C. maxima. Sweet Mama Kabocha squash seeds form single long vines with almost no side shoots. Each plant produces 1.3kg (3 lb) fruits with dark green, hard skins over sweet, nutty, deep orange flesh. This AAS Winner has outstanding storage ability and flavour. Kabocha is sometimes called Japanese pumpkin. These are the squash most often used for tempura - thin slices are coated in batter and deep fried until just soft. It's a wonderful way to accentuate the natural sweetness of the fruits. Sweet Mama can be started indoors or direct sown. If direct sowing, be sure that the soil is nice and warm in late May or early June. Train the vine along a fence or up a trellis.
The three species of squash that we offer represent a wide variety of shapes and colours. Each will cross-pollinate readily within their species. For instance, all C. pepo will cross-pollinate with each other, but not with C. maximaor C. moschata. For people who want to save their seeds, this is a very important consideration. The fruits themselves will not be affected by cross pollination, but the seeds inside will be, so squash need to be grown in isolation from other members of their species if seed saving is the goal.