Lenis Landraces in Northern Germany

I have started multiple small Landrace projects but I think this one is the one I am most excited about :smiley:

Cucurbita maxima

My Goals

  • Taste (nutty and maybe a bit sweet)
  • Texture (nice and creamy, no floury textures)
  • Size (not too big, maybe 5 kg max, I would rather have multiple smaller ones on one plant than one large one)
  • Skin (edible)
  • Storability (obviously :face_savoring_food:)
  • Adapted for Direct Seeding
  • Thriving on neglect (I have rather sandy soils starting out)
  • Climate Change resilient

Since 2026 is kind of my first year of this project I am focusing on them surviving to get an abundance of seeds and be able to select for climate in the coming years.

The varieties that I have planted this year:

  • Blue Kuri (self saved seeds from 2 years ago and my old garden)
  • A Red Hokkaido (I bought at the organic store)
  • Blue Banana
  • Georgia Candy Roaster
  • I think there should be one or two more but apparently I was to lazy to write it down and one plant died on me without me knowing which one… I will most likely be able to tell once they have produced
  • Lakota (late sowing in beg. of July)
  • Buen Gusto de Horno (late sowing in beg. of July)

Cucurbita pepo (Spaghetti-Zucchini)

(100% inspired by this post Call me a Rebel--spaghetti squash / zucchini crosses )

My Goals:

  • A Spaghetti-Zucchini that tastes good unripe and ripe, have spaghetti strings (I hope I like that)
  • Plants that keep producing even if the first one or two fruits are left to ripen
  • storability even if harvested unmature

I am so excited about this project :blush: (and hope I did everything correct with this post :sweat_smile:, newby here)

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Great project Leni. I like squash breeding too because they easily cross, you can harvest the seed at the same time as you select for taste and the storability means you have a long window to do it. I think all the variation in Maxima is exciting too.

And as for doing it correct, you have just described an adaptation project of yours, which is exactly the purpose of this part of the forum!

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Cool Lenni, welcome there and fingers crossed for your breeding projects! Squashly yours :wink:

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i got some new seeds, and since I am definetly not a patient person I sowed 2 seeds of my new varieties in hopes that it might not be to late.

This adds

  • Lakota
  • Buen Gusto de Horno

to my grex.

The other plants are starting to look really good, having some vining and some bushy types in my grex.

The first one is happily flowering (only male flowers so far). I am assuming it is a Blue Banana but not quite sure because my doggy stole the label :rofl: but it looks very similar to one that still has it’s label

The 4 in the back are directly sown ones that I showed around the same time I planted the 4 in the front. The directly sown ones have cought up really well that I can’t see a difference any more. Next year I will hopefully have enough seeds to direct sow most of them, this being a lot easier and less work intensive!

For next year I definetly want to increase my growing space. I do have quite a bit, it just needs to be set up. Will probably end up being a bit in the shade but I think that won’t hurt considering the high temperatues. They might enjoy a bit of a shadier spot.

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Update :slight_smile:

I did start watering the garden because I want it to produce as many seeds as possible, which I can then plant out around my to-be food forest and send through the enviromental bottleneck of selection.

Since most of the seeds I have are store bought (why did I not save more???) it would be too expensive to just let nature select on the few plants I have right now, so helping my plants along this year to produce an abundance of seeds for next year is my goal.

I added this breeding line for this year. Not many more will follow since my garden ist really struggeling due to the heat, drought and it being my first year I think the garden need a bit of time to improve.

Update on my Spaghetti-Zucchini:

Sadly only two Spaghetti Plants made it but the first one has flowerd twice (female) with just one day in between (I think I like that). The next one is also already there.

I hand pollinated the first (on the right) with another spaghetti and a yellow zucchini, the second one (on the left) only with the yellow zucchini. The zucchini plants are a bit further away since I did not plan on this line when planting them, so hand pollinating it is.

Update on my Maximas:

One out of the 8 plants I have (yeah, not very many), a Blue Banana, had started producing female flowers but aborted them pretty soon. It finally made a mature female flower August 3rd. I did hand pollinate because I don’t have many pollinators around and wanted to avoid loosing it (planning on improving the site for pollinators).

I don’t know what variety the male plants are (might be able to figure that out once that are also producing fruit). It does look like the fruit is growing. Was a bit concerned if the pollen was viable, due to the heat we have been having the last few days.

Second female flower on a directly sown one today.

this one (direct sown) is a bit over ambitious with 3 male flowers and one female flower all on one day :sweat_smile:

I am also a bit astonished, how well the plant that I sowed directly at the end of May cought up to the ones I presowed in module trays indoors in April. The direct sowed ones are only starting to flower now in August, the pre sown ones a bit earlier, but the direct sown ones look a lot healthier (but they are different varieties so a direct comparison is difficult).

all maxima except for the vine on the right were pre-sowed

the four in the center were directly sowed (plus the tiny one in the upper right corner (I got new seed and was too impatient to wait for next year, maybe it can get some pollen into the mix, probably not))

General Update

I am starting to hope that my garden will actually produce something this year.

even though:

My potatos were decimated by the potato beetle, the harvest is maybe around the amount of what I put into the ground, broken up into many tiny potatos

with my fava beens I maybe only harvested 10% of the amount of seeds I put in, similar story with my chick peas.

Tomatos have started to flower maybe i will get a fruit or two and a few seeds.

My Runner beans have finally started to produce pods after flowering like crazy with no result (I have since learned the pollen gets infertile with high temps.)

My Common beans are flowering, hoping for some pods soon!

My Sweetcorn has started to produce tassels even though the tallest one will just reach my hip

Cucumber and Melon are still tiny!!!

Leeks are struggeling along. I may have two that I would like to let flower next year

Cabbages are also all still tiny!

Moschata pumpkins are no where to be seen

So yeah, I am focusing on my two mentioned breeding lines to not loose hope :joy:

I did start soweing out some fall/winter veggies (Chinese Cabbage, Salad, Savoy cabbage) hope they will do better