Can anybody give me some advice on saving Butternut squash seeds. This is the first year I've grown any (from plants I bought) and the seeds are so expensive (£3 for 5 from the Eden Project on holiday!!).
I've also just been given some butternuts - can I save seed from any of those or do I have to leave one of the ones I'm growing on the plant and retrieve seeds from that at a later date?
The problem is that squashes cross with one another so they don't breed true unless you take precautions. Bag the female flower, and hand-pollinate. Or get seed from somewhere with better prices; that was a ripoff. Try http://www.realseeds.co.uk/ . If you look at the 'winter squash' page there's some advice on seed saving there.
http://www.alanromans.com/prodtype.asp?PT_ID=223&strPageHistory=cat (http://www.alanromans.com/prodtype.asp?PT_ID=223&strPageHistory=cat)
50p here for 15 seeds
Thanks to both of you. I think I'll experiment with saving seed but buy next years seed from the companies you mentioned.