Seed started May 7, indoors

Summer Squash

Golden Scallopini Pattypan Squash

Size: 2-4 feet high, 2-3 feet wide

Location: lots of sun, good rich soil and give them enough room. If they’re too squished they can easily succumb to powdery mildew that your phlox sends over from the edge of the garden. Should have sprayed that with hydrogen peroxide earlier!

Matures in: 50-65 days

Native to: Italy, but summer squash originated in the tropics which is why it's a tender annual.

Why did I Choose it? They are considered the most delicious of the summer squashes and my husband and I totally agree. And Josh isn’t much of a squash fan, as in he pretty much hates it any way you try and feed it to him. 

Uses? We ate basically all of it cut in half, fried in butter with salt and pepper and garlic and topped with a little bit of tomato jam as a glaze. It made the most amazing side to any meat you wanted to pair with it. I even pickled some to try for long term storage and we made it the same way. VInegar frying in butter is strangely and incredibly appetizing smell. 

Specifics: Bushy plants that are heavy producers of bright yellow saucer shaped fruit with a scalloped edge. 

Pick often for more fruit. 

Tender and tasty when 6 inches or less, they have a sweet, nutty flavor. 

We didn’t mind them when they got a bit bigger but the skin was tougher. 

I read somewhere they can be allowed to stay on the vine to get big and then used as a winter squash but none of ours made it that long. 

Companion Plants:

Borage is effective in deterring insect pests. It also improves flavor and growth. 

Marigolds, nasturtium and radishes also repel unwanted pests. 

Avoid: 

Potatoes rob the soil of nutrients the squash needs.

Pumpkins can cross pollinate disastrously. 

Personal Notes: 

We absolutely loved these squash. 

I made a mistake and interplanted them with borage because it’s a good pollinator attractor and a good companion plant. 

The only problem is borage gets quite big, and so do these squash. If I had planted it around the edges it would have been better but they all got very squished. And then I didn't spray my phlox early enough when I saw the powdery mildew so some leaves blew over and infected my plants. They didn’t last till fall. 

But the squash was delicious!!!

This year we’re going to try trellising the squash to keep it up and air circulating. Hopefully that will increase production and let the plant survive for the whole season. 

We bought more for this year!

Squash is actually not a vegetable at all.

It’s a pepo - a type of hard shelled berry. 

Winter Squash

Blue Kuri

Size: 12-18 inches high with a spread of 5-10 feet. 

Location: full sun, rich soil, lots of space for good air circulation

Matures in: 90 days

Native to: Japan, it is a kabocha type squash, also known as Blue Hokkaido

Why did I Choose it? Perfect size for 2 people and long shelf life, even up to a year with the right conditions

Uses? Can be used in sweet or savory dishes interchangeably 

Specifics: Round, slightly flattened fruit with blue grey skin and dense, dry orange flesh that gets more moist with storage. Sweet, rich flavor that gets better with time. Small to medium size, excellent for two people. Fruit is usually 2-3 pounds each but can get up to 8 pounds. Each vine can produce 2-8 fruits. 

Companion Plants:

Beans add nitrogen to the soil.

Corn works as a trellis. 

Radishes left to flower protect from squash borers by attracting them away from the squash plant. 

Mint controls aphids, ants, flea beetles and rodents. 

Onions ward off fruit tree borders, weevils, aphids, rust flies, moles and some root nematodes. 

Marigolds and nasturtium repel bugs and beetles as well as attract bees and other pollinators. 

Oregano repels many pests. 

Avoid: 

Potatoes inhibit growth.

Personal Notes: I was really excited about growing this squash but it didn't turn out very well. 

The seeds all germinated very well, we had lots of seedlings. 

I had read somewhere that fruit ripened on the ground tastes better so I didn’t use a trellis. This meant they took up a lot of garden space. 

They also were covered in squash bugs from the very beginning. Many survived and started flowering. I thought they were too close together so I pulled any weak looking plants to give the strong ones more space. 

They started producing fruit but didn't seem to mature quickly at all. For 40ish square feet I harvested 4, 2 pound squash. 

Next year I’m going to try trellising. 

Last up Odds and Ends