Grow Your Own Magazine

Hello Wellie and everybody who got hold of some Snakes of Sicily seeds from me. Due to some pressure and lot of enthusiasm from some of the grapevine members ( won't name ), on the 3rd of march C.A. at 4.45pm Greenwich time I did sowed 16 of the above seeds in a cold propagator indoors at a variable temperature of between 10 and 20c. Today I noticed that five of them started to show themself up. Usually I wait till the 1st of april to sow the first wave of the cucurbitea family and even then it can be risky unless you can provide the right conditions and protection otherwise we can call them the hopeless first wave. I will keep you informed about this particular veg. Has anybody already got some results?
This is going to be fun!!
My best regards
Don Vincenzo

Hello to Don/everyone.
I've just logged on....I expect you're out of those snakes now, nice pictures, I am intrigued! Next time you have spare seeds I would be very interested. I have a heated propagator too. Don't know what I need to swap... I have only just started but i have got quite a few seeds already....
Thankyou

Hello Tynevine
just send a pm with your address and I will send some seeds. There is no need to send anything back unless you have something extremely unsual.
Regards
Don Vincenzo

Hi Don
I have pm'd you. Thankyou a lot. Like I said in my email, have different things but nothing as unusual as to compare with the snakes! If I do ever though, I will be letting you know!

[quote=Don Vincenzo;76732]Hello Wellie and everybody who got hold of some Snakes of Sicily seeds from me. If you sowed some of the seeds they should be all up and go!!! Wellie what happened to yours? My germination rate of the first wave is 100% I will try to take a photo and post it. However I like to take this opportunity to suggest to wait untill the first april to sow them unless you have room in your greenhouse to protect them. By the way I am still keeping away from smoking!!
Regards
Don Vincenzo

Don V,
Do you watch Catherine Kate (female comedienne) on the tv, and she was just completely brilliant on Comic Relief last night with Dr.Who, the Prime Minister, and Noel Edmunds.....
well, if you have seen her show, she does a sketch with a dark-haired bloke in their bedroom, and her 'catchphrase' is : "I DUNNO!...."
well, apart from Mr. & Mrs. Piglet, who liken Trousers and myself to that couple, because of the 'banter between us' all the time....
My answer to your question would have to be "I DUNNO!"
And I'm never too proud to proffer that I'm more likely to be the blame than the seed itself.... so, as I said, I'll be starting again tomorrow, and yes, my greenhouse has loads of space to accomodate them when they've germinated and need an 'ambient temperature' to keep growing steadily.

So, with the rest of my courgettes, pumpkins and winter squashes doing well, I can only be re-motivated to try again Don V, and this time, I'll try pre-germinating many more seeds than just two, eh?!
Your support is welcomed, thank you.

__________________
With Love,
Wellie

Give it some....

http://hollycottagegarden.blogspot.com

Updated Sunday 13th:
POCKET ROCKET...

So, with the rest of my courgettes, pumpkins and winter squashes doing well, I can only be re-motivated to try again Don V, and this time, I'll try pre-germinating many more seeds than just two, eh?!
Your support is welcomed, thank you.[/quote]

Hello Wellie and sorry againg I DINNOW that you tried only two seeds!!! so you should have 23 left!! go for it and put the lot in some seed compost..I would say 3 inches deep or more and in about 10 days they should pop up to say hello to you. If not please let me know as I can send some more seeds to you.
My Best regards
Don Vincenzo

Don V,
I will sow the 'entire rest of them' that Piglet gave to me from the seeds you gave to him, on the basis that I would just like to end up with ONE - because I'd just love to be able to grow just one of them....
My neighbour (Elderly Next Door) will 'wet himself' when he sees the fruits on this baby! because he will never in his entire life have seen anything LIKE this, and I would just LOVE him to......
and his daughter is a great cook, so she could 'put it all together, hey.'
Thank you for your support DV.

__________________
With Love,
Wellie

Give it some....

http://hollycottagegarden.blogspot.com

Updated Sunday 13th:
POCKET ROCKET...

[quote=Don Vincenzo;78065]Hi Don
Thanks for the seeds they turned up Friday pm. Haven't got round to sowing them yet as I haven't taken the chillis, peppers and aubergines out of the propagator yet and also with this flurry of snow flakes today (!!) and no greenhouse thought I'd better hold off, however am exciting and will let you know how it all goes when I do finally start.
Well done with the abstaining!

[quote=tinyvine;79093]Hello Tinyvine
I would wait till the 1st April to sow them, but just treat them as any courgettes. Find attached photo of Snakes of Sicily....I hope they will survive this cold spell as i moved them to my cold greenhouse.
My best regards
Don Vincenzo

Attached Thumbnails

 

I'm sorry, this isn't really relevant to the seed swap, but I've got a mixed pack of squash seeds from Seeds of Italy, one of which is Serpente di Sicilia. I've been examining the seeds with the aim of picking out roughly similar varieties to grow together, and one type is quite differently shaped to the others - thicker, and darker than a normal squash family. I know cucuzzi is a slightly different variety and wondered if anyone here could tell me do these seeds match my description (I can do a photo sometime if that helps!)

many thanks
Me

a photo would be great, I have some snakes of scilly on the go just now. Some in pots, on paper and still to be sown so should be able to help.

Mandy

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No mater when time you set out, you always get there at the same time

Thanks Mandy - sorry it took so long to reply! Lesley Jay has kindly split the post for me so I've put a pic in the new thread which I hope will help!

Squash Seeds Identification

[quote=Don Vincenzo;79137]Yo Don
Forgot to say, they are up and in the greenhouse, sorry no picture, the smaller seeds did better than the bigger ones with 100% germination, they look fab. I've put them in the bigger plastic greenhouse which I hope they'll like as it usually manages an average temperature of 30. I've got to try and sort the camera out so maybe when they get outdoors I'll be able to shoot 'em.

Don V,

Don't faint, but I have two whole Cucutzi seedlings as of this morning!
I am SO thrilled! I shall treat them tenderly and grow only those two that have first germinated, being the strongest from the seed. The first to germinate was the 'lighter' coloured seed, then the 'browner' coloured seed.

Thank you once again for sending me the fresh seed...

__________________
With Love,
Wellie

Give it some....

http://hollycottagegarden.blogspot.com

Updated Sunday 13th:
POCKET ROCKET...

Hi Wellie
just to let you know that the darker seeds are of a thinner and longer variety the lighter one a bit shorter but fatter. Both taste the same.
Regards
Don Vincenzo

Hi All,

I am having real trouble germinating these, what am I doing wrong?

Tried direct in pots without luck then paper/poly bag they seemed to start to germinate then nothing. Am i just too impatiant?

Thanks, Mandy

__________________
No mater when time you set out, you always get there at the same time

Thanks for that Don Vincenzo....

__________________
With Love,
Wellie

Give it some....

http://hollycottagegarden.blogspot.com

Updated Sunday 13th:
POCKET ROCKET...

Hi everyone...I'm peeking in here and enjoying the posts...I'm curious if anyone has a squash you can compare the taste of the cucuzzi with...I wanted to grow some Italian squash and I bought Costata Romanesca and Cocozelle....anyone have tasted this two that might compare them with the Cucuzzi...I never met a squash I didn't like so I am curious about the taste...

PS...wellie...I loved your blog...you are so ambitious...Just loved your garden.....and can so appreciate the work that you have put into it...

Hello Mandy
I am starting to believe that there was something wrong with the seeds I send to quite a few people, maybe they were a bit old. However I have a different batch of the same variety and hopefully late this year I hope to go to Sicily and get fresher seeds for next year. Wellie managed to germinate some of them, so did I. I will do my best to post some photo but at the moment my veg growing season is an a mess due to the suddendly death of a dear friend of my and also an allotment holder who lived for her plants, vegs and nature.
My best regards
Don Vincenzo

Sorry to hear about your friend Don.

The smaller seeds germinated 100 % for me, the other variety was probably my fault as I don't think they were quite laying down properly in the propagator! I only sowed 3 and one of them came up. So i don't think thats fair statistically speaking, for me to rate, as I probably should have sowed more but am running out of space. They were up very quickly anyway and are healthy plants.

Take care Don x

Hi Don,

So sorry to hear about your friend, I hope you and friends and family get through this difficult time.

Thanks for the germination info, I will try a smaller seed and see how I get on.

Take care, Mandy x

__________________
No mater when time you set out, you always get there at the same time