Decorative pumpkin "Turkish turban" - my review. Decorative pumpkin: the best varieties and use in site design

Most often, we use flowers to decorate the garden and yard. However, modern breeding allows you to combine the beautiful and the functional. So why not take advantage of this and grow a beautiful vegetable on your site - unusual curly beans, purple slime onion balls, or adorable decorative pumpkins? We will talk about the incomprehensible variety of the latter in our today's article. .

Speaking about the benefits of decorative pumpkin not only in decorating the garden, most often we are talking about the use of unusual fruits for interior decoration. Dried pumpkins can be stored for a long time, and with the help of imagination and elementary improvised means, you can make an original, unique decoration for your home from it.

But do they eat ornamental pumpkin? In principle, no. These types of pumpkins were bred specifically for beauty, and in the selection process, their taste was not taken into account. At least in most cases. But, as practice shows, if a decorative pumpkin is suitable for human consumption, then only in its young form. Ripe, with a hard crust, it is absolutely not tasty either for people or even for livestock.

There are varieties that clearly indicate whether the fruit is edible or not. Only some pumpkin varieties are positioned as suitable for food purposes, for example Jack-be-little, Sweet Dumpling, Baby Boo. Most often they are stuffed, using as pots.

If there are no "indications" from the company, you can experiment. Ornamental pumpkin will not be poisonous, but it will most likely be solid, tasteless or with a specific taste, not juicy. Therefore, whether it is possible to eat a decorative pumpkin depends specifically on the type of pumpkin.

Features of growing decorative pumpkins

Growing decorative pumpkins is no different from growing regular pumpkins. They are planted with seeds directly on the garden in late spring or early summer, only in the northern regions, decorative pumpkin is planted through seedlings. Decorative pumpkins for the most part - climbing, grow 4-6 meters in height, willingly grabbing at the proposed supports - gazebos, picket fences, fences. There are also bush forms of decorative pumpkin. They can be grown directly in the ground, but such a plant will look much more spectacular in a large flowerpot. Harvest the fruits just before the frost, when they are finally ripe.

Varieties of decorative pumpkin

There are three main types of pumpkins - nutmeg, large-fruited and hard-barked. Decorative pumpkin - This is not a separate species, but modified varieties of other types of pumpkins (usually the most common hard-bore pumpkin). There are exceptions though - for example, the laginaria bottle gourd or the club gourd.

In stores, you can most often find bags with a mixture of different varieties of decorative pumpkins, united by species characteristics: pear-shaped, warty, crown pumpkin, turban, etc.

Decorative pumpkin-crown, or star pumpkin

This kind of decorative pumpkin has amazing small fruits of star, umbrella, crown shape. Typically, growers offer a mix of yellow, orange, green, striped and mixed fruits. This variety of decorative pumpkin - curly, grows up to 3-4 meters in height and serves as an excellent decoration for arbors, arches, walls of the house. This is a heat-loving and light-loving plant that can be planted in April-May, in June the pumpkin blooms with large single flowers, in July the fruits begin to ripen. Star pumpkin ready to harvest in October. Fruits do not exceed 15 cm in diameter. After drying, the fruits are stored for a long time, they can be used for all kinds of crafts. You can eat the decorative crown pumpkin, but its taste is very specific.

Warty gourds extremely varied in shape and size. They can be oval, round, pear-shaped, bottle-shaped, or the aforementioned star. The color range is from white to yellow, orange and dark green, almost black. At the same time, there are also two-color pumpkins - striped or spotted. The surface of warty pumpkins is uneven - in tubercles and nodules. It is a climbing plant with thin lashes growing up to 3-4 meters. Warty pumpkins are recommended to be planted in seedlings in March or April, and transferred to open ground in June. Each plant ripens up to three dozen small, a little over 10 cm in diameter, fruits. Dried fruits are great for decorative purposes.

Ornamental turban pumpkin, or pumpkin fungus (chump)

Unlike previous ornamental gourds, turban gourds do not necessarily grow tiny. Pumpkin fungus refers to a large-fruited pumpkin, and its size and color can be completely different, depending on the manufacturer. A distinctive feature of this type of decorative pumpkin is that it seems to consist of two parts. For those who are called "fungi", the upper part is larger than the lower one; in turbid, the lower part is larger. It is a climbing plant that can grow up to 2.5-3 meters.

This type of pumpkin really looks a lot like a large, smooth, yellow pear. However, not necessarily pure yellow. Some varieties (Kleine Birne Bicolor) have a two-tone color with a clear border, while others (Kleine Bicolor) have a striped color.

Tiny mandarin pumpkins with a diameter of no more than 10 cm are the fruits of the decorative mandarin pumpkin. The peel of the fruit of tangerine pumpkin is smooth, slightly ribbed.

Decorative mini-pumpkins Jack-be-little and Baby Boo

You can write about Jack-be-little and Baby Boo pumpkins at the same time, since they differ only in color: the first is bright orange, the second is completely white. The plant is a compact lash, on which about a dozen pumpkins ripen. Fruits grow up to 150-200 grams in weight, 10-15 cm in diameter. As a rule, Baby Boo grows slightly smaller than their relative Jack. The peculiarity of this variety of decorative pumpkins is that they look like fake: perfectly smooth, slightly ribbed, squat, like paraffin. They can also be eaten.

Decorative mini pumpkin Sweet Dumpling

Sweet Dumpling is a pumpkin variety for those who value both beauty and taste. These pumpkins are not grown for interior decoration (stored for about 2 months), but in order to please the eye directly on the whip, and then serve as a bright treat for the festive table. Decorative pumpkin variety Sweet Dumpling has a sweet pulp with a fruity, apple flavor. Fruits can be eaten raw, made into juices, mashed potatoes, boiled, stewed, stuffed ... About 5 fruits weighing 0.5-0.6 kg grow on one medium-growing plant. In shape, the fruits resemble the aforementioned Jack-be-little and Baby Boo, only larger, but the color is paraffin-white with green or orange stripes on the edges. A very elegant ornamental pumpkin variety.

Ornamental pumpkins are very often used to decorate various garden structures, including favorite places for the whole family. Since in a short time, almost three-meter lashes grow from her.

But not only long vines with beautiful leaf blades can be seen on these bushes. First, beautiful yellow flowers will appear, and a little later in July the beautiful fruits of decorative pumpkin will begin to ripen, which differ:

By color.
By form.

On the decorative liana, depending on the pumpkin variety, you can see fruits resembling in shape:

Stars;
Jugs;
Pears;
Mandarins.

If you plant different varieties of pumpkins in one place, then the screen will turn out, decorated with various decorative pumpkins.

Is it worth planting it in the garden

Of course, you should not plant it in the garden, but it will not be superfluous to decorate the courtyard and resting places where the whole family gathers with it. Since long lashes will hide all the unsightly places of barns and other temporary buildings. At the same time, the dwelling will acquire a beautiful and cozy look.

These are the factors that affect the cultivation of this pumpkin:

she is beautiful and her lashes quickly entwine everything that needs to be transformed. Beautiful leaf plates look beautiful against the background of buildings;
the rapid growth of lashes, sometimes reaching 4 meters in length;
fruits are very interesting for children, who make various crafts from them.

Is the ornamental pumpkin edible or not

There are some varieties of decorative pumpkins that can still be used in the manufacture of culinary dishes, but for this purpose there are many varieties of dessert pumpkins and therefore landscape designers are mainly interested in decorative pumpkins.

Common varieties

At the moment, the breeders have outdone themselves and have bred many ornamental pumpkins, which are often planted by gardeners in their plots.

Turkish turban

This variety has not only beautiful carved leaf plates, but also large bright flowers in place of which pumpkins of bizarre shape ripen. Medium-sized fruits resemble a turban in shape.

Orange

The orange color and shape of the pumpkin resembles an orange. Each separately taken such "Orange" weighs no more than 300 grams. In addition, these bright round fruits look beautiful against the background of carved greenery.

Mandarin duck

This variety resembles Orange but is smaller. Orange gourds do not grow more than 5-6 cm in diameter. They are round and orange with a smooth skin and slight ribbing.

Baby boo

The pumpkin variety is rich in white small fruits, which reach a diameter of 10 cm. Fruits have a weak ribbing, smooth white surface.

Sweet dumpling

These are ribbed round gourds, flattened from the poles. Their weight is no more than half a kilogram, green-white stripes appear between the ribs, beautifully decorating the surface of the pumpkin. Sometimes orange specks appear on the surface.

Kleine Bikolor

This variety has chosen the shape of a pear. At the same time, it is beautifully and contrastingly painted in yellow and green colors. Hence the name of the variety. The lower, thickened part of the fruit is colored green, and the upper, thinned, yellow. Moreover, light yellow stripes pass from top to bottom.

Growing

Cultivation of ornamental pumpkin practically does not differ from the cultivation of other varieties. In the southern regions of Russia, it can be planted with seeds directly into open ground. If the site is located in central Russia or the Moscow region, it is better to grow pumpkin through seedlings.

Seedling

They start growing seedlings not earlier than the end of March, but in the northern regions of Russia in mid-April. First, let's select the containers. If it is not a peat pot, then the container should have drainage holes to drain the water after watering. In this case, the diameter of the container should be 12 cm. It is better to give preference to a peat cup, while the roots will not be injured when we plant ready-made seedlings in the garden.

Then we prepare the land or buy it. To compose the soil ourselves for growing pumpkin seedlings, you need to mix the following components, taking everything in equal parts:

Peat land;
Garden land (preferably black soil)
Sand.

All the soil prepared with your own hands must be disinfected by calcining it in the oven at a temperature of 200 degrees or freezing it in the freezer of the refrigerator for 24 hours.

We fill the earth in half of the container and spill it well with warm water. Put one seed in the hole formed after watering and cover it with earth.

For better germination, cover the container with glass or put in a bag. Greenhouse conditions will create the necessary conditions for seed germination.

It will also accelerate the germination of the seed in the soil if it is germinated in advance on a saucer, but here it will be necessary to ensure that the material on which the seed lies is always slightly damp.

When a sprout appears from the ground, the shelter is removed and further care is continued:

Watering;
Loosening;
Turning different sides of the seedlings towards the sun's rays, so that the seedling does not bend.

When the seedlings grow, the soil is gradually poured to the edge of the container. It should be noted that it takes a month or more to grow seedlings. It depends on the temperature regime in the room where the seedlings are grown.

Seeds

Seeds, first of all, must be of high quality and should be purchased in specialized stores, from manufacturing firms that are known for their good quality seeds.

It is also possible to plant seeds in open ground, especially if it is done in the Krasnodar region of Russia. Because there the spring heat comes very early and therefore the decorative pumpkin can already be sown with dry seeds in early April. If at the same time a cold snap is expected, the sprouted sprouts can be covered with cut plastic bottles and covered with a little earth.

By planting seeds directly in open ground, we get healthier and hardened seedlings.

Care

As with any plant, a decorative pumpkin must be looked after. Otherwise, the whips will be small, and the foliage will be ugly. Therefore, it is worth adhering to a certain technique:

Seedlings should be accustomed to the environment. To do this, they first take it out for a couple of hours outside, and put it in the shade. And after a week, gradually increasing its presence on the street, it will be possible to leave the seedlings to spend the night on the street.
In the place where the pumpkin seedlings will be planted, you should dig up the ground and apply nitrogen fertilizers. Pumpkin will react well if soil from the compost heap is added to the dug seedling holes.
Pour about 1 liter of water into the dug and prepared hole.
If the seedling is in a peat cup, it is simply placed in the center of the hole and buried in soil.
If, in an ordinary plastic or other container, the seedlings are spilled so that the earth in the glass is well wet, and carefully removed and transferred to the center of the hole, trying not to destroy the clod of earth.
Then the pumpkin sprout is covered with earth, watered again and preferably mulched with straw so that the earth does not dry out quickly, but retains moisture as much as possible.

Next, you need to water the pumpkin in a timely manner so that the earth does not dry out completely. This is usually done once a week in the evenings so that water and sunlight on the leaf plates do not burn them. The day after rain or watering, loosening and weeding are carried out. This will give oxygen access to the plant's root system and improve its appearance.

Since the pumpkin is afraid of cold snaps, seedlings are planted in open ground only when the threat of recurrent frosts has passed.

It is not difficult to grow a decorative pumpkin, but it will beautifully decorate all parts of the garden and courtyard. And properly dried variegated fruits will beautifully decorate the interior of the house.

We would be very grateful if you leave your comments.

And we also have

Most amateur gardeners are used to decorating their plots with a variety of flowers, but it is worth noting that original vegetables will do it just as well. So the decorative pumpkin grown from seeds is gaining more and more fans among gardeners. Its sprouts quickly form living green fences, and bizarre bright fruits adorn the site until late autumn.

Choosing a variety

In specialized stores and on the market, decorative pumpkin seeds are sold in the form of “assorted” different varieties, which makes it possible to get a lot of unusual fruits at once. The variety of shapes and colors is limitless. The most common and popular among this relatively new culture in our area are the following varieties:

pear-shaped. The name speaks for itself - the shape of the fruit is very reminiscent of a pear. The color palette of this type is not uniform - there are both monochromatic and two-colored. Moreover, the latter have a clearly defined border between different colors;
tangerine. Distinctive features of this group are a very rich orange color, rounded shape, rather smooth peel, small size of pumpkins;
stellate. The fruits of this variety are similar to starfish and small squash. They have a slightly flattened oblong shape with unimaginable colors - green, white, yellow, or a combination of several colors at once. The maximum fruit size is 15 cm;
Warty. Pumpkins of this variety have a pear-like or round shape. They are covered with many bumps that look like warts. And the variety of colors and their combinations can only be envied: yellow, white, fiery orange, green;
turban pumpkins (popular name - fungus or Turkish turban). The fruit of this variety often has a smooth skin of bright orange or green marbled color. The color of the main part of the pumpkin and the "turban" is different in most cases;
vicolis pumpkin is a typical decorative pumpkin. Its characteristic features are very beautiful lobed leaves and variegated green fruits with a white stripe or speck;
lagenaria (bottle pumpkin, dish pumpkin, gourd) refers to a decorative type for its unusual shape and green marble color. This variety is used for decoration, cutting out dishes, original vases, boxes, etc.

Planting from seeds

In order for decorative pumpkins to please others with their beauty, not so much effort is needed. First of all, they should be planted in sunny areas or light shade on fertile soil. It is advisable to germinate the seeds immediately before sowing. This is best done in a warm, dark place (closet, closet, etc.). These ornamental crops can be grown both from seedlings and by sowing seeds directly into open ground.

For seedlings, seeds are sown in late April or early May. The seeds that have hatched are planted in deep peat pots and placed in a greenhouse or on a windowsill. Plants can be transferred to open ground in early June, when the probability of frost decreases. Sowing seeds directly into open ground is carried out at the end of May. It is also advisable to germinate them first. Slightly hatched seeds should be planted in shallow holes at a distance of about 30 cm.

Video "Collecting pumpkin seeds"

Care and cultivation

Most exotic pumpkin varieties are not demanding and do not need special care. It is quite enough to properly prepare the seeds, and then water the plants in time and fluff the soil around the root. Also, fertilizing plants with organic fertilizers will not be superfluous. Usually, the first feeding is carried out two weeks after germination, and the next one during the formation of the ovary. To stimulate the growth of lateral shoots and form a more lush "hedge", you can pinch the meter shoots.

A strong support should also be provided for a decorative pumpkin, since most of its species are climbing plants, and during the period of active growth, the stems, leaves and fruits are quite heavy. Many growers grow this crop near gazebos, verandas, fences and other structures, thus providing natural support and without the hassle of creating additional supports.

Protection from pests and diseases

If not cared for properly, this magnificent plant can be infested with diseases and pests. The most dangerous for pumpkin plants are slugs, aphids, powdery mildew, white and root rot, bacteriosis. At the first sign of illness, you need to take decisive action to keep the pumpkins healthy.

Powdery mildew - white or grayish powdery spots on the leaves and stem, which gradually grow over the entire surface of the affected plant and it dries up. The disease is actively developing with a lack of sunlight and sudden changes in temperature. To combat this disease, various chemicals are used, and the affected fruits and plants are necessarily destroyed.

White rot is extremely dangerous for both the plant and its fruits. The affected areas become wet, covered with a cotton-like neoplasm. The increased air humidity contributes to the development of this disease. If signs of white rot are found, all affected parts are carefully cut out and processed (sprinkled) with chalk or charcoal.

Root rot appears at the base of the stem and root. The disease is caused by soil fungi that attack the plant under poor plant growth conditions. You can prevent the development of this disease by disinfecting the seeds before planting. To save an already affected plant, and this is possible only at the initial stages of the disease, you need to add new soil, peat and humus.

Bacteriosis most often affects the leaves, but is dangerous for the stems and fruits. It appears as angular brown spots. Bacteriosis develops especially actively in a warm and humid environment. For the prevention and treatment of the disease, a 1% solution of Bordeaux liquid is used. The leaves and stems of pumpkin are treated with it.

Slugs are dangerous for almost all vegetables. They appear en masse in rainy years. Adults attack plants at night. To protect the pumpkin and other plants on the site, you can treat them with a mixture of slaked lime and ash (1: 1).

author Elena Chernysheva

Almost anyone who first sees a decorative pumpkin with its emerald leaves, huge yellow flowers and original miniature fruits of various shapes and shades is usually amazed: "Oh, what is this?"

Decorative pumpkin is not only an original plant, but also very unpretentious and, most importantly, extremely practical: with the help of its antennae, this vine is able to climb up to 4 m in just one summer, decorating an arch, gazebo, fence or wall of a house.

Is the decorative pumpkin edible?

For some reason, the most popular question about the decorative pumpkin is: "Is it edible?" It seems that the times are not hungry now, but, apparently, the very word "pumpkin" evokes indispensable associations with cooking, and not at all with beauty!

So: while the fruits of the decorative pumpkin are still small, their skin is soft, you can eat them. But why? Indeed, even at such a young age, they are very much inferior in taste to their closest relatives from the same pumpkin family: zucchini, zucchini, squash and real large pumpkins. So, save the decorative pumpkin for decoration, and rather eat something else!

Decorative pumpkin as a liana

An ideal place for planting a decorative pumpkin is next to a vertical support (for example, a chain-link fence or the southern wall of some outbuilding). That is, for a decorative pumpkin as a support in the garden, anything that you want to decorate with something is suitable.

However, a decorative pumpkin can also be used in the front part of the garden, by throwing its whips along a gazebo, pergola or arch (for example, separating the garden from flower beds). The pumpkin looks very unusual on the trunk of an old dried apple tree, which you still cannot cut down. In general, pumpkin looks especially good in gardens in the now fashionable rural style, where garden and flower bed plants often coexist.
But at the "Novorusskiy" dachas in the classic style of a regular park, the pumpkin will look too primitive and rude, discordant with the obligatory roses and thujas in such cases.

The decorative pumpkin grows very quickly (no one-year-old liana can compare with it in this), and by mid-July the screen from it grows quite high and dense. The pumpkin reaches its maximum decorative effect in August, when it completely curls the support provided to it, creating a continuous green screen, decorated with large bright yellow flowers and elegant small fruits.

What does a decorative pumpkin need?

When choosing a place for a decorative pumpkin, two conditions should be observed.

Firstly, it is necessary to choose a sufficiently reliable support for it, since by the end of summer the stems and leaves of the creeper form a large green mass.

The second condition is to plant a decorative pumpkin in a sunny place (light partial shade is permissible). That is, of course, you can plant it near the northern wall of the house, but then you should not count on an abundance of flowers and, even more so, fruits.

What does a decorative pumpkin dislike?

Of the annual climbing plants, decorative pumpkins are indeed one of the most unpretentious. Even a novice gardener can grow them. Their only drawback is absolute non-frost resistance: even with a slight frost at –1 degrees, the plant dies. That is why it is recommended to grow decorative pumpkins through seedlings. However, the least time consuming and easiest way is to sow their seeds directly into the ground in mid-May. If late spring frosts are expected, the emerging seedlings can be covered with plastic bottles or film.

In addition to frost, decorative pumpkins do not like a lack of moisture and poor soils. The more often you water and fertilize it (especially with organic fertilizers), the better it will grow.

That's the whole secret!

Now let's talk a little about the fruits of the pumpkin, because of which it, in fact, is called decorative. Their size rarely exceeds 10-15 cm, and the shape can be round, star-shaped, bottle-shaped, in the form of a boletus mushroom, etc. There are pumpkin varieties with both smooth and bumpy skins, the shades of which vary from white to yellow, orange or green. The striped, spotted or two-colored fruits of the decorative pumpkin look the most amusing.
These small fruits of cheerful colors look very cute on the plant itself, but very often a decorative pumpkin is grown in order to collect ripe fruits in autumn, dry them and use them to create original compositions (for example, with dried flowers). In addition, these pumpkins can be used to create real works of art. To do this, any pattern is applied to the dried pumpkins with special paint, and then varnish to fix the paint.

In order for the pumpkins to be stored for a long time, two rules must be observed: they must be fully ripe, that is, with a very rough and thick skin, and also plucked before the first autumn frosts.
In addition, so that their color (if you do not paint the fruits) does not fade so much, it is better to store the pumpkins away from direct sunlight.

Decorative pumpkins and children

If you want to introduce your child to gardening, then there is nothing better than growing a decorative pumpkin with him!

Firstly, it has very large seeds, and even the smallest child can handle planting them.

Secondly, the decorative pumpkin grows at a tremendous rate (especially if the summer is hot and watering is sufficient), and the baby can quickly see the results of his labor.

Thirdly, small children are very fond of fiddling with water, and therefore they love to water everything. And the decorative pumpkin needs frequent watering!

And, finally, absolutely all children like its tiny, very bright and unusual fruits: there is something in them toy-doll. In addition, the fruits can be dried and painted with special paints and varnish (you will need the help of adults here). Your child will be happy to show them off to friends and family. By the way, even the most primitive children's drawings look very unusual on small pumpkins!

About varieties of decorative pumpkin

Until recently, only mixtures of different varieties of decorative pumpkin could be found in stores. Sometimes there were also a series of varieties selected for a certain characteristic (for example, "Mosaic" and "Starfall", produced by the "NK" corporation).

Then the company "Poisk" pleased the gardeners not with mixtures, but with individual varieties of decorative pumpkin. For example, in the "Shahrezada" series you can find such varieties as a bright orange "Turkish turban", multi-colored "Stars" and "Baby creamy white", and in the "Kaleidoscope" series - varieties "Two-color ball", "Orange ball" and "Warty Mix".
When it comes to different types of garden flowers, I am categorically opposed to buying all kinds of seed mixtures. As a rule, both rather interesting specimens and absolutely banal ones (and most of them) grow out of them. That is, when planting seeds from a mixture into the ground, one cannot assume what will grow as a result. But in the case of decorative pumpkin, I am just an active supporter of mixtures of varieties! The fruits emerging from such mixtures are so unusual and varied that the cultivation of decorative pumpkin becomes also a very reckless occupation: it is always terribly interesting what will result from such identical (at first glance) seeds!
Therefore, when the fruits on the vines of decorative pumpkins from a mixture of seeds begin to set, I check almost every day what kind of miracle is growing this time.

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More than thirty years ago, in my mother-in-law's house, I saw this little orange miracle for the first time in my life - an apple is not an apple, a zucchini is not a vegetable marrow, a toy is not a toy. To my question about his origin, the mother-in-law simply replied: "This is karahonka." Such a funny folk name did not add clarity, but fueled interest. Believe it or not, one of these miniature pumpkins has been kept in my kitchen ever since. Now it is an almost weightless solid kolobok, only one shell ...

Today there is a huge number of beautiful decorative pumpkins of the most diverse in shape and color, which the language does not dare to call even karahonki, but with the very first tangerine, already pretty faded and inconspicuous, I am sorry to leave today ...

Prose

It would seem what a prosaic plant a pumpkin is! Probably, there are no people in our country who would not know what a pumpkin is, what it looks like and how many useful substances it contains that determine its nutritional, dietary value and medicinal properties. The very word "pumpkin" evokes direct associations, rather, with food, and not at all with beauty! Some decorative pumpkins can also be eaten, but only while they are unripe and their skin is soft. Having taken out the core, they can be stuffed with meat, vegetables, stewed in sour cream.

In mature form, they are already inedible, have a hard crust and most often a bitter flesh.

However, even at a young age, decorative pumpkins are much inferior in taste to their closest relatives from the pumpkin family - courgettes, zucchini, squash and real big sweet pumpkins.

Immeasurably more fun decorative pumpkinwill deliver to you if you create in your yard a spectacular living decoration with large funnel-shaped flowers, which will be adorned with fruits of the most incredible shapes and colors closer to autumn.

Diminutiveness decorative pumpkin

Pumpkin is perhaps the only plant in the world whose fruit weight can vary widely - from 30 g to 300 kg. But if earlier they were more often surprised at the huge size of pumpkins, then it seems that the day is not far away when rivalry will unfold between pumpkins in several nominations - miniature, riot of colors and unpredictability of forms.

The fruits of specially bred decorative pumpkin varieties can decorate not only the garden, but also the interior of a city apartment, complement a flower arrangement or a real work of art. In the shade of the pumpkin plantings, the coolness keeps well, and the green carpet of leaves is decorated with bright yellow flowers until late autumn. It is good, but not so luxuriantly, pumpkins grow in spacious tubs indoors - on verandas and terraces. All that is needed is lighting and constant feeding.

Funny pumpkins

Decorative pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo var. Ovifera) is an annual climbing plant. Its other name is ordinary curly pumpkin. Climbing stems, 2 to 6 m long, with many lateral shoots. Large, rounded or cordate leaves, five-lobed, wrinkled, with spiny hairs, on long, hollow petioles. In the axils of the leaves there are antennae, with the help of which the stem of the plant can cling to the support and rise up. The pumpkin has single yellow unisexual flowers, sometimes very large.

The most interesting thing about the decorative pumpkin is the fruit.

They are much smaller than the pumpkin fruits used for food - their diameter or height rarely exceeds 10-15 cm, and the shape and color of the fruits are surprisingly diverse and decorative.

Unusually interesting shape decorative pumpkin: spherical, disc-shaped, turban-shaped, clavate, pear-shaped, star-shaped, bottle-shaped, bell-shaped, etc. The surface of decorative pumpkins can be smooth and lumpy, sometimes with outgrowths-horns that protrude along the edges of the fruit and resemble the crown or tentacles of a starfish, it ranges from white to yellow, orange or green.

Striped, spotted, two-colored fruits in the form of a boletus mushroom or similar to the head of a dwarf in a red cap on one side look very funny.

Beautifully colored, bright, exotic pumpkins hang on plants until frost, pleasing the eye: orange (tangerine) - bright yellow and orange balls; warty - yellow with an uneven bumpy surface; brindle - yellowish-beige with a pattern; watermelon - green with light stripes; pear-shaped - yellow, shaped like a pear; crown - of an unusual refined shape with horns-protrusions above each lobule, etc.

Interesting decorative pumpkin turbid.

The shape of the fruit of this decorative pumpkin resembles a turban, which is why it is sometimes called Turkish.

However, this pumpkin came to us not from Turkey, but from Western China. The turban-shaped decorative pumpkin has several varieties: large-calf, medium-calf, small-calf and small-fruited red. On the same plant of a turban pumpkin, there are almost never two identical fruits, they always differ in color tone, a variety of shades and patterns - stripes, strokes, spots. In small-fruited red ornamental pumpkin, the pulp may have a bitter taste, but in large and small calamus, it is always sweet, yellow-orange, with a high content of carotene. These pumpkins are quite suitable for eating, you can cook jam, candied fruits from them, the pulp does not boil, the slices are transparent, of a beautiful amber color. The seeds are also tasty.

The more sun, the brighter the colors decorative pumpkin

The size and quality of the fruit depends on the growing conditions decorative pumpkin... The culture prefers loose, light, fertile calcareous soils, sandy loam, sandy loam or loamy chernozems. Ornamental pumpkin does not like acidic soils, but it can withstand salinity. A decorative pumpkin should be planted in well-heated areas, protected from cold winds.

A big minus of decorative pumpkins is the lack of frost resistance.

Young plants decorative pumpkin they are sensitive even to small spring frosts and die already at a temperature of -1 ° C. That is why decorative pumpkins are often grown as seedlings.

Apart from frost, ornamental pumpkins cannot tolerate poor soil and lack of moisture. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the care of ornamental quads on fertilization and watering. The more often you water and fertilize your pumpkin, especially with organic fertilizers, the better it will grow. And if you make a foliar feeding of the pumpkin with urea or a complex fertilizer with a predominance of nitrogen, then it will grow by leaps and bounds.

Decorative pumpkins are light-requiring, it is better to plant them in a sunny place, but light partial shade is acceptable.

In the shade, plants do not bloom well, ripening and coloring of fruits slows down, the color is dull. The more sun, the brighter and more beautiful the fruit colors will be. Of course, you can plant a decorative pumpkin near the northern wall of the house, but then you should not count on an abundance of flowers and, even more so, fruits.

The place for decorative pumpkin

When choosing a place for growing a decorative pumpkin, it should be borne in mind that it needs a fairly reliable support, since by the end of summer, the stems and leaves of the vines form a large green mass. The pumpkin reaches its maximum decorative effect by the middle of summer. In July-August, she completely curls the support provided to her, creating a solid green screen, decorated with large bright yellow flowers and small fruits.

For a decorative pumpkin, as a support in the garden, everything vertical is suitable that you want to hide from prying eyes or decorate with something - a fence, a wall of some outbuilding, a gazebo, pergola or arch.

Our advice:

Even an old, dried tree is suitable for support.

With the help of its antennae, this vine is able to climb to a great height, but as the shoots grow, they must be tied up for greater reliability.
The decorative pumpkin looks especially good in gardens decorated in a rustic style that is fashionable today, where garden and flower bed plants easily coexist. It can even be used as an original border, laying out long shoots along paths, ridges, flower beds.

Planting a decorative pumpkin

Of the climbing annuals, the decorative pumpkin is not only quite original, but also very unpretentious in growing. It reproduces by seeds. Grow decorative pumpkin seedling and sowing in the ground. The soil is prepared in autumn - rotted manure (5 kg / m 2), mineral fertilizers such as azofoska (40 g / m 2) are applied and dug to a depth of 25-30 cm.

Seeds for seedlings are sown from April 25 to May 5 in cups or peat pots with a diameter of 10-15 cm, filled with a light nutrient mixture.

To speed up germination, the seeds are soaked for a day in a solution of any growth stimulator and immediately sown. The best germination of pumpkin seeds after 3-5 years of storage, fresh seeds are often not germinating. In open ground, seeds are sown in the second decade of May, when the air temperature reaches 15-18 ° C, and the soil warms up to 12 ° C. Close them up to a depth of 7-8 cm. For normal germination of seeds, pumpkin needs a temperature of at least 12-14 ° C.

When growing ornamental pumpkin seedlings, seedlings are planted in a permanent place in June, when the threat of recurrent frosts has passed.

Decorative pumpkin it does not tolerate transplanting very well, so the transfer from plastic cups must be done very carefully so as not to disturb the root system. For pumpkin, make holes at a distance of 70-80 cm, 15-20 cm deep, fill them with fertile soil, add a handful of complete mineral fertilizer. Seedlings at the age of 25-30 days are planted deeper than they sat in the pot, sprinkling with earth up to the cotyledon leaves, so that the root collar is several centimeters below the soil level.

Later, when root tubercles appear at the base of the stem, soil is poured onto it.

If late spring frosts are expected, the seedlings are covered with plastic bottles or film. Pumpkins bloom in June, and from about mid-July the formation of the first fruits already begins and it lasts until the end of autumn.

Caring for decorative pumpkin

With a large leaf area, the crop evaporates a lot of moisture and needs infrequent but abundant watering.

Water the decorative pumpkin with warm water.

If the plants grow poorly during the summer, the soil is carefully loosened, mulched with peat or humus. Consuming a large amount of nutrients from the soil, the plant is extremely responsive to fertilization. A week after planting or three after the emergence of seedlings, the plants need to be fed with complex fertilizer (1 tbsp. Azophoska spoon under the bush) and then thoroughly watered.

In the northern regions, in order to accelerate the ripening of fruits, a month before the onset of frost, the lashes are pinched.

Pumpkin is harvested in dry weather, usually in September - October before the onset of frost, in the south after the leaves die off. When harvesting, it is necessary to preserve the stalk and prevent damage to the fruit. The optimum storage temperature for pumpkin is 16-18 ° C. In no case should pumpkins be stored in damp basements - they will rot.

Continuers of the clan decorative pumpkin

A few years ago, only a mixture of different varieties of decorative pumpkin Mosaic and Starfall could be found in stores. Naturally, very diverse fruits grow from such mixtures, which only warms up the excitement. Especially if these are varieties of ornamental pumpkins such as warty, pear-shaped or tangerine.

The warty pumpkin is called because the surface of its fruits is strewn with small tubercles.

Tangerine decorative pumpkin- orange fruits the size of a tangerine. Pear-shaped fruits naturally resemble a pear, they are often half orange, half green.

Today there are already selected hybrids of decorative pumpkin - bright orange Turkish turban, multi-colored Stars and Baby creamy white, Starfish, Two-color ball, Orange ball and Warty mix. Funny mini-pumpkins (Jack-be-little, Baby Boo and Sweet Dumpling) are very popular and are used exclusively as a decorative element. Jack-be-little has yellow fruits, when ripe orange, round, segmented, just like the pumpkin carriage in the Cinderella fairy tale, only in miniature, Baby Boo has pure white pumpkins, round, segmented, with soft pulp , very much resemble a large head of garlic, while Sweet Dumpling has pudding-shaped fruits, with alternating longitudinal white and green stripes.

If you manage to get the seeds of these hybrids, do not flatter yourself.

Seeds selected from fruits do not always repeat parental characteristics. So, from the seeds of a round yellow pumpkin, you can get a long, two-colored or pimpled. Most often, it is impossible to predict in advance what color the fruits of these plants will be: green, red, orange, yellow or striped. The plants are cross-pollinated, so the proximity to other pumpkin relatives affects the offspring. For example, the varieties Gribovskaya bush, Almond, Mozoleevskaya, gymnosperms and small decorative pumpkins-toys belong to the same species, and when grown in the same garden are easily pollinated. From the seeds of such over-pollinated plants, something unpredictable can grow. Some of the ornamental gourds taste bitter, and this is a quality they can transfer to hybrids.

Our advice:

Ready to bloom buds of male flowers (with stamens) and female (with an ovary under the flower) cover in the evening with an insulator of gauze, and in the morning transfer the pollen from the male flower to the stigma of the female and isolate it again until the flower dries up and the ovary is not will grow. Mark this fruit so as not to confuse it with others, and watch when it ripens.

Keep the cut fruit for another month in a warm room, but not for very long: seeds in an overripe fruit can germinate inside it. Then remove the seeds from the fruit, dry and store in a warm room. They remain viable for about seven years.