Backyard Farming Forum
Bringing food production home

After growing Jap pumpkins I was getting a lot of questions on what I did to get them to taste so good. I did plant them at the wrong time and was too impatient and harvested most of them early so I could clear a space. But the main thing was where I got them from. The seed displays at the local supermarket have Jap seeds but I ordered mine from one of the organic web sites. Even with standard varieties there is a lot of difference between seeds. So if you saved a few seeds from a variety you got from the local supermarket don't let that stop you from trying seeds from a different source. Even taking seeds from a plant or fruit that stands out grown in your yard is a good practice in selecting seeds that do well in your gardens enviroment.

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To think before you act is a wise option. But not as funny.

Good points Duff.......

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Bringing Food Production Home

+1 Duff

Tomatoes that taste great, coriander that doesn't bolt straight away, pumpkins & melons that taste good and produce well are my main examples.

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My Websites: http://www.chillies-down-under.com
http://www.bbq-down-under.com

Hey Duff, Did the better tasting ones have more seeds in them? When we grew paw paws semi-commercially we found that the better polinated the fruit, the more seeds and the better the taste. possibly a natural trait of the plant to make sure that the most seeds get distributed? This was only our observations, not lab tested.
Cheers
axl

I think polinated fruit matures more. I've seen semi polinated fruit stunt the growth of the fruit and even rot it on the vine. When we used to play with cotton we collected seeds from different plants and selected seeds to cross based on characteristics of the plant. In the backyard garden you can even play with making your own variety.

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To think before you act is a wise option. But not as funny.

Yep have to agree, my parents taught me a long time ago to save the seeds from the best best fruit/plant.
mind you at the time I thought I was just slave labour in the garden, .

H.

My jap pumpkins are also great tasting. Have grown it for the last 6 years, each year from seeds of the previous year's crop, except last year when I forgot to save any. Luckily some of the vine did not die off and I ended up with a new vine this year from the last and while the pumpkins came on very late I still have 20 or so and will have seed for next year.

It is said that with plants after you are into the ?th generation from your property they have adapted fully to your conditions (at least as far as they are going to. Therefore it is always a good idea to grow next year's crop from seeds of the last, grown in the same conditions.

I've got a corn cob that's been grown in our family for about 50 years,I have moved it to Qld(from Melb) and need to keep working on it to keep selecting the best local variety.
It has the best corn flavour I have ever tasted.
Struggling to get it going up here due to bush turkeys,bandicoots and I'm not sure what.
I need to build a cage.

Sounds good snags - got any pics ?

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My Websites: http://www.chillies-down-under.com
http://www.bbq-down-under.com

I've always found that volunteer seedlings from last year's crop tend to be better than new ones from the nursery (provided I can identify the type of tomato, for instance). Even Diggers seedlings don't seem suited to our conditions, and I often save the seeds of greengrocer's vegetables and fruit that we particularly like.

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Granny Smith

I once bought Butternut pumpkin seeds from bunnings and the pumpkins had no flavour what so ever

I planted the seed form an Iron Bark pumpkin I got from the fruit and veg store this year and at this stage it appears to fruiting true to phenotype, but I am still worried about what it may have cross pollinated with so I will see how it turns out.

I think that pumpkin can cross pollinate with squash and zucchini is this right

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Why did the chicken cross the road? ... To have her motives questioned.

Don't know simo but I'll find out soon, I have squash, zucc's and golden nugget pumpkin all together atm

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I shall wait for the Meek......Then take it from them


http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... =18&t=8219

Pumpkins cross pollinate with any similar plant they can. I've heard of some funny pumpkins people have grown.

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To think before you act is a wise option. But not as funny.