Hi Finchy.
Skins, you can eat them ..if you can eat them, at first I do and as they get harder I don't. Often I cook the slices with the skins on then take the flesh off the skin as I eat it, rather like eating amelon, that way you don't waste anything as you would with peeling first.
Leave them on the vime until it dies off if you can, pull them if you get a frost though, they can get nourishment even from a dying vine, Ideally left on the ground they will cure. I wll add apicture at the end showing a field waiting to be harvested and you will see the vines have gone.
Small pumpkins, yes you can eat the small ones, even if tiny , but bear in mind most pumpkins don,t have the same flavour as the squash. Hundrecweight is one I would grow for decoration not for eating, I grow others for food, but you can definately eat them,they just won't be as sweet.
Spaghetti is a winter, but it doesn't store as well as some of the others, you should get 3 months from it though without a problem.
Once it passes the fingernail test it will store, but bear in mind that the skins get harder in storage so you may get afew that do leave an indentation a bit bat first, just keep an eye on them and use them first.
When you pick them. leave a good length of stalk on them, this ensures there is no break near the top and they store better,but don't use it as a handle.
Wipe them down with a very mild solution of bleach in water, this will kill off any mildew they may have picked up from the dying vines.Dry them thoroughy and store not touching each other in a cool but frostfree place, not on aconcrete floor.Mine are stored on slatted racks.
Check them regularly while in store , if you find one with a soft spot, cut that part out and use the rest straight away.
The very small ones, I cook whole,usually baked in the oven or steamed and I usually eat the lot, skin and seeds, or halve them , scoop out the seeds if you wish, small dollop of butter and microwave.
Hope this helps.
XX Jeannine
