Are you talking about (scalloped) acorn squashes? Some of the supermarket acorns are pretty uninspiring. Glenn Drowns at Sandhill Preservation recommends Gill's Golden Pippin.

I pretty much stick with the butternut relatives now. They do better in my conditions. There are some good recipes for butternut soup. But there are some other nice winter squashes, too. I have seeds for several banana types.

I may be sort of strange, but for use with actual spaghetti sauce, I prefer spaghetti squash when it has sized up but before it is mature. Simmer halves, seed and flake out strands of flesh. I bought "Tivoli" seeds from Pinetree many years ago. If I recall correctly, it was rather hard-skinned.

Though you may not like their vining habit (I think they would be great on an overhead trellis - no spines), some of the Rampicante squashes (related to butternuts, used as summer squash) sort of resemble spaghetti squash when almost to winter squash stage.

I don't have room for any of the vining squashes. Think pumpkin type vines. No way in my garden. So I pretty much have not considered any type of winter squash until now. I saw the Trivoli at Burpee, saw the bush habit and the fact that it is spagetti squash. I like the idea of home grown spagetti squash. Am going to pass at growing any other winter squash.

If you ever have room and you decide (after trying some) that you like Butternut squash, you might try Burpee's Butterbush butternut. They also have a new bush butternut, Pilgrim. Far more useful than most pumpkins.

That said, I think it is reasonable to buy winter squash (which doesn't depend on freshness for its flavor) and devote room in the garden to things where "fresh-picked" makes a big difference.

My seeds came from Burpee so I just sowed 4 seeds of the Tivoli winter squash. I intend to put them in twenty inch pots like the one I have the melons in. Sowed four seeds to make sure that something comes up. But only going to do one plant per container. But I am trying to think up a spot were I coould but some in ground.

My squash seedling has grown. The leaves are absolutely huge! I think I may have underestimated the size pot needed for this thing.

Most winter squashes, even the compact ones, are pretty big plants.

This thing is BIG, Big, Big. It already takes up the entire 20 inch pot.

Some small fruits on it already.

I can just see this fruit getting bigger each day.

That fruit is growing nicely and it has set another. That said, the plant also shows signs of being hit with borers. And it is just a really big plant. I doubt I will plant next year. But you have to try new things in the garden.

Looks great! I will try this variety next year. Thanks for the update!

I picked my one and only spaghetti squash. The vine was an absolute mess. It had another fruit comming, or so I thought but when it touched it, it was totally soft and I found insect holes. So probably borers. The stems were a total borer mess. I am not going to be planting these again next year. The plant was just horrendously large and all that for one fruit. So that was one thing tried new that I did not care for and will not be grown again. I will just stick to summer squashes.

Pulled the plant and bagged it. Out it went for the garbage pickup.

Well, here it is. My one and only fruit off my Spagetti Squash.

Tell us how it tastes :). It looks yummy. You know, I haven't tried spaghetti squash yet. Want to. I will wait to grow till I have a lot of space.

Haven't cooked it yet. I will report back after I do. Somewhere I read that you should let them cure for a while so that is what I am doing.

So, how was it? :-)

I'm still eating spaghetti squash picked last September. Most of them are about 2.5-3.0 lbs. Three hill got me about 12-14 squashes. I just cooked one, and got 1.5 lbs of squash out of it. I'm not generally a fan of winter squash, but I do eat the spaghetti variety.

I have to say that I think the idea that spaghetti squash can replace pasta doesn't make much sense to me. I tried it with tomato sauce, and it just didn't work. I just eat it as a side dish - no sauces, but maybe herbs/seasonings. In spite of the fact that it kind of looks like spaghetti, it's still a winter squash, and tastes like it.

I agree with jonfrum that spaghetti squash tastes like winter squash when ripe. If you want it to taste more like spaghetti, pick and use it before it is ripe (after it reaches full size but before the skin hardens).

It will still flake out in somewhat noodle-like strands (not as long as when ripe) when steamed, but will have a much less pronounced flavor more like summer squash. Great with spaghetti sauce at that stage. Over-grown but unripe trombocino squash can also be used this way.