Butternut squash problem

Dandanuk - squash take up a lot of space, are very weather dependent and are a late cropper so may not be the best thing for a beginner to try. However courgettes, their little green cousins, are well worth trying. They also need a fair amount of space and are best planted in groups of at least three plants to aid cross pollination but are fairly reliable. The only difficulty is getting male and female flowers at the same time and this is mostly in the lap of the weather god. Only the females produce fruit but without the males the fruit won't set. However, once they get going your main difficulty is keeping up with the rate of production.

 

Not sure I agree with that. Yes there is a risk that in a lousy year they won't ripen before first-frost, although short-season varieties bred for UK - like CobNut and Hunter should give a crop even in bad years, although the further North the more of a challenge that will be.

It isn't a difficult crop to grow, and I think for a first year if there isn't time to get the land fully sorted then Squash / Pumpkins etc. can be planted by just preparing some planting holes (and ideally covering the surrounding ground with weed suppressing fabric). This becomes all the more worthwhile for people starting in, say, May or even early June when getting the land ready may be unrealistic - clay ground hard already, time running out.

The crop stores well and makes an excellent Winter vegetable (and I think they are quite dear in the shops during the Winter)

This is normally only a problem at the beginning of the season as the plants naturally only produce male flowers initially - sometimes leading to panic that they aren't setting any fruit! (Squash, Melons, and Cucumbers too I think, exhibit the same behaviour). It may be a problem later in the season if there are only one or two plants as they may not be carrying both Male and Female flowers at the same time, but with more plants, and after the initial "Male only" flower flush is over, should be no problem as one male flower will pollinate several female flowers on plants nearby and, as you say, the problem then becomes one of "glut"