Good minipumpkin and spaghetti squash varieties?

[tai haku]

So this year I switched to the "primal diet" and hence cut potatoes, pastas and rice pretty much entirely which is relevant here as it has led to me eating (and hence wanting to grow) a lot of squash. This year I grew courgettes and butternut which were great but I can easily buy those too and I'd like to grow stuff I can't just buy cheaply. ;D

Therefore I'd really like to grow spaghetti squash and the small pumpkin varieties that produce fruit ideally sized for stuffing as microwave meals for one.

I've been looking at Hasta La Pasta and Stripetti as spaghetti squash and Hooligan, Sweet Lightning, Jack Be Little and Baby Boo. If anyone can offer any comments on any of these varieties or others that fit the bill I'd be keen to hear them. I'm particularly interested in comments on the yield in terms of fruit per plant. If anyone has any seed to swap of the non-f1 varieties I can offer my own seeds of the variegated Fish Chilli or Real Seed's Dedo de Mocha sweet chilli as a swap.

[tai haku]

[manicscousers]

Hiya, Tai.. we alwas grow hooligan (started with a free pack of seeds from the bbc), they get sweeter as they are stored and are just the right size for 1, can't give you an amount per plant as, last year they were grown up a trellis type thing and gave loads but this year, i left them to do as they liked and the weather wasn't squash weather up here, only got 2 or 3 per plant

[Flighty]

I also grew Hooligan, two plants which produced over a dozen pumpkins. Here's a photo of most of them taken back in September, with the middle one of the lower three  being about three inches across and two inches deep.
[attachment=1]
They're all still sitting on the shelf and have deepened in colour.  The pale one with green stripes puzzles me being so different to the rest!   :)

[jennym]

I grow spaghetti squash from Franchi seeds, don't know the variety, on heavy clay soil here they always perform very well indeed

[tai haku]

Many thanks to the 3 of you. Sounds like Hooligan has its fans and I will have a look for the Franchi Spagsquash.

[realfood]

Hasta la Pasta is very prolific and easy to grow with about 5 squashes per plant, even this far North in Glasgow. It is a modern hybrid with orange flesh of medium sweetness.
Sweet Lightning is a bit slow this far North, but is very sweet.

[Chrispy]

I grew hasta la pasta last year, and a more conventional spaghetti squash this year.

I was not impressed with hasta la pasta, the more conventional variety seemed to cook better, that is it went more like spagetti when you forked it out and seem to taste nicer.

Only my opinion, but I won't be growing hasta la pasta again.

[Bugloss2009]

the small squashes we grow are Little Gem and  Sweet Dumpling

Little Gem is very easy and prolific, maybe 10 fruit per vine. Quite thin stems and easy to grow upwards. Fruits start being ready in early August. On storage the flesh gets a little stringy (but no problem with that)

Sweet Dumpling looks just like Flighty's Hooligan. Very vigorous vine. i still grow it upwards. Takes longer to fruit. Very attractive. personally i find it almost too sweet, but I'd get shot if I didn't grow it

Liked Hasta la Pasta but for some reason didn't grow it last year. Very nice with cheese+ mushrooms + shallots + bacon ( if not a vegetarian)

[Dandytown]

I grew Japanese Black Futsu and found it to be a vert tasty and good sized pumpkin for 2 people to consume.  Very fine and tasty pale flesh that is fantastic roasted with a little olive oil and seasoning.  I  highly reccomend it although I am unable to comment on yield as a few rookie errors and a damaged vine gave yield to only one fruit.

This year I intend on growing many new squash, including Rolet (aka bannana squash).  Apparently Rolet produce 10-15 tennis ball sized fruits that can be eaten early as summer squash or left to mature.  Reviewers claim they taste good too.. Seeds avail on www.moreveg

[Jayb]

Tai, if you haven't bought seeds yet I've spare sharks Fin/Spaghetti squash, happy to send some for a SAE, pm me if interested. I think I may have a couple of Hooligan spare too.

[tai haku]

Just to bring this thread to its inevitable conclusion I went with Hasta La Pasta and Stripetti as spaghetti squashes and Hooligan and Jack Be Little as mini-pumpkins (I also went with Red Kuri and Black Futsu because I got seduced by the plants of distinction website again ::) )

[1066]

I meant to comment on the "primal diet" - a friend of mine cut out all the carbs on a particular diet she was following and also got into eating Squash. I know it's been very successful for her - so happy growing and eating  :)

[Dandytown]

I am far from an expert on the subject so someone please correct me if I am wrong but the problem with carbs is that they are quickly broken down to sugars and thus quickly affect blood glucose.  Such carbs have high GI values.  I think pumpkins do to?

[Robert_Brenchley]

Carbohydrates are basically a lot of sugars strung together in big molecules as a means of storage.

[tai haku]

I am far from an expert on the subject so someone please correct me if I am wrong but the problem with carbs is that they are quickly broken down to sugars and thus quickly affect blood glucose.  Such carbs have high GI values.  I think pumpkins do to?

Dandytown - you're basically correct but in the primal diet pumpkin/squash fits in as a "good carb" alternative to starchy vegetables (like potatoes) or cereal-based products (like spaghetti). I think (and I'm no expert either) its lower in calories and glycemic load than either of those for example and it also hits a lot of nutritional bases - betacarotene and so forth. All I really know is a lot of the serious primal eaters love it; the Mark's Daily Apple forums feature loads of squash recipes for example and since I started the diet a year ago I've felt much better.

[realfood]

Dandytown, Rolet has been previously discussed under squash taste tests and I fear that you will be disappointed. I will not be growing it again.

"Today, I tried Blue Kuri and Rolet. Blue Kuri was sweet and had a fudge-like consistency of flesh. Rolet was only slightly sweet with a stringy flesh.
Rolet was the most prolific of my Winter Squash, with an incredibly hard skin."
By the way, Banana squash are quite different from Rolet.

[PurpleHeather]

Well just to let you know.

In have given up wheat and what comes under the category of gluten.

In the last year I have eaten absolutely anything and everything I want to. That includes chocolate, cream,  fried foods. Well anything without wheat to be honest. Plenty of substitutes so not a huge problem I can make my own bread cakes and pastries without.

Without trying I have lost two stone.

I guess if I had been careful it could have been much more.

Now I have to buy a new wardrobe but to be honest. I feel wonderful (yes there were a couple of weeks of withdrawl to start with which was hard because gluten is addictive)

[1066]

Ah but realfood I like the Rolets! Eat them young and cook them whole. I like the stringy texture  :) Each to their own eh?! I've yet to try by Blue Kuri and Blue Ballet's......

PH - congratulations to you on a new wadrobe - no easy task that!

[realfood]

Yes, each to his own! And I have loads of Rolets to eat! I think that I will have to use them up in soup or possibly stuff them. They are rapidly changing colour to orange now in storage.

[1066]

that's interesting that they are changing colour, I still have 2 left on a windowsill and they are still a dark green  :-\