[AnneB]

For several years now I have been trying to grow decent patty pan summer squash, but have failed miserably every time.  I have tried several varieties but meet the same problems.

In 2012 all succumbed to slugs in a terrible wet year.  In subsequent years I have managed to produce healthy looking plants, but the fruits are always small and don't resemble the mini flying saucers in the blurb.   Last year Benning's Green Tint got nearest, but still very small really.  This year Summer Sun produced tiny fruit no more than an inch across.

I grow courgettes successfully, but I don't seem to be able to grow these.   Any suggestions?  I always put them in ground with plenty of well rotted manure and water well.

I am thinking of giving up and replacing with a courgette grown specifically for flowers for stuffing etc.  I have bought a packet of those on impulse from the Range.  They had some Italian seeds in for 99p.  How could I resist?

[Bernard]

Hello AnneB, I am in Keighley.
Some years ago I lived in a house with a garden of clay soil. I grew several squash varieties and marrows with great success.
20 years ago I moved farther along this hillside to a garden with soil which is 'average' loam. Both addresses are on a south-facing hillside. Since I moved here I have been entirely unable to grow squashes. Every single fruit that has started to grow has developed blossom end rot at an early stage. I gave up trying after a few years.

[mumofstig]

We have had a few bad years, weather-wise, for squash in general - with cool nights well into July 

If you're only getting tiny fruits it may be lack of pollination. Have you got flowers nearby to encourage the bees in? Or you could try hand pollination, next year.

I've been trying to remember the name of some flat flying saucer ones I grew years ago, without success, as most of them, now, seem to make deep custard pie shaped ones instead 

[crh75]

The last few years I have grown Sunburst.  I have treated them exactly the same as courgettes and always had a good crop.

The do seem to succumb to the cold quicker than courgettes though.