Butternut squash experiment:

[vegnut]

All my squash plants were touched by frost last week. So thats it for this year. I was a bit late with planting them, and didnt get anything worth mentioning. So note to ones self, sow earlier.

[Saffer]

These are the butternuts I planted this year. I kept the seedlings (4 plants) indoors until early May then planted them out. Most of the leaves have now died back to reveal the bounty beneath & some are enormous, probably weigh more than 4 kilos & some haven't ripened yet. These butternut will keep over winter so no shortage of "butternut soup" for us!

Cheers Saffer

[BrideXIII]

These are the butternuts I planted this year. I kept the seedlings (4 plants) indoors until early May then planted them out. Most of the leaves have now died back to reveal the bounty beneath & some are enormous, probably weigh more than 4 kilos & some haven't ripened yet. These butternut will keep over winter so no shortage of "butternut soup" for us!

Cheers Saffer

wow!! all that from 4 plants?
looks like i may need to dig up the lawn after all!

[Two_Sheds]

Just for the record, I've had a really good crop of Golden Nugget (mini pumpkins), Mars (head size pumpkins) and Harrier butternuts (good for the weather, that is 'better than expected given all the rain & cloud we had'). I choose varieties suitable to cool weather, btw.

Sown in March, planted out in May. They took ages to get going, but I've now got about 20 fruits. So, worth doing.

[vegnut]

Thanks for sharing that with us Two Sheds. Looks like i'll be growing some Harrier next year then. Especially if this weather is going to be the norm for a while.

[Cutecumber]

I don't really have room for squash, and I'm not a huge fan of them to eat, but they are such fascinating plants that I grew two around my sweetcorn this year.

The foliage kept the soil well covered and definitely reduced the need for watering - we didn't have such a huge amount of rain as other areas and the soil is very light.

The sweetcorn grew well - I got the same crop as normal - and I got three medium sized squash with little effort. One plant stopped itself after one fruit, the other would have covered Britain if I had let it...

So, not a huge amount, but then it was a "bonus crop", if you like.

I tried Uchiki Kuri and Sweet Mama.

[Duronal]

I can dispell the myth that the plants won't set fruit from shop bought seed! In 2007 i planted some shop bought butternut seeds and the germinated, grew, rambled out of a pot and produced 4 fruits. I had two plants and let them grow until they got hit by frost and then roasted the produce.

These plants got virtually no attention and even survived a dry pot for a couple of weeks. Just remember if you're not sure try it in a pot and grow a certainty in the veg plot. In the event that both plants fruit and survive then invite some friends round for dinner - everybody wins!