Hi Gill and others,

Many thanks for your commnets.

The 'said' squash cane to me.... dare I say it as 'second-hand' produce and
from a 'well-to-do' lady who will have had her gardener grow it!

This is why I have not followed the usual route and asked what the type is.
I may however go to that trouble if necessary as we enjoyed the thing so
much.

I would prefer to buy fresh seed every time, and appreciate the 'need' to do
this with F1s.

Some very interesting perspectives though, which will prompt me to look into
the subject in greater depth and sow some squash - of one or more varieties
next year.

Best wishes,

Keith


"Gill Matthews" account I no longer have wrote
in message ...

"Keith (Dorset)" wrote in message
...

We inherited a fresh squash from a friend who was given it by a friend.
We had never tasted squash before and duly roasted and ate it with Sunday
dinners. It was delicious.

I have never grown squash before, but many other veg. succesfully. Are
the seeds I have saved from the said squash likely to be suitable for
planting next year and so being sure of producing the same variety (about
30cm / 1ft long and pale brown in colour?

If so, are there any special considerations I should make when storing
the seeds and planting them - presumably initially in pots, in the
greenhouse, next spring?

Thanks in advance for any help,

Most commercially produced squash seed for gardeners tends to be F1
hybrid. this means that each seed has a 1 in 4 chance of coming true if it
self fertilised and even less chance if it was fertilised by a nearby but
different strain. It dependents on how much space you have got to grow
squash plants, which tend to be quite large. If you were thinking of
growing just one or two squash plants I reckon your best bet would be to
ask your friend for the name of the variety and spring for the aprox £2 it
will cost you to buy the seed. If you have a lot of space and a few years
to spare, it can be quite fun breeding your own seeds to run true to type.
I have never tried it with squash although I have with courgettes which
are a similar type of plant. In this case I found that cool (5-10
degreesC) dark and dry (dessicator) answered well. They don't seem to need
to vernalise, but maybe someone on the group has actually tried squashes
and can tell you more.

Gill M