Squash (and Pumpkins)

When choosing what to plant in the garden this year, I was inspired by the Three Sisters garden. The three sisters of indigenous tradition are corn, beans, and squash. This post is going to be all about our various "squashes." We planted two types of summer squash, one summer/winter squash/gourd, one winter squash, and one pumpkin.

Two blue Jarrahdale pumpkins and a Patisson Strie Melange squash.

First up is the most common: zucchini. There is the old trope of gardeners desperately trying to get rid of zucchini because they are overwhelmed by the huge numbers of fruit produced by a single plant. How I wish that would happen to me! I love zucchini so so much, but I just can't get it to grow very well here. Back when we lived on the mountain, we actually had to buy a chest freezer to preserve all the zucchini we grew (thanks to Chloe and the girls). Despite years of being told by our garden that it did not like to produce zucchini, I planted some this year. I planted one black beauty and one golden zucchini. The black beauty seeds never sprouted, so I split up the golden zucchini seedlings so we'd have two plants.

Zucchini in a shared bed with a volunteer dill plant.

Once again, I was very clearly shown that zucchini will not succeed in this garden. The plants were lovely, but only one ever put on any fruit. That one plant made two full grown golden zucchinis and then seemed to give up. Just last week, I saw it was trying again, though. It had four tiny little fruits. Within days, however, one of them began to turn brown. So, I picked the two largest remaining. They were still tiny and skiny, but they were a nice addition the my scrambled eggs and veggies yesterday morning.

Tiny and tasty with eggs and other veg from our garden.

Next up are the semi-summer squash that are also winter gourds. Just for funsies, I bought a pack of Patisson Strie Melange squash. This French heirloom squash is the best of both worlds: the young pattypan squash have a mild taste and lovely smooth texture when cooked, and the older ones left on the vine turn into freaky, bumpy gourds that are perfect for fall decor.

Two different types of squash for the price of one!

I planned on four plants in one bed, not realizing how large those plants would grow. Fortunately (?), they sorted themselves out when two of the plants died off. 

That's a lot of squash plant!

From the two that remained, we got nearly a dozen pretty little spaceships to eat fresh. I decided to leave two on the vine to see what happened. I was not disappointed! One turned into a perfect warty masterpiece. 

The texture! The colors! Gorgeous!

The other one is still on the vine waiting to turn bumpy. Squash bugs have found it, but I don't really mind. It's the only fruit I found them on and we don't plan on eating it anyway.

Squash bugs, or alien insects on their U.F.O.?

Next up, is our winter squash. I'm a huge fan of all kinds of winter squash, but when I tasted a Honeynut squash for the first time last fall, I knew what I wanted to grow this year. The super sweet, smaller versions of Butternut squash grew very well. We had two plants in one bed, which seemed just fine since they have short vines. 

Two, two Honeynut squash plants (ha ha ha).

They set fruit fairly quickly, but it took quite a while for them to start turning orange. I made sure to check on them often for fear that squirrels might sample them. One did get gnawed on a bit, but the tree rat apparently didn't find it very palatable. 

Honeynut squash on July 25.

Honeynut squash on August 22 that has been slightly sample by a squirrel.

Honeynut squash ready to pick on September 12.

We have harvested six little squashes in total so far. There are still some green ones on the vin,e but I don't know if they'll have a chance to fully ripen before the end of the season. The smallest of our harvest is just 9 ounces and the largest is just over a pound. Even though they are naturally tiny compared to other winter squash, I think I will grow them again next year.

These are going to be so nice roasted.

And finally, we planted blue Jarrahdale pumpkins for the second year in a row.  Last year, we had two plants and got two pumpkins. This year, we had two plants and got two pumpkins. I'm happy with that. We put them both in one bed at the back of the garden knowing that they would grow along the fence. They put out very long vines! 

I picked this garden bed knowing Jarrahdale pumpkins cannot be contained.

Fortunately, one plant went in each direction, giving them plenty of space. The fun part was hunting for the pumpkins. One was hidden among the morning glories on the garden's eastern fence, and the other found a place behind the corn beds at the north of the garden.

The morning glory vines may have provided some support.

Sneaky pumpkin behind the corn.

As with the Honeynut squash, I watched these carefully for signs of rodent sampling. I even sprayed them with hairspray and sprinkled them with cayenne attempting to keep the squirrels away. I don't know if either of those did deter the animals, but both pumpkins were unscathed when I finally harvested them. They are so lovely! I'm still debating whether I dare risk using them as outside decor with the danger of squirrel chewing still out there.  

So beautiful!

Next year, I would love to plant even more pumpkins and varieties of winter squash, but the space inside our garden fence is limited. I've considered allowing them to take over part of our back yard, but I fear our neighborhood deer would destroy them. They managed to decimate my rhubarb and asparagus this spring and severely stunted my tomatoes with their browsing. So, perhaps a garden annex is in order for next season.