Marsh supports local agriculture by working with farmers from Indiana and Ohio to bring you the finest fresh fruits and vegetables from right here in the Midwest! Look for the "Locally Grown" logo at Marsh!
This month's spotlight focuses on the Marsh Pumpkin Patch, where you will find a wide variety pumpkins, squash and more. The items found in the patch are great for fall decorating and as well as eating. Please use the links below to learn more.
What we offer in the Patch
Pumpkin Varieties
- Pie Pumpkins
- Mini Pumpkins
- Painted Face Pumpkins
- Large Pumpkins
Squash Varieties
- Acorn Squash
- Spaghetti Squash
- Butternut Squash
- Delicata Squash
- Buttercup Squash
- Carnival Squash
- Sweet Dumpling Squash
Other Items
- Variety Gourds
- Indian Corn
The Difference
What is the difference between a pumpkin and a squash?
The genetic history of the pumpkin is so intertwined with the squash and the gourd that it's sometimes difficult to tell them apart. Generally speaking a pumpkin is something you carve, a squash is something you cook and a gourd is something you look at. Though it's really not that simple, it's also not that difficult. The answer is in the stem.
Pumpkins and squashes and gourds all belong to the same genetic family - Cucurbita. Within that family are several species or subgroups - Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita maxima and Cucurbita moschata.
The pepo species is usually recognized as the true pumpkin. Varieties within this group have bright orange skin and hard, woody, distinctly furrowed stems. But the group also includes gourds, vegetable marrow, Pattypan summer squash, scallop summer squash, gray and black zucchini and summer crookneck squash.
The maxima species also contains varieties that produce pumpkin-like fruit but the skin is usually more yellow than orange and the stems are soft and spongy or corky, without ridges and without an enlargement next to the fruit. They don't really make good handles for jack-o'-lanterns.
Varieties such as Atlantic Giant, Big Max and Show King are often listed as pumpkins but are more properly called pumpkin-squash or squash- type pumpkins. Other members of the maxima group are Hubbard squashes, banana squashes, buttercup squashes and turban squashes - in short, most autumn and winter squash.
Finally, there's the moschata species. Varieties in this group are usually long and oblong instead of round and have tan rather than orange skin. The stems are deeply ridged and enlarged next to the fruit. Ironically, a member of this group is used for much of the canned pumpkin sold in this country. Other non-pumpkin members include the squash-like cushaw, winter crookneck squash and butternut squash.