“A vegetable garden doesn’t just feed your body. It also feeds your soul”

— Doug Green

It just so happens that butternut squash is one of the vegetables that is easy to grow from seed and is a delicious, nutritious vegetable. 

The best time to sow your seeds is in early April. Start off by planting two seeds in a 7cm pot with multi-purpose compost. 

You will later separate the seedling and transfer into bigger pots. In late May when the seedlings are big enough to handle, you plant them outside in fertile soil. 

You will want to protect your young plants from slugs and snails. (Link for dealing with slugs and snails organically)

You will need to water your plants regularly and when they begin to flower start feeding your plants weekly. Butternut are hungry plants, so a good organic fertiliser once a week should do the trick. Remember to make sure that they are kept weed free. Most varieties will produce fruits around 15 weeks after sowing seeds.

A good tip to remember is to remove any leaves covering the young squashes so they ripen more fully, also it is a good idea to consider lifting the fruits off the ground onto bricks or straw, to help them ripen. 

The average yield per plant is 4 to 5 fruits, so remember to keep them apart by a 1.5m spacing.

The fruit of butternut squash is pear-shaped with orange flesh.  You will find that they will be ready to harvest around September. Butternut squash can be left outside to grow on the vine. The longer you can leave them out there the longer you can store them, just remember to harvest them all before the frost sets in again.

Once harvested you can store your squashes in a cool dry place for several months.

Check out my recipe for Stuffed Butternuts