Topic: Advise on winter squash varieties please

[fbgrifter]

doris>>  what a gorgeous plot.  so is that string/rope on the frames?  and where didya get the wood?  what type?

All>>  i also grew turks turban, got 7 fruit on one plant.  very ornamental but found the taste more like a courgette than a sweet pumpkin.

[Doris_Pinks]

FB, thats string from hay bales on the frames, and the wood is from our local roofing company, I get a huge bundle for a fiver.......actually the last lot was free!

[Merry Tiller]

My Blue Hubbards & Turks T's taste great, must depend on soil type etc. I suppose

[Rosyred]

A fello member on the allotment gave me what i think is a butternut squash but its not fully grown yet and is still green. Can you eat it like that??

[flowerlady]

Doris Pinks, thanks for the tip, vertical they will be ;D

once I get them to grow upwards, I assume that it is necassary to 'stop' them. 

what sort of length do you let yours grow to until you pinch out the growing tips?

[Doris_Pinks]

Ermmm  very scientific me..........when I remember to do it! :-[   I tend to let mine go to the top of the frames and beyond then suddenly realise they need stopping! :-\  I weave them in and out of the string as they grow.

Rosyred, you can eat them young but I prefer the taste when they have been cured, that is to say left on a windowsill or in the greenhouse to ripen the fruit.

[wardy]

I turned my turks turban into a lantern this morning.  The flesh which I was not wild about is now in the compost bin.  I shall be eating a Sweet Mama tonight, cut in half, and I think I'll cube the flesh and fry it up with onion, garlic, mushrooms, sweetcorn, rice, flat leaf parsley on top and a bit of cheese on top and put back into the shells and put into a hot oven.  I might need a bit of stock in it if it looks a bit dry.  That's my plan but it might get revised as I go  :)

[Doris_Pinks]

I shall be eating a Sweet Mama tonight, cut in half, and I think I'll cube the flesh and fry it up

Cannibalism??? Hopefully not a guest Wardy! ;D  ;D  ;D

[wardy]

Tee hee  ;D    I do have a guest tonight actually but a sweet mama he aint  ;)

I'm not going to cook my squash thingy for him as it might be a disaster. I'll try it out on the old man first  :)  Ooh forgot the garlic oh and a bit of bacon in it might be nice  :)  I'll end up with everything bar the kitchen sink it  :)

[colleenemp]

Butternut squash...lovely. Best tasting pumpkin is crown prince - particularly for pies...mmmmmm cinamon....pastry etc...I grew some small yellow squash this year, bought as seed from some garden center - mini veg only name given, good in stews as hold texture well, and you can eat the skins so not fiddly.....easy to grow to and they don't sprawl too much, unlike others! :P

[wardy]

The Sweet Mama was like sweet potato.  Very nice but not much flesh. 

Used a different squash to make soup for tea.  Another unlabelled variety.  I must get to grips with this labelling.  Made good soup  :)

[campanula]

Uchiki Kuri - a hubbard type -great keeping and eating and a good size )about 1.5 kgs. Also, Crown Prince is especially beautiful and Jack Be Little are lovely little baby squash just right for one person. Sweet Dumpling are OK. I find the Hubbard squashes the tastiest and they make lush creamy soup. Also, not a winter squash but white or yellow patty pans are fab.

[undercarriage plan]

Must try Sweet mama!! Doris will begin construction asap!! Looks great and squashes travelled long way this season  ::) Into loganberry, carrots, leeks and across other compost heap!! Thanks for butternut ID earlier on in season, thought would show you end result. Dead chuffed.. ;D ;D ;D

[wardy]

I didn't get one butternut  :(

[undercarriage plan]

Oh Wardy, sorry! PM address will send you some with huge guilt boquet, and chocolates, erm and rhubarb wine, and take dog for walk...... :-\ Lottie

[Derekthefox]

Lottie, your butternut crop looks impressive, I am going to try cobnut (better suited to the UK climate) next year, assuming I can get the seed from HDRA at Ryton ...

They also have the tomatillo seeds, and that aubergine you mentioned ... so I will have a little shopping list. It is ideal for me, as my daughter's stables is only a mile or so down the road ...

Derekthefox :D

[wardy]

Oh thanks Lots - you're so kind  :)

[Diana]

I didn't get one butternut  :(

Me neither Wardy. Oh well, will try again next year - think I need to get them out earlier, prob under cover at first as they seemed to take a long time to take off + then it was too late

[wardy]

I grew mine with lots of competition so maybe that was the problem.  I put mine in manure with sweetcorn, runner and french beans with a butternut at each end.  Got masses of foliage though  :)

[kentishchloe]

Ooh Lottie, your butternuts are short & squat like mine - i'm so pleased, i was feeling inferior when i saw other people long, elegant jobs. Glad mine are fat & happy - like me ;D (I only got 6 though :()