My squash fruits

[Tora]

I had to show off my squash! I'm very pleased with them. 8)

Tokyo Kabocha grown from one of seeds my Japanese friend gave me. I had two plants and one survived.
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z274/HiromiArkless/6ca9cd01.jpg

Marina di Chioggia. Only one fruit is shown in the pic but I have two plants and lots of young fruits. One plant is grown from Biscombe's seed and the other is from Kate's.
http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z274/HiromiArkless/925880f7.jpg

Can't wait to taste them!!! :D

[Tora]

[tricia]

Totally envious  :). So far I have 1 very small ripe pumpkin - Becky, 6 Rolet Little Gem, 1 small Sweet Dumpling and two unknowns. Even the plants my friend is growing in his garden aren't producing. We are so disappointed. Last year we had 15 Butternut fruit which lasted pretty well all winter and 7 pumpkins which I used for pies and soups. If you save some seeds Tora - I'd love a few please.

Tricia

[Tora]

Hi tricia, I hand-pollinated some fruits and hopefully they will ripen fully. I will gladly send you some seeds of both varieties when they are ready. Will PM you when ready. Please remind me if I don't. ;)

This year I had a large number of seedlings to start with including Sweet Dumpling, Crown Prince, Butternut etc. but only Tokyo Kabocha and Marina di Chioggia survived. I blame the weather and slugs! I can't wait for next season already. Someone should have told me growing squash is addictive... I'm thiking of growing less tomatoes next year and more squash instead ;D

[Biscombe]

Looking good Tora!!

[Tora]

Thank you! I'm thrilled with them. They are the first thing I check on when I get to the allotment. :D
Are you growing Marina di Chioggia this year? I'm surprised how strong the plants are and also slugs left them alone even when they were still small. They keep growing and producing a good number of female flowers. The only thing I'm worried about now is vandals. One of my fellow allotmenteers had his pumpkins smashed to pieces last year. :-\

[cambourne7]

hi tora,

I am down to my last pumpkin as the rest have been damaged.

Yours look ace :-)

Cambourne7

[ellkebe]

The Tokyo Kabocha looks beautiful Tora - is the plant much of a sprawler? And have you eaten them before?

[Tora]

Thanks Cambourne7. :) I'm very chuffed especially after the last year when I got only one edible fruit (butternut). :D I'm really sorry about the vandalism. :-\ I hope you will get lots of ripe squash next year. Vandalism is a great concern at my allotment too. Quite worried about it myself.

Ellkebe, thank you. :) Tokyo Kabocha is definitely a sprawler but not as vigorous as Marina di Chioggia, which is incredibly strong. Good thing about it is that it started to produce female flowers very early. It had a large number of female flowers and has set about 4 fruits. I've never eaten Tokyo Kabocha but I've tasted similar varieties (green skinned ones) when I was in Japan. It's supposed to be dense (flourly) and sweet.

I thought F1 varieties are supposed to perform better but all F1s I had died... I think I'll stick to good old open-pollinated varieties from now on.  ;D