My pumpkins are ripe for picking

@JudyEv me too, I sort of pity the ones that won't get eaten especially if I planted it myself

I will be keen to use it all somehow. I don't like wasting food.

@louievill Any we don't eat will be given away.

@JudyEv to a us a pumpkin is a squash, but a squash is not a pumpkin. That also doesn't look like the squash I know as a butternut squash. Let me find a photo and add it. I'll be back!

@Morleyhunt I'd call this butternut pumpkin and that's what I usually grow. I know you call it a squash. Does that mean you'd call my photo by either name? It's all too confusing!

I thought this was a pumpkin! I know the butternuts aren't, not to you folks anyway, but I thought this was. Why is this a squash and not a pumpkin? I'm finding it hard to get my head around these terms.

@JudyEv I think it is also possible to have pumpkins in the backyard. I think my mom is looking for pumpkin seeds in the mark.

Do you grow them there? They need temperatures over 22C to ripen so that shouldn't be a problem but they don't like frosts.

@Shavkat Ours are just in our yard.

It will soon be too wet here for pumpkins but there are paddocks full of them waiting to be picked in this area. There are a lot of vegetables grown around here.

@JudyEv I make it with only one variety, the Potimarron (Red kuri squash), because it has a nice chestnut aftertaste. I add cinnamon while boiling and raw sugar cane, it's very good in winter.

I don't think I've ever tried pumpkin jam. It seems you can make pumpkin jam out of almost anything.

@LadyDuck That sounds really nice. I don't think I've ever seen raw sugar cane here although I guess you can buy it in the areas where sugar-cane is grown.

When I was a child it was a staple vegetable - mashed potato, mashed pumpkin then something green. The scones would be savoury and yes, nice with cheese. We don't have pumpkin pies in Australia.

@JudyEv Thanks Judy. They are relatively a new phenomena here in the UK. I think my wife added ginger to the pumpkin pie it was quite tasty although not something I would necessarily opt for again!

@garymarsh6 I'm surprised they're newish. Maybe it's too wet and they rot before they ripen. We plant them pretty much at the beginning of summer or so that they ripen in summer. Most other vegies are doing it tough by then. Another assumption down the drain. Pumpkin pie seems strange to me too - like putting gravy on ice-cream. Who would have thought a post about the humble pumpkin would interest anyone? I'll have to see if they're on sale in Ireland when we go.

@JudyEv Share some with us (lol)

@allknowing I'm waiting for the mashed pumpkin to get cold. I'll put up a post when they're done.

I might make scones this afternoon.

@JudyEv

I only got three or four butternuts this year. I like the butternuts best.

@JudyEv That is what we refer to it as up here. Pumpkins are usually orange in colour, although I've seen white ones as well as green ones. I would imagine that you calling them pumpkins is standard down under.

@JudyEv Don't ya just love it?

So you're calling it a squash too. I thought it was pumpkin!

@JudyEv I would call it a squash. Our pumpkins are a different shape and color. I have not looked it up but I 'assume' it's all in the squash family.

@AbbyGreenhill Okay. I get it about the shape. Certainly they're all in the squash family but for me the butternut is a very distinctive shape whereas this one is round and squat although the top doesn't sink down like a Halloween pumpkin for instance.

Pumpkin pie isn't big over here. I never heard of it as a kid. Pumpkins were used in soups, stews and baked and that was about it. Would you call this a squash?

@JudyEv Keep it simple.. they're all gourds!

@katsmeow1213 That's a great principle isn't it? The KISS principle.

I'm beginning to get the picture now about how you call these things. Ours are all pumpkins of different varieties. Mostly we see bigger green ones.

@CRK109 The butternuts are much easier to cut too than some of our varieties. I haven't cut one of these yet but we'll have some of it tonight with our dinner so I'll soon find out.

It's not that big really - not as pumpkins go - but plenty big enough for the two of us.

@JudyEv Last October, I went out to get a pumpkin of my own and that's about the size I got for me. It was just perfect. I've never been someone who needed huge pumpkins, even when I used to carve jack-o-lanterns.

I haven't tried muffins but I might make some scones today. I'm getting all hungry now!

@HazySue I was so hungry I ate three scones! I OD'd.

@JudyEv all this talk about cooking is making me hungry too.

@nitirrbb7 Some might be twice as big I guess. In the shops they are mostly cut up and sold as pieces of varying weights. I remember now that I've had pumpkin in Indian dishes.

We would consider this a small one. Did you know they have competitions for growing giant pumpkins? Here is a link: Do you grow them in India?

@JudyEv A 3+ pumpkin is considered small then what would be minimum to maximum size be. Yeah we grow them in India but never heard of any competition to grow a big one. And we mostly use them only to prepare Indian vegetarian dishes.

I've never seen pumpkin cookies but there are recipes for everything on the web aren't there?

@JudyEv Yes! I substitute other kinds of squash in recipes that call for pumpkin, too. Come to think of it, zucchini bread comes from squash!

@drannhh Pumpkin bread might be nice.

@JudyEv Here's a squash link I found - none are quite like yours so I'll have to look up pumpkin. :))

I don't know the acorn squash. I'm taking my camera to the supermarket next time to get photos of what's available there. I never pay any attention really. This might be a variety called a Japanese pumpkin. We seem to call them all pumpkins.

@suziecat7 Thanks for the link. Here, they're virtually all called pumpkin. I have grown the butternuts which I saw on 'your' site. It seems that, in the US, if they're yellow or orange they're pumpkins; otherwise they're squash.

I read some other comments and see that it's actually a squash not a pumpkin.. that's why I was confused about the color. I once started a discussion about a meal we eat called chicken & biscuits (should have called it chicken & dumplings, but same difference here). Yeah, that sparked all sorts of confusion.

@JudyEv We have a cold front coming through, so I won't plant mine for another couple weeks..

They're all pumpkins here whatever the colour. They are easy to grow but need 22C to ripen and they are susceptible to frost. Sometimes I don't go near mine for weeks but they are on reticulation so get watered regularly. I'm not a gardener or baker either.

@JudyEv Let us pray together that they matured soon. I am looking forward to my mom's 'masak lemak' which is pumpkin cooked in coconut milk. If it is possible I might try making pumpkin pie. Pumpkin scones sounds good too.

@shaqziad1610 I've made a note of the 'masak lemak' and will look up the recipe.

My vines haven't produced a lot. I think I have about another five to pick but they aren't quite ready yet.

The scones have been delicious thanks.

@JudyEv

It's all pumpkin here. If you ever visit, I'll be sure to call it 'squash'.