Growing pattypans: small saucer fruits from a summer bed

Choose by flavour, shape and use

Oranje: Bright orange, domed discs with fairly thick dark yellow flesh: a colourful summer squash for young harvesting. Roast young wedges or fry small slices. Use tender young fruit to cook with the skin on.

The described flavour has a slight artichoke-like note. This distinction offers more guidance than the striking skin alone.

panaché: Cream-coloured fruit with green stripes gives this pattypan type a decorative pattern alongside plain white or orange forms. Cut young discs into wedges and roast with herbs. Leave the skin visible to show the colour pattern.

A separate aroma is not described. When harvested young, it has the usual summer squash texture, which suits frying and roasting well.

wit: Milky-white, thick discs with a lobed edge on a non-trailing plant: the classic pattypan appearance. Stuff a small young disc or fry firm wedges. Do not automatically leave older, hard skin in a soft dish.

Thick, firm, white flesh with an artichoke-like flavour is described. The young stage is most interesting for eating.

Treat pattypan as a young summer harvest

Pattypan is summer squash with dish-shaped, often scalloped fruit. Colour and size belong to varieties. General summer-squash methods help, but storage aims differ: usually young, tender fruit. Do not choose only the plant's largest disc.

Give the plant room before it grows large

A young plant looks modest, while a bush form later develops broad leaves. Choose a sunny bed and leave enough room for care and harvesting. Read the growth habit on the label. A compact bush type in a pot is a different project from a trailing squash variety on a frame.

Start in warmth with its own rootball

Sow indoors in a separate pot in spring or wait for warm soil outdoors. Provide light after emergence. Do not let raised plants become unnecessarily large before their site is suitable. Move entire root balls; damaged roots cost young summer squash establishment time.

Wait for frost-free conditions

Harden raised plants off gradually and plant outside only once frost and cold nights pose no direct threat. In the Netherlands, often late May or June, but weather decides. Water in and leave growth points free. Unexpected cold needs temporary cover or delay.

Keep growth even

Summer squashes produce plenty of leaves and need enough moisture during growth and fruiting. Water at the base and check below the surface. Water evaporates faster in a pot, where root space is limited. Use suitable feed for the soil or growing medium; extra fertiliser does not solve the problem of a plant that dries out every afternoon.

Examine the small developing fruit

Many summer squash have separate male/female flowers and small ovaries behind females. Pollinators support set. Poor pollination can stop fruitlets, while cold or drought stresses too. Do not remove all males automatically; assess conditions before causes.

Harvest often for tender pattypan fruits

Check hidden fruit beneath large leaves too. Cut pattypans young at sizes suited to variety and dish. Older fruit develops harder skin and larger seeds. Leave stalks and do not pull plants. Regular young picking supports successive small meals.

Investigate damage and taste the harvest

For white leaf coating, assess the whole plant and allow airflow; remove badly affected material carefully. Use fresh young fruit promptly. Do not eat distinctly bitter squash-family fruit. Do not save unknown ornamental-squash crosses for future edible crops.