Saving Pumpkin Seeds

It's my opinion that the best thing to do with pumpkin seeds (and any other squash seeds) is to roast them and eat them as soon as you harvest them from the inside of the squash.  It is tempting to save them in hopes of planting them in the spring and getting more of the same squash.  However, this is problematic:

- Pumpkins and winter squashes cross-polinate, even with plants as far as a mile away!
- The seeds will produce plants, but the fruits (the pumpkins or winter squashes) won't likely be the same as the fruit from which you got the seeds.
 - If you don't care what kind of fruit you get, then it doesn't matter.  Sometimes it's a fun experiment and the results can be interesting and surprising.
 - If you want to know for sure what kind of pumpkin or winter squash you are going to get, it is best to buy new seeds from a reputable source.

February and March is a great time to purchase seeds for your pumpkin/squash patch.  Even though we don't plant pumpkin or squash until the end of May in Utah, it's a good idea to get your seeds early - sometimes sources sell out later in the spring.  The local garden centers usually have a good selection, or you can find them on line:
Seed Savers Exchange
Territorial Seed Company
Seeds of Change
The Cooks Garden
*if you are looking for edible winter squashes, be sure to look under "pumpkins" as well as "squash" on the seed catalog websites.

Pumpkins and Winter Squash

Picking Out Pumpkins!