'Musqee De Provence' Pumpkin

Is this French heirloom green or light brown when ripe? I suspect the unique and lovely light brown I have seen in some depictions of the variety indicates full maturity, but the confusing thing is that some catalog pictures show “mature” fruit ranging from dark green to green with light brown speckles, as if just maturing.

So, when I harvested my 'Musquee de Provence' for the first time this year, I crossed my fingers that their still being part green was just a trait of the variety. Some of these squash did not keep long, indicating immaturity. By the time I write this, mid-February, I have eaten a couple of the keepers and 3 more remain, 4 months in. The 2 I did eat were splendid, with deep orange flesh that was somewhat stringy but still delightful in texture. As with most squashes, it seems that color is not a fool proof indication of maturity unless the fruits are fully brown.

Though I suspect this variety better suited to a longer growing season as only about half of those I harvested proved to be fully ripe, I'm not quite ready to give up on it. This year, I'm going to try growing it again at slightly wider spacing with at least 12' between mounds. I'm also going to increase the fertility, side dressing with my organic fertilizer mid season in addition to the twice monthly applications of fish emulsion. Though I don't usually transplant squash I am also going to transplant a few of these this year to see if getting that jump on the season helps. More observations come!