Pumpkins for Seed (forum)

Lorna starts with ...
Does anyone else grow Pumpkins from the different groups, so that they don't cross. The gardening shows tell us that they all cross, but I have found growing one Maxima (Buttercup,-NOT Butternut), one Pepo (Table Queen/Acorn) and one Moschata (Jap/Kent), I don't have to hand pollinate and tie flowers shut. I have done this for a few years now, after being alerted to the different groups by the Eden Seeds catalogue. I recently had it confirmed in the Diggers book, and the Seed Savers Handbook. If you are close to neighbours who grow different varieties to you, it can be a bit of a spanner in the works since bees can travel through several gardens in close proximity. I am lucky that none of my neighbours are too close (!) or grow much in the way of food.

Time: 20th September 2010 11:29pm

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About the Author Lorna
Albany WA
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Brendan says...
Hi Lorna,
Yeah, not wrong about cross pollination with pumpkins.
I 'think' this one of mine is a cross between a jap and a trombone, I've shown them to people, and they say it's a 'bugle' pumpkin, so that's what I now call 'em :-) Btw, that one was nearly 6 kg, VERY nice taste, and makes the best pumpkin soup :-)
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Time: 23rd September 2010 7:53am

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About the Author Brendan
Mackay, Q
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Lorna says...
Hi Brendan,
I have foud that knowing the different groups of pumpkins has really taken the pressure off the seed saving thing. Having one variety from each group is so simple. That pumpkin of yours would make a really big pan of soup Eh?! Did you save any seed to see what kind of offspring came from it. It is often interesting to do that just to see what you get. A pumpkin does not have to be a "pedigree" one to be a good flavour.

Time: 23rd September 2010 9:32am

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About the Author Lorna
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Jantina says...
Thanks for that info Lorna, will save me a lot of hassle.

Time: 23rd September 2010 9:45am

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Jason says...
Thats one impressive oven to go along with the pumpkin

Time: 23rd September 2010 7:52pm

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Original Post was last edited: 23rd September 2010 7:53pm

About the Author Jason10
Portland, Vic
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Brendan says...
Hi Lorna,
Yes, the seeds from my 'bugle' pumpkin (?) grow true to form, (same as photo).
They self sow around here :-)

Yeah Jason, we bought that wood stove brand new in 1972. It works a treat!
Sadly, Crown Wood Stoves are no more, they were made in Brisbane.
Btw, ours cost ~$200 back then :-)
We actually fired it up last night, as it was cold & wet outside. I can still feel warmth from it now :-)

Time: 24th September 2010 5:45am

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Jason says...
When it's worn out 1000 years from now, you will easily get your money back in scrap metal :p

Time: 24th September 2010 3:10pm

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Lorna says...
Now that's an oven! 1.8m wide, taller than me, and built it myself. Cooks roasts complete with pumpkin just great.
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Time: 24th September 2010 3:59pm

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About the Author Lorna
Albany WA
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Wayne says...
That's the go Lorna, do you need a permit to fire it up :-]

Time: 24th September 2010 4:47pm

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Mackay QLD
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amanda says...
Is that the one u built yourself Lorna? If so - well done! You go girl! :)

Time: 24th September 2010 6:07pm

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About the Author amanda19
Geraldton Mid West WA
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Steven says...
Thats a great oven. I want to build one in my back yard soon. i like the rustic look of yours. Did you make it from a kit of from scratch by yourself

Well done!

Steven

Time: 24th September 2010 6:43pm

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Jantina says...
Love the chooks on it Lorna.

Time: 24th September 2010 10:46pm

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Lorna says...
Thanks for the comments guys.
The oven is not a kit, just made with solid half bricks. It is a brick oven, not a mortar oven, which means that when you look inside you don't see any mortar at all. It looks a bit like an igloo. I built one dome with the Fondue heat resistant cement and ordinary solid house bricks cut in half. This was then rendered using the fondue cement and covered with a three inch layer of sand for insulation like the old Italian ovens. A second brick dome was then built over the sand to add thermal mass. This was just with ordinary mortar. The whole thing was then rendered to make it look good. It keeps hot for over 24 hours once she gets hot.
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Picture: 1
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Time: 25th September 2010 12:01am

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About the Author Lorna
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Brad says...
pizza party at Lorna's place! bring beer

Time: 25th September 2010 12:06am

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About the Author Brad2
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Lorna says...
Forgot to say, don't need a permit to fire out of fire season. Since it gets to around 600 degrees centigrade, I will have to really think about using it in Summer. No need to use fire bricks to build either. House bricks are fired to 1100 degrees centigrade, and if your oven gets to that temperature, you have an issue! The floor is clay pavers, not concrete pavers. The clay ones are fired the same as the house bricks. Total cost was around $400. I already had leftover bricks and pavers, so only had to buy one cubic meter of sand, the fondue cement, GP cement, hydrated lime and a few bits and bobs. And yes, that old crow inside the dome is me having a bad hair day.....

Time: 25th September 2010 12:24am

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About the Author Lorna
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Jason says...
Bad hair day you reckon....Maybe all the protein from your hair went into your arms! that's some serious muscle tone and artery's going on there. Whatever you eat I think you need to write a book about it. And maybe one about making ovens too :)

Time: 25th September 2010 1:18am

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About the Author Jason10
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Lorna says...
Hey Jason,
Yes, a bit of an Amazon woman there, and my partner John loves it. Not jealous of the arms are you? On the advise of an orthopaedic surgeon, I do a few weights to stabilise buggered shoulders and it works. I grow my own food, including meat and eggs as well as vegies and fruit, so diet is excellent which also helps. If you think that photo is bad, maybe I should scare you with a real pose photo of the shoulders......

Time: 25th September 2010 8:59am

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About the Author Lorna
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Jantina says...
Mercy Lorna, I built our pizza oven too (much the same as you but my second layer was rocks) but I'm just a round ball sort of shape. I'm jealous of your muscle tone!

Time: 25th September 2010 12:55pm

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Lorna says...
I built mine on top of a base made of about four tons of ironstone rock. That was harder to build than the oven because the rocks are an awkward shape and some heavier than me. The 3" reinforced concrete slab got poured on top of that, a bed of compacted sand, then the clay pavers. The clay pavers are great for cooking on directly. If anyone wants the pattern for the templates that you need to build one, I could cut them out of paper and post them for you to copy onto MDF and cut out with a jigsaw. There are only four templates-one for the dome curve, one for the door arch of the dome, one for the smoke chamber arch, and one circle for finishing the ceiling when the angle of the bricks gets too steep. Thinking of changing my name to Arnold (as in Swartzenegger).
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Time: 25th September 2010 3:59pm

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Jason says...
lol Lornazenegger, I'm not too jealous but impressed for sure, I aspire to have such good veins as those one day :). It's the first thing I notice on super healthy people so I always like to say that's a good job your doing :)

Time: 25th September 2010 10:43pm

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amanda says...
Dunno Jason....genetics kind of help here...all to do with how much fat u carry just under your skin....I have big healthy veins on my top body half and none showing on the bottom half...(cos' I am naturally pear shaped...)
Weightlifter arms - housewife bum. :)

ps - I envy you your butt Lorna...u don't look like an old crow at all!

Time: 26th September 2010 8:42pm

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About the Author amanda19
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Jason says...
Back in my gym days I used to have 6% fat and veins all over the place but I never had those garden hose sized ones I like :). These days I have a tumour in my neck in between the two main arteries I need to keep an eye on so maybe my perception is corrupted and I pay more attention to these kind of things than most people (or more than I should). Because I've been on the edge of having to have my arteries chopped out so I appreciate good ones :)

Time: 26th September 2010 10:52pm

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Lorna says...
That's a bugger about the tumour Jason. Got any photos of you with the 6%? The muscle definition at that sort of level is usually quite spectacular. My veins are like a thermometer, on hot days they stick out all by themselves, and are more well behaved when it is cold. Were you a Jasonzenegger type at the gym? Everyone assumes that I do steroids because I am so developed, but it is just genetics, diet, attitude and hard work.

Time: 27th September 2010 8:56am

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About the Author Lorna
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Jason says...
Yeah I do have a picture somewhere, I was still only little but all the definition going on, pretty similar to a bruce lee kind of build. I'm a really thin build so I was never able to lift hugh weights like my friends could but I was easily lifting the most weight in the gym at my weight, for some reason I always could lift more weight with my back than even my 100kg friends though, I could do the whole stack of plates on the machine in the gym for that pretty easy but not with any other muscles.

I never had a car then so I used to run everywhere I went or rode a bike if I was going really far. Now I hardly go outside because I work on the pc, I've gone to about 14% fat :p but I haven't been near a gym for 15 years (I am joining again next week but just for 6 months though while I'm stuck driving my wife everywhere) I have to camp near town to pick her up all the time so I figure I might as well be in town in the gym while I wait. I want to gain 5kgs and go to about 9% fat in those 6 months, don't know if I will be able to or not but I'll aim for 1% per month and 1kg per month. Last time it took me 3 years to go from 58?kgs to 64 and from about 10% fat to 6%. Now I'm starting from 61kg, I made myself a promise once that I'd never let myself get out of shape enough that I didn't have defined stomach but I fell off my promise about 3 years ago. Also there's a track I used to run on every night and a double barrier to stop motorbikes that I used to be able to jump over *just* as I ran I haven't jumped over that for 10 years but I used to always say to my mate, since I can only just clear this, I'll now that when I can't do it anymore I'm getting past it. But since I just stopped running I never got to see the point where I got past it :P so it's important to me to be able to make that one more time) on my 40th birthday is the plan).


The tumour is ok, It's not growing anymore, no one knows where it came from or why, it's got no cancer in it but it's stuck to everything important so it's not really worth the risk to try and cut it out so I just have to keep looking at it and being good so it doesn't get angry and grow again :). I can feel it getting unhappy and hurting a bit whenever I get stressed or eat something dodgy so even though I wouldn't say I'm happy to have it, it does have some good points

Time: 27th September 2010 1:01pm

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POrtland
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Lorna says...
I'll probably get banned from the forum for this one, but here is inspiration for Jason to join the gym.......Old Crow of 45 (46 in three months), and still counting. Reasonable advert for home grown vegetables and no sprays!!!
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Time: 27th September 2010 8:28pm

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About the Author Lorna
Albany WA
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Jason says...
Maybe Daleys will offer you a TV add, "be built like Lorna, grow your own fruit and veggies". Well I'm inspired enough. I will be at the gym almost every day and I will report back to this in 6 months to see what happened :)

Time: 27th September 2010 9:55pm

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Lorna says...
Brilliant Jason! Have fun doing it too....

Time: 28th September 2010 8:40am

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brad says...
pumpkins, pizza ovens and muscle. interesting thread progression

Time: 28th September 2010 11:40am

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About the Author Brad2
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Lorna says...
That's more complex and interesting than a thread Brad, and should probably be called a yarn........Ha Ha. At this rate, in a week or so, we will have the full jumper!

Time: 28th September 2010 6:44pm

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About the Author Lorna
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brad says...
So do you knit or crochet?

Time: 28th September 2010 6:56pm

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Lorna says...
Neither-I build pizza ovens! Der...

Time: 28th September 2010 6:57pm

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About the Author Lorna
Albany WA
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snottiegobble says...
Lorna, youre a great inspiration to all of us, build a super pizza oven like you then go to the gym to try to loose all the weight gained from eating too many pizzas!

Time: 28th September 2010 11:28pm

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Lorna says...
Thanks Snottiegobble. Had the oven going again yesterday, and did roast chook (home grown), scones, bread pudding and jacket potatoes. It makes cooking exciting again, trying to work out what temperature the beast is running at. If she burns the fur off your arms when you put the scones in, then watch out, and put the scones in the doorway to cook or they will burn! Like I say, no home should be without one....
This is Herman my chilli frog.
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Time: 29th September 2010 9:04am

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