Pumpkin, Squash or Something Else

Becky started a compost pile in the corner of our garden a couple of years ago and after Halloween, she threw the remains of a couple of pumpkins in the pile. This past summer, we noticed a plant starting to grow out of the compost pile and over a period of a few weeks as it grew,spread, flowered and put on fruit it became clear that it was a pumpkin plant. It eventually covered a fairly large area and put on a large number of small pumpkins. Unfortunately, while we were out of town for a few days sometime in late May or early June, our neighborhood deer came into the garden and ate virtually all the leaves off the plant along with destroying the eighteen tomato plants that we had planted. As a result the plant died and we never got to see if the pumpkins would have grown to full size.


This year, after, hopefully, making the garden area more secure from the deer, Becky planted several yellow squash plants putting a couple of them in a planter box that she had filled with soil from the compost pile The result was a couple of extremely large healthy looking squash plants.

However, once again, some volunteer pumpkin plants came up next to the squash which we allowed to grow thinking we might get some pumpkins later in the year. Up to this point, we have yet to get a single squash from our plants despite having the largest and healthiest looking plants I've ever seen. Some of the plants put on fruit which then shrivels up and dies, and a couple of the others have what appear to be small pumpkins that are growing, but at least two plants have put on fruit that doesn't look like squash or pumpkins and have us wondering if it's possible for squash and pumpkins to cross pollinate since both are members of the gourd family.


Anybody else ever had this problem or know if it's possible?