Butternut Avalon

First picking of winter squash. I decided to cut the large ones to encourage the smaller ones to swell to a decent size in the last couple of good growing weeks. These are whoppers, haven't weighed them yet but much larger than any butternuts I've grown before, more like the over-sized ones available at the supermarket, weighing in at about 1.5 kg each. So much for being 'compact' as described in the catalogue! Not perfectly matched for exhibition purposes, but I suspect I might enter them in the village show anyway.

The stalks were quite compact, I hope they are a good keeping variety. 

Winter Squash bed

Last year I stuck in a couple of winter squashes (my favourite squash, Marina de Chioggia) next to my 'duck sump', which is the overflow from the duck bath which is on continuous drip from a hose, flushed out once a day.

I was amazed by how well they did, climbing several metres into neighbouring rose and plumb trees, producing several very large fruits each. Previously squashes have done very poorly, and I'd rather given up on growing them.

This year I've extended the area that the water flows to, to irrigate and fertilise a larger number of squashes. So far they've taken off very well, and are looking healthier than in previous years, in different beds. Time will tell if this experiment will be a productive one.

Varieties grown this year: Winter Festival F1, Jack be Little, the intriguingly-named Pumpkin SC4-15 F1, Avalon A1 (butternut type) and one Jack o' Lantern pumpkin. It's possible there's the odd other variety, as I hang on to packets for years, and usually have a couple of ancient packets left.