Very similar, Janie. What variety is that one (there are several white pumpkins)?

These flat ones tend to be sweeter and less fibrous then the big, round pumpkins. Indeed, the pastry chef at Blackberry Farm, a very upscale inn in Walland, TN(a weekend there can easily run $5,000), told Food Arts magazine that the Flat Tan is the best culinary pumpkin you can get.

My friend John Coykendall grows them for her, and told me the full name is Kentucky Flat Tan Field when he sent me seed earlier this year. It being a Kentucky heirloom just made it that much more appealing.

But y'all know about my non-garden this season.

I have to double check with John as to which species the Flat Tan is, so I can maintain purity of them both. Seed to Seed lists the Flat White Boer as Cucurbita maxima, and the Flat Tan Field as C. moschata. If that's the case, I can grow them both safely, as they won't cross.

I Googled South African flat white pumpkin pics and that was the first image it brought up.
I think it is Flat White Boer Squash

A unique South African Pumpkin that has sweet oragne flesh

Brook,

Since you mentioned cross pollination, and it was brought up in another thread a few weeks back, I am wondering will I be able to learn anything about that at the festival? Or is this something I should do an on-line search for info on? I am not very sure about the exact process, but I know I have already jeapordized my tomatoes this year as they are all planted in the same area, I know they've been cross pollinated.

I am sorry to hear you could not garden this season, how about a little fall garden? Is it too late for that up your way? I put my seed and plants in the ground Sunday for ours. I plan on doing more when our tomatoes are done, I will go in with a few rows of turnips and collard greens. Yummy! I hate to hear anyone that loves to garden being unable to do so.

By the way do you use a tiller? I have heard that tillers will run the earthworms off, so I try and do it all by shovel and hoe (and boy did I have some hard yard to dig up and prepare, we have a layer of shale that is approx. 1 inch thick imagine that!!!), this last little plot I broke down and let my neighbor till, then I did all the rest (mixing in horse manure and compost) by hand. I then added a nice batch of earthworms to the area. I hope that one till job won't run off the existing worms! What do you think? I just have to go on instinct in alot of what I do and hope for the best. My next door neighbors are convienced that I have a green thumb, I just smile and nod, but boy if they only knew-it's more like being a mother hen to my plants:) But hey it feels good to be esteemed as having a green thumb, so I let 'em believe it;)

By the way I am thinking of ordering a book from the bookclub called "Grow Vegetables" By:Alan Buckingham if you think that would help me please let me know. If there are others you believe would be more helpful then please I welcome your advice.

Which brings me to just one more question. When I went to ChefTalk to see about placing an order with Amazon I clicked on the buy amazon icon is that good for any book I order or just the cookbook on the screen of cheftalk? I just need to know how that works.

Thanks, Cathy

Supposedly the sweetest flesh, Janie. From what I understand it blows the Brix numbers off the chart.

There will be plenty of people to hold private discussions with, Cathy. So, while cross pollination and the like isn't on the agenda, per se, I'm sure you'll go away with a notebook filled.

I would also recommend Seed To Seed, as it is the bible of the seed saving fraternity. It has a lot of information on plant isolation and other seed purity info.

As a general rule, different species will not cross with each other. But the same species can. Thus, because zucchini and acorn squash are both C. pepo they can cross if grown together. But, because the Flat White Boer and the KY Flat Tan Field are different species they won't.

A lot of this is intimidating at first. But you'll be surprised how quickly it becomes understandable.

The odds are, with your tomatoes, that they have not crossed. If anyone cares I can explain why. But the point is, why take a chance, when in just one more season you can take steps that assure purity.

I'm not familiar with the Buckingham book, so can't say yea or nay to it. With any vegetable gardening books you have to first make a general decision: Are you going to grow organically? With man-made chemicals? Or a combination of the two? That decision really determines which books make sense for you.

The second decision: Grow using traditional rows? Grow using wide rows & blocks? Grow intensively. This, again, will determine which books you find useful, and the techniques and methods that are most appealing.

For instance, there are pros and cons re: tilling (as you've discovered) But they have more to do with one's orientation to the soil then with any effects they have on earthworms. I do a lot of tilling, for instance. And I'm covered up with worms.

Thank you Brook for the all the useful info. I will def. bring a notebook to the festival as you mentioned, another good reason I am glad I asked you, you can contiune to let me know what you believe would be beneficial to carry along. Thanks!

I am relieved you till and still have plenty of worms! I was scarred I had made some horrid mistake, but my poor old wrists just kill me as it is and are worse than ever since gardening so intensively I just figured if the tilling scarred them all away I would add more! I love my worms,

Did you see Chubbs new avatar? Yeah it looks like a worm or a crawfish fixin' to tweak the end his nose, I tell ya' what are we gonna do with him? Hee-hee I just imagine his next avatar!!! Oh lawdy........... gotta hand it to him for bein' entertaining though!