Squash. We have leaves, what now?

[Wombat]

Onya Kevin! thats great

Nev

[ina]

A couple of my butternuts have come up, too - that was the third try!

Actually, I'm wondering why we don't have Queensland Blue here... Even if it's too cold outside, they should do ok in the polytunnel. I'll have to see if somebody sells the seeds here - if not, we'll have to take you up on that offer, Nev!

[ina]

A bit of googling found a supplier:

http://www.edwintucker.com/Seeds/seeds%20index.htm

(Actually, they have a lot of nice stuff - organic and non-organic; I've already made a list of NINE more things I "need" - where on earth am I going to plant all that!!! And when!!!)

[Olive]

I always put my butternuts on a sheet of wet kitchen towel then put under the sink - dark cupboard and they usually sprout within a week or so... Then i pot up. So far so good.

jsut need the lotty now!

[ina]

I now have Queensland Blue seeds - keep fingers crossed that something germinates!

[Olive]

Ina - when is the latest you can sow the Q Blues???? How many seeds did you get in a packet?

[hedgewizard]

S'funny - I planted two varieties of squash (and planted them again after my first lot got smashed to bits in this lovely weather we've been having). Both times kabocha came up in 2 days, but sweet monk took over a week! And they were all last year's seeds too...

[ina]

Ina - when is the latest you can sow the Q Blues????

I have no idea. But as it is still so bloody freezing here anyway, it wouldn't grow even if it were out now. So I've put some seeds in little pots on my radiator, in the hope they'll germinate, and if they do, I'll plant them in large containers in the polytunnel.
There were 10 seeds in a pack - £1.10 OR £1.20, I think. Link see above.

Has anybody ever grown Twonga? That's another blueish squash, smaller, and suitable for growing up on a trellis (according to the catalogue). I've been trying for the past two months to get them to germinate, but they won't!

[Olive]

Have you tried putting them on some kitchen paper on a dish - put cling film over and then put in a warm dark cupboard???

Thats what i would do to get them going and then pot up.

[Stonehead]

Cucumbers, squashes, marrows and pumpkins are among the few things we pop in an electric propagator.

If we had more sunshine, then the window ledges would be warm enough to germinate them reliably but that seems to rarely be the case in the Scottish spring and summer!

Anyway, I put my first batch of seeds in the propagator at the end of April (all the hardier varities), then move them to the cold frame at the end of May and plant out around mid-June into large piles of compost with manure underneath to keep them warm.

I then put the second batch of seeds in the propagator at the end of May, move them out to the cold frame towards mid-June and then plant out at the end of June.

I find almost all the varieties germinate very quickly. I put seeds in the propagator on Tuesday and most have sprouted already (courgettes - Partenon F1, pumpkin - Atlantic Giant, Rouge vif d Etampes and Tom Fox, and cucumber - Klaro F1).

The varieties that are outside in the cold frame are strong and vigorous despite the cold weather. I can't remember the names and can't be bothered going downstairs to get my garden diary...

Last year, we had more courgettes than we could eat (still have about three chopped ones in the freezer) and a fair amount of squashes and pumpkins (there would have been more if not for rats and mice). We had enough cucumbers to make a half a dozen large jars of bread and butter pickles, which is enough for me and pretty good for an outside crop up here.

Stonehead

[ina]

What temperature has your propagator? I've tried just about everything... I've got the radiator on in the kitchen, just for the seeds. It's between 16 and 19 degree C where they are (ok, the radiator is only on very low. The seeds are sitting on the radiator; maybe it's not good enoiugh for them to be heated from below? And yes - the rest of the house is bloody freezing - but it's May and I don't heat the house in May!!!). And they are wrapped in plastic, too. Well, I've got most of them germinated by now, except the Twonga and the Queensland Blue, which I only put in yesterday. (And yes, they were soaked for a day beforehand, too.)

Mind you, it does say on the Twonga pack "sow outside". However, it should still germinate inside, even if maybe they don't like being transplanted!

[Stonehead]

What temperature has your propagator? I've tried just about everything... I've got the radiator on in the kitchen, just for the seeds. It's between 16 and 19 degree C where they are (ok, the radiator is only on very low. The seeds are sitting on the radiator; maybe it's not good enoiugh for them to be heated from below? And yes - the rest of the house is bloody freezing - but it's May and I don't heat the house in May!!!). And they are wrapped in plastic, too. Well, I've got most of them germinated by now, except the Twonga and the Queensland Blue, which I only put in yesterday. (And yes, they were soaked for a day beforehand, too.)

Mind you, it does say on the Twonga pack "sow outside". However, it should still germinate inside, even if maybe they don't like being transplanted!

The small propagator is set at 15C and used for tomatoes; the big one is set at 18C and is for the squashes, pumpkins, marrows and cucumbers.

With the tomatoes, I open the vents as soon as the shoots come through and once there's about four or five leaves I remove the lid althogether. They seem to do best with warm roots and cooler leaves.

With the pumpkins etc, I gradually open the vents until there are four good sized leaves that are fully open. Then they move to the cold frame. They seem to do best with warm roots, warm leaves and a fair bit of humidity.

And I know what you mean about a freezing house in May. We try to rely on our solar hot way from May through to September, but have had to run the boiler most days this week to get enough hot water. We've even put the heating back on tonight - we were already wearing multiple layers but with no sun on the granite walls during the day it gets a wee bit chilly after a few days.

Stonehead

PS If you have a hot bed or hot compost heap, plant your pumpkins straight into that but be warned - you may find yourself overwhelmed by triffid sized plants!

[ina]

Thanks - so the temperature seems to be ok. I've got the feeling that I just have a dud batch of seeds! The butternut was from a shop bought squash, which may, of course, not have been 100% mature. And everything else has now germinated...

I always plant some of them onto the compost that I've just turned - that keeps them nice and warm. The courgettes will go into the tunnel this year; they are a variety that is self pollinating - or whatever you call them - particularly suited for indoors growing! And the rest will get a good heap of muck underneath. Plenty of that around.

[Cheezy]

Bloody put out my Butternut's two weeks ago (a little early I admit), an half of them have been absolutly decimated by slugs.

And when I only put out two (for space reasons) thats pretty devistating.

Now growing some replacement in the green house.

Wouldn't mind but I gave my first lot of spares away after I had planted!

[Olive]

I didnt even plant mine outside - i just put the pots out and within days the leaves were eaten!!!! Luckily i have loads of spares growin but i darent put em out unti they have more leaves... then i'm planting them in black mesh and will put somthing around to stop the little blighters!

I have so many different squashes growing - turks turban, patty pans, zucchini, butternut, buttercups, spagetti squash and others - gosh i think thats my lotty taken up as they need 1.5 m between them LOL