Triamble Pumpkin

This is one of the most interesting pumpkins I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. This is the Australian Heirloom Triamble. Named for it's interesting and distinctive shape, a triangle or tri-corn which bulbs into three lobes that curve back toward the stem. Each of these lobes hold the seed cavities. Triamble do not produce as many seeds per pumpkin as some varieties.

The Triamble has a tough blueish skin and is called an Ironbark pumpkin because of it's difficulty to slice. Some recommend whacking it open with an axe. But the effort to carve is well worth the sweet orange flesh inside perfect for baking and roasting. The tough flesh also allows this pumpkin to store extremely well, some say up to 2 years!

The plant grows large with big leaves and long sprawling vines. It needs lots of sun and can produce 2 to 4 fruit per vine.

It was developed in 1918.

Be sure to visit the Iron Oak Pumpkin Page for more interesting varieties.

Turk's Turban

There are many varieties in the Turban group of squashes, shown above is Turk's Turban. 

The Turban Squash may be once of the most interesting varieties of squash that is available. The squash is usually multicolored with blotches of orange, gold, cream/white and green. Not only is it a colorful variety, but the squash is horizontally bisected into two distinct sections with an almost artificial dividing line. The bottom is a flat, more traditional pumpkin shape and the top is tri-sected into three lobes, similar to that of the Triamble Pumpkin variety. It looks almost as if this was two different fruits squished together as one.

The Turban Squash has a mild-sweet flavor when roasted and can be used to add nutritional bulk to more flavorful dishes and sauces.

To learn more about different pumpkin, gourd and squash varieties, visit the Iron Oak Farm Pumpkin Page.  

Heirloom and Hybrid Pumpkins

As many of you know I love pumpkins. Pumpkins, Gourds and Squashes hold such personality as far as fruit goes. And they are the quintessential symbol of fall, my favorite time of year.

Every year we grow a wide variety of heirloom and hybrid pumpkins here at Iron Oak Farm. This year, our pumpkin patch sadly took the back seat to our hay equipment restoration, and we simply ran out of time. We had a few vines with Sugar Pies and some Winged Gourds that did well, but other than that the field was rather pumpkinless. Next year will be different. I'm already compiling a list of seed varieties that I'd like to order to add to my own collection of saved seeds over past years. To name a few, I'd like to grow:

Biggie Howden: An X-Large traditional Jack-O-Lantern with deep orange flesh and nice deep ridges.
Wolf: A traditional Jack-O-Lantern type with large woody stems.
Triamble: A medium-small blueish gray pumpkin with three lobes that curl toward the stem
Polar bear: A large true-white pumpkin

I'm sure the list will get longer by next spring but pumpkins are definitely our focus for next year.

One of my favorite places to visit to view a wide selection of heirloom and hybrid pumpkins is a local Farm called Three Cedars Farm. Here is a collection of pumpkin photos I took on a recent trip.

Green and white Cushaw Squash on top of a Big Max pumpkin

Musquee de Provence Green

Red Warty Thing

Three beautiful Big Max

This is a Full Moon

The French Cindarella, Rouge Vif D-etempe

Wee Be Littles

Pumpkin tower of Jarradale Australian Gray, on top of Musquee de Provence, on top of One Too Many hybrid.

For more information about interesting Pumpkin varieties visit the Iron Oak Farm Pumpkin Page.