Lady Godiva Squash

These are the BEST pumpkin seeds I have ever eaten! The pumpkin is small, not much flesh. Germination was not perfect, but who cares when the seeds you eat are amazing!

Seems to be the same as the Styrian pumpkins grown and harvested for seed (espec. in Austria and Slovenia). The seeds are milled to separate a greenish oil, marketed as K?rbiskern?l (pumpkin seed oil), which is used on salads. The oil is widely available in central Europe, and in specialty shops in the U.S. In folklore, the seeds and oil are supposed to be good for prostate health. Not good for cooking, since the heat would apparently cause the oil to lose much of it's nutritional quality.

Lady Godiva was fun to try. It didn't require much care, produced lots of large beautiful dark green leaves on the vine too. Enormous fruit. I had poor soil which likely is why I had fewer fruits as I see others had prolific success. I don't feel inclined to grow it again due to limited space in the garden. I enjoyed trying it though.

I live in the high desert of E. WA where we have extreme heat and cold winters with a long growing season. I direct seeded into the soil in late May/early June 2017 and had at least 50% germination (3 seeds to a hill, and 1 or 2 came up in each). I planted on a south-facing hill in my front yard and mulched with aged rabbit manure shavings. These plants grew consistently, with drip irrigation and nothing else. This is a no maintenance plant. There were 5 to 6 plants, and they produced approximately 25-30 oblong, upright pumpkins. I'm just now cutting one open and there are immature seeds, but I scooped out one cup of mature seeds to place on my dehydrator. I haven't tried eating the pulp or meat yet, but am thinking I'll dry the pulp with the seeds, and bake the meat in a 400-degree oven today. If nothing else, I can mash it when cooked, then dehydrate for adding to winter soups. This is a great looking pumpkin, I love the unique color and am excited to try it's versatility of uses.

I had two plants. One produced round pumpkins with naked seeds and the other produced oblong pumpkins with shelled seeds. I have planted these before and this was the first time I got seeds with shells. My chickens loved them, but I may continue to plant two plants just in case. We love the seeds toasted with a little salt.