(upbeat music) - Nothing says fall like tree leaves turning color and stands selling gourds, pumpkins, and squash. As the coleus and other annuals in our pots at our house get nipped by frost, Tom is a master decorator, replacing them with lots of cute gourds and pumpkins for longer color. Lots of families head to the garden, pumpkin patches, or farmer's markets to find just the right pumpkins for carving. Join me, Mary Holm, in finding out about gourds, pumpkins, and squash, our special fall friends. - [Announcer] Funding for Prairie Yard and Garden is provided by Heartland Motor Company, providing service to Minnesota and the Dakotas for over 30 years. In the heart of truck country, Heartland Motor Company, we have your best interest at heart. Farmer's Mutual Telephone Company and Federated Telephone Cooperative, proud to be powering Acira. Pioneers in bringing state-of-the-art technology to our rural communities. Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen in honor of Shalom Hill Farm, a nonprofit rural education retreat center in a beautiful prairie setting near Windom, Minnesota. And by Friends of Prairie Yard and Garden, a community of supporters like you who engage in the long-term growth of the series. To become a friend of Prairie Yard and Garden, visit pioneer.org/pyg. (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Growing up we always had a big pumpkin patch out in one of our fields. At least we called them pumpkins even though they didn't look like the orange pumpkins of today. Ours were grown from seeds handed down over the generations and we always saved seeds for the following year. When it got cold and frost was predicted, we took our old pickup and headed out to harvest. Today I'm going to visit with Jenny Thull to find out lots more about gourds, pumpkins, and squash. Welcome Jenny. - Thank you. Thank you for coming out here at this crazy time of year. - What is your job here at the arboretum? - I am a researcher in the the wine grape program at the Horticultural Research Center. And on the side we do all the pumpkins, gourds, and squash that are displayed at the arboretum and sold at the Apple House. - How did you get involved or interested in the pumpkins, gourds, and squash? - Well, I've always loved squash. Squash is a big thing. We had it, I've grown up with it, had it as a child. And then I am a professional chef as well. So, I loved coming up with new ways of making squash. There's so many squash from all over the world and I love experimenting with different recipes from different areas, Italy, South America, Asia. So, I really love finding all the different squash from those different areas. - Are gourds, pumpkins, and squash, are they all related or in the same family? - They are all in the same family. And at different times in their life, they're all edible. They're better when they're younger, they're softer, but we like to let them harden in the field and then become like the cool decorative things that you display in the fall. Squash and pumpkins kind of intermix in their species. What I define as a pumpkin is something more ornamental or decorative, like the orange pumpkins, the white pumpkins aren't very good for eating. Just anything that you are more likely to display outside. Everything else is kind of a squash variety. So, the most that we grow here is squash. We don't start them as plants. We directly sow all the seeds, we do it all by hands. We had 12 fields and about four acres that we hand sow all the different varieties in. I'm constantly looking for new varieties. So, new varieties from all over the world. I always add about 25 or 30 varieties to sell and to try and to make and try to get people to buy. Besides butternuts and acorns. (Jenny and Mary laugh) - How do you keep track of it all? - I don't know, my brain just stores all this stuff but for the last 16 years we have kept adding so we keep a lot of the same of similar ones that people really enjoy. So, we just add new, like just a handful of new ones every year. - What is the history of gourds for example? - Yes, that's a great question. So, they've been around for a very long time. They were originally used as vessels. And from there they just kind of evolved in different countries. Like we have one that dates back to the 1600s in Japan, so Buddhist monks were eating that in Japan. Native Americans were growing varieties hundreds of years ago. And then we have a couple of varieties that were actually cultivated in the Americas as early as like the mid-1800s. Most of them started in Central and South America and then Asia and then just spread from there. So, they were taken by explorers, especially from like Asia to France or Central America to Europe and then Central America to the United States as well. So very, very old crop. Gourds specifically are decorative and they're becoming a lot more interesting and a lot more intricate. So, we have a lot more like crazy long bumpy, big bumpy ones that people really like to use in their displays or even in their homes. - [Mary] What are some of the uses of gourds now? - Gourds, like loofah gourds actually are gourds. So, I think of a lot of people don't really realize that. So, we grow them. It's a specific kind of gourd from the Lagenaria family. So, the similar, a similar family to the the vessel gourds or the ones used as musical instruments like maracas are actually just dried down gourds with seeds in them. So, this is a loofah. So, once it gets dried down and peeled, it's actually that thing that you use in your bathtub. You know the sponge that you use in your bathtub. I feel like a lot of people think that it's from like the sea just 'cause it's a sponge, right? I think a lot of people do. So, don't feel bad about that. But actually as this gets dried down, you peel that off and the inside is what you buy, is that sponge that you use. It's a really fun thing to grow, especially for kids to show them the final use of it. - How can you get gourds to last longer? - Yes. - Like if you want to use them for a birdhouse. - The more stem that you leave on them, it's almost like having tomatoes on the vine when you pick them. If you leave stem and if you leave a little bit of the vine on there, that will keep them for a longer time. I have also used things like cooking oil. You spray them, spray a little bit of cooking oil and it actually will protect the outside coating. You have to let it dry down a little bit but the it helps them last longer. Squash varieties I actually will keep on metal shelves and I keep them in a certain temperature in a certain humidity so not a lot of humidity changes and I've had them up to three years. So, they are great storage as long as you keep them in a nice controlled temperatures. (upbeat music) - Can you think of anything more delicious in Minnesota than a cold glass of milk or a velvety butter to spread on your baked goods? Whether it's baking for the holidays or adding a touch of flavor to an old family recipe, whenever I need a bit of comfort, Minnesota-produced milk and butter does the trick every time. Our state's long history with agriculture means we know a thing or two about raising dairy cows and making delicious, locally-sourced butters, milks, and creams. Like here at the Millerville Co-op Creamery in Millerville, Minnesota where they've been handcrafting small batch butter for 90 years. Cooked and pasteurized with care, the Millerville Co-op Creamery delivers hand-sliced and hand-wrapped butter to over 40 locations throughout the state. General Manager Deidre Hubbard oversees the operations here and takes great pride in their work. - We are currently making about 44,000 pounds of butter a year. Everything about our butter is completely handcrafted. The taste is super unique and that comes from our pasteurization process. So, our slow long pasteurization process gives it a sweet, unique flavor that other butters don't have. We've been making butter this way since the late 1800s. It takes us three days to make a batch of butter. Day one is pasteurization day where that gives it its unique flavor. Day two it's churned into butter and then placed into our Friday Boxes. And day three then it is cut, hand-wrapped, and hand-packaged. - They do more than butter here at the Millerville Co-op Creamery. They have a farm supply business and auto repair center. It's a one-stop shop and a special destination for many Minnesotans. Millerville Co-op Creamery is a member of Minnesota Grown where you can find links and information about Millerville Co-op Creamery and other locally-sourced dairy and agricultural products from across our beautiful state. Now, what is the difference between squash and pumpkins? - Yes, so some pumpkin varieties like pie pumpkins can be eaten. But at the same time I think of like orange pumpkins or white pumpkins as more just decorative. The skin on the inside is not as good, doesn't cook as well, it's kind of stringy. Where squash varieties when you cook them have a tendency to be more creamy on the inside and they have richer flavors, chestnut flavors, nuttiness. That's the difference between the two of them. They do again intermix, but I specifically prefer not to eat any of the orange varieties. Even the pie pumpkins. I think there's better squash varieties that do and canned pumpkin is technically squash. John tells me not to tell people that (Mary laughs) but it really is squash in there but and pie pumpkins I have, I think have a tendency to be a little bit more watery and less flavor than using a squash variety. - If you want to grow squash? - Yes. - How far apart should you plant them? - It really depends on what kind you get. So, some varieties that we grow like delicatas or certain kind of butternuts grow as bushes or even acorns so you can grow them closer so they don't vine out like certain varieties. And there are a lot of those varieties. A lot of the catalogs will definitely advertise those more because people can actually grow them in pots now. There's some varieties of butternut squash and we, I don't think we have them in here yet, but they're only about that big. They can be grown in a container. So, now people in apartments can grow them so it's really, so they're definitely putting out more grower-friendly varieties. Other varieties will tell you that they're vining so you do have to give those a lot more room. But regardless they're gonna spread into the other. Anything in anywhere else. They do like to grow, they like fertility so they will grow wherever they can so you just have to have enough room for them. - I've heard the terms summer squash and winter squash. - Yes. - What does that mean and what's the difference? - Summer squash has a tendency to be like zucchini or the pattypan varieties. So, but pattypan varieties are kind of a lighter squash. Zucchinis can be a little bit heavier so that you can use them in like baking and stuff. Summer squashes play better with like grilling or sauteing, stuff like that. They're, 'cause they're thinner skinned, you can actually eat the skin on them as well as zucchini. You can eat the skin on zucchini. Winter squash for the most part, there's a handful that you can eat the skin but most of them you don't eat the skin on them and they, it takes them longer to ripen. So, summer squash like it's name will be ready in the summer. Winter squash will be ready in the fall. - That was my next question. How can you tell when they're ready to use? - That is a great question. We have a good little trick. If you put your fingernail in the side of a squash variety, it shouldn't go through it when it's ready. If it goes through it, it's not ready. And that's all very dependent on variety. Again, like butternuts have a tendency to be thinner skinned and you can technically eat the skin on a butternut. But anything like a buttercup, I wouldn't be able to put my fingernail through those right now. So, that's how we know it's ready. Also they get like a brown spot on the back when they're ready, kinda like a watermelon, you can kinda tell. There's also their stems start drying down. That's a really good trick for people. If you're really not sure and you don't wanna stick your fingernail in the squash or the pumpkin, the stem is the good indicator on when they're ready. They will start drying down. The tendril will start drying down as well. - So, what do you do after you pick them? How should you treat them then? - So, what we do, you wanna keep them from moisture. So, we have them on the grass right now, which is not a great thing for them because they do whisk moisture so it's better to have them on shelving or on even on countertops. I tell people not to put them on cement 'cause there's a lot of moisture in there and they will go bad quicker. So, if you are displaying pumpkins outside, I tell people to kind of keep them in the grass or like on a deck versus putting them on pavement or cement. - Then should you store squash in the refrigerator at all? - I don't recommend it. I would say if you cut into it and you still wanna use it, put it in the refrigerator, you can come back to it. It'll last longer that way if you wanna come back and use it again. But I don't recommend putting it into the refrigerator because there's too much moisture in there and it's too cool. So, 60 degrees is kind of the ideal temperature for storage for squash and so as long as they don't have extreme temperature changes, they will last a really nice long time. - What are some of your favorite squash varieties? - Well this one to start with is delicata. It's a really good introductory squash for people who have never tried it before. It's kind of really delicious and also the skin is edible so it makes it really easy to work with. Some of the other squash varieties are harder to cut into. This one you can actually slice as circles and then the seed cavity's in the middle so you can just take those seeds out quickly. And this one I like to use on like puff pastry. So, I'll make like a puff pastry tart, put delicata on it and kind of, I put a sheet pan on top of that, kind of let it steam in there, take that off, let it kind of crisp up on the, and the puff pastry rises. And then I put a little drizzle of like a honey pepper sauce on top and a little shaved Parmesan. It's a really fun, easy tart that you can make. But this one is really nice for grilling, for sauteing, for just roasting but also really easy to work with for a lot of people. - When you say this is an easy one to start with, do you mean to grow in the garden or- - To grow, absolutely. They grow as bushes. You can get a bush variety or they also have like a long growing one, but we prefer the bush variety. They just grow nicer and they have a lot of fruit on them. They have a lot of, you'll get a lot of these, so a lot of bang for your buck if you will, by planting this one. And it doesn't take up much room so you can plant it, it's a bush variety, it'll kind of stay where you plant it and they're fairly easy growing, even in a drought. We did really well with them this year. They didn't, we didn't water anything and they still produced a lot of really great sized delicatas. So, for baking, speckled hounds is my favorite. I love baking with squash varieties. I know that typically pumpkin is used for pumpkin pie, but this variety is amazing. It's got really good moisture level on the inside but also a lot like high sugar. And you also get a lot of squash in here, very small seed cavity. So, basically the seed cavity is just this area. The rest of it is nice flesh. So, this is about three pumpkin pies. So, it's about, it ends up being about six, eight cups that you get out of one variety and then is just really, really good and really versatile. You can use it in a lot of dishes or just eat it on its own. I know that some people like the butter and brown sugar thing. This is your guy for that. But it's my favorite for baking. I only use this one in my pumpkin pie recipe. Our third favorite variety. Actually it's, I think I would have to put this as number one as my favorite. This one is a heirloom variety from Italy. It's Marina de Chioggia. And I think that's the town that it comes from, but it grows along the Amalfi Coast. They refer to it as the sea pumpkin and it's this lovely like turquoise color. It's a little bit more difficult for people to get into. So, I recommend that they put it in a plastic bag and just drop it on the ground. That'll get it started and then you can cut pieces of it to be able to use it. But this variety has a dry flesh on the inside, a dry like light yellow flesh. It's really good for ravioli or they make gnocchi out of it because it has a lot less moisture in it so you're not having to like whisk the moisture out to make those different recipes. I love it because it's absolutely beautiful. It's like just a gorgeous squash. I love putting it in my displays. And it lasts a really long time. This variety specifically will last easily until March without breaking down. It's a great storage variety, but just one of my favorites to cook with. I put it in soup, I put it in everything because of like the great chestnut-y flavors that it does bring about. So just a, definitely one of our, my husband and I, our favorite that we've grown. We've grown this one for about 16 years, so we love this one. (upbeat music) - I have a question. What can the homeowners use in their landscaping to help with plant conservation? - That's a great question. There are a lot of people who really want to help with especially rare plant conservation, but you don't need to grow rare plants in your garden to help with plant conservation in general. The best suggestion I have is to grow native plants and there's an amazing pallet of native plants available to Minnesota folks who want to grow those things. Prairie plants and woodland plants. There's just a ton. And when you grow those you promote corridors where plants and even rare plants can establish. You promote native pollinators, which are extremely beneficial for native and especially rare plants. Some of the plants that I really like as far as native plants and in gardens are milkweeds, prairie clovers, blazing stars. Those are all just fantastic pollinator plants and they all do really well in a garden setting. Grasses, don't forget your grasses. Bunch grasses like big bluestem, little bluestem, drop seeds. They are just fantastic for pollinators even though they're not, pollinators don't use them for food but they use them for shelter, which is super important. But they're also really beautiful. It really helps if you plant plants that have flowers throughout the season from early spring to late fall because pollinators need to eat all year round. And one of the really nice things about a lot of these prairie plants, especially once you put them in your garden, they turn into very low maintenance plants. They need very little watering. They can a lot of cases kinda take over your garden and will help suppress weeds, too. Yeah, I can't recommend prairie, native prairie plants enough for gardens. (upbeat music) - [Announcer] Ask the Arboretum Experts has been brought to you by the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska dedicated to welcoming, informing, and inspiring all through outstanding displays, protected natural areas, horticultural research, and education. (upbeat music) - [Mary] Do pumpkins need more room to grow than squash? - Absolutely. They have a tendency to put more pumpkins on the vines and then pumpkins are getting bigger these days. So, we have a lot of really big pumpkins but we have a lot of different shapes of pumpkins. We think, we find that people really like a variety of nice orange pumpkins, so that's what we try to bring to them. And nice big stems 'cause they have a tendency to break them off. But also we have a variety of white, yellow pumpkins, red pumpkins like the Cinderella pumpkins, a nice vivid red color. People really like that. The things that people are really liking are really bumpy pumpkins, white pumpkins, and our recent thing just in the last couple years are yellow pumpkins. So, bumpy comes from sugar that's being produced in the pumpkin and there's like not enough room in the pumpkin. So, it pushes out creating these really great cool like warts and bumps. So, they actually have bred a whole series of these pumpkins, they're called, they're referred to as super freak series because they have, (Mary laughs) they're super freaky bumps apparently, but we have a number of them. We have knucklehead, we have goosebumps, we have scar face, we have gremlins. And they all kind of stem from a really old variety from France called Victor. It's also referred to as red warty thing, which we have. So, it had little bumps, but what they did is just beef that up by adding it to that orange pumpkin to really get some crazy, crazy big bumps on them. - Some people may not have ever carved pumpkins. - Yes. - So, how do you do that? I mean, how do you get them ready for carving? - Right, so that's a really fun process and I feel like I'm a little kid at heart. I still love doing it. I still love them sticking my hands in there. But you really have to find one that has a nice big opening on the top so you can cut it and be able to get your hands in there and get those seeds out or use a spoon or whatever. 'Cause you don't really want it stuff inside if you wanna light the pumpkin up, if you wanna put a candle in there, whatever flameless candles. It really has to be clean to be able to see the light through it. So, clean it out and then you can put stencils on there, you could freehand, you could just do smiley faces or angry faces and then just put that candle in there and I just love it. So, our whole yard is just full of carved pumpkins, so. - Do you put anything on them to preserve them? - That's a really great question. Petroleum jelly works amazing. So, once you make the cuts, you just put a thin layer of petroleum jelly along the cuts, it'll keep them for a nice long time. The squirrels also can't smell the pumpkins through it. So, I actually recommend that if you're, if you have a high squirrel pressure and you wanna decorate with pumpkins, either spray them with cooking oil like a nice layer of cooking oil. It also gives them a nice like shiny look about it or put a little petroleum jelly around them because they can't, the squirrels can't then smell the actual pumpkin on the inside. We are always looking for new orange pumpkin varieties, especially with big stems because we've learned over the years that people will pick that up by the stem. It's not a handle. (Jenny laughs) And have a tendency to break them off. So, we're always looking for big ones that will not break. So, all of our orange pumpkins are, have really great sturdy handles. - Everybody's gonna wonder about this. What are some of the tricks of growing a giant pumpkin? - Yes, so your first trick is to get big growing pumpkin seeds. And they do advertise that. Some of the major seed companies will have certain varieties. One very old variety is called Atlantic Giant, but there are other varieties out there that you're gonna spend a little bit more money on and the seeds are actually big themselves. So, first you have to get those. Next, you have to have a big space to grow them, you have to have a high fertility, and if you don't have high fertility, you have to water every day with fertilizer in them to really beef them up. Once they start growing they need all the water and all the fertilizer they can get. People have a tendency to put like a growing cloth down or plastic just to keep them clean so they don't rot. Another trick is laying down a pallet underneath, like once your squash starts growing, you lay the pallet down and it can grow on top of the pallet. So you can move it later on once it gets big. 'Cause it is, it's not so easy to move giant pumpkins once you have them. We've used blankets and stuff to move some of our big varieties, but it is a lot easier if you prepare for it. - Jenny, what do you do with all of these gourds, squash, and pumpkins? - Well, first we decorate at the arboretum. We put up a really great pumpkin tree. It's a tree and we have a theme every year, so we'd love people to come out and see that. But we sell most of them through the Apple House. We try to get people to try new squash varieties and we sell all of our ornamental pumpkins and gourds through the Apple House through actually we have stuff in there through the end of December. Apple House features a bunch of different great apples that are picked that are grown here on the property. So, like sweet tango and honey crisp. So, mostly it sells a lot of apples. We sell, they also have like other, we have grapes there as well and, but the North Star Donuts is outside selling donuts from their, cider apple donuts from their truck. And then we have our pumpkins patch there for people to come and pick out their carving pumpkins or decorative pumpkins. - Thank you so much for letting us come and see all of your beautiful work here. - You're welcome. Thank you for coming out and visiting us here. We love sharing all of our knowledge. (upbeat music) - [Announcer] Funding for Prairie Yard and Garden is provided by Heartland Motor Company, providing service to Minnesota and the Dakotas for over 30 years. In the heart of truck country, Heartland Motor Company, we have your best interest at heart. Farmer's Mutual Telephone Company and Federated Telephone Cooperative, proud to be powering Acira. Pioneers in bringing state-of-the-art technology to our rural communities. Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen in honor of Shalom Hill Farm, a nonprofit rural education retreat center in a beautiful prairie setting near Windom, Minnesota. And by Friends of Prairie Yard and Garden, a community of supporters like you who engage in the long-term growth of the series. To become a friend of Prairie Yard and Garden, visit pioneer.org/pyg. (upbeat music)