A Tropical Black Pumpkin | The Survival Gardener

Four years ago, we left our home in the sunny Caribbean.

Down there we grew tropical pumpkins in various sizes, shapes and colors. Every rainy season we put in quite a few.

They were vigorous, handling the rain and the humidity excellently.

Some of them were quite beautiful.

One particular pumpkin we found was bumpy and almost totally black.

We saved seeds. Then lost them for four years.

I thought they were gone until this spring, when I found a little baggie of seeds and realized what they were. They hadn’t been refrigerated – and it had been four years! – so I thought they were dead.

Hoping for the best, I planted some in the greenhouse… and almost every single seed germinated!

The kids transplanted them into the Grocery Row Garden during a family work day… and they kept growing!

Now the vines are everywhere, and we just got our first black pumpkin.

I think the green will turn more monochrome as it ages. This one broke off the vine by itself and I found it in the garden yesterday.

We might have the start of a new variety here. It’s certainly unique. What a blessing to have it actually produce after being lost for four years.