An organic butternut squash

Presenting–drum-roll, please–my first home-grown butternut squash!

After nurturing and pampering my four butternut squash plants since May, I have harvested my first squash! It may not have the classic butternut shape, but that just adds to its charm, in my opinion.

It weighs in at a magnificent 563g, and in case you hadn’t noticed… I’m really, really proud of myself for actually managing to grow something!

There are another four squash ripening on their vines–two are almost fully ripe–so we shall have a small feast… eventually.

I’ve really enjoyed growing squash. Because they’re such big plants the fruits form quickly–and die quickly–so you can practically watch them grow and get immediate satisfaction.

Way back I mentioned that there were about 15 squash growing on the plants. I’m afraid that the summer–or lack thereof–put paid to them. Squashes are pretty easy-going plants, but they do need warmth and sunshine to keep the fruit growing. We’ve had a foul summer this year: about 90% rain and 10% sunshine. Even the ever-reliable plum tree has struggled to fruit and normally it positively drips with luscious red plums.

Unsurprisingly my fennel has given up its valiant struggle against the elements and now refuses to grow at all. I’ll be chucking it away–and I guess the compost, too, since it was container grown–when I harvest the rest of the squash.

Next year I’ll definitely grow squash again. I’ll probably cut back to two butternuts, though, as they trail everywhere, and add in a bushy gem squash plant and some lovely yellow courgettes. Hopefully the weather will be better!

So, I’m curious. What would you do with this small and imperfect, yet beautiful, squash? I’m leaning towards cutting it into wedges and roasting it with just some salt and pepper. On one hand that seems like the ideal way to showcase its natural flavour, but on the other hand… it’s a bit boring.

All suggestions welcome!

Time for another update on my vegetable growing and gardening exploits!

After weeks of nothing but prolific leaf growth from my four butternut squash plants, last Saturday my eagle-eyed mother-in-law spotted a squash on one of the plants. And once we spotted that one, we just kept finding more and more!

First squash and the (current) biggest squash. Click!

I reckon that there are about 15 proto-squash at the moment. Most are un-fertilised at the moment and and I find myself eagerly checking them every morning to see if (a) the female flowers (the ones with the baby squashes behind them) have opened and (b) that there is at least one male flower to get the job done. I may play fertility goddess later on, just to ensure that the squash ’set’. If even one makes it to adult-hood and eating size then I will be thrilled.

As Dave and I are now huge fans of fennel, I’ve also sown some in a trough. While it’s too late to sow any butternut squash from seed, you can still get some fennel in if you move fast. (At least, according to the back of my seed packet, you can.)

After all its blossom in the spring, my little apple tree hasn’t produced any fruit. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting any as it’s still so young. Also, until recently it has been a bit choked with weeds–I’m such a bad plant mama sometimes–but it is now nice and clear after a concerted effort from Dave and I.

We’ve been doing quite a bit of general tidying up in the garden (in preparation for putting new fences up) and have discovered loads of fruit bushes all over the place. I had no idea that raspberries and blackberries put out sucker shoots all over the place. I’ve been finding mini-bushes springing up in the most unexpected places.

I’m planning to check the blackberries every day after I’ve watered the squash and stash that day’s harvest in the freezer. By the end of the summer I might have enough for an apple and blackberry crumble!

At New Year, I decided that I’d try growing some fruit and vegetables this year. We’re now in May, so the time seems ripe for a bit of an update.

My apple tree–pictured above with Dave and Lucas–seems to be relishing its home at the bottom of the garden. It’s now a smidge over six feet tall, has plenty of leaves for its size, and has produced the cutest little pink blossom. As our neighbour has a huge mature apple tree in his garden, I’m hoping that the bees drawn to his tree will deign to visit my little one.

I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s a family apple tree, meaning that there are three varieties grafted onto the same rootstock. In my case they’re Katy, James Grieve, and Cox. All dessert apples, and all very yummy. I love Cox apples! Family trees tend to yield lighter crops than normal trees, but I doubt this will be a problem for us. I’m not sure that three people could munch their way through a bumper crop of apples!

On the subject of trees… here is our ancient, gnarled and much-neglected plum tree in the wilderness corner of the garden. Its blossom has already been and gone, so I expect that it will be fruiting enthusiastically later in the year. I do wonder if I should be ripping that ivy away from round its trunk and perhaps pruning it, but the crop gets bigger each year so perhaps it prefers to be ignored? I did give it some (very fishy) fertiliser back in April whilst I was lavishing love on the apple tree. So, it’s definitely had more care this year than per usual!

My little bay tree lives on the decking alongside my pot of garlic and flat-leaf parsley. I should probably prune it back to its original conical shape and dry out the leaves myself. Fresh bay is such a treat and I still get a real kick out of being able to walk outside and snip some!

The garlic and flat-leaf parsley are my two biggest successes to date. They’re both bog standard supermarket purchases. I had space in the strawberry planter last year–birds ate all the young berries. Not a success–so planted out one of those living herb containers. Surprisingly it flourished and it’s still going strong this year. The garlic got planted on a similar whim. I just broke up a bulb of garlic, pushed the cloves into the holes of the strawberry planter and left them to it. Judging from the huge shoots, I’d say that the garlic is doing pretty well–wouldn’t you?

Indoors I’ve got some butternut squash seedlings that are growing at an incredible rate. I splashed out on a packet of Cobnut F1 butternut squash seeds. Apparently Cobnut is a fast-growing variety, bred for Britain’s climate, and with a small seed cavity so more flesh. I can certainly vouch for the fast-growing part! The seedlings will get planted out at the end of May when all danger of frost will have passed.

So far growing my own fruit and vegetables has been really satisfying. I’m very proud of my small efforts and I can’t wait until I can harvest something!

The turn of the year always brings with it a host of good intentions and the now-ubiquitous New Year resolutions, the majority of which fall by the wayside by… oh, about now, usually.

This year I’ve decided to be kinder to myself and not make stupidly unattainable resolutions. (You know the sort: lose half your body weight, get fit, write a book, become amazingly tidy etc..) After all, when I look back over the year in December, do I really want to spend time beating myself up over everything I haven’t accomplished or being justly proud of myself for what I have? That’s not to say that there isn’t an element of challenge, but it’s all good, achievable stuff.

So, what’s on my plate for 2008?

First up is growing some of my own fruit and perhaps vegetables. I have to admit that I have a bit of a head-start on this one as we already have a mature plum tree and while I’m not expecting my new apple tree to fruit this year, I will lavish some love and attention–in the form of manure or mulch–upon it. I’m also planning on turning my strawberry planter into a planter for garlic. Hopefully garlic will prove less palatable to the local birds, who snagged every last one of my strawberry crop last year. I also want to grow loads and loads of basil with the ultimate goal of making my own pesto in mid-summer.

I’d also like to conquer sourdough. There’s a wide streak of the Mad Scientist in me, and I can really picture myself standing over a bubbling jar, cackling, “It’s alive!” I’ve made three attempts but I’ve never managed to achieve a really vigorous, world-dominating starter. Mine have been more of the genteel, tiny-bubbled ilk which seemed embarrassed to be caught fermenting.

There are various other small things I’d like to do—soufflés, butchering meat, spun sugar—but what I really, really want to do this year is to Cook The Boot or… cook my way around Italy from the comfort of my own home.

(more…)