[eeyore]

hi folks - anyone have experience of squashes ?  -  can they be grown succesfully outside (no greenhouse) , and what  vareities would people reccomend ?

Many thanks

Pete

[happy chick]

Hi Pete,
Good to see a fellow Wilts grower on here!  Reference your question, the squash family tend to to be divided into two groups, summer and winter squashes.  Squashes are planted outside when all risk of frost has passed, for us in the last couple of years in west wiltshire this has been the second week of May.  I prefer to germinate a few weeks before this inside so I've got strong seedlings to put out by this time.

I'm trying my usual crown prince (winter storage), and some sweet lightning this coming season, as well as the usual pumpkins for halloween. I think with the summer squashes that you have to be careful not to leave on the vines too long otherwise the skins go really hard and they end up too big; i made that mistake first year with patty pans!  Have a read of some seed catalogues; they tend to give good descriptions as to what each variey has to offer  

[fatbelly]

I grew Crown Prince last season and they were great in stews in the Autumn.
Will definitely be growing them again this season.

[eeyore]

Thanks for the very fast replies happy chick and fatbelly - very useful.

what sort of space does each plant take up ?

[happy chick]

I'm naughty and tend to cram as I don't have the luxury of a lottie  :oops:  but i would say very roughly between 2/3 sq ft for each plant; should prob be more than that but depends on whether the variety is a vine or bush type.  Someone with more knowledge will offer a better spacing guide. Have you bought any seeds yet or are you salivating at the many different varieties like me?

[eeyore]

how many squashes (on average) do you get per plant ?

no we havent bought any seed yet - we only got the lottie a couple of weeks back ( which isnt bad given that we've only just moved here) and the first job is a big dig over and raised bed building project.

so thats next week sorted out then  (though i do hear that i'm supposed to do this thing called "work" - whatever that is- 9-5 monday to friday )

[compostqueen]

squashes will grow happily on rough ground so don't worry too much about prep. As long as they have their heads in the sun and plenty of muck under them they'll romp away and suppress weeds as they go

Crown Prince is an excellent variety, keeps it shape so it's good for stews and curries as well as being an excellent keeper, so grow that one    Squash is like potato and there's one for every purpose, eg mashing, for pies etc.

[jb]

Last year was my first year growing squashes. I found yellow crookneck and white patty pan were no fuss and gave lots of fruit (summer type) in a smallish space (spaced 2 foot apart) as they were bush plants. Most of my winter squash struggled due to the lack of sun but little gem did well giving me about 20 fruits off 2 plants and they last really well (just ate some and have 4 left taste not bad but nothing special). Also Galeux d'Eysines gave only 1 fruit from two plants but was absolutly gorgeous having a pungent melon taste when raw. Both these last two were real sprawlers so need lots of space but on a new plot that might be an advantage as they could be used as a form of weed suppresser for any areas that you don't get round to digging over.

[compostqueen]

The Festival and Harlequin squashes are very productive and look beautiful too, so I'd include either of those to your list of ones to grow
I like Sweet Mama too, a good one for squash mash. Doesn't take up much room either and has smaller leaves. I grew mine in with the runner beans

[beanie]

Hi i did butternut squash for the first time this year.  Sowed in May and put a handful of seeds in - it went mad - climbed up my runner beans went everywhere.......one thing i did learn was for some reason we didnt have many bees this year so had to go round and pollinate with a fine paint brush myself.....if i didnt do that i wouldnt of had any.

But they were lovely - and even convined our local farmer to plant some next year (i have had my veg patch for a couple of years and he has never been out of farming!)

[Noah'strolly]

I've been trying to grow butternut squash for two years. The first year I planted them out under my sweetcorn, its supposed to work well but I think they were too shaded. I got two tiny squash which got killed by the first frost.
This year I put one in the corn (still weedy) one on its own and one in the manure heap. The one in the manure did best (one huge squash) the other produced a medium squash. The one in the manure took over the bean poles and produced loads of small squash but they all got blossom end rot. I think the heap was too dry.
I think I'm getting there! Maybe this year I'll get it right - light, space, food, water.

[mrs eeyore]

hi all.

thanks for all the advice

having had a look at all the suggested varieties (and gasping when realising so many different ones are out there) i notice that the butternut squash i normally buy in the shop ('hunter') isn't mentioned. does the crown prince variety have the sweet taste this does or is it more savoury? being the cook    this is important stuff!

sarah

[mumofstig]

I think all the butternuts taste the same, have tried a few. Hunter was the first i tried i think. Growing Harrier this year..still a butternut but sposed to be more a bush type which will be better for my small beds.

If you want Hunter Unwins stock the seeds

[compostqueen]

I use Crown Prince for savoury dishes.  I use Cushaws for sweet dishes, eg pumpkin pie