One of my centercut tromboncino was an off type and made fruit like this. If it tastes good I will save seed, who knows what will grow next year! I have 4 or 5 like this.
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Squashes (and melons) of all types were a total bust here this year. I waded through the forest of 8 ft tall Johnsongrass in the bottom of the garden where most of my squash and watermelons were planted, earlier this week⌠I abandoned that section fairly early, when almost none grew. Found a couple of butternut types(I had planted both Waltham and South Anna), and a couple of small green somethings that I donât necessarily recognize.
But⌠have one âvolunteerâ that popped up here at the back porch, thatâs run all over the back yard, producing several huge delicata-looking squash. Iâd tried growing delicata several times before, and they always lacked vigor, and produced very few, small squash⌠color me unimpressed⌠but if this one tastes good, Iâll probably save seeds and plant them next year to see what the next generation looks like!
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I have been unimpressed with delicata, too. Low vigor and honestly not that tasty.
What variety is that? It has the shape of a butternut but it is not growing as a vine.
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Was gifted seeds of âSouth Anna Butternutâ (âWaltham Butternutâ X âSeminole Pumpkinâ)âso trialed those this year. Impressed by performance so farâa very productive, disease-tolerant squash. Too early to make any definite statementsâthey may, after all, sweeten up and improve in storageâbut the non-stringy texture and flavor are so far better than âCherokee Tanâ (a durable native moschata, very similar to the Seminole Pumpkin which went into this cross), but somewhat inferior to W.B. Itâs not something Iâd complain about eating over the winter: especially if times get hard.
And thatâs where I think this one has potentialâas a survival/lean times squashâsomething thatâll pump out decent, nutritious food with very little input. If it stores about as well as its Seminole parent, itâll be a real winner.
Two words of warning: extreme vigor! I planted six hills in one of our gardensâand South Anna ate the whole thing! Weâre talking 40â+ vines here! South Anna needs room. Itâd be right at home in a cornfield.
This is not really a stable cultivarâmore of a population; the fruits are quite diverse. Many look just like butternuts, some are more globular like the Seminole. And a few take on weirder forms: sausages, torpedoes, or fat barbells. Some are light tanâlike a butternutâwhile others are orange-ish with green striping.
Here are some I picked recently. This represents less than a quarter of the overall harvest.
Not bad considering that after planting them and giving them a little fertilizer I left them to their own devices all season. No spraying, no care whatsoever.
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Finished them up. The best we ate are these a few days ago. They are incredibly good if harvested when they are 6 inches.
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Squash & melons both were pretty much a bust here. Not a single summer squash lived long enough to make a fruit. Planted a half-dozen or more different winter squash varieties, but ended up with less than a dozen total fruits⌠looks like a couple of South Anna butternuts, a few Seminole pumpkin, and a couple of Mrs. Amerson squash.
But! I had a volunteer squash pop up at the hydrangea next to the steps at my back porch that we allowed to run⌠it produced 16 Delicata-looking squash averaging a little over 5 lbs each. On previous attempts at purposely growing Delicata squash, Iâve rarely had a vine produce more than a couple of small fruits, usually less than a pound!
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those look like candystick delicata and if so youâll love them
Oh, but they only LOOK like a Delicata; everything else about them is âSpaghettiiâ squash - theyâre hard as a rock and take twice as long to cook as a typical Spaghetti squash. And, I mean really hard - gave one to the next door neighbor⌠she told me she had to take it out to the woodpile and chop it in half with a hatchet.
Delicata and Spaghetti are both C.pepo, and in last yearâs garden, I had Honeyboat and Spaghetti growing in close proximity to one another, so the seed this vine grew from would have been from a discarded seed⌠probably from a spaghetti squash âmotherâ, as the delicatas were singularly unproductive.
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Can you tell me anything about this? Canât find anything on Google.
@ampersand Woodreyâs Sweet Potato Squash was my best squash this year. We had a 1 month period of no rain which made my other squash struggle (I did not water when the rain barrels were empty). Woodreyâs took a long time to fruit, but when it did, it went crazy. The vines were incredibly long relative to the mochata and maxima varieties I grew. This may be standard info for a Cushaw-type squash, but it was my first successful growth of a mixta/angiosperma type.
I made a pumpkin pie with it for Thanksgiving and it turned out very nice. I also roasted some squash last weekend and it was really good. The color of the flesh is greenish yellow, not the dark orange that one might expect (odd for pumpkin pie).
So the only downside is if you have limited space to grow these mosters.
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I canât remember if I checked back here. As Iâve mentioned elsewhere, I had some health stuff flare up over the summer and we also had an awful drought - so my first year gardening at the new house was a bust. The varieties I grew at home: âSoncaâ butternut, âBlack Futsuâ, and âLower Salmon Riverâ.
This is the first year âSoncaâ didnât take off - which was heartbreaking. (They are, in my opinion, just the best if you like a really moist and rich butternut squash!) Both âLower Salmon Riverâ and âBlack Futsuâ were fairly productive despite my neglect and low precipitation. I didnât enjoy âBlack Futsuâ really but âLower Salmon Riverâ was alright - it definitely needs to be roasted to bring out the fullness of its flavor. I think I prefer âBitterroot Buttercupâ and will go back to growing that next year.
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We grew Sweet Fall squash. They are very good, sweet and rich flavored. Hubby likes them because they get EATENâŚand all the way to the thin rind.
They made great pies at Thanksgiving, also muffins and pumpkin pancakes. They also get eaten with just butter and salt.
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