Patty Pan Squash Growing
Patty Pan squash growing can be great fun plus you will get some amazing results. They are certainly shaped strangely. They are sometimes called Scallop Squash or have the resemblance to flying saucers. Why not get the children involved in growing this funny-looking squash. These can also be called scallop squash from the shape of them.
Patty Pan Squash is part of the summer squash range. They grow on plants that are similar to courgettes or Zucchini. If you look after the plant you will get great crops from them producing mild-tasting squash. They can come in three different colours white, green or yellow.
On this page we will go through Patty Pan squash growing from seed through to harvesting them. We will also explain how to care for Patty Pan squash.
Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book
Are you starting an allotment or planning on growing your own fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers in a kitchen garden? If so we highly recommend the book Allotment Month By Month. This does exactly what it does on the cover to help you with what you should be doing in the allotment and kitchen garden each month. Below you can see the link for Amazon where you can purchase the book directly. This book is extremely popular with all allotment holders as you will read in the reviews:-
You can check out all the allotment and kitchen garden books we recommend here.
Purchase Patty Pan Squash seeds
Would you like to try growing Patty Pan squash? Here you can purchase seeds direct from Amazon from the link below.
When to sow, plant and harvest Patty Pan squash
Knowing when to sow seeds, plant the plants and harvest the produce is valuable information. Here you can find out the times for the UK:-
| Sow | April to May |
| Plant | May to June |
| Harvest | July to October |
How to sow Patty Pan Squash Seeds
When sowing Patty Pan squash seeds you can either plant them straight into the ground when the weather has warmed up or you can plant them in plant pots in a greenhouse or somewhere warm. This way you can get them started earlier and extend the growing season which will produce more crops.
To sow Patty Pan seeds in plant pots you will only require smallish pots but if you start them in pots rather than trays you won’t need to transplant them and it will not damage the roots.
Plant one seed per plant pot using multipurpose compost and then water the plant pot to help with germination. Put the plant pot somewhere warm and light to start your seed growing. You can even put some cling film over the pot to keep it warm and moist acting as an insulation.
How to transplant Patty Pan Squash plants
When you are planting Patty Pan plants you need to think about how much space they take up on the allotment or garden. The vines on these plant can reach up to 6ft so will require a lot of space between each plant. Patty Pan Plants have both male and female flowers so will need a few plants nearby to help with pollination of the flowers.
Plant your Patty Pan Squash plants into a hole that has compost and fertilizer in it to help make the soil rich and well drained.
How to look after Patty Pan Plants
Your squash plants will require you to keep them well watered as this helps swell the fruit and make them produce more. If they are not watered regularly they may drop the flowers or the fruit will go rotten.
You can also add some mulch to the soil round the plants to keep them moist and damp. But do not put it round the stem as this could cause the stem to rot and snap off.
Another tip is to put a plant pot buried into the ground next to the plant and water into that. This way the water will go to the roots and not the stem causing it to rot off.
When the plant starts producing the fruit you can feed them every 14 days with a high potash fertilizer.
How to harvest Patty Pan Squash
When growing Patty Pan squash they can take anywhere from 45-70 days from planting to harvesting. With these squash, you can pick them at any size from 2 inches across or until they are a lot bigger the choice is totally down to you. The best time to pick them is when they are smaller so they are tastier.
Do you fancy learning how to grow spaghetti squash? Find out our tips and advice here.