Harvested pumpkins tonight - whoppers!

[taurus]

Welcome to the site Atlantic Giant.  What a fab crop.  Not grown this sort of plant before but thought I might give it a go as have extra space this year and thought it might be fun for the grandchildren.  But what I would like to no is what makes a pumpkin a pumpkin and a squash a squash,etc.  Have never cooked them either so I don't no which to grow.  Have had pumpkin soup at friends house on halloween and very nice it was to.  Would it be OK to grow them on freshly manured ground? Or on top of the compost heap with some well rotted horse manure for good measure.  Reading your posts they sound very hungry.  Many thanks for any advice. 
                                   

[1066]

Hi 1066.And thanks for the welcome.
The long thin ones are calabashes.
Does one write thus? Please, excuse my bad English.
This is Long Gourds, Marenka and Dipper.

Thanks for the info - they do look amazing, the only problem is that I will need another plot for all the varities I want to grow!

[cambourne7]

so what have you done with all these pumpkins??

[1066]

Welcome to the site Atlantic Giant.  What a fab crop.  Not grown this sort of plant before but thought I might give it a go as have extra space this year and thought it might be fun for the grandchildren.  But what I would like to no is what makes a pumpkin a pumpkin and a squash a squash,etc.  Have never cooked them either so I don't no which to grow.  Have had pumpkin soup at friends house on halloween and very nice it was to.  Would it be OK to grow them on freshly manured ground? Or on top of the compost heap with some well rotted horse manure for good measure.  Reading your posts they sound very hungry.  Many thanks for any advice. 
                                   

Hi I meant to respond to your post earlier but got side tracked!
There are several people on this board who are very experienced growers - I'm a relative newbie.  I'm trying several different varieties this year - small ones that I can (hopefully) grow upwards, and several larger fleshier squashes and pumpkins. You need to look for the fleshier ones - not the halloween types if you want to use them in cooking - they are fantastic roasted, in curries, risotto, pies etc.
I know people on here have grown them on their compost heaps successfully, I've yet to try this.
I'm sure someone much more experienced will be along shortly.....1066

[taurus]

 :)Many thanks 1066 for the info.  Hoping to buy some seeds of a small size as there's only the 2 of us.  Will probably have a go at growing 1 large for the grandchildren to use at halloween. Again many thanks. Taurus

[Atlantic Giant]

so what have you done with all these pumpkins??

I have given away many pumpkins to friends! And I have processed many on work. I work as Koch in a fun bath. Many guests come to eat my pumpkin soup. No pumpkin lands in the garbage!!!