Butternut squash trials!

Just picked the one in the picture - in the rain. It has grow a lot with two days of rain. The instructions say don't pick them until the end of the summer when they have turned beige but this one is getting too big. It has a beigey colour trying to come through the green stripes so have experimented by picking it. I had to fight the triffids off.

It weighs 6lb 5oz - sounds like a baby! We'll try it out during the week and see whether it is ripe enough.
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shiney

 

Thanks windy :D :D .
I don't think it will survive more than a week.
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shiney

 

The triffids have grown across to where we are putting up the new shed! :eek: :eek: I don't know whether they think the shed is for them or whether they want to help in putting it up.
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shiney

 

Hi Claw
Gardening Which? occasionally offer free seeds and also ask for volunteers to do seed trials. I find the magazine is very interesting and worth the money. Send me your address by PM and I'll send you a back number.

sparkle
We just picked our second squash and it weighed 3.5 lbs but there are at least 7 more that already weigh over 5 lbs - and lots of smaller ones.

We are going to try and save seeds for next year - so start queuing up for them now. If they're F1 hybrids they may not grow true, but we'll find out.
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shiney

 

Here is our latest picking of the babies - the triffids are still growing like mad with plenty more to pick. Will be tasting them today and report back.



The largest weighed in at 7lb 3oz and the smallest at 3lb 3oz. It is difficult to find them because there are so many leaves and they cover such a large area - about 800 sq ft so far.

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shiney

 

We cooked and tasted one of the smaller ones today. It tasted good but not as sweet as those we buy in the shops but with a different and pleasant flavour. This may be because we hadn't let it ripen fully. The instructions said that we should pick them when they started turning a buff colour. We can, apparently, keep them for a long time before eating them. we shall do so with some of them and we are leaving others on the plants for another month.

It is all part of doing trials.

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shiney

 

Hi MikeB

Don't know what variety. They were sent to us un-named as a trial for Gardening Which?. Apparently Butternut squash don't grow very well in this country and these are supposed to be a new breed sent to Which? to be tested. We sowed them in May. They've grown like mad.
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shiney

 

sparkle
I don't know the answer. I presume you gave them lots of compost to start with and water them regularly. I don't think they need much more. Apart from having dug in lots of compost before planting and watering a bit during the drought I have not done anything at all - except not standing still near them or they might have grown over me.
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shiney