Had to share

Hispoptart · Fri Oct 01, 2010 10:10 pm

These are the butternuts we saved....

[img]https://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k278/HisPoptart/Picture669.jpg[/img]

And this is our giant carrot. Weighed in at all most 12 oz

[img]https://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k278/HisPoptart/Picture668.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k278/HisPoptart/Picture672.jpg[/img]

stella1751 · Sat Oct 02, 2010 6:16 am

Way to go, Hispoptart! Those are beautiful, and that carrot is amazing. Will you be able to get more squash from the plants, or is your season at an end now?

Hispoptart · Sat Oct 02, 2010 7:17 am

The end of our season is coming fast, there are 5 more still on the vines. so that will give us a total of 24 butternuts. Not as many as I wanted, but I guess the deer need food to

Don't know how many more of the carrots got that big. I was just in shock to see a carrot that weighed close to a pound.

garden5 · Sat Oct 02, 2010 8:55 am

I've been waiting for the butternut harvest. That looks like it'll wind up being a good harvest from only 2 plants. How many do you think you've lost to the deer?

Also, do you start your butternuts ahead of time indoors or do you just direct-sow?

That carrot is great, too. Congratulations!

tomf · Sat Oct 02, 2010 10:40 am

The butter nuts keep for a long time if you keep them cool and they make good pies. My wife likes using squash better than pumpkin as they taste better.

tedln · Sat Oct 02, 2010 4:04 pm

Great produce hispoptart. The one carrot will make a big pot of veggie stew.
Have you tried Butternut soup? I love it, but I like to make it more "earthy" with mushrooms and crumbled bacon.
Ted

applestar · Sat Oct 02, 2010 6:17 pm

Wow, looks GREAT! I HAVE to try growing butternut squash -- it's one of the squashes I haven't tried yet.

The kids are loving this year's Delicata squash, but they took a heavy hit from the SVB's so the last of the harvest is being served tonight.

Your carrots look great too. I'm having trouble with wireworms.

jal_ut · Sat Oct 02, 2010 8:21 pm

Nice harvest! I sure like the butternuts. I put some down the basement and they last all winter. This is one variety you can save the seed for next year, as they won't cross with the other pumpkins and squash.

Hispoptart · Sun Oct 03, 2010 9:54 am

Thanks everyone...

G5- It looks like we only lost about 6 to the deer, looked like alot more because they spread pieces every where. We buy they plants from the local nursery. I have not tried starting plants indoors. Seem any plant that enters my house dies

Tom- I have made a pie with them before and I too really like it.

ted- I have never tried butternut soup, I think I will be brave and try it this year. It sound really good.

AS- Besides zucs it's they only one I have ever tried and we have done well with them every year. If your kids like sweet potatoes then they will love butternuts. I bake them with butter, brown-sugar and allspice.

Jal- We keep ours in the basement also, but we dip the stem end in wax and use a small paint brush to cover the flower end with wax also. It seems to help hold in the moisture and make them last a bit longer. I bake the seeds, just like pumpkin seeds, the kids look forward to that as an extra treat when I bake butternuts.

garden5 · Sun Oct 03, 2010 10:07 am

Hispoptart wrote:Thanks everyone...

G5- It looks like we only lost about 6 to the deer, looked like alot more because they spread pieces every where. We buy they plants from the local nursery. I have not tried starting plants indoors. Seem any plant that enters my house dies

Tom- I have made a pie with them before and I too really like it.

ted- I have never tried butternut soup, I think I will be brave and try it this year. It sound really good.

AS- Besides zucs it's they only one I have ever tried and we have done well with them every year. If your kids like sweet potatoes then they will love butternuts. I bake them with butter, brown-sugar and allspice.

Jal- We keep ours in the basement also, but we dip the stem end in wax and use a small paint brush to cover the flower end with wax also. It seems to help hold in the moisture and make them last a bit longer. I bake the seeds, just like pumpkin seeds, the kids look forward to that as an extra treat when I bake butternuts.

You get a nice head-start on the season by going with plants. I think that's what I should do in the future. If I start them indoors, they'll be at least 3 weeks ahead of ones sown outside.

Do you think you got more per plant with the 2 plants or with the 4? I guess that probably what makes more of a difference is the space you give them rather than the plant number.

I crowed by squash this year and got a very low harvest. Although this is the first time I've tried planting my squash closely, I think it really is to blame for the low yield. It's looking like squash is one plant that will reward your for giving it some space.

How do you bake your butternut seeds? Spread out on a cookie sheet?

Hispoptart · Sun Oct 03, 2010 10:34 am

garden5 wrote:
You get a nice head-start on the season by going with plants. I think that's what I should do in the future. If I start them indoors, they'll be at least 3 weeks ahead of ones sown outside.

Do you think you got more per plant with the 2 plants or with the 4? I guess that probably what makes more of a difference is the space you give them rather than the plant number.

I crowed by squash this year and got a very low harvest. Although this is the first time I've tried planting my squash closely, I think it really is to blame for the low yield. It's looking like squash is one plant that will reward your for giving it some space.

How do you bake your butternut seeds? Spread out on a cookie sheet?

We always start with plants for most things, cukes, zucs,peppers, mators, squash and things like that. Our growing season is not very long so starting with plants helps quite a bit. I think we got about the same per plant. I'm not sure if its a spacing issue for you or not, could be that because they are so close together, that all of the foliage blocks the bees from getting in to pollinate? Just an idea. As for the seeds, I just wash them, salt them and but them on a cookie sheet or small pan that will fit next to the butternuts and back till golden brown, about 8 min or so. Butternuts don't yield alot of seeds, so its just a tasty treat.

jal_ut · Sun Oct 03, 2010 10:59 am

When picking squash or pumpkins, I always take a knife and cut the stem from the vine and leave the stem attached to the fruit. If you break the stem off the fruit the scar often gets moldy and then it spoils the whole fruit. By leaving the stem attached you avoid this problem.

For cukes and squash I plant seed directly where it will grow.

Yes, squash will do much better if given plenty of space. The vines of vining types like Butternut and all the winter squash and pumpkins can get 15-20 feet long.

Hispoptart · Sun Oct 03, 2010 11:03 am

We also cut ours off like that. I didn't know they could get moldy if we didn't though. Good thing to know. Yea the vines can go nuts. And ours did just that this year. Normally we will cut them back when we need to, but this year we just let them go and they did just that. They ran over everything.