Squashes

[Dane End Dolly]

I have a small corner in the lottie that i want to put aside for small squashes,

does anyone have any spare seeds of any compact squash that they can swap or sae? does some squash climb, i have heard that you can train them to climb up mesh?

regards

Kim

[northepaul]

You are welcome to some cheese squash seeds but they are creeping type.
If interested PM me

[chriscross1966]

Bon-Bon will climb mesh but it is in no way compact...... the compact bushy ones don't really climb, the ones that climb are generally the more aggressive trailers....

chrisc

[amandaandherveg]

I have White Bush Squash seeds that I brought back from Tennessee earlier this year. You are more than welcome to some.

[Dane End Dolly]

can anyone recomend good bush summer and winter squashes and the best place to get them as T&M only have a minimal selection

[Dane End Dolly]

Thanks for the offer Northpaul, i would love to grow the squash as i hear that it is one of the best pumpkin for pumpkin pie and the taste is fab, how big an area does it need?

[northepaul]

Thanks for the offer Northpaul, i would love to grow the squash as i hear that it is one of the best pumpkin for pumpkin pie and the taste is fab, how big an area does it need?

Urm well my friend who grew them had about 4 plants in a 6ft sq area. I used them in pumpkin cake (amoung other things) and it was easily the best (I have tried) for that.

[zazen999]

Dane End; I've never found a compact squash.

However, one way to keep them compact is to train them round in a square/triangle; and chop the older leaves off so only the top ones are left growing at any one time; put 3 or 4 canes about a foot in from where you want them and as the squash grows, use another cane or two to pin the squash to the outside of the canes. Trail them round and round and you can keep them quite compact.

Another thing to think about - pollination. It really does make a difference to the quality of the squash - you lose less to unpollinated fruit that drop off or go mouldy before they are ready.

[di]

I grew "White bush scallop" squash this year.Absolutely stayed true to their name & remained "bushy"...also,very pretty & also very tasty!Not sure but I may have a couple of seeds spare?...I'll have a check & get back to you,otherwise I got them from Premier seeds direct on EBay.

[Lovage]

Table Gold is a compact bush variety which produced for me about 6 medium sized acorn type squash per plant.
Seeds-by-size and Tozer direct Seeds have them listed

Very few if any of the mainstream seed catalogues have a bush winter squash listed - you would think there would be quite a demand for them

[Dane End Dolly]

Dane End; I've never found a compact squash.

However, one way to keep them compact is to train them round in a square/triangle; and chop the older leaves off so only the top ones are left growing at any one time; put 3 or 4 canes about a foot in from where you want them and as the squash grows, use another cane or two to pin the squash to the outside of the canes. Trail them round and round and you can keep them quite compact.

Another thing to think about - pollination. It really does make a difference to the quality of the squash - you lose less to unpollinated fruit that drop off or go mouldy before they are ready.

Thanks Zazen, i wondered why my butternut squash kept going funny and dying before they go to a decent size, how do you ensure good pollination, is is by using a paint brush and rubbing pollen from one flower to another? (i saw that in gardeners world once)

[zazen999]

You can, but I pull the male flower off, and push it [gently] into the female flower and tie the female flower up so that nothing else can get in there.

[trish60]

Table Gold is a compact bush variety which produced for me about 6 medium sized acorn type squash per plant.
Seeds-by-size and Tozer direct Seeds have them listed

Very few if any of the mainstream seed catalogues have a bush winter squash listed - you would think there would be quite a demand for them

Probably my poor searching but I can only find Table star or Table ace inTozer direct Seeds. Can`t get my head around seeds by size!!

[northepaul]

You can, but I pull the male flower off, and push it [gently] into the female flower and tie the female flower up so that nothing else can get in there.

Zazen you are a mine of information, thanks

[Lovage]

Probably my poor searching but I can only find Table star or Table ace inTozer direct Seeds. Can`t get my head around seeds by size!!

Tozer have 'Golden Acorn Table Gold' which is a bit of a mouthfull

Tozer have an interesting site with no less than 11 varieties of Butternut! including the new ultra early varieties bred by them and up to 4 weeks earlier than American varieties. Coild make the difference between a crop or nothing in a poor summer