Plant Care Library

Group/Class:  Winter Squash

Brand:  Johnny's Selected Seeds

Description:

A low maintenance and easy to grow variety, perfect for containers and gardens; produces small, individual sized butternut squashes; tan exteriors lead way to deep orange flesh with a beautiful sweet and nutty flavor, great roasted, baked or in soup

Edible Qualities

Butterscotch Squash is an annual vegetable plant that is commonly grown for its edible qualities. It produces tan oblong fruit with orange flesh which are typically harvested when mature. The fruits have a sweet taste.

The fruit are most often used in the following ways:

• Cooking
• Baking
• Freezing

Planting & Growing

Butterscotch Squash will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. When planted in rows, individual plants should be spaced approximately 18 inches apart. This vegetable plant is an annual, which means that it will grow for one season in your garden and then die after producing a crop.

This plant is typically grown in a designated vegetable garden. It should only be grown in full sunlight. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone over the growing season to conserve soil moisture. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

Butterscotch Squash is a good choice for the vegetable garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.