You may want to consider trombocino. It is both a summer squash and a winter squash. Seeds may be difficult to get.

What I like about the tromboncino is its versatility; I usually use some as summer squash and save the last few for winter squash. It is definitely a sprawler. Two vines produce endlessly but take up twenty square feet of space. But the flavor is rather bland. Some of the hubbard squash varieties are nicer for taste.

Honeynut Mini-Butternut squash!

Delicious!!

I am growing only Bush Delicata this year. It has always performed well for me. But it does get mildew like most squash.

I know that what I'm about to type may be of no help in choosing squash varieties but I used to grow butternut and acorn types pretty successfully years ago, not stupendous production for the space taken up but they were a good storage veggie for winter eating. Since I like eating orange colored food that is sweet I switched over to sweet potatoes. Both veggies gobble up garden space but my sweet potato harvest was at least double or triple the winter squash production (by bulk).

Digging the sweet potatoes is a pain but the plants have few pests if any (other than a local groundhog) as compared to squash and the SPs last longer in storage. We're still eating on last year's SPs with several weeks to go and I know that even a butternut wouldn't last that long either eatingwise or in storage time.

But that being said, several interesting suggestions above, may have to give it another shot ;-) Happy Harvest!

Japanese kabocha! Seeds available from Kitazawa or Johnny's. If you're counting on collecting seeds make sure you don't let different squashes cross pollinate and that they are not hybrids. If you do, your next crop will be a motley collection of not so great oddities in my experience.

I have a squash field this year. I am worry about the cross pollination. How can you avoid that short of planting them far apart from each other?

Far apart means a minimum of a quarter mile. The easiest way is to bag the blossom and hand pollinate the specimen from which you wish to save seed.

I was surprised to see the word collection in my post above highlighted. I clicked on it and it's an obnoxious ad! Can Houzz prevent this?

Cross pollination is only a problem in squash and pumpkins, if one saves one's own seed. This year's fruit type is set by the seed one plants this year. I prefer Butterbush butternuts, both for the convenient fruit size and the small size of the vines, since I live alone and have limited growing space. Mildew is a problem, however, but since it is a butternut, squash borers aren't. There has been quite a bit of work done with the butternuts breeding new mildew resistant varieties, which are usually hybrids though. If you have the space, you might try the Seminole pumpkins. I hear they run to long vines, though. One of the butternut species, they do not have squash borer problems, and being from Florida might be more mildew resistant than more northern strains.

Kabocha is a fantastic type of winter squash. I had a major problem with mildew but last year made it a point to only grow varieties advertised to be resistant to PM -- made a major difference. I had a bumper crop of "Sunshine" kabocha last year. This variety is sweeter and moister than the typical kabocha, the flesh of which tends to be on the dry side (I like them both).

Thank you.

What do people think about Sweet Dumpling Squash?

My butternut squash and any other squash/gourd I would grow is going to be a few feet away from each other. Does this mean that if I plant two types of squash even heirlooms would cross pollinate and make the seeds not true to their parent?

I have had Rampicante or something that looked like it. It wasn't something I liked. Regular squash tastes much better for me.

Sweet Dumpling is a very tasty variety, if not large, rivaling if not surpassing the best butternuts and even a lot of sweet potatoes for baking, soups and pies. It is susceptible to squash borer while butternuts are quite resistant.

All of the American 4 species of domesticated squash/pumpkins will cross pollinate, and in many cases very easily both within and across species. It makes no difference whether it is an heirloom or not. You must either have a significant distance between varieties like perhaps a quarter mile, or protect specific female blossoms from all pollination except what you hand carry. All randomly pollinated fruits, although they are what the mother vine type calls for will carry hybridized seeds, at times from several different pollen parents if there are several nearby. The insect pollinators do not discriminate between varieties.

The white flowered gourds are an entirely different type and will generally not cross pollinate with the yellow flowered American squash/pumpkin group. The confusion over gourds stems from the fact that many of the decorative yellow flowered squash/pumpkin group are also often called gourds and treated like them. Those will cross pollinate with eating squash almost indiscriminately.

Thanks. I am leaning towards planting the Waltham Butternut and Sweet dumpling squash. Based on what you are saying they would cross-pollinate. My best bet is to not save the seeds from this year's crop and buy new seeds yearly?

While Waltham butternut (C .moschata) and Sweet Dumpling (C. pepo) will not cross, they can still be cross pollinated by like species growing with the range of foraging bees. Sakata has developed a process for inter-species crossing, but the only variety released to U.S. markets is Tetsukabuto. (C. maxima x moschata) https://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/squash/winter-squash/tetsukabuto-f1-hubbard-squash-seed-3578.html

Ditto Farmerdill's comments. Even if you grow squash from two different species (such as Waltham & Sweet Dumpling), there is still a high degree of crossing possible - from other varieties in the same species, grown by your neighbors. Squash flowers have high-quality pollen, and bees will fly great distances to feed on it.

This is particularly true of the C. pepo varieties (such as Sweet Dumpling) because many other varieties in that species are popular... including virtually all summer squash (with the exception of Tromboncino), spaghetti squash, acorn squash, most pumpkins, and warted gourds.

As a frame of reference, I grew Ebony Acorn some years back, in a rural location, with no other C. pepo squash. There were no other gardens within 1/2 mile. When I planted the saved seed the next year, there was fairly heavy crossing, about 25-30%; a pumpkin & a yellow zucchini were the probable parents.

I didnt think about other people growing stuff that could cross pollinate. Most people do not grow anything in my neighborhood. There are at few houses I know that grow zucchini and some Asian variety squash every year. My main thought and concern was making it easy to cross pollinate that I forgot about neighbors that could be miles away.

How well does the Sweet Dumpling Squash store over winter? My butternut will last all the way till I want to open one up to harvest the seeds to grow for the next summer

Zucchinis (andacorns) will hybridize with the sweet dumpling quite easily, same species. Sweet dumpling does not store as well as most butternuts do. However baked squash freezes very well and once cooked you can divide and freeze it in the size portions you need, and then it defrosts ready to heat and eat; so it really is no longer necessary to store squash all winter into the next year provided you have the freezer space. Using the heavier bags with a vacuum sealer gives a frozen product that can stay good for over a year and longer.

When it comes to squash seeds, they last pretty well from year to year; so careful shopping for open pollinated varieties can yield a number of years worth of seed real cheaply. Thatactually give you a chance to grow a number of varieties without having to worry aboug crosspollination while you decide which ones you like best. Then you can get into the protection of specific female flowers for saving your own favorite types for the next year's seed.

I garden for myself and never use up a full packet of squash seed.

BTW crossing between squash/pumpkin species is not as easy as between different varieties of the same species, but it does happen, and rouging out the mongrels is often not possible until the fruits begin to develop. There isn't really much reproductive overlap between the species but there is some.