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Nov 2023
10:20am, 10 Nov 2023
11,754 posts
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Fragile Do Not Bend
I picked the last of my green tomatoes this week. The plants I had in pots next to the west-facing wall were still looking healthy, but the last couple of cold nights is now finishing them off.
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Nov 2023
9:58pm, 14 Nov 2023
22,351 posts
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Columba
No frost here yet, and this is high ground in mid-Wales. Hard to believe.
I have two daleks, and one of them has spent the year on top of a raised bed. (the dalek being round, and the bed square, I grew a courgette plant in each corner). My hope is that I shall lift the dalek and there will be lots of lovely compost, already in situ in the raised bed. More likely, a lot of mixed stuff will tumble out, and some of it have to be removed and added to the other dalek.
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Nov 2023
10:09pm, 14 Nov 2023
66,300 posts
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Velociraptor
That's a good practical plan, Columba 
Nearly all the creepy-crawlies have disappeared from my daleks since I rearranged them. I assume they'll be back in the spring if the compost is to their taste.
I impulse-bought a load of ranunculus roots yesterday. Having looked more closely at how to raise them, I think I might be asking Dad if he wants a project for his greenhouse.
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Nov 2023
5:36pm, 26 Nov 2023
3,311 posts
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cackleberry
Hi all, I am feeling ambitious and have saved the seeds from my (supermarket) butternut squash.
How do I now turn them into new plants? I understand it is possible, but they will not look like butternut squash as they are hybrids.
Please be as basic as possible as I am SHIT at gardening but wish I liked it more!
We don't have a greenhouse anymore, but I have a cold frame and a sheltered, reasonably sunny garden.
(In my imagination, I have a small holding and grow mostly everything I need, but in reality I would probably starve to death...)
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Nov 2023
6:41pm, 26 Nov 2023
4,933 posts
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Elsie Too
My experience with butternut squash was that loads grew from my compost. I left 2 to see what they would do. Both grew and I got 2 decent sized butternut squashes but they didn’t fully ripen on the plant, I harvested them before the first frost and left on a windowsill but not much more ripening happened. I’m hoping to find time to cook them soon, hoping for the best.
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Nov 2023
7:40pm, 26 Nov 2023
115,194 posts
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Hanneke
Butternut squashes need a long season to ripen in my experience. I have to bring them on early in the greenhouse but they are tender, so can't go out until mid May, by which time they are taking over the greenhouse!
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Nov 2023
7:48pm, 26 Nov 2023
3,312 posts
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cackleberry
Ok, so can I leave the seeds on damp kitchen paper to germinate?
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Nov 2023
7:53pm, 26 Nov 2023
115,196 posts
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Hanneke
Cackle, seed saving from cucurbits, especially shop bought ones, is risky: they cross pollinate really easily and the hybrid fruits can give you serious gastric issues. And I mean: serious! So I don't seed save from them. You don't want to put your effort into something that then isn't going to produce food for the winter!
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Nov 2023
8:01pm, 26 Nov 2023
3,313 posts
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cackleberry
Ah, don't need gut-rot!
I'll save my effort for something else.
I tried butternut squash a year or so ago, out of 8 seeds, one germinated and got to about 1.5 inches high, then died. That was out of a proper bought packet. That is how 'good' at gardening I am...
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Nov 2023
8:09pm, 26 Nov 2023
115,200 posts
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Hanneke
Butternut squash isn't that easy!
Try Trimboncino squashes: eaten young they are tastier than courgettes and when left to mature store well and are similar to butternut squash. Very easy to grow. I climb mine so they take up less space too.
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