Unusual pumpkin & squashes

[gillian62]

I am growing some summer and winter squash and pumpkins, but would love to try some tasty, unusual varieties.

Can you give me some ideas of some to try please, and who offers a good range of them.

I have already got courgettes, patty pan and crookneck, and round courgettes. I have hundredweight pumpkin - but unsure if they are any good to eat, so may just do 1 for my son. Winter squash - butternut and sweet dumpling.

[northepaul]

Plants of distinction offer a very tempting range of squashes!

[northepaul]

100 weights are meant as carving pumpkins, and are MASSIVE
If you only have a small area, Jack O lanterns are much more manageable as carvers.

[Llamas]

Musque de Provence and Jarrahdale ( Jarrahdale - Johnny's Selected Seeds) both look amazing in my book. I haven't grown them but am considering them for this year or the next. Pumpkins - Johnny's Selected Seeds

[danmon_81]

Turks Turbin...i had great success with them last year (still have some in the kitchen!)

[Kettledrum]

For Squash seeds try Premier Seeds Direct on ebay. They have unusual varietiesand in recent years I have had a good germination rate using their seeds. You need loads of space for many of the varieties though!

[Janek]

G'Day Gillian et al

I can offer Golden Nugget pumpkin seeds. It is pretty, great for carving and really tasty. It is the only pumpkin I know that remains a bush, albeit a bushy bush, if you know what I mean!

Llamas et al – I have thousands of seeds of Jarrahdale so can supply anyone who wants to grow them. It is a Western Australian heirloom variety and bakes well. Both varieties are good keepers as well, so no need to give them all away!

Cheers.

Janek

[realfood]

The tastiest Winter Squash varieties are probably BonBon and Crown Prince.

[Lovage]

So many winter squash to choose from - I hope you have lots of space.
I have grown maybe 25 varieties and out of those would choose

Uchiki Kuri - reliable early variety, tasty as well
Crown Prince - good keeper very good texture and flavour
Buttercup - one of the best
Spaghetti Squash - some love it, some hate it! Certainly different and very productive
Turks Turban - decorative but opinions vary on flavour
Marina de Chioggia - beautiful, good cooking, long keeping but large and very difficult
to peel!

[Janek]

G'Day Lovage!

The last time I had a Buttercup squash was in Maine in the 1980s when I visited friends there. It was superb. Is yours a named variety? And was it a hybrid or heirloom?

I have tried a couple of times to germinate seeds from a bought packet of Marina de Chioggia without success. I suspect the seeds were very old (not a good advert for the seed company!). What was your source of seeds?

Janek

[HayleyB]

Winter Festivals are very bright orange and yellow, very pretty and about 4/5 to the plant, stored over 30 from last year's crop still got one sitting in the kitchen. Because they aren't big they are easy to peel too.

[stella]

What about the ones on this month GYO mag any one tried them, any good?

[realfood]

I never peel a squash, too difficult, dangerous, and too much waste of flesh! Cut into segments and microwave till flesh soft. Scrape flesh off the skin with a spoon. Easy!!

[chickenjane]

I agree with several of the above posts

1,Marina di Chioggia are great: flavour & keeping. The chap who had no germination def had a duff pack as they are v reliable in my experience.

2.Bon Bon If you can find the seed (organic gaqrdening supply but sold out)
= fab & not as large as Marina

3.crown prince nice

4. Potimarron = the best flavour of any I've grown but yields often poor/med.
5. any butternut type suitable for GB climate
6 some hubbard types

If you're after meaty highly flavoured squash that also keeps then avoid
1. any carving type pumpkin
2. Gem store. like canon balls they are impossible to cut when raw & are insipid cooked. They do however last (still have a dozen from last summer...they may well still be on the ledge this time next year if I forget to compost them

3 Trombolino. flavourless didn't keep

4. sweet lighening v poor yield thin skinned flavour okish

5 turks turban. better on the eye than the palette

there's no shortage of choice..if you've got the space just work your way through year by year til you find a few thet suit.

for catalogeus I'd recommend Organic gardening, Real Seed company, Marshalls, T & M butr there are many others too

[Skotch]

I would like to recommend Anna Schwartz Hubbard as a fantastic eater and long keeper - I think the Real Seed Company have them for sale

Also, Uchiki Kuri as a small squash which would be great for the kids to grow as a project. Again, as an eating squash, it's fantastic

Skotch