strong bark forms on them.
Pumpkin Russian: reviews
Many gardeners and gardeners note that they have long opted for the Rossiyanka variety. They are satisfied that the fruits of the plant are large, stored after harvest for a long time, do not require very complicated care. From some reviews it becomes clear that people have tried almost all the sweetest pumpkin varieties, but it was the Russian woman who conquered them with great taste and exquisite aroma.