However, the 2010 Thompson and Morgan catalog has a couple of things that I like and want to grow, and their new pumpkin "Freaky Tom" is one of them.

I had seen orange pumpkins with warts in several stores this fall, including our local Wal-Mart. I thought about buying one, but it seemed silly to buy a pumpkin just for the warts when I already had plenty of unwarted orange pumpkins and a warty green one, so I didn't.

I have been watching the legal battle over warty pumpkins this year, and was glad that Siegers Seed lost the first round in March. For those of you who don't know, Siegers was trying to patent ALL warty pumpkins and claim them as their own even though warty winter squash have been grown for centuries. This was a very scarey court case because, if they won, it would have set a precedent for seed companies to patent and control seed varieties that are O-P and out in the public domain. It would have been a terrible thing for heirloom seed savers. I haven't done any research to see if they appealed the court's ruling, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did.

So, anyway, I like the look of 'Freaky Tom' and am going to grow it next year for fall decorations.

I've linked the photo from the catalog so you can see what it looks like.

Dawn

Warts don't excite me. But I suppose it would be a good thing for decorative purposes.

George

I like the look of warty pumpkins/winter squash when I pile them up in a big pile of winter squash and gourds by the garage for a late autumn display. (My display is pitiful this year because of the constant rain.) I usually grow Marina di Chioggia (also edible!), Black Futtsu and Red Warty Thing (aka Victor). The ones I grow for decorative purposes grow outside the regular garden in unimproved soil. I'm not going to 'waste' good soil on something we can't eat. LOL

That is a terrible thing about the yellow beans but I expect a whole lot more of this type of thing in the future, and I think the legal system let us all down when they gave that guy a patent on the yellow beans.

Dawn

Dawn, I like this warty pumpkin...it should do your display well next year.

One of those things is what is known as 'terminator ' technology, which causes plants to produce seeds that are sterile or somehow otherwise 'deactivated' so that they will not germinate at all. That, of course, eliminates seed saving as an option and forces you to buy seed from the company every year. I never will purchase any seed variety with terminator technology no matter what. I just won't. To me, it is a matter of principle.

That same firm is doing other scarey things with seeds, including seeds that won't grow well and produce well unless you use their chemical products, and only their products, on your plants. This is a very disturbing thing, and to me it is very close to an attempt to create a monopoly and I hope they don't get away with it.

We'll have to save this topic for a rainy day when we're all bored, and then we can talk in depth about what is wrong with the mainstream, conventional seed development/production industry today and why it is so important for all of us to support companies that grow O-P varieties. (I am not opposed to all hybrid varieties, but I am opposed to companies that want to force us into using only their patented seeds.) OK, now I'll climb back down off my soapbox.

I like all kinds of oddball things and warty squash and gourds are just one of those oddities. Since moving here, I've grown all kinds of veggies and flowers in odd colors.

I've not only grown regular yellow and white corn, but also sweet corn with kernels that are red (Ruby Queen), green and blue (Blue Jade, at different stages) as well as dent corns with seeds in every color of the rainbow. I've grown Red Stalker corn just to have the reddish-green stalks for fall decorations, and have grown Platinum corn for the purplish streaks in the foliage. And, of course, I love Japanese Striped maize for the foliage....you can plant it with tropical-looking plants for a striking appearance. In the fall when other folks are headed to Hobby Lobby or someplace similar for fall decorations, I just decorate with whatever I've grown that year.

I've grown sunflowers that have green, apricot, nearly white and red/maroon petals in addition to the standard golden-yellow or bright yellow colored ones. Of course, I've grown tomatoes in every color but also potatoes that have red, yellow or blue flesh and/or skin. (Blue potatoes make the most gorgeous lavender-colored mashed potatoes, and chunks of red, white and blue potatoes make a great Fourth of July potato salad.)

One year, I grew grain-type amaranth around the garden sort of like a fence, and had various types so we'd have decorative seedheads in golden yellow, orange, pink, red-maroon and green. It made a nice 'fence' around the veggie garden, and I still have stray amaranth seedlings pop up here and there from time to time. I've used multicolored broom corn in the same way.

Anyone can grow orange carrots, so I like to spice it up and make it more interesting by growing carrots in shades of white, orange, red, purple and yellow. (They're so purty!)

When we moved here in the late 1990s, I planted eggplant one year in all kinds of colors--the traditional darker purple, but also violet, pinkish-purple and white...and one that was white and purple streaked.

I also grow green beans that are not just green but also yellow (Marvel of Venice Roma, and we're having some of them for dinner tonight), purple and bi-colored.

For years I've grown pumpkins/winter squash in a wide array of color---not just orange, golden yellow and white, but also buff-colored, black, dark green and blue...and one particular pumpkin that looks like a bloodshot eyeball (it is, appropriately enough, called "One Too Many"). I also love striped cushaw squashes and the multicolored small winter squashes like 'Carnival'.

In the store, you may see cucumbers only in shades of green, but in our garden, you'll see green, yellow and white ones. Why restrict yourself to just one color?

I also like growing black flowers and green flowers, but didn't plant anything black this year.

How's that for colorful?

When we first moved here and I planted all the oddly colored things, every old farmer and rancher I met here seemed to think I was a nut case, but they eventually got used to me and my weird ways. LOL (It was bad enough that I insisted on being organic, and then I went and planted things that were the 'wrong' color.) I like having a garden that looks like a rainbow, though. When I look at a garden with row after row of green plants, I think it is lovely. However, my garden looks totally different--it is more like a crazy quilt.

Dawn