I'm happy you're back! Your squash harvest looks impressive. Mine did well this year too. I grew Red Kuri Hubbard again, which I really like, and Celebration Acorn which did really well. The Red Kuri had smaller and fewer fruits this year then usual but still enough for me. This was my first planting of Celebration Acorn and I will be planting them again next year. I quite like squash in the winter, baked, steamed, in stews, it's all good.
Ooh, you should definitely keep the seeds from the volunteer plant! Even if it's crossed with your other Butternuts, they're all the same species (C. Moschata), so they'll be "normal' and you might be able to breed your own variety! Also, since it's a volunteer and it grew successfully, that mean's it's adapted to your particular garden, and the next generation should do even better and even better down the generations!
Thank s so much, James! I have made several of those review videos over the years, if you'd like to see what winter squash varieties I'd grown in other years :)
I cook Butternut Squash, cut up into cubes roasted in the oven with nutmeg, coriander, chilli powder in olive oil and then mash up half of it and put the other pieces whole into a risotto. I also do a mild coconut creamy curry with butternut, used instead of sweet potato, delicious. I grew an 8lb Harrier Butternut this year, pure fluke
That risotto sounds delicious! I've looked into my archives and some of my Harrier fruits in the past (such as the one I mentioned in this blogpost:www.growntocook.com/?p=6052) were much bigger too - about 5.5 pounds. I wonder if it's due to variation in the seed or in circumstances?
Nice to see your Winter Squash Harvest again! My garden is small, that's why I didn't grow winter squashes the last years (there are so many different vegetables to grow :D), but I tried this season. An the c. maxima variety "Reigel" was very nice. Good outcome, not too big and really tasty!
Great to see you back again. I had a bit of a disaster with my squash this year, a combination of late sowing and slugs. I think you have inspired me to try some butternut squash next year. 👍😊
I got your book a couple of weeks back but hadn't got round to reading it... Then today, I picked it up and started looking through it... it got me wondering why there hadn't been any videos from GrownToCook for a while... decided to check RUclips, just in case and... there you were! I decided to see it as a sign I really need to dive into your book in preparation for the next growing season!! :) I'm very happy that you're back! Thank you, thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Thanks for buying my book, Sara! I hope it will be helpful to you and that your next season will be super abundant! Would you please consider writing a review (on Amazon on wherever you bought it)?
I had trouble growing squash this year also. Squash bugs were terrible but the butternut gave us a harvest grown in a 4 sisters bed. It was a variety called Butterscotch.
Winter squash just needs to cure properly and just store in a cool dry place. Some varieties store for a very long time like over 6 months without canning or freezing.
I love the look of a table covered in winter squash. In addition to the fruits per plant, etc you could say how much space each plant took up, as something that produces half the crop as another would seem to be a poorer performer but if it only took up a quarter of the space then the fruit/kg per square foot ratio would be higher. Have you looked at bush pumkins / winter squash? About the size of a courgette plant you can get a lot into the same space a vine would want and although they might only produce 4 or 5 squash per plant once you tally up the garden space used they can be good performers. In a bed where I have grown maybe 2 or three vining squash I will be growing 2 plants each of 7 varieties all of which produce squash perfect for one or two people. Casperita gives mini white pumpkins about 250g to 500g (perfect for one person), Amazonka gives small orange pumpkins about 1kg. Butterbush (and also Butterbaby) will produce small butternut squashes in a 2 foot by 2 foot footprint (how many of them you fit on top of your compose bins?), Harlequin Squash are 500g-750g acorn squash?
I have grown both Hubbard Squash and Sweet Meat Squash for a number of years. My Great Grandma only used Sweet Meat for her "Pumpkin" Pie and it was the BEST! Sweet Meat tastes better and out produces Hubbard with more meat inside the squash and stores well. I always grow enough to share with the family and I've decided to discontinue growing Hubbard Squash.
Hi Vera. I like your video, because of your clear explanations and your objective way of comparing the different varieties. How is your garden and food-forest doing?
In the past I've sometimes had squash weighing 5 kilo or more per fruit and that is just not practical for a normal family - maybe if you need to feed lots of people :)
Oh no! We had this problem with one of our plants on the compost heap too but luckily the other plants were not eaten. Hope it will go better for you next year!
I grew butternut squash Sweetmax F1 this year, another Tozer seeds variety. It produced round fruits that where pale fleshed and it reminded me of this video. Mine didn't taste good - slightly bitter. Out of curiosity, can you recall how your misshapen Hunter tasted Vera?
One of my favourites is Musquee de Provence, a proper Cinderalla Pumpkin, it does grow quite large but if you slice it into segments it keeps in the fridge very well.
Wat heerlijk om weer een video van je te zien Vera!! Ik hoop dat je je iets beter voelt. neem de rust die je nodig hebt. Love the bench full of pumkins/winter squash! Here we weren't as lucky, but our allotment has too much shade. Will be expanding though with more sun, so hopefully more next year. We had 2 fruits of 'Potimarron', 2 fruits of 'Small Sugar', a couple ittybitty mini's, probabaly 'Gold Speck' and a very strange one as well. Did swap some seeds and they were crossed for sure: yellow, shape between a butternut and a spaghettisquash. Edible though and texture wise indeed more spaghetti squash. Was meant to be a litte mini-pumpkin 'Jack's Lantern' 🤣. Also saved some seeds from a (bio) storebought flat rounded greengreyish pumkin...loved the taste for pumkin soup. Definitely will try growing it upon my compost heap. Do you feed your pumkins extra, other than with compost? Gr. Debbie
It's nice to see you back. I enjoy your videos. Here in Canada, our suppliers carry different varieties than your suppliers, so watching harvest reports are for procedure interest only. That's ok.
@@GrownToCook I might find out. I just got into having squash in my diet in the past decade. It's not traditional here. Now I am trying to find all the varieties that I can make delicious meals with.
Regarding Sonca; in Hungarian sonka = ham and tök = squash. So here in Hungary they're called sonkatök, apparently because when ripe they resemble a 'tied ham'.
Hi! Nice video! I am going to try to grow a family pumpkin I bought at Hofweb. It’s a mucaat /hokkaido green pumpkin and very big. I am curious it will work out. Also I bought some same seeds you are going to try this year. I bought them by Jansen zaden. Very excited about it. Just have to find some spacebin my garden..
Hobak Jeon. For a recipe recommendation, I mean to say. It’s julienned or grated firm squash mixed with egg a little flour and garlic. You cook it like a pancake and serve it with rice vinegar mixed with soy sauce. You’d have to look up an actual recipe. I just make it by looks now.
Dit is n lekker tuin wat jy het Vera! Hoe groot is jou tuin? Jammer as my Nederlands so sleg is maar ek is eintlik Afrikaans ;) My favorite is definitely butternut! You can cut them into disks and roast them in an oven with some olive oil. Then throw some cinnamon sugar over them. It's amazing!! It's almost like a desert. When we have a barbeque (braai) in South Africa, I cover a butternut with foil and some oil and then put it directly in the coals and turn it every now and then.
I think some of these varieties (at least Honeynut) come from the USA, but I'd also love to hear what varieties you are growing! Our summers are getting progressively warmer, so we will have to adapt to that.
I think they switch the variety names of hybrid varieties across the pond by mutual agreement, just to keep their trade secrets. This is why I prefer heirlooms!
Great video. I am going (in tasmania) quite a few pumpkins from seeds saved from store bought pumpkins, we will see how that goes... How do you store your squashes? I have lost some to fungus during winter, in past seasons?
Thank you! I cure the fruits on a sunny window sill for two weeks and then store them in crates under the bed in an unheated bedroom. We hardly ever have any problems with fungus, usually only when the fruits were damaged to begin with
Love this video! Winter squashes are my favourite. This year it wasn’t a great squash season for me, but I still got a few. I tried growing a new butternut from seeds sent to me from Russia, thy were shop bought seeds and the packet showed a regular looking orange butternut, but it was supposed to be very early ripening. I was excited to try it and it did produce well considering the rubbish squash season, though it alsotook a while to get going. However, the fruit looked more like the Barbara variety with dark green stripes and not at all like the regular butternut on the packet! They are also pretty huge fruit 🤷🏻♀️ I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to try them again...My favourites are Honey Boat and Blue Banana. The best performing this year was squash Mashed Potato, super productive and such pretty white acorn squashes! Haven’t tried eating them yet though (first time growing these) 🧡🎃
Fantastic harvest!!! (I could watch squash videos all day long 😅) I'm saving seeds from a sugar pumpkin, red kuri, spaghetti squash and kabocha squash for next year 🙌 ...I would love to try honey nut squash... And it would be really cool to see what grows from that mystery volunteer squash you have there! I didn't know they could cross pollinate 🤩
@@GrownToCook Yes, maybe. The seeds were from PremierSeedsDirect on eBay, bought at the end of 2019. They probably get their seed from the same producer as all the other seed sellers. In 2019 we grew Waltham Butternut which produced an incredible yield, though the vines did take over half of the garden! Hunter seemed an ideal variety as it is earlier and the fruit and vines are smaller, but it was very disappointing.
Great video-thanks. You had a very nice harvest. Are all of those varieties that you grew there of the pepo variety? Have you ever tried the maxima variety like a kabocha? This past summer was my second year growing kabocha which they performed equally as well in the summer of 2019. I am in USDA growing zone 8B in the USA which reaches high temps of 95 degrees-sometimes upwards towards 100 degrees Farenheit. It is my understanding that growing squashes/pumpkins within the same variety will cause a possible cross with each other and not stay true. BUT, growing different varieties together is OK without a possibility of crossing, for example growing pepo with maxima. The kabocha is a small rounded good storage pumpkin with just enough flesh for two people, one meal. They are quite good with a buttery and sweet taste. They are huge vegetative producers which means planting it around your garden edges and just let them RUN. The longer they run and the longer they can remain producing gives quite a large harvest. I don't know much about your climate and how long your growing season is though. I got my seeds from a man growing them in Hawaii. If you are interested in growing them next season let me know and I can send you some seeds.
Hoi Hoi! Volgend jaar vijgenbladpompoen proberen? Heb ik pas deze week geproefd en ik heb er superlekkere jam van gemaakt.. Als je de vrucht opensnijdt riek je een beetje mango/meloen. Heel speciaal. Delicatesse in Spanje. Ze zijn hier gekweekt in midden België
I have a humble recommendation. I hear chickens in the background of this video.....be bold and grow the larger 4-6 lb squash. They tend to not be so finicky and produce more reliably than their miniature siblings. And being you have chickens....share the over abundance of each opened squash with them! Also, i have found that hybridized compost volunteer squash do very well, i encourage you to let a few grow every year!
Great to see you back. Hope you're refreshed :D
Glad to see you're back
Thank you, Ute!
You’re the best. Good to see you today.
I'm happy you're back! Your squash harvest looks impressive. Mine did well this year too. I grew Red Kuri Hubbard again, which I really like, and Celebration Acorn which did really well. The Red Kuri had smaller and fewer fruits this year then usual but still enough for me. This was my first planting of Celebration Acorn and I will be planting them again next year. I quite like squash in the winter, baked, steamed, in stews, it's all good.
Just so glad to see you. Hope things are better
Thank you, Giulia! I am a little better but far from 100% so I'm not sure how frequently I'll post but wanted to share our winter squash harvest :)
@@GrownToCook just take your time , we're all still gonna be here for you when things are bettere
Ooh, you should definitely keep the seeds from the volunteer plant! Even if it's crossed with your other Butternuts, they're all the same species (C. Moschata), so they'll be "normal' and you might be able to breed your own variety!
Also, since it's a volunteer and it grew successfully, that mean's it's adapted to your particular garden, and the next generation should do even better and even better down the generations!
One of the most insightful videos for variety I've seen on youtube! Cant wait to learn more
Thank s so much, James! I have made several of those review videos over the years, if you'd like to see what winter squash varieties I'd grown in other years :)
Great to see you again. Great video.
Thank you, Greg!
So glad to hear from you. Loving your book.
I'm so happy to hear you're enjoying my book! Would you please consider leaving a review on Amazon (or elsewhere)? It helps so much!
@@GrownToCook will do!
Thanks so much!!
I cook Butternut Squash, cut up into cubes roasted in the oven with nutmeg, coriander, chilli powder in olive oil and then mash up half of it and put the other pieces whole into a risotto.
I also do a mild coconut creamy curry with butternut, used instead of sweet potato, delicious.
I grew an 8lb Harrier Butternut this year, pure fluke
That risotto sounds delicious! I've looked into my archives and some of my Harrier fruits in the past (such as the one I mentioned in this blogpost:www.growntocook.com/?p=6052) were much bigger too - about 5.5 pounds. I wonder if it's due to variation in the seed or in circumstances?
I'm sooo happy to have you back on RUclips. Greetings from Brazil 🇧🇷 💗
Thanks so much, Toni!!
Nice to see your Winter Squash Harvest again! My garden is small, that's why I didn't grow winter squashes the last years (there are so many different vegetables to grow :D), but I tried this season. An the c. maxima variety "Reigel" was very nice. Good outcome, not too big and really tasty!
That's good to hear! Have you tried vertical growing? That way the plants take up much less space
Great to see you back again. I had a bit of a disaster with my squash this year, a combination of late sowing and slugs. I think you have inspired me to try some butternut squash next year. 👍😊
I hope your squash plants do better next year, Johnny!
I got your book a couple of weeks back but hadn't got round to reading it... Then today, I picked it up and started looking through it... it got me wondering why there hadn't been any videos from GrownToCook for a while... decided to check RUclips, just in case and... there you were! I decided to see it as a sign I really need to dive into your book in preparation for the next growing season!! :) I'm very happy that you're back! Thank you, thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Thanks for buying my book, Sara! I hope it will be helpful to you and that your next season will be super abundant! Would you please consider writing a review (on Amazon on wherever you bought it)?
I had trouble growing squash this year also. Squash bugs were terrible but the butternut gave us a harvest grown in a 4 sisters bed. It was a variety called Butterscotch.
Butterscotch sounds like a very well chosen name for a sweet squash :)
This is great.....I would be interested in a video about how you store your produce without a freezer. Thanks!
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll see what I can do!
Winter squash just needs to cure properly and just store in a cool dry place. Some varieties store for a very long time like over 6 months without canning or freezing.
I love the look of a table covered in winter squash. In addition to the fruits per plant, etc you could say how much space each plant took up, as something that produces half the crop as another would seem to be a poorer performer but if it only took up a quarter of the space then the fruit/kg per square foot ratio would be higher.
Have you looked at bush pumkins / winter squash? About the size of a courgette plant you can get a lot into the same space a vine would want and although they might only produce 4 or 5 squash per plant once you tally up the garden space used they can be good performers. In a bed where I have grown maybe 2 or three vining squash I will be growing 2 plants each of 7 varieties all of which produce squash perfect for one or two people. Casperita gives mini white pumpkins about 250g to 500g (perfect for one person), Amazonka gives small orange pumpkins about 1kg. Butterbush (and also Butterbaby) will produce small butternut squashes in a 2 foot by 2 foot footprint (how many of them you fit on top of your compose bins?), Harlequin Squash are 500g-750g acorn squash?
I have grown both Hubbard Squash and Sweet Meat Squash for a number of years. My Great Grandma only used Sweet Meat for her "Pumpkin" Pie and it was the BEST! Sweet Meat tastes better and out produces Hubbard with more meat inside the squash and stores well. I always grow enough to share with the family and I've decided to discontinue growing Hubbard Squash.
So great to see you back!
Thank you, Deborah!
Hi Vera. I like your video, because of your clear explanations and your objective way of comparing the different varieties. How is your garden and food-forest doing?
so much helpful info for my favorite veggie. Thanx for your efforts. Lots and lots to consider. Wish me luck !🌱🐝🌄
Wat fijn om je terug te zien! En wat een interessante video!
Ook geweldig dat je zo een productieve nieuwe variëteit ontdekt hebt :)
I always learn more watching you. I love seeing the squash all together. Beautiful.
Thanks so much, Cara! Yes, squash are a very photogenic crop :)
Thank you so much for the squash trial update! I just love your channel and all your wonderful content!
Thank you! That's so lovely to hear!
Saw the previous gourd video which I remember enjoyed viewing...this is such a productive harvest too. Pleased you did another video!
Thank you, Ali! It helps that we grow so many different varieties - some might disappoint, but others will compensate :)
Thank you for the review I don't like to grow big squash I prefer the small ones too.
In the past I've sometimes had squash weighing 5 kilo or more per fruit and that is just not practical for a normal family - maybe if you need to feed lots of people :)
Nice to see a Video from you again ! I did not geht any squash at all this year because the voles ate them all when they were young.
Oh no! We had this problem with one of our plants on the compost heap too but luckily the other plants were not eaten. Hope it will go better for you next year!
So happy you’re back 😁🍂
I grew butternut squash Sweetmax F1 this year, another Tozer seeds variety. It produced round fruits that where pale fleshed and it reminded me of this video. Mine didn't taste good - slightly bitter. Out of curiosity, can you recall how your misshapen Hunter tasted Vera?
One of my favourites is Musquee de Provence, a proper Cinderalla Pumpkin, it does grow quite large but if you slice it into segments it keeps in the fridge very well.
I love this one too, mine didn’t get as big as usual this year, but it’s still one of the biggest ones in the squash haul, and stores so well!
Wat heerlijk om weer een video van je te zien Vera!! Ik hoop dat je je iets beter voelt. neem de rust die je nodig hebt. Love the bench full of pumkins/winter squash! Here we weren't as lucky, but our allotment has too much shade. Will be expanding though with more sun, so hopefully more next year. We had 2 fruits of 'Potimarron', 2 fruits of 'Small Sugar', a couple ittybitty mini's, probabaly 'Gold Speck' and a very strange one as well. Did swap some seeds and they were crossed for sure: yellow, shape between a butternut and a spaghettisquash. Edible though and texture wise indeed more spaghetti squash. Was meant to be a litte mini-pumpkin 'Jack's Lantern' 🤣. Also saved some seeds from a (bio) storebought flat rounded greengreyish pumkin...loved the taste for pumkin soup. Definitely will try growing it upon my compost heap.
Do you feed your pumkins extra, other than with compost? Gr. Debbie
It's nice to see you back.
I enjoy your videos.
Here in Canada, our suppliers carry different varieties than your suppliers, so watching harvest reports are for procedure interest only. That's ok.
Thanks for watching! I think some varieties might be available to you too - maybe the Honeynut?
@@GrownToCook I might find out. I just got into having squash in my diet in the past decade. It's not traditional here. Now I am trying to find all the varieties that I can make delicious meals with.
Regarding Sonca; in Hungarian sonka = ham and tök = squash. So here in Hungary they're called sonkatök, apparently because when ripe they resemble a 'tied ham'.
Thanks so much for explaining it! I did not understand the 'ham' thing but this explanation totally makes sense!
Hello Vera :)
Have you tried Waltham? I saw it in your 2018 gals - but I cant find a review in any of the videos - maybe it didn't do well?
Hi! Nice video! I am going to try to grow a family pumpkin I bought at Hofweb. It’s a mucaat /hokkaido green pumpkin and very big. I am curious it will work out. Also I bought some same seeds you are going to try this year. I bought them by Jansen zaden. Very excited about it. Just have to find some spacebin my garden..
Hobak Jeon. For a recipe recommendation, I mean to say. It’s julienned or grated firm squash mixed with egg a little flour and garlic. You cook it like a pancake and serve it with rice vinegar mixed with soy sauce. You’d have to look up an actual recipe. I just make it by looks now.
That sounds super interesting and something I have not come across before - thank you, Arianna!
Dit is n lekker tuin wat jy het Vera! Hoe groot is jou tuin? Jammer as my Nederlands so sleg is maar ek is eintlik Afrikaans ;) My favorite is definitely butternut! You can cut them into disks and roast them in an oven with some olive oil. Then throw some cinnamon sugar over them. It's amazing!! It's almost like a desert. When we have a barbeque (braai) in South Africa, I cover a butternut with foil and some oil and then put it directly in the coals and turn it every now and then.
Hi Phil. Afrikaans is heel goed te begrijpen voor Nederlanders!
Have you tried Nutty Delica ?
Is a wintersquasch with a weight of 1,2 kilo each, i am gonna try this variant this year
Love butternuts also, funny thing, im in tx and iv never seen those varieties here, but this is pretty warm here. I still find this interesting👍👍👍🙂
I think some of these varieties (at least Honeynut) come from the USA, but I'd also love to hear what varieties you are growing! Our summers are getting progressively warmer, so we will have to adapt to that.
I think they switch the variety names of hybrid varieties across the pond by mutual agreement, just to keep their trade secrets. This is why I prefer heirlooms!
Great video.
I am going (in tasmania) quite a few pumpkins from seeds saved from store bought pumpkins, we will see how that goes...
How do you store your squashes? I have lost some to fungus during winter, in past seasons?
Thank you! I cure the fruits on a sunny window sill for two weeks and then store them in crates under the bed in an unheated bedroom. We hardly ever have any problems with fungus, usually only when the fruits were damaged to begin with
Love this video! Winter squashes are my favourite. This year it wasn’t a great squash season for me, but I still got a few. I tried growing a new butternut from seeds sent to me from Russia, thy were shop bought seeds and the packet showed a regular looking orange butternut, but it was supposed to be very early ripening. I was excited to try it and it did produce well considering the rubbish squash season, though it alsotook a while to get going. However, the fruit looked more like the Barbara variety with dark green stripes and not at all like the regular butternut on the packet! They are also pretty huge fruit 🤷🏻♀️ I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to try them again...My favourites are Honey Boat and Blue Banana. The best performing this year was squash Mashed Potato, super productive and such pretty white acorn squashes! Haven’t tried eating them yet though (first time growing these) 🧡🎃
Fantastic harvest!!!
(I could watch squash videos all day long 😅) I'm saving seeds from a sugar pumpkin, red kuri, spaghetti squash and kabocha squash for next year 🙌
...I would love to try honey nut squash...
And it would be really cool to see what grows from that mystery volunteer squash you have there! I didn't know they could cross pollinate 🤩
Thanks for your informativ and sooo L❤️VELY videos!
Second place to the brand new variety.
As Micah Raimer
said: "breed your own variety!"
Have you tried buttercup? It is supposed to be good.
I have not grown it yet - somehow I always forget, so thanks for reminding me - 2021 is the year to try it!
Hunter was bad for us too; this year was our first time growing it. The fruits were small and similar in shape to yours.
That's so weird! Maybe a bad batch of seeds?Where did you get yours?
@@GrownToCook Yes, maybe. The seeds were from PremierSeedsDirect on eBay, bought at the end of 2019. They probably get their seed from the same producer as all the other seed sellers. In 2019 we grew Waltham Butternut which produced an incredible yield, though the vines did take over half of the garden! Hunter seemed an ideal variety as it is earlier and the fruit and vines are smaller, but it was very disappointing.
Yay! Thank you for this!! ❤
I'm glad you like the video! It took a bit of time, but I love having those reviews to refer back to for myself as well :)
Great video-thanks. You had a very nice harvest. Are all of those varieties that you grew there of the pepo variety? Have you ever tried the maxima variety like a kabocha? This past summer was my second year growing kabocha which they performed equally as well in the summer of 2019. I am in USDA growing zone 8B in the USA which reaches high temps of 95 degrees-sometimes upwards towards 100 degrees Farenheit. It is my understanding that growing squashes/pumpkins within the same variety will cause a possible cross with each other and not stay true. BUT, growing different varieties together is OK without a possibility of crossing, for example growing pepo with maxima. The kabocha is a small rounded good storage pumpkin with just enough flesh for two people, one meal. They are quite good with a buttery and sweet taste. They are huge vegetative producers which means planting it around your garden edges and just let them RUN. The longer they run and the longer they can remain producing gives quite a large harvest. I don't know much about your climate and how long your growing season is though. I got my seeds from a man growing them in Hawaii. If you are interested in growing them next season let me know and I can send you some seeds.
I second the recommendation of Kabocha for size and flavor!
Honeynut Squash for me is the best of the best!
My Crown Prince this year were small, but delicious, just like Hubbards
Hi I was married for a long time to a Hungarian and he was a Csonka. Yes, the name Csonka is "ham" in English.
Hoi Hoi! Volgend jaar vijgenbladpompoen proberen? Heb ik pas deze week geproefd en ik heb er superlekkere jam van gemaakt.. Als je de vrucht opensnijdt riek je een beetje mango/meloen. Heel speciaal. Delicatesse in Spanje. Ze zijn hier gekweekt in midden België
Dankjewel, Timothy, ik zal op zoek gaan!
I have a humble recommendation. I hear chickens in the background of this video.....be bold and grow the larger 4-6 lb squash. They tend to not be so finicky and produce more reliably than their miniature siblings. And being you have chickens....share the over abundance of each opened squash with them! Also, i have found that hybridized compost volunteer squash do very well, i encourage you to let a few grow every year!
Yes hooray!!
Your small squash all look like they had a lack of water.
Could be, but the plants got just as much water as 'Barbara' which produced 8 huge fruits.
So in other words it was just a bad year overall for winter squash.