Pumpkin Galeux d'Eysines - Cucurbita maxima

The Eysines Warty Pumpkin is a resistant variety recognizable by its pink skin and corky warts. Its yellow-orange flesh is fine, firm, tender, and sweet. It produces 2 to 4 fruits per plant (20 to 50 cm (8 to 20in), 5 to 10 kg). It is a trailing variety of excellent taste.

Cucurbita maxima Galeux d'Eysines, similar in size to a pumpkin, stands out for its dry corky warts that resemble embroidery. Their numbers increase as they ripen.

Pumpkins, potimarrons, and giraumons belong to the Cucurbitaceae family and the species Cucurbita maxima. This annual herbaceous plant has long, vigorous, trailing, and even climbing stems with the help of strong tendrils. Each plant has separate male and female flowers, making it monoecious; it is the female flowers that will produce the fruits once fertilized by the pollen of the male flowers.

They come in many shapes and colors, from large ribbed fruits with orange or red flesh, to oblong shapes, pear shapes, or 'Turkish hat' shapes. Originally from South America, this species was introduced to Europe around the 16th or 17th century, along with its cousins, other species of Cucurbita. They are often mistakenly called 'pumpkins' when they belong to a different species, Cucurbita pepo, with stringy flesh and a hard, fibrous stem. As for the pumpkin, it has sweet, flavourful, and less stringy flesh with a tender and spongy stem.

Pumpkins are rich in vitamins and trace elements, low in calories, rich in potassium, and have antioxidant properties.

Harvest and Storage

Harvest the squash as late as possible, without risking the first frosts. Keep the stem as thick as possible and store them in a temperate room, 10 to 15°C (50 to 59°F). This way, you can store them for a few months to a year, avoiding them touching each other.

Gardening Tips

You can bury the stems at the nodes to encourage rooting.

To save space and protect your fruits from rot, you can grow pumpkins on supports such as a trellis or sturdy stakes.

During fruit ripening, you can place a tile, a brick, for example, between the ground and the fruit to isolate it and limit premature rot. A thick mulch will also do the trick.