Kitchen Garden Forum

Further to the promiscuity, I have just cleared my squash plot, damp and sluggy conditions with rotting vegetation led me to worry about the fruits.

I found the following oddities.

Two magnificent butternuts, completely ripe and gorgeous, except for the split running the entire length.

An upside down butternut, perfect shape and ripeness, just the bulge was at the stem end.

What would have been a fine pair of Crown Prince, except they had grown in the middle of one of the pallets used to weigh down the carpet mulch. That is between the top and bottom layes of slats. Still that pallet was a little rotten.

I hope to weigh and tally up tomorrow but have around thirty good sized (4Kg) squash for the winter, mostly Crown Prince. This is somewhat down on previous years.

Butternut have not done well this year, despite being the UK specific strains.

I've had that problem with the split squashes last year Peter on basic UK varieties of butternut. I reckon it's a lot of water suddenly after the skin has started to set. They stored for a while and we just used them up first.

Sue

They are destined for the freezer tomorrow.

Well mostly, some is going into something rich and stewey with a sliced potato top.

Hi Sue,
It was 'dirty little devils ' last year and I wonder what the result would be if you saved some seed this year and grew a couple of plants next year!!
JB.

I have what I think is a butternut squash growing in the garden. Just the one on the whole plant. I wouldn't mind but it was supposed to be a marrow
I know I'm knew to all this but even I can tell the difference. just not sure how or why it happened. I assume a stray seed got put in the wrong packet?

My second attempt at Butternut squash has done better this year in open ground on a new lasagne bed I started this spring. But despite it making a load of fruitlets, none so far have grown into biggies, they got to about apple size, then shrivelled up! I've got another three now that look as though they are growing on; why so late? Don't they like the hot dry weather we had earlier?

Zena - Is the fruit on your plant a pale yellow colour or is it the shape of a butternut squash but green & white striped? My experience of this family of plants (marrows & winter squashes) is that they can be very naughty and do all kinds of transformation tricks to themselves. I had one self-sown squash plant this summer (presumbably from seeds of a Crown Prince (greeny blue skin) or an Onion Squash (bright orange skin). It has produced two enormous long green striped fruit which look very much like a marrow but they are far thicker and heavier than ever a marrow would be. So I'm assuming its some kind of squash which has "transmoggified" itself. In your case either a stray seed has got into the wrong packet or some bees have possibly cross polinated and something strange has happened. Do you have anybody else growing marrows nearby? You will probably have to wait until you pick and eat it to find out. If it's a squash, the flesh will generally be more dense than a marrow, sweeter, and will probably contain less moisture.

Hi Primrose,
If you read my posting earlier the transmogrifying went on last year as the seeds for this years shenanigans are in the fruit you are picking this year.
JB.

I've just cooked half of one of the mutant squashes and they taste OK, but big cavity in the centre full of pith and seeds, so yield not as good as it seemed Unimpressed with Franchi if they are the ones that let the crossing happen. Thanks for the info Johnboy - think I'll stick to UK seed companies next year

Sue

Hi Primrose -
it's pale yellow/cream and the shape of a butternut!
Don't know of anyone growing marrows near by, but it's not the sort of street where you talk to your neighbour, so who knows!

I'll wait till it's a bit bigger and then cook it and see what happens