I'm going to disagree with the previous posters. It can be tricky to get winter squash to truly ripen to their best, especially in a short season. 2 or 3 Hubbards per plant is all I would leave at this point and pull off any others that set. Here's a question... do your Hubbards wilt in the afternoon sun? They shouldn't, but they will if you plant them on a well watered spot but their vines roam over dry grass, weeds, and whatever. If they're wilting, they're not able to draw enough water cuz their vines, distant from the plant base, aren't able to put roots down and gather water. This also limits how much nutrients they can draw, limiting the number of fruit they can ripen, although they may set many more. If your Butternuts haven't set yet, you may be out of luck for the season. Butternuts take a long time to ripen. If you don't get any soon, you might consider drastic thinning, or eating them as immature fruits.

Hey, Hippie, Young seedlings have a tendency not to abscise "on time". Maybe for several years of their youth. Dunno why. Could be their quest for youthful freedom from adult trees' genetic dictation that "You have to shed your leaves!" (Ain't happenin', establishment! Far out, out'a sight!). Been there, done that. Personally, I never abscised. Seriously, this pic is of a 4-5 year old northern red oak in the neighbor's yard, undoubtedly a seedling from my yard's red oak as there are no other red oaks in the neighborhood. I have several red oak seedlings in the yard that this year also held their leaves over the winter, but the "momma" defoliates every year. Maybe they don't abscise because as young trees they are still trying to grow when the heavy frost hits and the abscission layer doesn't have a chance to form? I've seen this a billion times - eventually the trees, not just oaks, begin to abscise like all the others and get nekked in the fall...wait - wasn't that something that youth used to do, hippie? LOL

I'm doing the same thing this coming season. Vertical is the way to go....supposedly should be super nice with the increased air-flow from underneath. I'm keeping to 2 - 4 pounders ( I got many of my seeds from ebay ). I'm growing on the trellis Table Queen Acorn, Delicata ( Sweet Potato ) and Red Kuri Squash. ... Also you may want to look on Youtube...I saw some videos on people growing gourds this way....BIG ones too...it will be reassuring. Check for my post in this section...see what you think of my squash arbor...good luck

I ate my first spaghetti squash last week. I'm going to try to grow some next year. I saw seeds for single serving size squash at Park Seed, and since there are only 2 of us, that sounds like a good idea, since the bowl I tried reheating was not great. We sliced it in half, scooped the seeds put garlic & butter in it and popped it in the oven. Next time, I won't put the butter on before cooking. It seemed to make it mushy. Other than that, I really liked it. Next time, we'll cook it plain, add garlic, butter and parmesan cheese, then pop it back in the oven for a minute to melt the parm. I cooked the seeds too, like pumpkin seeds, but I cooked them in the frying pan instead of the oven, just to try it. They were good too. I planted my zucchini too close this year (to each other, and to everything else). Next year, it's not going in the raised bed. It's getting some space of it's own. Of course like a dope, I thought it was a vining plant. I've only grown it once, and that was several years ago. I just though - zucchini is squash, squash grows on vines... Lesson learned... We did get some very good zuchs though. About one a day for several weeks. My potatoes were looking great until I left town for a couple weeks. DH overwatered them. They got hit when the sprinkler system came on, and he didn't realize it. As they yellowed, he watered them more, thinking they were dry. I salvaged a few that hadn't rotted. My carrots were less than stellar. I grew Danvers half long I think. They weren't sweet at all. All in all though, the new raised beds I built this spring produced by far the best garden we have ever had. DH didn't want me to garden this year (first year in the house, too much work he thought, so I built it while he was gone to TX for 2 weeks). I had 80 square feet this year. Next year I'll have about 200, plus a raspberry patch. DH is happily helping me this time : )