Cucurbit Growing 2018

[nickdub]

Ah, I did notice that they were a little root bound when I transplanted them. I hope I haven't bonsaied (?) them. They are all producing flowers/buds. Do you know if it is normal for them to produce flowers at this early stage, and not because of their small container size?

Nice experiment btw!

Stressed plants do start flowering prematurely - whether that has happened in your case is impossible to be sure. If you feel the plants are not large enough to support a crop, then the best bet will be to cut the fruit off before it has a chance to develop. Worth feeding with a liquid fertiliser as well probably to encourage strong growth.


Best bet when growing on tender plants early in the year is to keep a close eye on the bottoms of their pots to check for roots. Its always a bit of a balancing act between having too big a pot, but still leaving room for growth. These things get a bit easier with experience, and if you are in doubt about a course of action, we all like a photo on here which we can disagree about :-)

[Small pumpkin]

All but one cucurbits are planted (one of the courgettes only germinated 2 days ago).

Squash and sunflowers ( poor sunflowers have been desperate to be planted out for ages. Hopefully they will pick up now )



Pumpkins and courgette ( pumpkins planted through weed fabric. Idea stolen from Thelma ( if I remember correctly who said they do that ))

[Chris11]

Five courgette varieties:

All Green Bush
Black Beauty
Early Gem F1
Venus F1
Yellow Scallop

Plants outside daytime for hardening off, before going in to final positions soon.

[Chrissyteacup]

So it’s my first year with my little veg plot and ive never grown Cucurbits so To start I’m growing:
Courgette Rugosa Friulana
Uchiki Kuri
Summer Patty Pan
Jack o lantern - for carving for friends haloeeen party hopefully!!
La diva cucumber
Cucamelon (if it counts)
I’m going to have to find some inventive ways of cooking them since OH claims not to like any squash!! I’m just hoping that’s because he’s only had bland supermarket ones or I’ll be over run!!

[Small pumpkin]

So it’s my first year with my little veg plot and ive never grown Cucurbits so To start I’m growing:
Courgette Rugosa Friulana
Uchiki Kuri
Summer Patty Pan
Jack o lantern - for carving for friends haloeeen party hopefully!!
La diva cucumber
Cucamelon (if it counts)
I’m going to have to find some inventive ways of cooking them since OH claims not to like any squash!! I’m just hoping that’s because he’s only had bland supermarket ones or I’ll be over run!!

I've just gooooogled Rugosa Friulana. I like the look of that.
Yeah cucamelon counts. Keep an eye on him! He'll try to take over. Bit of a thug, if you let him get away with it
You know you're well within your rights to divorce the other half if he doesn't love eating everything you grow .
There's hundreds of recipes for squash out there. I usually keep it simple. I love it cut into chunks and roasted. Pumpkin chips are another favourite (not tried with squash but sure it'd work). Then there's the many many different versions of squash soup. You can't go wrong with a soup.

[Snoop Puss]

I’m going to have to find some inventive ways of cooking them since OH claims not to like any squash!! I’m just hoping that’s because he’s only had bland supermarket ones or I’ll be over run!!

Mr Snoop said the same, but now... Grow them every year.

[Chris11]

I’m growing:Courgette Rugosa Friulana

I've just gooooogled Rugosa Friulana. I like the look of that.

Excellent variety. Grew this one last year after a seed swap with Sparrow

[Chrissyteacup]

I’ll definitely give squash crisps a go SmallPumkin if nothing else I’m sure he’ll like those!!
I hope that means you won over Mr Snoop?
Thanks Chris it’s good to see a review from someone that’s tried it! I picked it on a whim as liked how knobbly it looked and sounded like it was a tasty choice!

[Snoop Puss]

Mr Snoop resented watering them the first year I grew them. Now he gives them special love and attention. I think it was the squash risotto (known by us as squissoto) that won him over.

As for the Rugosa friulana, do you eat the skin or is it a bit hard? Just asking for future reference...

[OfTheBestStuff]

Hi all! Brand newbie here, though I've been lurking on the board and learning so much for months!

I'm in the west of Ireland. We've just had a break in an almost unprecedented 2+ week streak of warm sunny weather which has done wonders for everything getting started. I only have two tiny mini greenhouses so planting cucurbits is a bit of a gamble. This is my first big attempt at gardening as an adult since I'm finally in a rental house where the landlady said I could do what I like. I don't have a lot of space, just a postage stamp of a front garden where I've made some borders and because my back "garden" is paved, most of the veg are in pots and for cucurbits big 42 litre trugs with holes drilled in the bottom. They still might be a little cramped but I'll feed them well and see what happens. I sowed (starting indoors):

Cucumber: Pickling Partner F1 - none of these came up and in the confusion of a billion seedlings I didn't notice til I'd given the rest of the seeds to a friend. Oh well! I asked her to plant some for me but don't know if anything will happen with them.

Squash: Table Star - an acorn that I'm excited about. I ended up with more than I needed/had space for, so I've kept two. They are looking very happy and growing fast. I love squash so maybe I should have kept more but again, space, pots, and compost are at a premium.

Courgette: Gold Rush and Genovese. Again I had too many. I think I kept one of each, lol, but not sure. I wasn't totally organised in my frenzy and excitement this spring! I guess I'll find out! They are growing super super fast and look delighted with their lives.

Pumpkin: Jack O' Lantern - all came up so again, I gave away all but two. But I've had a pretty funny thing happen. I've been composting in black rubbish bins since I moved in a year ago, and the compost was far from finished, but I have so many pots to fill and so little cash that I decided to experiment by putting it in the bottom half of my trugs to keep breaking down for the heavy feeders and topping up with bought compost. Well, the extra seeds from my pumpkins from last Halloween survived and I was surprised by about two dozen volunteer pumpkin seedlings in a pot I hadn't planted in yet! I've potted them up and given away as many as I can but I still have 10 more. I have the newbie problem of not wanting to cull anything so I do not know what I'll do with these as they get bigger!!!

I have one idea: behind our shed is a big pile of rubbish (I think old carpets mostly) that has weeds flourishing all over it. I was thinking I might just dump a couple of bags of cheap Aldi compost and some blood & bone on top and see if some of these orphans want to grow over my oil tank. Do any of you think that might work? Could be an experiment anyway.

[Chrissyteacup]

From what I can gather I think the skin can be a bit tough if not eaten when there young but I’ll let you know when I have a crop to test that!

[Potstubsdustbins]

Picked my first Mini Munch today. I first grew them last year and was impressed with the taste and very impressed with the yield though I did not say too much as it could have been a fluke.

I can now say it wasn't today I counted over 40 cumbers in various stages of growth on 3 plants, looks like we will be giving them away again.

A small cumber it means I can have fresh every time I want one..

[nickdub]

" behind our shed is a big pile of rubbish (I think old carpets mostly) that has weeds flourishing all over it. I was thinking I might just dump a couple of bags of cheap Aldi compost and some blood & bone on top and see if some of these orphans want to grow over my oil tank. Do any of you think that might work? Could be an experiment anyway. "

You stand a chance of making it work, to help with shifting the odds in your favour make a reasonable sized hole on the top of the heap you can fill with compost etc - then be sure the plants you put in there are a good size ie not just seedlings - keep a couple of plants spare in case the first go gets eaten by slugs.

[happyhumph]

Hoping to get my winter squash in the ground tomorrow - they're desperate for it. Cucs are putting on growth nicely. Really hoping I don't have the same slug problem as I did last year....

[Containergardener]

Very late starting this yr, didn't think old cucumber seeds would germinate , so tried them and new seeds. Now I have 8 plants (diva and nimrod)

3 courgette plants (I'm not sure name yet) coming from mum. Last time I grew them in large tubs on decking and were well and truly slugged with the wet summer.
Not sure what I can try this yr