American Tondo Squash

100 days to maturity. Cucurbita pepo. 

Also known as Tonda Padana.

American Tondo is a decorative heirloom pumpkin with attractive large ribs.

As the squash matures, the coloring will take on an increasingly yellow and orange hue. The flesh is yellow, moist, and spongy with a hollow center containing stringy pulp that encases many flat cream-colored, hard seeds. When cooked, the American Tonda squash is dry, transforms to orange in color, and offers a sweet squash flavor similar to that of butternut squash.

Tondo Squash gets its name from the Italian word for round (tonda) and from the Po or Padania Valley, the region where the squash is believed to have originated. In Italy, the squash is most popularly used to make gnocchi and is the key ingredient in fillings for other homemade pasta dishes.

15 heirloom seeds 

Growing tips:

Direct sow after frost, or start indoors 2-3 weeks earlier. Transplant in hills 6' apart, 3 plants per hill, or in rows 36" apart. Can be trained to grow up a trellis. Harvest when squash are buff-colored with no trace of green. Cure in a warm spot for 2-3 weeks.