Musque de provence (provence pumpkin) is still very green!

[ourniamh]

hi all

hope you can help as i can't find any advice online. i'm growing the lovely musquee de provence pumpkin and it is going okay. i have two very large fruit growing indoors in my glass house and about 5 small ones starting to grow outside.

i started growing the ones in the glass house very early (around march) and now i have one that is about 40cm in diameter and im wondering should i harvest it even though its very dark green and it hasn't changed colour at all? i read online (see link) that they change colour when they're cured but i don't want to harvest it and start curing in my window if its the wrong time!

they say at this link that the pumpkin won't change colour til cured. they call it a fairytale pumpkin here
All About Pumpkins - Pumpkin Varieties

[DavidT]

I`d be inclined to leave it until you are ready to use it. Like everything else in the garden, when it`s ready it will ripen.

[ourniamh]

thanks for the reply david. i noticed one of them (the smaller) of the two was shriveling up a bit this morning. the larger one seems fine. should i pluck it. its gone a little bit shriveled and soft on one side. i think the plant its from might be dying a bit and perhaps it's not getting the nutrients it needs?

[DavidT]

It doesnt sound too good, I`m wondering if the fruit has set or not. I`d cut it off and see what the plant does.