If you’re baking a delicious pumpkin pie, or making a warming squash soup, don’t throw away the seeds.
Our friends at Seed Savers have put together everything you’ll need to know on growing, and saving squash and pumpkin seeds for next year’s garden! You’ll want to identify the species first.
If you still have the seed package, or if you kept good records, take a look at the botanical name of your squash or pumpkin. Squash and Pumpkin share a genus, ‘Cucubita’ (cucumbers are in that genus, too), and there are several species, each with their own varieties. All varieties within a species will cross-pollinate, and while you might get an interesting new hybrid from them, you might not. And of course, hybrids themselves do not breed true (like Sunshine or Tetsukabuto kabocha).
If you can’t remember what you planted (and this happens to all of us), try and identify what you are saving by looking through seed catalogs and the internet – compare your pumpkin or squash’s image to identified fruits in catalogs or online.
Here are some of the most commonly grown species and a few varieties of each:
Cucurbita pepo: perhaps the oldest domesticated species, grown 10,000 years ago in Mexico. Some summer and winter squash are in this species. This species includes pumpkins like Howden used for Jack’o’lanterns, acorn squash, cocozelle and other zucchini, and crookneck or straightneck summer squash.
Cucurbita moschata: originated in Latin America with evidence of domestication 6,000 years ago. Butternut, golden cushaw, Long Island cheese pumpkin, Musquee de Provence pumpkin, and trombocino.
Cucurbita maxima: 4,000 years old, and one of the most diverse domesticated species. One reason we like to grow this species is that it grows a solid neck, which is impervious to squash vine borers. The buttercups, turbans, hubbards, Jarrahdale pumpkin, kabochas, Lakota and Nanticote squash are all in this species.
Remember: if you’ve planted two or more varieties within a species, or if your neighbors within a half a mile have, your plants will likely have cross-pollinated, meaning you’ll have a new hybrid next season that may be very different than what you expected. Do what we did in a community garden where we planted Winter Luxury pumpkin (a fantastic cooking pumpkin), delicata squash, and a buttercup. We ate those seeds instead of saving them!
For information on seed saving from Seed Savers Exchange – click here: Saving Squash and Pumpkin Seeds