Where are all the Girls?

My temperamental butternut squash plant has suddenly taken me back to my formative teenage years. Hours of preparation in the shower, hair gel ladled on (something no longer necessary), new clothes and plenty of cheap aftershave. Why am I regaling you with stories from my past? Because my butternut squash is turning out to be like the parties I went to as a teenager – full of guys without a girl in sight!

Back then I'd sit with mates and lament the lack of girls to chat up. Today I sit and lament the lack of female flowers on my squash plant, which is turning out to be a sausage-fest of the plant world. I've had four huge flowers now; all of which have been male flowers. Will I manage to get any vegetables from it? Not unless a lady turns up to the party...

A Flowering Butternut Squash!

The rise of the butternut squash plant here on the London Vegetable Garden balcony has been staggering! Now standing at around 4 feet tall, the plant produced its first flower yesterday morning, which was promptly joined by another come the evening:

Having talked to fellow gardeners on the London Vegetable Garden Twitter page, it transpires that squash flowers can be very different, with male and female varieties determining whether that flower will produce a squash or not.

As you can see from the pictures, the single stamen suggests that these are male flowers, although I'm no botanist, so please correct me if I'm wrong! Hopefully I'll have some female flowers joining these chaps, which will mean the start of a butternut squash!

Many gardeners have also told me that butternut squash plants are happy to grow along the ground, but due to the London Vegetable Garden's obvious space constraints, I'm training these up a cane. Hopefully, I'll have a squash lower down the plant which I can focus on looking after, as I'm still concerned that this pot is not big enough to bear one, let alone ten, squash plants!


However, I have put mulch on the top of the soil, am giving it plenty of water and adding a liquid vegetable plant feed once a week. It's certainly starting to look positive on the butternut squash front, but the trouble with one plant on a balcony is that if it goes wrong, that's your lot! Let's wait and see what happens...

(Do you have any good squash-growing advice? Are you growing a butternut squash and have some pictures you'd like to share with the London Vegetable Garden community? Visit the London Gardeners' Network!)

Butternut Squash - a Whole New World!

Arguably the London Vegetable Garden's most thirsty plant, my butternut squash has been enjoying the recent muggy weather and continues to grow exponentially! There are many different things going on in the pot however, so I'm appealing to you, dear readers, for advice and pointers!

The shot below shows the plant in its pot on the London Vegetable Garden balcony:
As you can see, it looks very similar to a courgette plant at the moment – plenty of big leaves that threaten to take over the whole balcony! What is interesting however, is the recent appearance of these 'swirly feelers' – I don't know what else to call them:

As you can see, they're quite interesting – does anyone know what they are? Are they simply looking for a new cane / net to latch onto and grow up?

Finally, we have some bud-like things forming on the stems, as so:


Are these the beginnings of the squashes? As you can see, there's quite a lot going on in this pot – any advice would be most welcome!

Butternut Squash Report...

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!

Time for Butternut Squash...

Those of you that have been following my earthy exploits since the very beginning will remember my fears that the tomato plants would be the hardest things to grow. Fast-forward three months and the tomato plants are ironically the strongest looking plants on the London Vegetable Garden balcony, although no fruits have been harvested – as yet!

Never one to shy away from a challenge (the London Vegetable Garden is one big – or should that be small – project after all), I'm now attempting a vegetable that requires a significant amount of space – a Butternut Squash.

It was the chef, food writer and allotment blogger extraordinaire, Celia Brooks-Brown who convinced me to attempt a squash, so now that I have a free pot once again after this week's radish harvest, I've turned my gardening attentions to this ambitious vegetable! Due to obvious space constraints on a London balcony, I can only attempt one plant – so I'll have to make it count!

I planted a seed in a small flowerpot two weeks ago and over the last few days the plants shot up remarkably quickly – yesterday especially, it changed noticeably in size over the course of a few hours. It's interesting to note how sturdier the stem looks than other vegetables, indicating that this really is a hardy vegetable indeed. Whether it'll have enough room to grow in the large pot I have waiting for it remains to be seen, but stay tuned to the London Vegetable Garden to monitor its progress over the coming weeks.