Midway through an experimental breeding program Rob Johnston knew he was onto something when a number of school children visiting his farm in 1988 said they wanted “one of those little bright orange pumpkins with the long handles.” What the owner and founder of Maine’s major seed company, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, didn’t know is that the mini-pumpkin he was developing would one day win him the Oscar of plant breeding, the coveted All America Selections Award.

“It’s a lot like having a hit record,” says Johnston, “because an AAS winner gets plenty of coverage in the press.” He also notes with evident pride that many breeders go their whole careers without winning AAS.

It was in 1990 that Johnston decided to submit his little pumpkin to the AAS trials, giving it a name as appealing as its appearance — Baby Bear. The AAS organization dates back to 1933 and now includes vegetable test gardens in 27 locations around the United States, thus insuring that chosen winners will be adaptable to most or all parts of the country. Entrants are compared to established varieties and judged by knowledgeable experts. Some years no vegetables are selected, usually only one or two make the grade, so the news that Baby Bear was a winner caused real excitement at Johnny’s Selected Seeds.

As part of the competition, winners must agree to make seeds of their own variety available to other seed companies for listing in their catalogs or including in their retail seed racks. All the major mail order seed companies picked up Baby Bear and have featured it in their 1993 catalogs as something new and exciting. To meet such a large potential demand, the folks at Johnny’s had to produce a bumper crop of Baby Bear seeds. Guarding against a possible crop failure, Johnston contracted with seed producers in Colorado and Oregon to grow substantial crops in addition to what could be raised at Albion. The total came to 7,000 pounds of pumpkin seeds!

The pumpkin itself is instantly recognizable as something different. It is a perfectly scaled-down version of a classic jack-o’-lantern pumpkin, weighing just 1 1/2-to-2 pounds. As an added bonus, the seeds are nearly hull-less and make tasty, nutritious snacks raw or toasted. Johnston notes that in addition to being just plain cute, the pint-sized pumpkin makes just enough puree for one or two pies, and is thus less daunting for the cook to tackle. Also, Baby Bear fits well with fall table arrangements and can even be hollowed out for use as a vase for autumn flowers.

Baby Bear was “born” in 1981 when Johnston made the fateful cross between New England Pie — perhaps the oldest named variety of pumpkin, dating back more than 150 years — and a little squash whose chief attribute was its nearly hull-less seeds. The offspring of this unlikely marriage were as varied a litter as calico kittens, and it was here that the breeder’s eye and instinct for quality came into play. Johnston selected from among the progeny those few that most closely resembled the pumpkin side of the family but had hull-less seeds. These he carefully self-pollenated, excluding any outside pollen sources by bagging the female flowers after performing his “human-bee” act.

Each successive year, the same selection and self-pollenation process was repeated and gradually a new variety emerged, distinguished by producing elegantly miniature pumpkins with gracefully curved, dark-green stems.

The same techniques are being used by Johnston to improve another New England favorite, buttercup squash. Within a few years Johnny’s will probably introduce a new strain of this delectable variety that will offer greater resistance to black rot, a nearly ubiquitous disease that sharply limits the storability of buttercup squash. In addition Johnston feels that his new selection will be far less variable as to fruit flavor and sweetness and will be much less prone to wartiness. Conquering these three weaknesses in buttercup squash will mark a real advance for gardeners and farmers alike.

Johnny’s Selected Seeds sells only through the mail or retail at the farm located in Albion. Their catalog is a veritable fountain of useful gardening information and is sent free of charge. Reach them by phone: 437-4301 or by mail: Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Foss Hill Road, Albion 04910-9731.