What types of pumpkin and squash did you grow this year?

[Henwoman]

This year I grew Walthams Butternut Squash and got 26 fruits altogether. I also grew the usual large pumpkin which people carve for Halloween, can't remember the name of that, but only got one pumpkin from four plants. I like the look of pumpkin Invincible which has a steely grey flesh - has anyone ever grown that one?

I use the butternut squash as a roasted veggie, but also each week I make a soup with a butternut squash, parsnips, carrots, onions and garlic blended with chicken stock and a bit of pili pili to spice it up. What squashes or pumpkins would you recommend for soups and if anyone has any spare seeds they'd like to offer then I would be very grateful. I can send an sae for my daughter's address in Cornwall.

[happyhippy]

Hi Henwoman,I grew pumpkins this year but unfortunately can't for the life of me recall what the name was?I had a great crop too and will be making some soup tomorrow for lunch.One of my pumpkins grew huge as well,still in storage as we speak.I love growing them.Within a week you can see the growth,then in no time the flowers appear,and before you know,its harvest time!I will definately grow some next year,but will keep a diary so will recall what type all my veg are!

[demi]

butternut, my favorate!

[Zech]

I can't remember what type they were, but the slugs got them all, and the courgettes too

[Odsox]

I grew Uchiki Kuri (thanks to Graham ) and butternut this year.
Uchiki Kuri which is like Potimaron for the flavour and butternut to keep until the spring and beyond.
I can't seem to keep potimarrons for so long, butternuts on the other hand will keep until the next year's are ready.

[Millymollymandy]

Potimarrons for roasting every time and soup and curry and anything else where you want it to hold its shape, plus they are far more savoury than Butternut. Butternuts go mushy and are IMO only for pumpkin pie or anything else sweet where you need pulp.

Potimarrons are by far the easiest squash to grow and just self seed with gay abandon in my veg patch as they are pretty hardy. You will find them very easy to buy in France.

I can't keep butternuts very long Odsox! I find either they all last for months or they both go off very quickly. But then butternuts can be frozen as puree to make pies and cakes and that'll still be good 2 years on.

I don't recommend Jack Be Little as whilst you get a huge amount of little pretty pumpkins from just one plant, it is rampant and will swamp your veg patch and they have taken 3 months on a sunny windowsill to ripen, and are only any good roasted in their skin as you can't peel it!

The only other kind of pumpkin I have grown have been the big halloween kinds and I've never managed to get one to ripen up.

[Bowlander]

I got all my seeds from T&M -

Black Beauty courgettes/marrows - very productive this year (cold and wet, no sun)
butternut squash - a quick maturing variety Harrier? - didn't even set a fruit
Petit-pans scallop mixed - really good, only the white ones seemed to come though. Delicious.
Pumpkin - Jack of all trades - got 2 huge fruits from 1 plant- still in storage.

[Odsox]

Squash.jpg (80.36 KiB) Viewed 5392 times

I also grow Harrier purely because it's the only bush variety I've found and is relatively well behaved.
Mine didn't do too well this year either, I think I got 5 from the one plant, where I got a dozen from one Uchiki Kuri (we've already eaten 3).
Also allowed one courgette to grow into a full blown marrow and made marrow and ginger jam from it.

MMM, just out of shot to the left of the picture is a long skinny butternut like last year's, funny how some of them do that with me ... and that's a new (replacement) packet of seeds). We ate our final remaining last year's butternut after I had harvested this year's, but potimarrons always start to rot as the weather warms in the spring ... presumably when the seeds should sprout if left to it's own devices.

[Millymollymandy]

Generally both sorts would all be rotting by spring here and I've already thrown one potimarron away which was a bit premature and suprising but I've got a butternut starting to go off already. Have chucked a number of Jack be Littles too - now interestingly they are all in an unheated room whereas the ones in the hot (from wood burner) living room are fine.

Sometimes when I've put pumpkins on a shelf in our cellar (cum mud room) they have rotted quicker there than on a sunny windowsill in a warm room. It's all rather hit and miss as to how long they last here - can't figure it out myself - wonder whether the humidity has something to do with it - but then we have higher humidity with our wood burner on than we would have with central heating (much nicer) But I always have way too many so it's not really a problem.

I am doing my Xmas decs today and was wondering how I could combine my 'halloween' display with the decs - right - just chuck some tinsel over them!

I wonder what causes your long butternuts Tony? And (oops ) given your cool humid summer weather, how you manage to get a good crop and others in the UK don't? Are they outside or in the polytunnel?

By the way I'm buying more potimarron seed next year because I think after years of letting them self seed I need to 'start' again with fresh stock as the plants seemed to really struggle this year and didn't produce very well and with the warm dry spring I would have expected the opposite (they were well watered).

[red]

not been very successful at butternut over the years

we grow crown prince now - they store really well and roast etc like butternut

[Henwoman]

Lovely photos Oddsox and Red. I have ordered the usual butternut and large pumpkins seeds and added Crown Prince which look lovely. I may not have finished, as I eat so many now that there may be room for another sort. The photo Oddsox was of the Harrier was it?

[Ellendra]

I planted several varieties, but something got to most of them. The ones that grew are the zucchetta rampicante, which is sort of a multi-purpose vining squash, excellent as both zucchini and as a winter squash, and a pumpkin variety descended from the Snack Face hybrid. I'm trying to breed that to an open-pollinated type while keeping the naked seeds, sweet stringless flesh, and tiny size. I've found heirloom pumpkins with one or two of those features, but not all of them, so I'm having a go at making my own heirloom.

[Millymollymandy]

Try potimarrons!!!!!

[Odsox]

The photo Oddsox was of the Harrier was it?

Yes, I grow that variety because it is sort of a bush variety that doesn't wander everywhere.
But ... I've grown them for 4 years now and the first two were perfect, last year however one plant produced long snakey things
See .. http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/ ... 12&t=20720
This year I had the same problem, but not quite so bad, so if you grow some be prepared for oddities.

[Henwoman]

Really weird butternut squashes! What was the result of your complaint to the seed company, Odsox? I think I'll stick to my Walthams butternuts which produced well and normal squashes.