pumpkins/squashes

[lubeyblue]

Hello....

I wondered if anyone had any suggestions which types of pumpkins/squashes I might try this year. I had zero success with my butternut/mammoth varieties last year. I have a clay soil, windy ++ site but plenty of space... Have worked in lots of manure over the last couple months but still a wet soil. Last year my plants were like bonsai versions of the real thing, really clipped and pathetic.

Anyway, wondered if it was just a crap year or whether there are varieties people have found more successful in these conditions. Ps I live in Devon so theoretically warmer?? Look forward to some wisdom

Lucy.

[Annpan]

You should plant your squashes in manure, not in soil, actually straight into a big hole filled with manure, a big bucket full for each plant (in my limited experience) I grew courgettes fantastically well that way last year, and I plan to use the same method to grow more in the future.

[Helsbells]

I have a very wet allotment, but had no trouble growing vegetable spaghetti (a lovely type of squash), and crown prince punpkin which is a lovely blue punpkin with orange flesh.
I had no sucess with butternut though.

[Enormous Sage]

Mine just grew a bit and then went rotten last year. I have the same windy site / heavy clay soil issue. Courgettes do the same.
I've decided to just grow things that I (now) know will work in my soil instead of banging my head against the proverbial wall!

[Annpan]

My butternuts were started too late and rotted in the ground around October but my courgettes were started earlier and kept us in, our neighbours and our friends in courgettes for a good few months.

[Millymollymandy]

Possibly it was the damp summer you had in the UK, but then again I grew them successfully in 2007 when we had a wet summer. Can't say it's heat they need either because the last 2 summers here the temp has never gone over 30C and has been very cloudy and each year they grew rather too successfully for me.

I'm not growing them this year cos I am sick of them!

[Odsox]

Possibly it was the damp summer you had in the UK, but then again I grew them successfully in 2007 when we had a wet summer. Can't say it's heat they need either because the last 2 summers here the temp has never gone over 30C and has been very cloudy and each year they grew rather too successfully for me.

I'm not growing them this year cos I am sick of them!

Sorry to briefly hijack your post Lubey.
MMM, I believe you grew Potimarrons ?
Can you tell me if they really do taste of chestnuts ?
I love butternuts but I only have room to grow one type (hopefully) successfully .. last year I tried potimarrons in a less than ideal spot and they repaid me by producing 3 squashes about the size of chestnuts, not even big enough for a taste.
So, I'm toying with the idea of trying Pottis at the expense of butternuts this year, what do you think ?

[Millymollymandy]

Yes they are a sort of cross between sweet pumpkin taste and a chestnutty taste. Not a true chestnut taste but very different from butternuts - slightly more savoury.

They are by far the best for roasting (the sweet taste comes through more then) and they hold their shape more for things like curry/casserole where I find that butternut turns to mush very quickly.

They are well worth trying to see if you like them. Must say I didn't like soup made from them but the OH loved it. Also I got about 11 large fruit from 2 plants!

[Odsox]

Thanks for that, I will go ahead and try to grow them properly this year.
I absolutely love roast, boiled or raw chestnuts and that's what attracted me to them .. no chestnut trees in the west of Ireland

[MuddyWitch]

I garden on heavy clay here in Leicester, too, but my veg patch is quite shelted. I always start my courgettes off in pots in the poly tunnel and I don't plant 'em out till late May or early June. I usually build a sort of crater for them, so that any watering I do only gets to their roots & not all over the place. I put about a bucket of home-made compost in each planting hole.

Last year half of my plants just rotted, too. I think the very wet Summer was more to blame than anything-else. I still harvested a few courgettes from the remaining plants, but they weren't strong enough to give me one marrow each as I normally let them do, at the end of the season.

Variety? No idea! Sorry, but we had a lovely marrow given to us three years ago & saved seed each year. As we have no seed this time 'round I'm going to try the F1 "green bush" that my neighbour gave me.

Will let you know how I get on.

MW

[Jandra]

I'm on heavy clay too and have had good results with Hokkaido type pumpkins (uchiki kuri). The need less warmth than the butternut types, I believe.

Good luck,
Jandra

edit: they do need LOTS of manure or compost, though!

[pumpy]

You should plant your squashes in manure, not in soil, actually straight into a big hole filled with manure, a big bucket full for each plant (in my limited experience) I grew courgettes fantastically well that way last year, and I plan to use the same method to grow more in the future.

Hi Annpan, more information please. I grew squashes,courgettes,etc last summer with reasonable results. But this manure thing...... would horse manure be o.k.?......... & would it need to be well matured, or would fresh manure be o.k., as we have a unlimited supply nearby. Thanks in advance>

[Annpan]

I used fresh horse manure (and the reason I did so was that I had read it here)

Dig a hole a spades width by a spades width and a spades depth (does that make sense) fill it full of fresh manure and plant your squash in the middle. Leaving a dent in the middle so that when you water the water goes straight to the roots also helps.

I only grew courgettes last year for the first time, I got a very good crop from only 3 plants.... sadly with just a small freezer, we had to throw some out... even giving them to friends and family I had too many

[pumpy]

Thanks for that Ann Pan, i'll give that a go this year.

[JustinFun]

Last year we had a go at butternut (only 1 undersized fruit), pumpkin (only one per plant but they were absolutely enormous!), summer lightening (only one per plant, and they were as tiny as they are meant to be).

However the star of the show was Turk's Turban which rambled all over the place produced loads of fruit about 10" across. They look fantastic, and taste good too - more potatoey that pumpkin, and make a really good mash. What's more they fit in our microwave so we just prick them and then cook them that way - easy! We've saved seeds and are definitely growing them next year.

All our plants were in beds with plenty of recently dug in but very well rotted horse manure.