Wot did I do wrong??

[Alice]

Squash



What a shame about the squash. Probably was a gourd if it tasted as bad as that. I grew what was supposed to be butternut sprinter this year but I don't think they were. You can see them in the pic. Some of them were round and golden, and some of them were long and green, turning yellow. None of them had any seeds.Any ideas what that's about. No matter, they are delicious - 20 mins in the oven and done.

[ugly gourd]

My butternut werent "as seen in tescos" cant remember the variety I think we eat the rejects that tescos throw away and they only put the perfect ones on the seed packets so you never see the ugly ones!!

[Alison]

Don't care what they look like so long as they taste good - was at the Good Food show yesterday and they had a stand with an ugly veg competion - some great pics, Ester Ranson would have been in her element.

[Crazy Chickie]

About the F1 seeds, does this mean that the seeds I've saved from shop bought Butternut and Pumpkin will produce plants with inedible fruit? I was hoping to try growing some in the poly next year.

[Earthbabe]

The difficulty with shop bought fruit is not knowing what the variety is and whether it is F1. As they are freebies nothing lost, depends how much space you have.

[Crazy Chickie]

Cheers, will give it a whirl and see what grows.

[Alice]

Yes, but why were mine all different shapes and why did they have no seeds . Any ideas, anybody.

[Snadger]

They could be gourds UG, we were told they were squashes, but I suppose its possible they are gourds!

If they are gourds, then what are they used for? (Apart from 'follow his Gourd, his Holy Gourd', sorry, obscure Monty Python moment here! )

I always thought gourds were inedible, so have no idea why they are grown by folks, but they must have some use, musnt they?

I think gourds were dried and used as containers for carrying, storing or distributing liquid and potions!.
If you watch Macbeth the potion taken from the cauldron goes straight into a capped gourd wich is carried by a leather thong attached to the neck Small gourds filled with potion would be worn around the neck as amulets to ward off evil!
Some of the older glass botles were actually made the same shape. The so called 'onion' bottles from the 1700's were modelled on them methinks and also the containers for carrying gunpowder for muskets!

[Crazy Chickie]

I had a little dried gourd when I was wee. It was a dark brown colour and was carved to look like a weird bird thing, the seeds rattled inside it. Think it came from somewhere distant, maybe Africa but it was so long ago I can't remember. Think that you can dry and paint/carve gourds 'British' gourds too but would need to check to be sure. Could make nice, unusual pressies.

[Earthbabe]

I too was thinking decorative gourds when you described them Mr D.

[Mrs Dobby]

Not thought of using them like that before, lots of ideas spring to mind now, perhaps I will plant some of the seeds and see what grows after all...........

[ugly gourd]

if you set some you will need plenty of room they like to spread out but there great fun you never know what your going to get and snadger is right they are used to carry water in some countries