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cab

Butternut squash and courgettes?

I ought to be okay putting these in the same bed, as long as I'm not planning on saving the seeds, oughtn't I? I impulse-bought two lovely little butternut squash plants, think they were 70p each or something like that, at lunch time.
tahir

No probs as long as the bed's bg enough
cab

tahir wrote:
No probs as long as the bed's bg enough


Should be. How much room do you normally give butternut squash? Three feet ought to be enough?
tahir

They'll go as big (virtually) as you let them, the only restrictions being nutrient and water availability, you can stop 'em by pinching out though
cab

Cheers Tahir; I'll give them a wee bit more space than that then. Never grown squashes before, so I'm quite excited. How many squashes do you I allow per plant?
judith

I find I either get too many or none. So I just plant as many as I have space for!
tahir

I'm pretty poor on space, nutrients and watering so depending on variety I only allow about 3 butternut sized ones on a plant, but FJ had a huge crop last year, she's probably still inundated.
cab

My manure pile is right next to where I'm planting them; nutrients aren't a problem, but watering may be. I'll be ambitious and go for lots Smile

Judith, you're not the only one to sometimes fail with these. I think I got three courgettes and a pumpkin from my plants in the garden last year. Not enough light in our garden, hence the allotment.

Cheers guys!
judith

Last year really was awful on the curcubit front - only enough gherkins to fill one jar Crying or Very sad, squashes had only just flowered when the season ended and there were barely enough courgettes for a meal once a week.

This year has got to be better. I've already gone for overkill with my own sowing, then this morning a neighbour came round with two marrows and two butternut squash plants Very Happy.
Here's hoping for a glut!
Bugs

We had an unexpectedly good year for squashes last year (for us) but courgettes were appalling...I think we got a couple of meals and that was it.

Before coming on here I've just hacked our last Marina di Chioggia in to lumps and put it ready to bake with some potato wedges (sadly those are courtesy of Mr Morrison Sad )
JonO

I read on my squash plant seed packet last year that there great for kids as there very hardy and take very little time/effort to grow.

It amazed me when I killed 4 out of 6 of them !! Hopefully my fingers are greener this year !
bernie-woman

I had fantastic success with courgettes last year both green and yellow and found that I was able to pick about 3lb of them each week for about 4 weeks after which it went down a little.

I ahve tried growing in the ground and gro-bags and have to say that last years success was down to having them in grow bags and then in trays which were almost constantly full of water
judith

bernie wrote:
I ahve tried growing in the ground and gro-bags and have to say that last years success was down to having them in grow bags and then in trays which were almost constantly full of water


You seem to have bucked the trend for a lousy courgette crop last year. Did you plant one courgette per grow bag? Did you have to feed them much? Sorry to fire questions at you, I'm just determined to have some more courgettes this year!
bernie-woman

Judith

I planted two plants per gro bag - fed them weekly with tomato food once they had started cropping - but as I said in my earlier post, the thing that makes the difference is the trays which the gro bags are in (cost 2.99 from garden centre a couple of years ago), therefore the plants are never without water.

When I planted them in the ground in the garden - I could never get enough water onto them and the slugs had a field day with them

Inetrestingly I ahve a couple too many plants this year and I am going to put them in pots to see how they do as well as the gro bags

Hope you have better luck this year Laughing Laughing
Deedee

I grew my courgettes in pots last year due to lack of space (as always) and a building site for a garden Laughing (things aren't much better this year)They gave me the best crop I ever had!Very strange as I would have thought it would restrict their growth..Have decided to do the same this year I am also trying squash (butternut) for the first time and plan to grow them upwards *she says crossing fingers* I had some great feedback on an earlier thread regarding what support the would need.
judith

I'd always assumed that they needed loads of space too - that is interesting that they do well confined. As you say Bernie, it must be the water that is the crucial factor.

I can feel an experiment coming on ...
tawny owl

I grew butternut last year, and just two plants filled a whole 4 x 10 ft bed - I couldn't believe the size of them; Triffids weren't even close! This year, I'm planning to move totally to the square foot method, and one of the sites I visited suggested growing things like this (squashes, melons, marrows, cucumbers) up a strong trellis instead. They suggest making a trellis, with extra-long legs, and then sinking pieces of metal pipe into the ground at the end of each bed, and dropping the legs of the trellis into the pipe (like a rotary washing line). The trellis can then be moved onto a new bed following the usual rotation if necessary.
Blacksmith

Going to give it a try as well, Need support for them, old orange net bags ?
See growing up thread below
Dave
Blue Sky

Judith wrote:
bernie wrote:
I ahve tried growing in the ground and gro-bags and have to say that last years success was down to having them in grow bags and then in trays which were almost constantly full of water


You seem to have bucked the trend for a lousy courgette crop last year. Did you plant one courgette per grow bag? Did you have to feed them much? Sorry to fire questions at you, I'm just determined to have some more courgettes this year!


We had ruddy loads of 'em last year and considering we don't really eat the stuff we were overwhelmed. Sorry to say that most of 'em went on the compost heap.

We stuck our seed straight in the ground - unfortunately between rows of other veggies (not realising how much space they would take up). I later transplanted them to their own plot but like I already said - we had far too many to eat.
tawny owl

Blacksmith wrote:
Going to give it a try as well, Need support for them, old orange net bags?


Thanks for mentioning that thread - hadn't seen it, so useful info.

Yes, I think so. I've been onto a number of websites, mostly American, as it's much more widely grown there, and they all seem to advocate leaving them on the plant till the first frosts, by which time plant will become brittle, so sounds like will definitely need support! Usual stuff recommended; the bags, old tights (or pan - ny hose), old J-cloths; basically anything strong and stretchy that won't cut into the vines.

BTW, on the lines of conservation, I read somewhere that Oxfam have to dump loads of stuff every year, because it's too grotty to be sold, and it costs them a fortune in skip fees. Includes items such as underwear and tights, as deemed too unhygienic to sell. Am planning to check with local charity shop to see if can nab some of these - hardly wear tights myself, so this would be useful, and imagine old bras might well make very good melon supports!

Tawny
judith

tawny owl wrote:
and imagine old bras might well make very good melon supports!


Laughing Laughing Laughing
tahir

Jock straps might work too Shocked
Deedee

In old bra's eh?? Shocked My neighbours daughter is a glamour model well known for her 'assets' I might be able to grow my pumpkins skywards in that case Laughing Laughing Laughing
cab

I really don't know what my elderly allotment neighbour would make of a feisty pair of butternuts being treated like a weighty pair of bristols. I got enough disapproving glances for audaciously ignoring his advice and having a bash at growing celery (I'm apparently doomed to failure).

Yeah, think I'll give that a go. I'll be seeing a friend of mine in a week or two who had a reduction , I wonder whether she's kept her old bras, and whether she'll believe me if I give her my reasons for wanting them...
Bugs

It would be so much more fun if you just ask her, and don't give a reason.
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