Storage of butternut squashes and pumpkins.

[cookie]

Barrie has just returned from the lottie loaded down with a large assortment of pumpkins and squashes. We are going away for ten days on Monday, so he thought it would be a good idea to pick them. How is the best way to  let them finish ripening? would they be o.k on a windowsill? should they be left outside? or should we just have left them on the plant? How long will they keep once ripe? We have never grown these before, don't know what variety they are, just kept some  ;)seeds from one es we ate

[cookie]

[saddad]

If you can rely on good weather they are best left out in the sun... but as most of us don't live in California I put mine on the staging in the Poly for a while then into a frost free shed... we lost a Crown Prince in the mess in the shed and it was just starting to rot when we found it in August! As you don't know your varieties just keep checking them for mould say once a week, or process some into the freezer as slop for soups and or pumpkin pie/cakes...
;D

[supersprout]

Assorted tips for storing squash here cookie:
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,72/topic,15825.0
:)