Pumpkin/Squash Advice from seedaholics please

[veggiechicken]

Worst year ever here too. Not sure I'll have anything usable - nothing so far

[Snoop Puss]

I'll have a few Futsu. There are also a few butternut, but they're so small they're hardly worth bothering with. Roll on next year...

[Small pumpkin]

I've been doing my homework! I thought this might be useful to others as well.
All information has been taken from other websites.
You will also notice I've mentioned very few big seed companies ( I personally like to use the smaller companies). So seeds will be available elsewhere.
Also I've not done any research on varieties I couldn't find in uk suppliers ( big or small ), because I guessed if they're not supplied over here already there's a fairly high chance they are going to hate the isle of mull climate


Blue kuri C.Maxima ( available from kings seeds & more veg )
With is blue-green skin and sweet,deep yellow-orange flesh this is an eye-opener with a matching flavour. The fruits weigh up to 1kg, 15-20cm in diameter. Taking about 13 weeks to reach harvest this productive variety is well suited to British summer seasons.

( available from sowseeds, simply seeds, seed parade)
Uchiki Kuri Squash also known as Red Kuri or Red Onion Squash is a little globe of orangeness. It weighs about 1.5kg and makes a useful sized dinner portion that stores well for up to 3 months in cool, dry conditions.
Uchiki Kuri has a glossy red/orange outer skin with deep orange flesh inside that is lovely & sweet with a nutty taste - a real winner for all squash recipes. It is a climber that performs well and looks rather exotic & funky when trailed up a wigwam of hazel sticks, as the orange globes hang downwards and light up the garden on a cold autumn day.

Winter luxury C. Pepo (available from real seeds) (like small sugar )
Flat White Boer C. Maxima ( can't find uk suppliers )
North Georgia Candy Roaster ( can't find uk suppliers)
Crown prince C. Maxima ( only suitable for south of uk according to one site, if you want big fruit )
Pumpkin hooligan ( very small, 100g each)
Anna Swartz squash ( maybe at a later date)
Sunshine F1 ( a small one for another year)

Sucrette ( can't find uk suppliers)( available in the VSP)
Sucrette is a lovely smaller squash and a bright yellow with warts. It's a pepo and chucks out 4-5 squashes per plant. ( you may recognise this write up sparrow )

Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato ( available from real seeds)
A great Acorn Squash. We are really pleased to have found one much earlier than normal, producing lots of squash even in short UK summers.
The pale heart-shaped fruit are pointy and have gentle fluting down the sides. When mature, you can simply cut them in half and bake in the oven.


Galeuse d'Eysines C. Maxima ( available from real seeds)
An unusual and beautiful French squash variety.* Quick to germinate and produces vigorous plants that set smooth yellow fruit. At this point they look nothing special, but as they ripen they turn a glowing orangey-pink, & then in storage they grow an amazing warty surface to the skin.*
We find this one of the easiest varieties to grow in the UK, even in cooler summers, producing a good yield of sensibly sized tasty squashes.

( available from more veg ) ( small but still like the look )
PUMPKIN LIL’ PUMP-KE-MOM ~ totally unique with stunning orange stripes over the white skin 3 seeds SOW: in individual pots inside during April or May. You can keep them on a window sill until sprouted then pop into a coldframe or unheated greenhouse. GROW: keep moist and warm, ready to plant out when at 2/3 leaf stage. Harden off well before planting out. Give them space! You can train the vines in a circle and remove flowers when 2/3 pumpkins have set to keep the yield down. This will still give you plenty! EAT: they are so stunning you will find it difficult to ‘spoil’ them by cutting them up! We won’t mind if you just grow them for their looks but do remember they taste really nice too.


The Tonda Padana Pumpkin is a beautiful Italian pumpkin from the Po River Valley with alternating vertical ribs of grey, green and orange.
( available from Amazon or eBay ( frenchi seed ))

Sibley ( available from world of plants & real seeds)
This Hubbard type squash grows vigorous 5 metre vines, on which grow slate-blue teardrop-shaped fruits with very shallow ribs weighing around 5 kilos. An excellent storage squash, its medium-thick orange flesh is flavourful and sweet, becoming becomes drier and richer with storage, finally reaching its peak right after the turn of the New Year.

Acorn table gold ( available from victoriana nursery & more veg )
Golden coloured fruits have a rich golden flesh which has gorgeously nutty taste. Extremely reliable in habit, it is consistently high yielding with fruits averaging 1 - 2 lbs (455 - 900 g).
Although described as a Winter Squash, this is a wonderful variety to cut young during the Summer months and use as you would Summer Squashes or Courgettes.
Recommended by the RHS to be an excellent attractant and nectar source for bees and other beneficial insects.


Can those of you who are considerably more knowledgeable than me please correct anything that needs it.

Ps this is also my sort list for next years growing

[Zelenina]

Flat White Boer is available from Dobies but they've renamed it Old Boer White.

North Georgia Candy Roaster and Sucrette haven't been available commercially in the UK, only as HSL members' choices, but they might appear in the VSP some time.

[Thelma Sanders]

Some very nice choices there
Nicky's sells Georgia Candy Roaster
https://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/pro...RoCq1AQAvD_BwE

They have Flat White Boer on ebay, but it looks like a Chinese seed packet- so not sure! I got mine through a seed swap. The 2 flowers I hand pollinated both failed, so can't offer you any saved seed. Sorry

Tonda Padana looks pretty but I didn't think it had much taste tbh so didn't grow it again.

Uchicki Kuri and Sunshine are both lovely, but look and taste alike when I grew both at once. I decided in future to just to grow one or the other - rather than both IYKWIM

I always grow Thelma Sanders (how can you tell!) This year I've also grown Table Gold, it looks pretty and despite the conditions it has produced 5 fruits (like Thelma)
Don't know what it tastes like yet though
I grow Blue Ballet which is also small blue Hubbard, a bit smaller than Sibley I think, as I mostly prefer the smaller squashes.

[Thelma Sanders]

Flat White Boer is available from Dobies but they've renamed it Old Boer White.

Thanks v much for that

[Zelenina]

I just read about someone who successfully grew Crown Prince and Uchiki Kuri in Glasgow. Not quite as far north as you but seems promising.

[Small pumpkin]

Thanks
Short list has been amended! Old white boer has been added.
Do you think that would do better in the tunnel?

[Guest]

Thanks
Short list has been amended! Old white boer has been added.
Do you think that would do better in the tunnel?

Ok where is the short list? I found the first one where you were after 7, then another list with 16

Here are my pics (finally - sorry ). My squash crop aren't very good this year and my courgette crop this year is just plain naff! It is only the galeux that looks good. I try to do 2 plants of each variety and plant them out together.

Tuffy sweet on a go slow, only 2 decent fruit at the moment.


Jack be little. Plenty of fruit but haven't counted.


Small sugar. Gave 2 fruit early of then gave up


Galeux is my triffid squash this year. 5 good fruits.


Just on a side note. I wasn't impressed with the flavour of candy roaster (seed from Nicky's). I had triffid plants and prolific large fruits so IMO is worth growing to make up your own mind. Hopefully taste was due to the weather/season (last year) http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...rly_91015.html

[Small pumpkin]

Ok where is the short list? I found the first one where you were after 7, then another list with 16

Yes the list of 16 is now my short list (#48). Well all the ones with a write up with them

I'm so jealous how far ahead your small sugar is!!
After seeing your Galeux and seeing seasprouts ( I think ) in the VVS, that is at the top of my grow list for next year. It's a fantastic looking thing.

Don't know if Nicky's changed her write up on the candy rooster, but she now recommends you eat them as soon as the flowers have died!
I'm still tempted.......... My will power is pitiful!!

[seasprout]

I'm yet to taste the Galeux... could yet be monkey brains.

[sparrow100]

I used NGCR (was available as a trial variety from RealSeeds this year so might be on next year's list) to make pumpkin pie for our Thanksgiving dinner. It'd been stored for about a month and a half. Flesh was soft, no fibres & really tasty. It does have a fairly high moisture content, possibly because the flesh is so thick. If you can't find seed & want to grow it, drop me a PM. I got my seed from Baker Creek and the packets are more than generous! (think 50+seeds/packet rather than the UK average, which is ample but seems miserly in comparison!)

Sucrette is delicious - sweet & savoury if that's an allowably-vague description! Tonda Padana is more of a soup/savoury squash, so a standard flavour rather than a standout flavour, but it's reliable and the squashes are beautiful.

As a mini-rant, why do seed companies currently feel the need to change names of varieties? It's REALLY annoying. Flat White comes in 2 strains, Ford & van Niekirk (the 3rd, Durban, seems to have come off the market). The latter doesn't do well if your land is generally damp so Ford is the better option. Renaming makes it even harder to find out what you're growing. Grrrrrrrrr!!