Winter Squash

[Lisasbolt]

Hi, just registered today, so Hello everyone

Had a great year with my squashes. i got 46 butternut squash from 6 plants, some tiny, some massive.
And 14 large green nobbly ones off 1 plant i bought from a garden centre for 1 euro.

I do have a advantage although English i moved to Spain last year, so have a longer growing season.

[Bigmallly]

Hi Lisa & welcome to the jungle, pop over & introduce yourself here:
Introduce Yourself!

Put in your profile that you are in Spain then any advice will be given accordingly..........Nice crop by the way.

[hamamelis]

*opens thread*

*looks at pictures of glorious squish*

*looks at own single minuscule pumpkin, and solitary miniature spaghetti squash*

*sidles out of thread*

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

Here are some of mine. I have not sorted them yet, or cleaned them, they are secreted in various places and have eaten a few already. Think we have 30+ remaining, not sure how many plants it was off.

Looking forward to munching through them though!

[VolesAteMyPeas]

One's a Hooligan! I can vouch for that. What a fantastic haul!
(Referring to David).

[VolesAteMyPeas]

Hi Lisa! Hope all's well in Spain. Great to have the longer growing season. Many perks besides that I imagine! Welcome to you. I'm not jealous at all.

[Berr]

Congratulations, Mr Bones! What a wonderful result.
May I ask:
daviddevant, can you name the squashes in the pics, please, especially that heavenly blue?

[Thelma Sanders]

Blue one looks like a blue hubbard, others are Uchiki Kuri, Thelma Sanders and Celebration/Festival

it's impossible to split these 2 varieties apart

[SammieB]

I harvested 3 medium Autumn Crown off one plant, 2 small Sweet Dumpling off a second plant and none off a third. I've never grown squash before so in that respect I was quite chuffed but I have to admit to being a little disappointed at the meagre quantity given the size of the plants!

[Scarlet]

I had deep fried squash, beetroot & carrot chips with potato chips last night, they were really nice.....I like chips......

..and so do my boys and their mates! Their friends usually get the frozen variety
They also love roasted pumpkin seeds..delicious!

[Scarlet]

I've got serious squash envy, what a brilliant crop!

[Berr]

I grew squashes in the polytunnel this year- grew them once before some years ago. Despite the good summer and the rich, 30" deep beds I had a poor crop as follows: Two Uchiki Kuri (from 2 plants), three Kabochas (2 plants again), three Crown Prince (2 plants also), zero fruit from 2 plants of Maria di Chioggia. Last time I had a better result in a less good summer and in less well-prepared beds. I think I shouldn't have relied entirely upon pollinating insects. Don't think it was excessive nitrogen. Not a great return from an area of 7 square metres. Yet they're so beautiful I'm considering increasing the area devoted to them next year.

[sparrow100]

I grew squashes in the polytunnel this year- grew them once before some years ago. Despite the good summer and the rich, 30" deep beds I had a poor crop as follows: Two Uchiki Kuri (from 2 plants), three Kabochas (2 plants again), three Crown Prince (2 plants also), zero fruit from 2 plants of Maria di Chioggia. Last time I had a better result in a less good summer and in less well-prepared beds. I think I shouldn't have relied entirely upon pollinating insects. Don't think it was excessive nitrogen. Not a great return from an area of 7 square metres. Yet they're so beautiful I'm considering increasing the area devoted to them next year.

I had an average of 1-2 per plant, apart from the thelma sanders. I also had a lot of fruit abort pre- and post-pollination (done by hand) and from what I can gather from trawling the internet for 'why did that happen', annoyingly too much heat could well be the cause. The ones in partial shade did better.

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

I read some reviews on rareseeds where some Americans claim they are able to get 80 fruits off one Thelma Sanders plant. Me, 1 or 2. :\

Still, as long as I can grow enough so that we don't need to buy any that is enough!

[Pete C]

I have calculated that if we eat two squash a week it will take until the 2015 harvest to finish them all off!

Thus far the Blue Hubbard remain my favourite with regard to taste, although I have some Vasco Mallorca grown from seeds I got hold of in Bilbao which I'm looking forward to trying!