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If you like butternut squash....

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If you like butternut squash.... Empty If you like butternut squash....

Post by stevegwmonkseaton Thu Mar 06, 2014 9:48 pm

If you like butter-nut squash. We had 5-6 left before we went to the UK in November, so we hung them in the cantina in nets (like potato nets). We half expected they would be mush on the floor, but just used one tonight and it was superb....
We also planted garlic, onions, fennel, broccoli and cauliflower late September and apart from the broccoli, which we missed, all the rest is in fine condition... We understand from friends that a few weeks ago the broccoli was also in fine condition.... Just it had went to seed by the time we came back.  Smile  Smile  Smile

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Post by Flip Fri Mar 07, 2014 11:58 am

I have tried without success in trying to grow B-NS several times, don't know what I'm doing wrong. Maybe soil, drainage. exposure not sure so any tips Steve?
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Post by stevegwmonkseaton Fri Mar 07, 2014 2:02 pm

Flip wrote:I have tried without success in trying to grow B-NS several times, don't know what I'm doing wrong. Maybe soil, drainage. exposure not sure so any tips Steve?

Well at a guess I would say you did not get any fruit developing? Sure you will know all the basics; sunny spot, lots of space (we had 1.5m between plants and a 1m square bed each), very greedy feeders, so need good soil and feeding (so they say, don't think we did...), water at base and NOT over leaves. I prefer to plant by making a small hill for the latter, so the water will run off. Saying all that the year before last we too had Nothing! This year I did 2 things differently. First off I pollinated by hand using a small paint brush (cotton bud does) ans secondly I stopped the plant at about 2-3m in length by nipping out the growing tip. The latter was due to a friend, who does not have a clue about growing veg, chopping his because it was too big for the area he had allocated... I also nipped a few side shoots once fruit had formed and was developing. However I'm pretty sure it was the pollination that did the trick as I've read so many tips about it in so many places. Also last year there was a long period where we had a lack of bees and the leaf cover on the plants did not lend itself to the bees and other  pollinators finding the flowers. They reckon you get about 6 squash per plant and I would say that was about what we had from our 4-5 plants...

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Post by Flip Fri Mar 07, 2014 2:13 pm

Thanks Steve. Yeah no fruit appeared at all, but then again our soil is very clayey and I ended up using some liquid fertiliser to help out. May try and dig in some peat/compost to try and enrich the soil, also because our land is terraced the drinage is sometimes a problem.
Don't really have a problem attracting bees as a neighbour has several hives so they are always about.
 sunny
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Post by stevegwmonkseaton Fri Mar 07, 2014 6:50 pm

Flip wrote:Thanks Steve. Yeah no fruit appeared at all, but then again our soil is very clayey and I ended up using some liquid fertiliser to help out. May try and dig in some peat/compost to try and enrich the soil, also because our land is terraced the drinage is sometimes a problem. Don't really have a problem attracting bees as a neighbour has several hives so they are always about. sunny

Think most of Italy must have clay soil, as do we.... The second hand petrol mower is one of our best buys ever, use it on 2 sides of our land (about a football pitch size and steep). For part of this early on in the year, when there was a lot of thick clover about, we put the box on the mower and composted the cuttings, it made excellent compost!
Had a look around and found where I really got the idea to stop the plant HERE What he says makes sense, so you might want to try both or each on different plants.... Even on a terraced plot build a small hill/slope (3-4") and plant the Squash in the middle (I plant 2 seeds and cut one off if both grow, never pull out). This make drainage a lot better... Good luck!

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Post by stevegwmonkseaton Sun Mar 01, 2015 3:45 pm

Thought I would update this one to advise on this year(s) squash and a couple of other products left from last year. As a kind of one off (big pain) we went back to the UK in September and have just returned a few days ago. We left around 10 squash hanging in their spud bags again, along with onions and garlic we had not used due to an earlier than expected return to the UK. Well all but one small squash survived, along with 3 strings of onions (brown skin) and 2 strings of garlic. So worth planting a few extra to see you through the winter if you are here.

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Post by ghiro Mon Mar 02, 2015 10:34 pm

I was force-fed Butternut Squash once.  Yuuuuuuck! Sad Sad
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Post by stevegwmonkseaton Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:55 am

ghiro wrote:I was force-fed Butternut Squash once.  Yuuuuuuck! Sad Sad

My OH is always force-feeding me different things, I normally get to like them - I have to! Laughing  Sliced with skin still on and roasted with lots of chillies and sage is my favourite. Cover it with foil for 10-20 mins to get skin soft, then another 20 or so without until a little bit brown surrounds appear, superb on its own and with lots of other things...

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