[Swing Swang]

@Kristen

Is that butternut one that you've saved from your September harvest, as it looks great from nearly 4 months in storage?

SS

[chrisnchris]

Apparently the only toy that keeps 'the girls' (our 2 gerbils) happy would be toilet rolls. 

How deep did you plant them.
I tried it with chickens last year but they died....I think I planted them upside down

[Kristen]

Is that butternut one that you've saved from your September harvest, as it looks great from nearly 4 months in storage?

Yup. They haven't stored as well this year as the previous, and are now starting to get a bit of mould around the ends.  Still usable though.

Difference was (I think) that we had a wetter Autumn, and they had soil attached when I harvested them, which I did not do a very thorough job of cleaning off.  I think I will put a little straw under each one as it matures so it doesn't get a "marked patch".

I cut them with a Tee giving a decent length of stem either side, and put them in the conservatory for at least a week which supposedly ripens the skins.

I read somewhere that light, during storage, helps to maintain the skins too - so a cool spare bedroom may be better than the cupboard (in an unheated utility corridor) that I have mine in

[greenhead]

Yorkie, that holds good for fibre pots too - completely cover the pot with soil when transplanting.

[JayG]

Yorkie, that holds good for fibre pots too - completely cover the pot with soil when transplanting.

..........especially so with them! I've stopped using peat pots because in my rather dry soil they remain pretty much intact throughout the summer (OK you can break the pots open a bit before planting to help the roots out but that can be messy and rather defeats the whole object of the exercise!)