This picture shows you my newly bred C. maximosh 'Mel Karn' left from mother C. maxima 'Red Melk' right behind and father C. moschata 'Bueng Karn' front right. Since I can´t grow C. moschata so easily in hardiness zone 6 with cold spring and cool early summers, I had to create the C. maxima with the flesh of a best C. moschata, which was developed over centuries in north easterly Thailand.
'Bueng Karn' is an early C. moschata: http://www.kcb-samen.ch/product.php?products_id=909944
But it is very good storable and afterripens in that color you see at the picture of KCB but is nearly black in autumn.
I have used both Mel Karn and Beung Karn as stuffed squash.
And I also filled this nice C. moschata´s seed cavity, which you can use as a soup bowl:
http://www.kcb-samen.ch/product.php?products_id=910117&language=en
I have made a thread about Palav Kadoo here in this forum.
But the fruit to fill with beef and rice is that super nutty one:
http://www.kcb-samen.ch/product.php?products_id=910464
You might buy seed in the USA, but I also could give you better seed from Europe for all of these varieties, if you would like to test my new C. moschata 'Mel Karn' too.

This post was edited by acorneti on Tue, Jan 20, 15 at 13:33

I appreciate the post acorneti... But none of what you talked about are any of what I listed. And I'm not looking to purchase seed, I'm trying to decide what of the seed I already own to grow.

So, here's the 5 kinds of seed that I have that I'm trying to decide which 2 kinds to grow.

Australian butter, 100 day maxima
Queensland blue, 110 day maxima
Sweet meat, 110 day maxima
Futsu Black, 105 day moschata
Kikuza, 95 day moschata

Queensland Blue will be the best choice to have a very best fruit for processing too. So take Queensland Blue and not Australian Butter or Sweet Meat.
And for a second choice you will do better with Futsu Black this year, since we still have a high sunspot number, and this variety matures in such years to a much better flavor then Musque de Provence and better then Kibuza, which will be the best and very spicy one in the cooler years from 2017 on, when you also will grow Sweet Meat instead of Queensland.
But Australian Butter I would never grow: no really good tast, not really storable...
Anyway, you should try my Mel Karn! This variety brings the best soup bowls for an ambitious squash family.
And Delicata JS is a must for all lovers of really nutty stuffed squash.
Anyway, you have to open your mind and hear me.

This post was edited by acorneti on Tue, Jan 20, 15 at 17:43

Wow acorneti, that's the kind of advice I was looking for! Thank you very much! Sometimes there is just a lot of seed on hand, and it's time to grow them out and try them before moving on to more new seed.
At some point in time in the future I would like to try you seed, but for now, I gotta grow out some of what I got and see how we like what we have on hand.

Would you please send your Australian Butter seed to me then, says the Australian laughing jackass...hahaduck.

The only one of these I have tried was black futso, this year. The vines were fairly short and it produced maybe 3 squash per plant, before something got them and they died. They were so pretty that I used them for decoration inside my (very warm) home, and several went bad before I got to eat them. I had heard they were good keepers but not for me. The ones I did get to eat were tasty--smooth and nutty.

Problem is, there's only so much I can grow and still be able to have a whole rest of the garden

++++====>>>> so you have no lawn left????

can you eat grass????

get rid of it ... live your dream ...

ken

These are all great varieties! Are you aware that squash/pumpkins will cross with others in the same family within 1/2 mile? It takes a lot of distance to keep the seed pure. I grow one from each family: maxima, pepo, moschata, mixta. That way none of them will cross and I can save pure seed. Zucchini is a pepo as are acorn squash and most pumpkins. Butternut, sweet potato squash and Hopi black squash are moschatas. Most other eating squash, but not all, are maximas. Cushaws are mixtas and there aren't many varieties out there. It saves me a lot of work in keeping them from crossing.

I bred C. moschata 'La Estrella' (Don Maynard) pollinated by an acorn squash C. pepo 'Table King' and got half empty and half good true seed. I bred C. maxima 'Red Melk' pollinated by C. moschata with the same great prevail against your odd specifical barriers. All cucurbitaceae with double 20 chromosomes cross also with bumblebees and not only through artificial pollination. I even do not use colchicine for crosses with different numbers of chromosomal pairs and breed C. maxima pollinated by C. cucumis melo with true seed in the end. Your purity of races in your clean garden is fascistical nonsens.