Outa our gourds

The summer of 2012 was one of the hottest and driest in many decades and many crops, OK, mostly its maize around here, suffered in central Lincolnland.  There are crops that like hot and tolerate dry, so it was not just a good year, but a great year for cucurbits.  So the botanical geek tour foursome are off on a road trip this Saturday to visit the Great Pumpkin Patch to see each and every one of the more than 400 varieties in the 5 Cucurbita species cultivated there (handy check list provided). The purveyor of all these squash and pumpkins also operates Homestead Seeds to keep the rarer varieties alive, and genetically pure!  Maybe you too can grow an heirloom squash.  They also have some awesome pumpkin ice cream.  Yes, this blog title has been used before, but there are only so many squash puns out there.  In this image TPP blesses the great pumpkin.