A better butternut
$3.95
for 30 butternut seeds. It sounded like a lot when I'd been saving my
own seeds for years and could likely refresh my supply at the dollar
store for under a buck. But I decided to splurge and try out a hybrid
butternut --- Metro F1 --- this year...and I was blown away.
The resistance to powdery mildew meant my vines didn't succumb before they finished ripening fruits. So we ended up with about 200 pounds of winter squash with nearly no work.
Then there's the flavor. So rich and sweet that our pies
and soups this winter have been a step above previous years' even
though I used the same recipes. Our milk goat gets a butternut squash
every two or three days, and she's yet to show any signs of boredom with
that portion of her diet. In short, Metro really is better.
The frugal side of me
wants to save some seeds and see what I'll get if I plant them in next
year's garden. The smart side of me says that, at 2 cents a pound, I
should buy another packet of the hybrid and stick to a good thing. What
do you think?
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Hybrids don't breed true (supposedly) So, buy the seeds this year but plant a test row or a few plants to verify that belief.