Watermelon, and pumpkins What are your favorite varieties?

Seed shopping here in Michigan with 2 feet of snow on the ground (literally - northern Michigan), and I'd appreciate if I could pick your brains....

What is your favorite watermelon variety? For me, the sweeter the better! :) (I have a HUGE sweet tooth!)

What is your favorite pumpkin variety for making pumpkin pies?

What is your favorite pumpkin for jack-o-lanterns? (Grandbabies LOVE growing their own pumpkins!) :)

The only one I have any luck with at all is Moon&Stars . When their right their sweet!!!!
Exactly "jack o lantern" the variety real easy to grow.

Pumpkins I can do.. Watermelons ,,well someday....

Depends, there is a huge variety in watermelons. Theres big, medium and small to start. White , yellow, orange, pink or red flesh. Seeded or Seedless? visual appearance. The only one on my grow list that I could not recommend is Matador. http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm92/farmerdill/Watermelon/ For starters, the OP Crimson Sweet (22 lb class) is excellent. Lots of hybrid versions but Raspa gets the majority of good reviews. Want a smaller melon, Mickylee (12 lb class) I prefer it to Sugar Baby which is ok in this class. Yellow Flesh Desert King. Orangeflesh Tendersweet, White flesh Cream of Saskatchewan. Small hybrid yellow Yellow Doll

For pumpkin pies, I prefer Cushaws or Winter squash Hubbards are very tasty in pies.

Jack o Lanterns. Lots of choices depending on size wanted. or whether you want orange or white. Jack o Lantern as mentioned by juhur7 is a good op, Howden and Connecticut Field for a larger choice. Lumina or New Moon for white. If powdery mildew is a problem Dependable

My favorite variety for making pumpkin pie (and pumpkin bread) is Waltham Butternut (squash). If you've ever bought pumpkin in a can, there's a pretty good chance it was butternut squash instead, or another similar squash.

Why do I like it better? Better productivity with fewer problems, the skins are a lot easier to remove, it's less stringy, and, IMO, butternut has more flavor than a typical pie pumpkin. Once the pulp has been cooked and the evidence discarded, no one can tell. :)

Libby's uses Dickenson in their canned pumpkin. It is a C. moschata like butternut.

Thread stray You all realize you are making me wish it was Christmas or Thanksgiving again!!!! Don;t you?

I also have had good luck with moon and stars watermelon and a variety I got from Hawaii that was just called crimson watermelon. way tasty!
KC

juhur7, I have several quarts of squash in my freezer and now I am wishing for pumpkin bread!

Stupid diet. I could just buy new pants, right?

Let us not leave out the winter rolls !! I have those though!!!!



Orangeglo gave me one good melon last season ..

I agree with Nicole on the Best Pumpkin is Butternut Squash. Do not recall what variety i grew last summer but had a huge crop so we used some of it for pumpkin custard and by far the best i ever had.

Watermelons and Cantaloupe did real well for me, too so will plant a lot more this year, trying some of the varieties recommended.

Ernie

Conneticut Field is a great pumpkin for growing and carving.

Non GMO Crimson Sweet, Sugar Baby, and I save seeds from Hermiston melons, and replant, all three do well. My season is not quite long enough for cantalopes but I get a few every year. This year, I bought a yellow watermelon from Baker Seeds which I have never tried before.

I cannot grow butternuts here, season not long enough, but I do well with Delicatas, and Sweet Meats.

nancynursez637, try Minnesota Midget for melons. It's supposed to be 65 days but they produce for me in about 80. Each 3-4' vine produces about 2 4-5" round melons, but the vines are so small you can plant lots of them.

You're right, butternuts take a long time to ripen. So do pumpkins. Perhaps the OP needs some ideas for short season varieties?

Thanks everyone! I'm going with Crimson Sweet watermelon, Jack o'lantern pumpkin for the grandkids, and Dickenson for pies. (I've always used Libby's to make my pies).

Is cross pollination a problem with these? If so, how far apart do I have to grow them to not have problems? I'm on acreage so I can get them a distance apart if I need to.

I don't know what I'd do without you all.....
I wish I knew what my grandparents knew; they lived off the land, and grew all their food.

Cross pollination is not a problem unless you are saving the seed for planting in future years.
Watermelon is Citrullus lanatus, Jack O'Lantern is Cucurbita pepo and Dickson is Cucurbita moschata. All melons/squashes of the same species will cross freely with each other. None of your selections are of the same species. The watermelon will not cross with either of the pumpkins, but there is some cases where C. pepo will cross with C. moschata. Here is a chart listing what melons and squashes cross with what:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CFYQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ag.purdue.edu%2Fcounties%2Fallen%2FDocuments%2FHort%2520ACH31%2520Cross%2520Pollination%2520in%2520Cucurbits.pdf&ei=XNQEUeeGIsPV0gGE9oCABg&usg=AFQjCNEXqDX2xgdVf2JRhl7744igN6AnWw&sig2=su5cHESnAV9Qkc4TdE-y7Q&bvm=bv.41524429,d.dmQ

Diablo for watermelon and these past couple of years, Connecticut Field for pumpkins. I grow various pumpkins, though, so if one doesn't come in the next will.

Update: Farmerdill I ended up going with Howden for our grandchildren's Halloween pumpkins. They're a little bigger and organic. :)
Thanks so much!

I grow New Queen (a small yellow watermelon) and Little Baby Flower (a small red). Both are sweet, but the yellow is the sweeter of the two. I prefer small ones, due to small family and not a lot of refrigerator space. For pie pumpkins, I've only tried Baby Pam, which are fine.

Watermelons: Crimson Sweet is ok for beginners. I raise Raspa, Sangria, Yellow Crimson, Yellow Doll [early and small], Cooperstown seedless, and more.

Camaro pumpkin makes ones more like in the store.