I popped over to the plot today on returning from holiday - (hope everyone's had a great week or so, with lots of harvesting!) - to find that my pumpkins/squashes have died back very dramatically. I was looking disconsolately at the mess - with five pumpkins/squashes marooned in the middle - when kind neighbours (who'd been watering for me) came along and assured me that all was basically as it should be. They recommended leaving the 'halloween' three to keep ripening but to harvest the oval green/ yellow ones. Presumably I should carry on watering the 'halloween' plants as I don't want them til October! Or should I lift and store? Leaving them on site would be easier, though they're very hard to look at now that the leaves aren't all green and luxuriant (they were the healthiest looking things I'd got :( )
Just came back of hol myself mine are just the same don't know why but they are changing colour.
I would be inclined to follow your neighbours advice, it sounds all pretty normal to me, although my pumpkin foliage is still green. If you try and store the pumpkins now, they may suffer as not ripe. As for the summer squashes, well just enjoy them!
We had squash last night at our allotment barbecue which had to be switched from the lotty due to torrential rain. This was a celebration of our lotty harvest and to coincide with national lotty week which our society didn't mark in any way so we thought we should. We, being an in bloom group with a lotty or three)
The squash was pre cooked a bit to soften it and then roasted with shallots and fennel. Lovely :)
We shall leave most of them on the plot til October time as we don't think they're ready yet. We just wanted some to try and eat at our get together.
The lotty produced a vast amount of stuff for our party. :)
I have the opposite problem, my plants are like triffids,taking over. there are some small,smooth yellow ones on the plants, when do I harvest them, do i wait for them to go orange?
keeley
Do you know what variety then are? If so, you can check on seed packet about harvesting time etc
Thanks every one. The large halloween ones aren't due to harvest til late September/October, according to the pack (I guess depending on when you planted them) so it seems like a long time to just nurse them along. Maybe with lots of watering the plants may recover a little.
ellkebe, my squash plants always start to die back around now - new foliage is still green but the older stuff is dry and powdery and lloks a sight so I usually whip it off and compost. Last year, I grew several squash and by the end of September, there were few leaves left, just the squash, sitting there on their tiles, ripening away on these vast, leafless stems, 10 m long.
That's a relief to hear Campanula :) Do you think mine will be okay ripening on the fabric they've been grown through, or should I be looking to raise them on to something?
They'll probably be ok on the fabric as long as they're not sitting in pools of water (your fabric should be porous so will prob be ok) . I have reclined some of my better specimens on plates or plastic lids, cardboard box or whatever, just to keep them off damp ground. I tried turning one of mine last night so the skin was evenly exposed to fresh air but it came off in my hand so must have been ready :) It's sunbathing at the moment but I think by tea time it will be soup :)
I have plenty of flowers on my Jack 'o lantern but only one squash. Do I let nture take its course or do I have to help with pollination in someway?
Helen