Gete-okosomin Harvest !

                                    Whoo - hoo !  My Gete - okosomin harvest !

 Those who have been following this story will know that I only had one plant germinate , of how the vine got broken off just above the cotyldon leaves , how I took that broken plant and treated it as a cutting and had to wait a further couple of weeks for that cutting to root ..which it did ...of the storms..followed by drought ...followed by relentless rain showers just as I wanted to hand pollinate the flowers .
 People giving me advice I could have done without..like only allowing the one I put on the chair to develop and cut the others off !..the one on the chair rotted ..so I,m glad that I didn't cut all the other shoots off .
 It certainly is a very vigourous variety and can root into the ground as it spreads .

                                     They are best if raised off the ground .

   This one got to a fairly good size though hanging over the chicken wire fence .

I dont know how much it weighs .....I think it might break my kitchen scales...big strong  husband carried it in for me . This one , is the one that I am hoping and praying , will have the best chance of having seeds in .
  I already have a list of veg gardening friends who want to try these seeds and I will be happy to share them out later on in the year .( It will be awful if it has no seeds in ! )
 Thanks to Nancy Wolfe who was very generous in sharing them with me , I have learned so much through growing this interesting Squash  .
 Are there any interested (geeky) Pumpkin / Squash growers around here in Mullion ?

 I brought in all the others and they have to cure in a warm place for a day or so before putting them into a cooler but frost free storage place ...shed / garage / loft .

I ,ve brought in some of the many smaller zuchinni/courgette sized ones for us to try too .
                                          Looking forward to cooking them up .

                     I stripped out the bed and we're back to square one again .

The slugs ate all the leaves off these purple kale stalks, actually I think they were Red Russian Kale ....I,m leaving them ..they might re-shoot  .....they WILL reshoot !  (got to think positive ! ) :)

It is time to feed and replenish the earth and I try not to walk on this beautiful crumbly soil ...wow ! ...it still looks amazing !
  Today I will let the birds feed from it , tomorrow I will begin to cover it up , layer by layer build it up again .

                              Leeks , onions ,  kale growing away beautifully now .

  A few cabbages and Purple Sprouting Broccoli under cover , the other side of the bed is resting and being built up again .

                                          Another bed being prepared .

 This plastic mesh fencing hasn't lasted even a year , I couldn't afford chicken wire last year , I,m having a re-think about this . I hate plastic !

 So I have coppiced some Hazel and I,ll see what I can do with that around the veg beds.

                                                     Leek seeds drying off .
                                             
Hurricane Ophelia is a coming in from early tomorrow morning , batten down the hatches and take very great care everybody  .

Gete-Okosomin Squash 29th September 2017

I just had another peek..I cant believe how fast this is growing now ...this is looking good and I may well get some seeds to be sharing at the end of the year .

It seems that these Squashes do much better if given some support and if they get damaged in the slightest , will quickly rot . So don't touch them or you will soon see thumb prints .

 I am impressed at how vigorous and healthy this plant is ..with no sign of the mosaic virus that other Squashes and courgettes often get here in the U.K.

I would like to know from other growers of this , if the immature fruits can be eaten ?
 I  don't want to waste food , surely they must be like courgettes/zucchini ?
        I'll share the seeds when they are ready .
 Let me know if you're local and interested in trying it .
                                        Happy Harvest everyone !

Gete-okosomin Squash 19th September update

The sun shone warm up in the blue sky, after a chilly sunrise . Plenty to be done up in my veg garden , but I wanted to show you how the Gete-okosomin Squash plant is doing today .

It is escaping the keyhole enclosure ! Leaping over the chicken wire fence , scrabbling into the labyrinth .

 On the other side it clambered over the fence and here it is , scrabbling up and into a Hydrangea bush .

             The flowers are still coming , both male and female and lots of fruit !

I have raised some of the best ones up on to slabs of rock , a stool and even a chair .
 It was climbing up that tree to the right in this photo ...but I decided to take some cuttings , to see if I can get them through the Winter and get an even earlier start next year .
I doubt it, but I,ll give it a go anyway . Has anyone done this ?

Can anyone tell me how big these have to be to guarantee viable seeds inside the squash ?

 A couple of beautiful fruits still growing on the vine resting on  a stool , to keep away from the slugs and snails . I am surprised at how the slugs are so attracted by the pollen and the tasty flower petals..and I wonder if the slugs are part of the natural pollination process ?  I wonder how the slugs actually get into the flower centres , the stems being so hairy/prickly , but they certainly do, I keep finding them there !

Gete - okosomin scrabbling into the labyrinth ! By the way , the rabbits don't seem to be interested in eating it ! Maybe I didn't need all that expensive chicken wire after all !

 Here are the cuttings I took two days ago , maybe a little wilted and I did find a slug trail in there  , so I have put down slug pellets . I could not find the slug !

                                                Can you see that slug trail ? 
 This takes me back to the beginning .......remember that broken seedling stem ?

I am really hoping to get lots of seeds to share out and if these cuttings make it , I will have a good early start next year .
 The weather is becoming more and more Autumnal here , I hope we get a couple more weeks before I harvest these beautiful Squash fruits .

One more question ...can the small Gete-okosomin squash that don't make it to full size be eaten as zucchini /courgettes ? Does anyone know ?

 The weather was beautiful , sunny and warm this afternoon , not even the slightest breeze and we enjoyed coffee and chocolate ice-cream down at Poldhu Beach .

          Tomorrow's weather forecast ....yep ..clouds are already gathering .
           Rain coming for tomorrow in Mullion ...oh those slugs will be so happy !

Gete-okosomin Squash --more pics !

 I just can't wait to have my first taste of this Squash variety - the Gete -okosomin  ,which has been carefully grown , it is said for as long as 5,000 years and kept pure by the Miami women in their vegetable gardens . I would love to know the names of these clever ladies  and say a big thankyou for their good work !
                                             It is said to be really delicious !

                             The name Gete -okosomin means the Big Old Squash .

 I'm being careful to keep it pure too . After hand pollinating them , here the petals are tied with a length of Bindweed .

                                          ......and here tied with a cable tie !

It doesn't matter what you use , the flower petals eventually wither and fall off leaving behind the now pollinated or set fruit  .

 I ,m just worried about slugs now and will be putting down more crushed eggshells .

                            One little baby Gete-okosomin..beginning to swell !

Last year I grew the Giant Banana Squash successfully so I know I can do this !
I know I,m a bit behind everyone else growing squashes , with the little accident we had earlier in the year , but hopefully , we should get more hot sunshine towards the end of August and into September to bring them on and I did put a lot of good stuff into this new Pumpkin bed ...Pumpkins and Squashes are hungry beasts !
 They also need a lot of space ! In this bed there are a few Sweetcorn , Two Cherokee Purple Tomatoes and one Gete-okosomin Squash and it is spiraling around the bed like crazy and now even trying to climb out !
 The weather has been a little overcast in the morning and sunny and hot this afternoon .
Lots of people coming over to our beautiful beaches in Mullion..lots of happy children building sand castles !

Gete-okosomin update .

                 " The Birds and the Bees !"..lol ! ..only doing it without the bees !

                                                 Here we go again  !
I,m getting the idea of how to pollinate the flowers by hand now , with a view to getting pure seeds and there are more flowers coming along now , both male and female .
Tie up the petals the evening before the flower is expected to open .

 Tie them up with soft twine , cable tie , piece of wool thread or stick them together with masking tape . Here I used a nice long strong piece of Bindweed ..might as well put it to good use !

 A close up view of the male stamen which is covered with pollen.Isn't it beautiful ? !

Now I have more male flowers coming , I can pick one , pull off the petals from around the stamen and use it to wipe the pollen directly onto the female stigma .

           Last time I took pollen from a male flower with a cotton bud stick .

 You can do this , but this time I was able to use the actual male stamen .
Next , I had to get up very early ,before the bees....untie the flower...dust the stigma with the pollen on the male stamen.....tie up the flower once again .
 Very important ..I forgot to say it last time ..tie the flower petals up again !
 The flower will wither and drop off leaving the now set fruit to swell and grow .
I'm writing all this , so I can remember what I did , for when I come to do this again next year .  I hope it might also be of some help to you too .
 

1st Pollination of Gete -okosomin Squash flowers by hand

 Up at 6am to get to the freshly opened flowers before the bees . I,m quite sure that the bees are still in bed , it has been raining all night and still very overcast now .

Pollination -the act of transferring pollen grains from a male anther of a flower to a female flower stigma .  This I did with a cotton bud stick . However...as you can see the flowers and the pollen are very wet from the rain ....so I,m not sure this is going to work .
 Does it work if the pollen is wet ? I dont know ?
 I went out into the veg garden later on , around 10am and repeated this . I got more pollen this time round .
 I also untied the twine on the other female flower and pollinated that one too .
By the way , you can do this with your Courgettes and cucumbers , Pumpkins and other types of Squashes too . I,m just trying to keep the seeds from this Gete -okosomin squash fruits pure and not cross with any other of those above .
 I cant believe how fast this plant is growing now ..I usually have my Butternut Squashes growing on a large piece of pig-wire leaning on two large Hazel supporting sticks/rods , but last year I grew the Giant Pink Banana Squash and It was far better trailing about on the ground ,with the fruit resting on a stool and eventually getting to a very large size  . This Gete -okosomin Squash is a similar size beast . I planted it on the south side of the , I,m sure now familiar to you " Pumpkin bed " and it has turned to grow firstly to the rising sun in the East and now heading to the North side . It is indeed circling the central watering basket ! I am pushing in sticks to keep it in place and steady in the wind and rain that we're having at the moment .
 The Cherokee Purple Tomato plants ..two of them have become enormous ! Far bigger than the ones in my greenhouse and they are scrabbling , quite rampantly and greedily towards and even into the watering basket . They are covered with flowers .
 Well , it has been raining for most of the day . We visited Steve at Lower Kenneggy Garden Nurseries and Trevena Cross Nurseries , bought more plants , walked the dog in the rain , hot chocolate in Tescos , came home and got the fire going in the wood burning stove . It's still only July and it feels like Autumn !
The rain is thundering down again as I write this .... I think it is back to sunshine and showers again tomorrow here in Mullion  .
 I,m praying for some sunshine now , to make the flowers open , pollen dry and the bees sing again ..although  ....just not near this Squash plant !
         Fingers crossed ! On a more happier note , I received my Romneya coulteri"Califoronian Tree Poppy seeds from Nigel Dodds of Kykeon Plants....so happy ! He even slipped in a free packet of mixed Poppy Seeds ! Nigel sells lots of different Poppy seeds --- http://kykeonplants.mysimplestore.com/
 Brilliant ! Made my day ! Thanks Nigel ! :)
 Sorry to those of you who are on holiday here at the moment , it is not very good weather for building sandcastles on the beach  is it ? !!

  Everybody join in and sing with Mummabear .......

                               " The sun 'll come out ..tomorrow .
                              Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow.
                                          There'll be sun ! "     :)

Maybe tomorrow .....

                                    Yep ! ..it's another Gete -okosomin update !
           We,ve had a few rain showers and it has made such a difference . Well maybe not the sweetcorn , but the kale , Cherokee Purple tomatoes , Gete -okosomin Squash and a few nicotiana plants are all really doing well .
We had a problem in that the squash was only producing female flowers ..and then a few male flowers appeared..but seemed very reluctant to open their petals .

                       Female Gete-okosomin Squash flower bud with immature fruit .
               
This evening I ventured out into a warm , foggy Mullion evening , typical for this time of the year , and found that we have two female buds and one male about ready to open . I think maybe tomorrow morning .

                                       Male Gete-okosomin Squash flower bud .

There is another female flower which I tied with soft twine to prevent the bees getting in to it .

 Here is the female flower tied with soft  twine ...hopefully I will be able to pollinate these two female flowers tomorrow .....and breathe a big sigh of relief !
Anyway, other news , keep an eye  out for the Sparrow Hawk flying around our way in Mullion , at the moment . At least ..I think it is a Sparrow Hawk..please let me know if you think it is something else , I,m not an expert and would love to know for sure .
 I began taking photos from the kitchen window after my husband called me "Quickly come and see this !"
I took a couple of  photos indoors , then , quietly ...managed to sneak out side and get surprisingly close to it .

    My heart pounding  all the while..it turned and looked at me and flew away !

Poor pigeon ..he was still alive ! He flew into the bushes and I just left him there to hopefully recover from his terrifying ordeal . I needed a cup of tea after that too !

 More rain coming our way tonight , will make the job of weeding easier tomorrow .