Butternut Squash

deniseduck

Hi, everyone.
I recently bought a butternut squash at the supermarket and have saved the seeds. Do you think it will be worth trying to grow it? I have a container 30cm deep and 30cm round, do you think it will be big enough? I tried looking online but the advice given on different sites varies such a lot, I'm confused.
Thanks

ALIBOBSY

I think most squashes are quite promiscuous so if you save seeds you might not get what the parent plant was and if they were F1 hybrids originally they may be sterile so won't produce fruit. But as you have no way of knowing how they were grown-may have been under cover and/or only BNS around and they may have been F1 or may not and even then sometimes they will grow it may be worth a shot as an experiment.

BTW they are nice roasted in the oven, crunchy and tasty and good for you, I like to wizz them up and add to breakfast muffins yum yum.

If you decide to give it a go they do take a long growing season, and they do get quite big, we are growing butterboy this year good luck.

Ali x

foxgloves

It's worth a go, but they can be fussy about growing in our climate in my experience, so it depends what the summer's like this year. Agree with previous post that the seeds may not come true & could revert to other squashes in their parentage. If I'm sowing butternut, I wait till beginning of May & sow in pots in greenhouse then plant out in garden when the weather's warmer. They spread a long way so need lots of room & I've never managed to get more than 2 squashes from one plant, so I tend to buy them rather than grow them. Having said that, I have got a free packet of seeds this year so am going to have another go & hope for sunshine!

ALIBOBSY

Funnily enough mine are a free pack of seeds I got last year and didn't use lol.

I usually stick these bigger type squashes in under taller plants and overhanging the paths between the beds. Once you have a few fruits up and growing you can cut them back to limit the size a bit.

We have the fruit bushes in a bed at the front of the house as it gets constant sun and intend to mulch/feed with a mix of homemade compost and rotted down chicken manure and I have wondering if we could get away with sticking a squash or 2 in opposite corners of this bed. It will have plenty of feed and could wend its way nicely under the bushes, but not sure if they would over compete with each other. Still you don't know until you try lol.

Ali x