So far, my favorites are butternut, buttercup and acorn. All have great flavor and texture when roasted.

Acorn is generally served as a half squash per serving, which is nice but not so convenient to cook or eat as a large dish full made from one or two butternuts or buttercups.

I bake the butternuts or buttercups whole, so as not to injure myself cutting them in half while they are hard. Then pull off the skin, scoop out the seeds, mash the flesh with lots of butter and season with S&P. Delicious!

Jim

If I had to pick ONE variety from the list, for me it would be blue hubbard, preferably the big, warty New England strain. I like the texture of them, the flavor, and the size, although they're not all that productive. My second choice would be delicata or sweet dumpling -- they're pretty much the same, in my book.

I tried to cut into a blue hubbard one year on Thanksgiving -- it was so hard, no knife I had in the house would go into. I finally gave up, put it in a garbage bag, and threw it up in the air off my front porch, so it would come crashing down on the concrete below and break into pieces, which it did -- took 2 or 3 tosses to get all of the pieces small enough to fit into my pans.

There is an Italian heirloom, Maria di Chiogga, that makes great pies - the only drawback is that the amount of material in one fruit is pretty staggering. The vines get pretty big as well.

I like to grow two hybrids from Johnny's - Confection and ChaCha. Each is the size of a slightly deflated volleyball; dense, really good flavor, and they'll keep all winter. I still have half a dozen from last fall. One squash makes an excellent pie.

The best pies are made after the squash has cured for a few months, IMHO.

If you like butternut and acorn squash why not grow those two. They are different species and you should be able to save pure seed, provided you don't have neighbors growing something else.

George

For me, acorn squash don't tend to vine a lot and don' require as much space as a lot of other squash.

For best taste, I would plant some buttercup and hubbard, then cross the hubbard onto the buttercup when blooming and save the seeds for next year. I had this cross by accident and it produces a squash for me that is bigger than the standard buttercup, smaller than a hubbard, looks like a buttercup, and better tasting than either of the parents. It gets even better each time the squash is reheated to eat--seems to carmelize the sugars so it tastes like it is already richly buttered and covered in brown sugar & nothing needs adding to enhance the flavor. It does like to spread, more like a hubbard, though, and takes a lot of room.

If you only want to plant one of the varieties you have, try a hubbard. Delicata types are small and would take a lot more to make pie filling.

On the other hand, if just want them for single meals, the smaller types would be handier if you're the only one liking squash.

Sweet Dumpling is VERY productive for me. The vines are long, but they produce a lot of fruit. If you are trying to save seed you can always bag and hand pollinate an early blossom. Personally, I have always found saving squash seed from common types to be more trouble than it's worth.

I would be careful with Hubbards because they are so attractive to insects. See PDF below on Hubbards used for as trap crops in work done at UMASS.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hubbards as trap crops

If you insist on growning only one variety, delicata would be my choice from the list, they are certianly not huge but often reach good size, delicious and prolific. i have to agree with Zachslc, saving squash seeds is a bit of a gamble, but still interesting experiment.

BC, I have grown Hubbards in the past with no problems (well the norm for most squashes) True they are not as productive but then 2 50+ lbsers was all me and my kids needed for the winter. As far as cutting them thats where my battery operated sawsall came in handy...lol. I do like the texture and flavor of the hubbard as well. But then maybe i just got lucky with not having a major pest problem.

Mark

If your husband likes acorn squashes, I would vote for putting in a couple of plants of a good acorn, like the one below or bushy Table Gold, which is said to also be good as a summer squash. Why not help your husband appreciate the time you spend gardening?

If you're going to save seeds, you could still plant a C. moschata such as a butternut and/or a C. maxima like hubbard, banana or buttercup. If you're not saving seed, any of the varieties above would be fine. But acorns and other C. pepo squashes will also cross with summer squashes, so be careful about saving seed if you're growing summer squashes too. I personally like the butternut family, as it does better in the heat here. And they are resistant to vine borers for those in the East. There are a couple of compact butternut varieties if space is a real issue.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gill's Golden Pippin acorn

The more this thread goes on, the more confused I get as to which to grow! I think I will grow butternuts near the deck but still haven't decided what will go in the actual garden yet. I'm leaning towards Sweet Dumpling or Buttercups, but that could change!

Booberry, I also live in NY and we have a lot of problems with the squash vine borers which others above have mentioned. Butternut are resistant to it and also taste delicious, so I would definitely start with that. We grew sweet dumplings and delicata one year, and while both are yummy, both vines also got attacked, and we spent way too much time digging worms out of them and throwing dirt over them and yadda yadda. Not worth it! I'm not sure what other types are resistant but I'd go for those!

Booberry
If interested I would be glad to send you some seeds for Adapazari Squash. We've never had trouble growing them.
Jim

This post has gotten me interested in planting winter squash this spring/summer - which is not normally part of the garden plan. I've noted that there are several bush type varieties from which to choose. But for the vining types, is this somthing that one would trellis or not trellis? What are your experiences?

Grandad, my garden is fenced in. So, I usually plant vining type veggies near the fence. One year I grew spaghetti squash. It grew up and over the fence and into the yard!

Jim, I'd love to take you up on your offer for the seeds! Please email me.

Jayco, at the risk of cursing myself, I've never had troubles with squash vine borers. Lots of other pests but never them.

Maybe I'll just grow a different squash along each side of the fence! It'll make for some interesting crosses right?!

Jim, I have never heard of Adapazari Squash, where can i get a photo and description of that type of winter squash? Is it prolific (heavy producer)?

Thanks
Mark

A good fence should stand up to the smaller-fruited varieties like Acorn, Sweet Dumpling, Delicata, etc. A heavy support might do for some of the larger varieties of squash.

I've grown the trombocino vining summer squashes (C. moschata) on a fence with laganeria edible gourds, and imagined having them grow on an arbor overhead, with squash "trombones" and gourd "baseball bats" hanging down. They overtook some pole beans and provided some shade for them. I got a few surprise beans in our very hot weather, when most pole beans have long since stopped producing. Don't know that I'm ready to try putting a big Tahitian squash on an arbor, but I think it cuts down on disease problems.

Mark
Go back to the page listing all the posts,scroll down to the bottom of the page and enter Adapazari Squash in the Search block. Click all forums,I don't remember if its listed in the vegetable or Heirloom Forum. You will see several threads. One of them will have a photo of Bob Beer in a marketplace with a couple of smaller- medium size squash on the table. Bob is an American from Iowa living in Turkey and is the gentleman who sent me the seeds.
Jim

If you scroll down to RuthieG's post, she has a link to a picture of Adapazari squash.

Here is a link that might be useful: Squash Expert Info Needed

Jim thanks for the info. You said you grew it last year? How long did it take to maturity? Kinda looks like a cross between a hubbard and a pumpkin. Is there a seed company that sells it, id like to try it this year.

mark

Mark
I've grown it for three years. I may be the only source of seed so if you send me a PM with your address I'll send you some. Don't worry about the postage. I have a couple hundred seeds left and have literally sent thousands countrywide. Each Squash has anout 600-800 seeds. As for maturity I'm not certain. We plant in late April/early May and harvest them before the first frost in November. We pick them and put them in a dry dark room until we need them. I'm the Pie Maker in the family and this Squash makes wonderful Pies. I will never eat a Pumpkin Pie as long as I have this Squash. In a message I sent to Booberry this Squash has an extremely tough Skin/rind, even the Racoons give up when trying to open it. We use a hand saw to open it by sawing between the ridges. A knife doesn't work safely. The flesh inside is firm and sweet. This is a large plant and will usually produce one large as a couple small Squash per plant. The Mr's uses the smaller squash for soups.

Jim, Thanks for the offer of seed for it, just sent an e-mail to you with my address. Any special instructions or tips?

Thanks Again
Mark

I'm a huge fan of butternut squash. I usually go with Waltham. For me they are very prolific and store well. Last year I harvested close to 20 lbs per vine. I had enough for pies, breads, puddings, soups, side dishes and more. To be honest, I was happy to see the end of them come March. I can hardly wait until next fall's harvest.

Some of my butternuts and acorns, as well as a pie pumpkin and a lone Jack O'lantern pumpkin, are mocking me from the basement, calling out -- use me, use me, cook me, bake me, do SOMETHING with me before I rot. Alas, I haven't used very many of them this year. And, I still have some in the freezer I put up in the fall. Perhaps it's time to cook up the whole batch and freeze them, too.

OK Denn, I'll confess, I kept 2 for seed stock. I finished the rest off by cooking them in March. I froze some and made the rest into breads that are in the freezer. Nothing quite like a slice for breakfast when it's too hot to bake come summer. :^)

Jim,
Just letting you know the seeds came in. Thanks for the Adapazari Squash seed and the Insuk Wang Kong Runner Bean seed. I see why they said on the other thread about a hyrnea from the seeds. Just prepared a bed for both seeds, will let you know how it go's.

Mark

Bringing this thread back to life for one more question...Are the butternut squash self-supporting or must they have a sling?

I planted my butternuts in a bad location last year. They were right in the middle of the garden. The plants send out a couple of long (12ft?) runner vines. So I was hopping over vines in part of my garden. I plan on planting them near the deck this year which has a railing. Hopefully they'll grow up the railing. If so, then I think they'd need a sling.

grandad,
It has been my experence that the butternut squash itself can get alittle on the heavy side, so if you are trellising them I would suggest slings for them. If you get alot of fruit set they are liable to pull the plants off the trellis.

I might chip in here with a suggestion if you end up with lottza squash and are running out of ideas, or if they're starting to go off. We make a 'fruit leather' thats delicious. Basically, scoop out seeds and do something else with them, cook squash, cool, take out of rind and food process with the juice of a couple of limes. Pour resulting squash slurry on plastic sheets / wax paper and dry in a food dehydrator. The lime flavor really comes through.

We've tried spicing it up as one would a pumpkin pie, but the drying process removes all the spice flavor. Still, there's gotta be a way....

Gardenman, A gardening friend of mine had mentioned that he grows cucuzza on a trellis and that it can get rather large (4 lbs or so). He said that they are self supporting. So I was hopeful that butternut squash might also be self supporting. However, I do note that some butternut varieties can get upt to 8 lbs. Is there ANY butternut or buttercup variety that can be trellised and which does not need helpful support on the trellis? (I am also planting a couple of the bush winter varieties, including buttercup, and was thinking possibly? of attempting a few of the trellis types also - hence my question. i.e. it's one of those many year-in-year-out "gardening experiments".)

Gandad,
Yes burpees, has a butternut squash that is not only earl but the squash only weighs 2 1/2 Lbs. That might do. I tried regular butternut on a trellis/netting and the weight of the fruit pretty much pulled the vine down to the ground. Just my experence though.