Although a space-loving vegetable plant, I've decided to have a stab at growing the adventurous butternut squash! It's been growing solidly for a few weeks now and this is the latest stage of its progress:
As you can see, it looks healthy enough, although two of the leaves at the very base of the plant withered and had to be removed. In addition to this, you can see from the picture below that several buds are starting to form, although I'm not sure whether these are more leaves or the start of squashes!
I've added a layer of mulch to the top of the soil, since squash is an extremely thirsty plant and I'm wary of letting it dry out. I've been advised from gardeners on my new website, the London Gardeners' Network, that regular watering is essential for squash plants, so I've been heeding this advice by the watering can-full!
If any readers of the London Vegetable Garden have tips on growing squash and feel they could help me with advice, please leave a comment on this blog post, or alternatively, proffer your tips on the London Gardeners' Network. Update to follow next week!
As you can see, it looks healthy enough, although two of the leaves at the very base of the plant withered and had to be removed. In addition to this, you can see from the picture below that several buds are starting to form, although I'm not sure whether these are more leaves or the start of squashes!
I've added a layer of mulch to the top of the soil, since squash is an extremely thirsty plant and I'm wary of letting it dry out. I've been advised from gardeners on my new website, the London Gardeners' Network, that regular watering is essential for squash plants, so I've been heeding this advice by the watering can-full!
If any readers of the London Vegetable Garden have tips on growing squash and feel they could help me with advice, please leave a comment on this blog post, or alternatively, proffer your tips on the London Gardeners' Network. Update to follow next week!
Yours are bigger than mine! when did you plant them?
ReplyDeleteI planted mine mid-June. 2/3 surviving. (one got eaten by snails)
had some yellow leaves. wasn't sure if it was due to overwatering or whether the coffee grounds i had spread around them to deter snails was actually affecting the pH and making them go yellow?! (still a mystery to me!).
sounds like i need to water them more not less, though. with all this rain, i have neglected watering duties, thinking let nature do it. but we've had a dry couple of days so must give them a good drink today.
grimbletweets (Twitter)
I planted this seed about 3-4 weeks ago, so like you, around mid-June. After some conversations, I've heard that these plants like to hang down rather than be trained up poles, so may have to take my poles out! The trouble when you have only one type of a certain plant is you're loathe to experiment too wildly in case it all goes wrong!
ReplyDeleteDo keep it well watered - try putting some mulch on top so that the compost doesn't dry out. Why not start a discussion about this on http://londongardeners.ning.com?
We planted our butternut squash out in May/early June, and they are on poles, simply because space is a premium in our little garden. So far they are perfectly happy, (HUGE - nearly 6ft so far) putting out lots and lots of buds and today we have our first two flowers. So don't give up on the pole if you need space; I've found that most plants will do anything just to grow!
ReplyDelete6ft???!!!! show-off!
ReplyDelete(are you feeding them something?)
harumph. tut. etc.
grimbletweets.
The documentation of this project is very interesting. Interesting to see the development of plants in the urban environment. It's a great challenge to grow plants in a professional manner in containers on the patio.
ReplyDelete