My favorite summer squash is the white patty pans.

Honestly, I think they all taste pretty much alike (maybe the yellow crooknecks have more flavor), but I like grilled squash and the white patty pans are the best for grilling.

The tastiest winter squash is the one I'm trying to resurrect from my old seed -- the one I'm calling Wautaga Pie Pumpkin (unless someone ID's the variety for me).

But I have a number of new varieties in my garden this year so who knows what I'll be saying come November. :-D

When you can post pictures of that Wautaga Pie Pumpkin I'd love to see them. I'm growing out a NC squash, from Rodger Winn, also a member of GW. It's called "Old Timey Cornfield Pumpkin." It throws a number of different shaped fruit. Anyway, I'm hand pollinating to maintain pure seed. This one is very impressive for its EXTREME VIGOR. Six vines are taking over one of my medium sized gardens! It shows heat and drought resistance. Haven't had a pest on it either.

My wife keeps commenting, "I sure hope it tastes good!"

Oh, I like all the summer squash and mostly grow Dolma Kabak, a vining summer squash from Turkey. This year, however, it hasn't produced. We're having lots of problems with heat and drought. On top of that, I planted Dolma Kabak too close to an Ash tree and apparently it is suffering from the competition.

Our favorite winter squash is called the Warsaw Buff Pie Pumpkin. It's like a large, variable shaped butternut. I don't believe there's any difference between it and a Waltham Butternut, in flavor or texture. But it's an heirloom we've maintained since 1985.

George
Tahlequah, OK

I have pictures of the plant in my thread -- its a lovely thing with beautifully silver-laced leaved.

I'm hoping that some of the vines will soon start setting fruit and I'll be adding pictures to my thread as I get them.

My Watauga Pie Pumpkin is definitely some type of moschata. I'm sure of that much.

I am in love with Small Wonder. It's a spaghetti squash and I got the seeds from Parks. I've already harvested 4 fruits from 2-3 different vines (it's hard to tell at this point) and there are plenty more on it. The squashes are small (2 lbs), and they can climb without the fruits needed extra support. They're SO YUMMY.

This is my first year growing zucchetta rampicante tromboncino squash (yes, that's quite a mouthful) and I'm really happy with it. The taste and texture is similar to zucchinis but a bit different and I love the unique shape and color. Plus, the vine is healthier and happier than anything else in the garden right now! And I understand it can be left on the vine to become a winter squash. Haven't gotten there yet.

We also have a dark green patty pan (cymling) squash that was labeled a yellow crookneck. I don't know what variety it is but I do know there's one similar called Starship. This one is darker green than Starship so it's a mystery squash. It's very good sliced and sauted in oil.

My all time favorite is still the old fashioned yellow crookneck squash. I like it prepared with potatoes and onions, sliced and lightly sauted with olive oil, or brushed with melted butter or olive oil and grilled. Very good no matter how you cook it and raw in salads, too.

Sandy

I planted several different kinds of squash this year to deterine which kind we liked the best and which was the best keeper. I planted hubbard, a golden buttercup, butternut, nutty delica, acorn and Hopi pale gray. The Hopi pale gray didn't come up but I have some fresh seed from this year to plant again next spring. We have tried the hubbard, buttercup and acorn before and found them to be similar in taste and texture. The buttercup have a softer rind for easier peeling but also don't keep as long.

The female flowers started to open last week and I have been hand polinating them to try to keep the seed pure. Should I also be typing up the flowers after hand polinating? The flowers that I polinated were closed up the next day and growing fruit.

This hand polinating is so exiciting! I did that! Gardening can be very rewarding. I know...it can be frustrating too. My luffahs have no flowers at all and I started them early indoors. The butternut have no flowers open yet either, just tight little buds :-(

I'm going to post to my bog with a squash comparison in late fall, when they are all ready.

Here is a link that might be useful: My garden blog