We came late to squash. My wife and I just never fancied it until one day we were offered some roasted Butternut squash and that was it, now we love it. That’s not to say we like all of them, I still can’t bring myself to eat pumpkin. Last winter one of my lovely gardening friends, Bridget, gave us a huge ‘Crown Prince’ from her allotment. It must have weighed 3 kilos and was absolutely beautiful to look at and to eat. Firm orange flesh which roasts well and makes wonderful soup. So I kept some seeds and grew a few plants this year. I also kept a few seeds of a ‘Sweet Dumpling’ variety bought from Morrisons and grew them. I gave most of the plants away to friends with allotments and just kept two of each which I decided to plant in my Access frame through black plastic to keep the ground moist and to keep the fruit clean. What I hadn’t figured on was just how enormous they can get!

There are just four plants in there, one in each corner of the 10′ x 4′ frame but they grew so quick I had to remove the glass on the top and most of the glass on the sides before they pushed it out! Not sure what I am going to do now. They have made a bid for freedom and are beginning to explore their new surroundings. These triffids grow a foot a day and could be next door by August.

There are plenty of flowers so as long as the bees are finding them we should get plenty of fruit although where they will be nobody knows!

There will be regular updates on this topic! All and any comments, suggestions or experience welcome please!