Blue Banana - Pumpkin

Cucurbita maxima

Story: This high yielding, heirloom produces beautiful greenish blue to grey storage squash with a long shelf life and ornamental colours. Squash of this type were popular for home growers but have been gradually replaced by the more common butternut squash types. With roots in Guatemala, Blue Banana does well outdoors here in London with plenty of feed, sunlight and watering during dry periods. 

When to sow: Sow indoors March-May in small pots, 1.5cm deep. Once they have around 5/6 leaves, harden off outside before planting out in May. 

Requirements: Squashes love soil which is rich in organic matter, mix in some compost and they'll thank you! It is difficult to overfeed this type of squash.

Harvesting for eating: Pick fruits when fully mature and hard skin has fully formed to store or eat after a period of curing in a dry, frost free space. Store  

Harvesting for Seed Saving: Pick fruits when way beyond eating stage - the colour should have changed - usually turning paler and getting huge. 

Isolation Needed?: Yes

Saving seed: Squash cross readily with other squash and pumpkins, so they either need to be distance isolated (Eg: grown in a polytunnel or greenhouse far away from other varieties) - this is usually impossible in a garden setting as the isolation distance is up to 3km. The best option for small scale seed saving is to instead isolate the flowers and hand pollinate them so that they do not cross pollinate (Watch our video here). Always pick the healthiest plants to save seed from. Once hand pollinated, allow the pollinated fruits to grow way beyond eating size, they will change colour (depending on variety). Once the vines begin to die back, bring the hand pollinated fruits inside and store them in a cool, dry place for two weeks (this helps the seeds fully mature). Cut the fruits open, scoop out the seeds, wash and dry fully. Package, label and date. Save as many seeds as you can to share with friends, family and of course seed networks.

Number of plants to save seeds from: 3 minimum, 5 or more is ideal

Pollination: Insect pollinated  

How to send seed back: Please label all seed with variety, type, date and your contact. If you didn't get a chance to fill out our online data collection form, you can also send us a few lines about how it grew for you/flavour etc. Please aim to send back 1/2 of dried seed or more so that we can continue to share with network members. Send to: The Seed Saving Network, Omved Gardens, 1 Townsend Yard, N6 5JF.

Please remember, if you’re an individual grower you can order up to 4 packets of seeds. If you order more than this, you will receive just three packs to begin with. This is to ensure we get plenty of data in return and to keep our stocks sustainable for years to come.* 

*Community groups and Experienced Growers can order larger quantities, please email us at info@seedsaving.network if this is the case.

If an item is out of stock we will send a close alternative.