Topic: No butternut squash

[oakmore2]

Yikes! You've got your work cut out now! Don't worry, was only joking about taking a 6 week break. The suspense of not knowing what was/wasn't growing would kill me wnayway so would never manage it!!  ;D ;D

Good luck with the clear up operation, I'm sure you'll have it shipshape in no time, and think of all those veggie surprises lurking amongst the growth!!

xx

[thifasmom]

thanks for the info, and sorry if i offended you earlier :-[. but besides the bumper butternut squashes and pumpkins and don't forget weeds ;). did you have any other successes and were there any failures. i saw you netted your brassicus plants were they all safe, some people were hit pretty bad with the caterpillars while you weren't here.

when i went away on a 4wk holiday a few years go, i used the cheap landscape fabric that would just last a season to help keep down the weeds down with good effect. but i suppose you could also use cardboard or some other deep mulch which should also help to conserve moisture if the summer turns out to be hot and dry (well we can always dream :)).

at least with all the rain the weeds should come up fairly easily.

[Plot69]

You didn't offend me at all, your comment just reminded me of Monty Python.

There were both successes and failures. I picked 12 pounds of tomatoes with treble that amount overripe, split and fallen. Loads more yet to find.

Most of my French climbing beans both green and purple are too large and stringy to eat so I've lost most of them, same with my runners. I'll save the seed though. And yes, caterpillars have decimated all my brassicas except my sprouts and some PSB.

Got enough onions to last till next year and spring onions as big as golf balls. Sweet corn is perfect, couldn't have timed it better if I'd have been there all the time. Froze a few dozen of those as I left them too long last year.

Beetroot has done really well and parsnips! Well I've had a bumper year for parsnips. Got enough to satisfy my sniffing addiction for years. (Some people sniff glue, I could sit and sniff a parsnip all day).

Turnips and swedes are a big disappointment. There maybe a few edible ones but I think white fly got the best of them.

I've got courgettes the size of marrows  ::) and quite a few pati pans, although I have no idea what to do with them.

I've had to buy another chest freezer to help cope with it all which is what it's all about really. I got enough jam, soft fruit and crumble to last so all in all I'm pleased with this years crop.

Oh, forgot the potatoes... The Charlotte  are great and the PFA's are fabulous, should be enough of those to last well past Xmas.

There's a few things I'm going to do different next year but I suspect most people's plots and methods evolve over the years. I just hope the bloody rain stops so I can go and get on with it.

[BAK]

Caroline7758,

I am not proffering the following as the way to do it, merely giving my experience. I have been growing them for 5 years ...

variety Avalon F1 (I tried Harrier as well last year but they failed)

seed sown mid April on window ledge

planting stations - dig a small hole (1 spade wide x 1 spade long x 1.5 spades deep) ... put a good heaped fork of manure in the hole put soil back on top, adding a pinch of sulphate of potash)

12 plants put out mid May (at about 3 feet apart they are too close together really)

I have not watered them (once they were established) or fed them.

I currently have 32 fruits of varying sizes, the largest (about 5 or 6 of them) are probably about 75% the size of the one in plot69's photo. There were more fruits but they rotted while still quite small.

In my favour - I am in Berks, so a bit further south than you.

A good summer helps enormously - 2006 when the temperature was up in mid 30Cs for a while was a bumper year.

Hope that this helps.
 

[shirlton]

I had loads of flowers on my butternut but no fruit so I went around pinching all the ends of the runner and bingo they are fruiting. ??????

[thifasmom]

You didn't offend me at all, your comment just reminded me of Monty Python.

Most of my French climbing beans both green and purple are too large and stringy to eat so I've lost most of them, same with my runners. I'll save the seed though.

I've got courgettes the size of marrows  ::) and quite a few pati pans, although I have no idea what to do with them.

There's a few things I'm going to do different next year but I suspect most people's plots and methods evolve over the years. I just hope the bloody rain stops so I can go and get on with it.

Glad to here i didn't offend it so easy to do so on the WWW. i also left my beans on to long this year and found that while to big and tough to stirfry, etc they make great stews so you can try that and if there is to much it can also freeze till a very cold winters day :).
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,44914.msg449319.html#msg449319

i know when i lived in the west indies and had to much pumpkin and didnot want the excess to spoil i would cut it up into pieces i liked to add to stews etc and freeze, i would then add it to what ever i was cooking in the last 10 - 15 minutes, it would hold its shape and texture perfectly, you could try this with the patty pans i really love their flavour. also i suppose you could also make tons of squash and courgettes soups for those cold winter nights again, why not add the good parts of the damaged root vegetables to your soups for the freezer. of course there are tons of storing recipes out there so I'm sure you will be very busy.

the rain is also slowing me down too, but when you get out there have fun harvesting. :D

[manicscousers]

we had 16lbs of different beans gone too far, I've podded and frozen the beans so I can add them to soups and stews  :)
forgot, we didn't do butternuts this year, used some seed from a saved squash, got 12 in all...I'll try butternuts again next year  :)

[flowergirl]

NEWS FLASH....I read this thread last week because I too had no butternuts...BUT gone to the lottie this morning.....only 5 blumming butternuts!!! can't believe it!!

Is it too late to expect them to mature?  1 is about 6 inch long, the others about 4 inch.

Am i getting a bit giddy for nothing or do you think they will grow enough to be edible?

[amphibian]

NEWS FLASH....I read this thread last week because I too had no butternuts...BUT gone to the lottie this morning.....only 5 blumming butternuts!!! can't believe it!!

Is it too late to expect them to mature?  1 is about 6 inch long, the others about 4 inch.

Am i getting a bit giddy for nothing or do you think they will grow enough to be edible?

I'm in the same boat, let's just hope for a mild, drier autumn....

[Jeannine]

It has been the worst possible year for Butternuts this year so any harvest is a bonus. poor things have had everything they hate and  very little of what they like XX Jeannine

[Robert_Brenchley]

Mine were OK till I planted them out. After that they just sulked and did nothing. My mistake was to underplant some BB's that were due to come out not long after. The only squashes which did anything at all this year were the ones in full sun.

[Plot69]

Well not wishing to brag or rub salt into anyones wounds but I picked these today...




I still have a dozen or so left to pick.

[cornykev]

Very nice Plot 69, mine are about the size of a large pear.  :(   ???      ;D ;D ;D

[twinkletoes]

ooww wow plot69 they're brill ................QUICK pass me a bib someone - I'm dribbling.............
twinkletoes

[Plot69]

Very nice Plot 69, mine are about the size of a large pear. 

Nothing wrong with that, I like a nice large pair  ::)

[Bean_Queen]

My Harrier butternuts are doing OK - they're a good size, not ripening very quickly but they'll make a dinner.

You need some of the cool-climate varieties, esp up north. Something like Harrier or Hawk.  Even then, they do need more sun and warmth than we've had for the last two years.  My best crop was in 2005.

I can't work out how to post a photo on here, but you can see them on that other website: www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine