The truth about Zumpkins

Family reunion - a selection of pepos and crosses. 

Here's a question you hear a lot:

"My zucchini looks funky. Did it cross with my melon?"

"Will my pumpkins and cucumbers cross if I grow them together?"

"Are my melons not sweet because I grew them with cucumbers?"

"Could my butternut have crossed with my pumpkin and that's why it is ripening/growing/looking weird?"

Okay, I admit that I am paraphrasing somewhat but these are all inspired by real life questions I have read or seen or answered on countless occasions. So to set the record straight, I give you the truth about the zumpkin.


Immature pumpkin scarred by design and by that I mean that we etched this face into it when it was green on the vine not that we intended on hurting it emotionally... 

Not all vines are created equal

I'm not suggesting that they fall into a heirarchy; what I'm referring to is how closely related they are. Cucumbers, melons, squash, zucchinis, pumpkins and more might look similar in that they are all leafy vines that produce (mostly) yellow flowers of which the female flowers swell into fruits but this does not mean that they can all cross.

In fact, crossing is usually only restricted to members of the same species. Just like how a rabbit must mate with another rabbit not a monkey to produce fertile offspring even though both rabbits and monkeys are mammals. (No jumping ahead, we'll talk about interspecies crossing in a minute.)

Plant: Genus species

Cucumbers: Cucumis sativa
Melon: Cucumis melo
Armenian cucumber: Cucumis melo (see it's tricky sometimes)
Watermelon: Citrullus lantana
Many (but not all) zucchini: Cucurbita pepo
Most halloween pumpkins: Cucurbita pepo (hence zumpkins)
Squash: Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita moschata, Cucurbita maxima, etc...*

That's not to mention gourds (some decorative gourds are actually pumpkins), other things called melons and some more unusual cucumber like things such as mouse melon, aka Melothria scabra.

The more closely related something is, the more likely it can cross assuming that the reproductive mechanisms are conducive to such a union and there no other barriers. Peas, for example, don't tend to cross because they self pollinate even before the flower opens giving the bees no chance to create mayhem**! The vining crops mentioned above, on the other hand, are busy with pollen dusted buzzers moving between plants so cross pollination most certainly can happen if it is possible.

If they have the same Genus and species such as a pattypan and spaghetti squash and zucchini, they can easily create cross cultivar hybrids***. Some people let same species cross on purpose or just because they don't care but if you want to keep your seed pure, you have to isolate your varieties.

Sometimes you even get an wide-cross which is a cross between two different species. This is more likely between closely related species such as two types of Cucurbits rather than between a cuke and a watermelon. To go back to our mammal examples, sometimes you see a zonky (zebra + donkey) but no elephantice (elephant + mice)****. This species hopping hanky-panky is actually quite infrequent and apparently highly cultivar dependent according to what I've read (see link below).


Romanpan f1 = Romanesco x Patty Pan

Naughty neighbours?

What this does NOT mean is that if you are growing an Armenian cucumber beside your pickling cucumber that the fruit that forms will be some crazy mix between the two. It won't. Instead you will get just what you expect EVEN though you are growing two varieties.

The first year you grow two potentially cross pollinating plants will give you no pumpkin surprise. Honest. Growing pumpkin beside your zucchini will give you pumpkins on your pumpkin plant and zucchinis on your zucchini plant. Yup. Boring.


Patty Pan x Halloween Pumpkin = warty dumpling and ribbed white or Hallopans collectively

Hiding in the Seed

Actually not so boring. Those plants might be hiding a secret in the seed. You see, the next year when you grow out your pumpkin seeds, you may get fruit that doesn't look anything like you were expecting. It is year two that you get the Zumpkin.

Busy Bees pepo cross:


All together now: Romanpan f1 -> Romanesco -> patty pan -> halloween pumpkin -> Hallopan f1

To illustrate, in 2012, I grew white pattypans, romanesco and halloween pumpkins: all Cucurbita pepo. Some of my white pattypans were tossed to the chickens. The next year 2013, I moved their chicken run and out of it grew a great mound of volunteer pumpkin vines. Off the vines sprouted mainly what looks like pattypan x romanesco but there were also a few pattypan x pumpkin. I love the white pattypans not as immature little roasters but because they store exceptionally well mature holding their texture. We keep them in the cellar, peel and use as winter zucchini.  However, the shape is annoying as you have cut off a lot of the flesh. The chance cross of romapan-pattyesco gave me a better shape. We'll see if it stores and tastes as good.

From further a field, some pumpkin pollen made it to a pattypan flower creating a couple other variations which I'm less interested in but they look neat. Here's one below with a very thick hard rind but decent texture. Flavour is average zuke.

Now, I didn't isolate as I didn't realize what I had until later but I intend on saving seeds, growing out and doing some selection in years to come.


Inside one of the hallopans that we ate for supper. It's flesh was very pale but cooked up a bit darker. It held its texture well and tasted just fine.

A whole lot about Cucurbita seed production

* You are likely to grow these kinds but there are others as squash is a moniker given to a lot of fruit.
** That's not to say that crossing never happens and I seem to remember a reference to nectar stealing insects in beans that can trip up self pollination at the source which might also happen in peas. If you really, really want pure varieties of peas, there are suggested isolation distances.
*** Did you say hybrid?
Yes I did.
Aren't hybrids bad?
Depends on what you mean. A hybrid is just the crossing of two varieties. Anytime you don't isolate two cultivars of the same species, you might get a hybrid.
But?
Yes, agricultural hybrids that don't breed true and force people to buy their seed again so they become dependent on the system have drawbacks. That's the hybrid that people rally against in favour of what they call OP - open pollinated. The kind of hybrid above is just kooky. You are welcome to save seeds from it but no guarantees about what offspring you'll get. That's true of most commercial hybrids by the way too. Which is not to say that you can't try to select and stabilize a new OP variety from your crazy mix. That's fun too.
**** Yeah, yeah. I know. There are several reasons for that.

This one's a keeper

Red seeded citron melon about a year and a half after harvest.

A long storage keeper that is.

It all started in 2010 when I traded for two types of citron  - that's rind watermelon not the lemon - at the first Perth Seedy Saturday. From luxuriant vines in 2011 came two types of fruit: a huge splotchy oblong type with green seed (I believe)* and a more compact stripy type with red seeds. Somewhat puzzled as to what to do with them, I stuck them in our cool but not very humid basement cellar. I had heard that they were used to "make candied watermelon rind," "the best christmas cake ever," and "mock apple pie."


I have this really great picture of a harvest basket overflowing with citrons: both the round and the oblong but I fear it's on the computer that is no more though I may be able to resurrect it from a talk I gave last year. To tide you over, here is the green seeded giant variety held by daughters in summer 2011.

We had more apples than you could shake a stick at** that year so Suzy the Apple Peeler*** and me processed those instead.

In the spring of 2012, they had gone from rock hard green balls to rock hard yellow balls. I wondered if that meant they were ripe now. Figuring they'd go off soon, I vowed to check on them to see how long exactly they would last. The good folk at One Thing Leads to Another came round and I handed them over one of the behemoths. In fact, I offered them to anyone who had the fool idea of visiting. They responded with the same half curious, half puzzled 'huh' as me.

Fall 2012, I hauled them all upstairs deciding that they were going to go off soon so I'd just toss them on the old compost pile. They survived a couple freezes on the front step (and my younger daughter just informed me they were excellent chairs) before I put a few in the garden for a self seeding experiment and brought one inside intending on cutting it open just to see.


Citron proving that it is food by rotting.

Yesterday in mid-winter 2013, my eyes lit upon the citron. I really have to blog about that, I thought turning it over in my hands. "What's this," I say to myself, "a rot spot?" Forced by its imminent demise, I brought it upstairs with thoughts of how such a long keeper probably had skin requiring an axe to slice. Turns out that it was easier than some squash to peel though this could be because it was well aged.


Note the rot, the red seeds and rind.

The inside was no longer crisp and white but mellow yellow and soft around the seeds. Some had sprouted but most were sound. The bottom half was rotten but the top was fine tasting like a mild cucumber. I diced up the rind and boiled it in sugar and lemon then dehydrated it as per a recipe that I stumbled upon.


According to my youngest daughter, these look like french fries. They are in fact, citron rind ready for processing.

Verdict: This one's a keeper. Assuming the seeds oblige me with viability, I'll grow them out again next year. They may have crossed with the behemoth green variety so we'll see what we get. I assume it will be something with a steel skin, a suspiciously long shelf life and mysterious innards requiring preparations techniques gleamed from historical text.


Here's a curio: these seeds were conjoined.

* That's right, I'm not sure. You may have noticed that I was somewhat neglectful of the citron melon. I did open one early on hoping that the giant watermelon was a giant sweet watermelon and being disappointed to see it was a citron meaning none of my neglected sweet watermelon had germinated just all that citrons proving that it is also quite an independent grower. I didn't take note of the seed colour. The other giant ones were either composted or given away so unless a recipient can confirm, I can only assume they were green seeded as the small ones were red seeded. Unless of course there was something more complex happening.
** While writing this, I wondered where does this expression come from. I asked Dr. Google who answered that s/he didn't know or rather, it might be these things.
*** Suzy the Apple Peeler, or just the green apple peeler that I got at Lee Valley, is a wonderful  time saver that both peels and cores apples. Together we make shorter work of bushels of wormy, irregularly shaped apples.

***

Links

Eat the Weeds posts on Citron Melons and Abandoned Preserves

Karen's Kitchen and Citron Preserves

Culinary Historians of Canada and Citron Melon

A Gardener's Table gets creative with Citron

Thundercat's Kitchen watermelon rind pie recipe

Interviews with Great Gardeners:Farming seed to seed with Joseph

Over the years, I've grown to respect Joseph's bold and interesting approach to developing his own seed strains - adaptivar landraces - which enhances genetic diversity along with yield and taste to provide his family and CSA with great fruit and vegetables. There is a lesson in good seed stewardship for all of us.

Where do you farm and when did you start?



I started farming as a toddler in Paradise Utah, a small village in a mountain valley. Cold air from the surrounding mountains settles into the valley, so the growing season is short and cold. Due to the low humidity during the summer, we get bright sunlight during the day and intense radiant cooling at night. I am still farming in Paradise.



I grew up on the farm that was settled by my 3rd great grandmother. We raised a huge vegetable garden to feed the family. The rest of the farm was in pasture, wheat, alfalfa, woodlot, or fallow where the mountains are too steep. My primary responsibility was to milk the cow once a day, every day, year after year after year. I love the intimacy of milking, and the gentle rhythm of it, but it ties you down something fierce.

We raised or hunted just about everything that we ate: pigs, sheep, cows, vegetables, chickens, deer, eggs, milk, fish, etc. We bought bread and noodles. We canned, froze, and dried lots of food. We had a root cellar, and a pantry.

We kept a couple of ponies that we rode all over everywhere when I was young. They were named Sunshine and Stormy, after the weather when they were born, which just happened to match their temperaments after they grew up. I usually rode bareback.


Tell us about adpativar landraces and your seed to seed practices.

I had always bought my seeds from The Company. Some years ago I was looking for a more exciting sweet corn, something with a bit of color to it. I read about the pedigree of a variety called "Astronomy Domine" which was being grown by Homegrown Goodness in Pekin Indiana. It contained the offspring of many dozens of varieties all jumbled up and inter-pollinating each other.


Astronomy Domine

That got me wondering about whether I was harming my garden by planting the highly inbred varieties that the seed companies were offering. So I started doing some plant breeding experiments with cantaloupe. The first year I had only harvested a few fruits before the garden was killed by frost, but I saved the seeds and replanted, and added about 60 varieties as a trial planting. Most of the varieties did extremely poorly, failing to produce seeds or even to germinate in my cold soil. The second year I harvested about two bushel of cantaloupes. There were a few plants from my saved seed that grew vigorously and were highly productive: One plant produced more fruit than an entire row of store bought seeds. So I saved the seeds from the best, and from anything that produced fruit and replanted. The third year I harvested around 15 bushels of ripe fruit. Wow!!! I could finally grow cantaloupe in my cold short season garden.


Mal-adapted cantaloupe


Well-adapted cantaloupe


The fruit of his labour: cantaloupe!

After seeing how successful the cantaloupe experiments were, I decided that I would grow all of my own seeds for my garden, and that I would grow landrace varieties. An adaptivar landrace is a food crop lots of genetic diversity which tends to produce stable yields under marginal growing conditions. Landrace crops are adaptively selected for reliability in tough conditions. In the case of mostly self-pollinating plants like peppers, tomatoes, beans, wheat, and peas a land-race may be thought of as many distinct varieties growing side by side. In the case of out-crossing plants like cantaloupe, squash, or corn, a land-race can be thought of as an open pollinated population with tremendous genetic diversity.

I have had great success with other varieties. For example, I planted every variety of moschata/butternut squash that I could get my hands on and allowed them to freely cross-pollinate. 75% of the varieties didn't produce offspring in the 88 day frost-free growing season that year, and of those that did survive, some of them only produced one fruit per seed packet. But I saved the seeds from the survivors and had a tremendous harvest the following year.


How do your clients react to the diversity of your vegetables?

Judy told me that I am a "bad farmer" for letting colored pollen from the Indian corn get into Astronomy Domine... But for the most part people are pragmatic. My brightly colored and genetically diverse vegetables taste better than the bland grocery store offerings, and so I am readily forgiven if one melon in a basket has a funky smell. If diversity is the price that has to be paid in order to harvest ripe melons in our valley then it's an easy bargain to make. And if I get the chance to share my belief that brighter colors equals higher nutrition and better taste, then people are nearly always willing to entertain the notion. When word of Astronomy Domine sweet corn got around, a local newspaper sent a reporter out to do a story about it.


Any project on the go that you'd like to share with us?

I am currently working on turning every species I grow into reliable landrace varieties for my garden, but the species that I am most excited about is watermelon. I was able to harvest 5 fruits from the 600 seeds that I planted last spring. That is great odds for a breeding program! I am collaborating with two other growers in similarly cold short-season gardens, and with one grower in a warmer climate. We are all growing each others seed and sharing seeds from the survivors with each other.


Mal-adapated watermelon

Well-adapted watermelon


The fruit of his labours: watermelon!

What advice would you give to young farmer's beginning a CSA or other local food farm?

Farm because you love to farm, not because you think it would be a lucrative career. I estimate that I make around $2 per hour. That figure is slightly misleading, because I also eat from the garden, and I have much lower expenses because I grow my own seeds, and because I have developed varieties that thrive without pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, weed-mats, etc. Farm-gate sales are much easier on the main highway than from a back-field somewhere. You can develop your own clientèle and your own way of doing things, regardless of the traditions of the other farmers in your area.

Read more at Homegrown Goodness

Odd Veg. Trials - Cuke and Melon

I'll let you know a little secret: I've discovered that I am a collector. Not of stamps or teddy bears or vintage uniforms but of edible plants. Surprise! Okay so you aren't that surprised. Perhaps you too have been tempted by goblin egg gourds or mouse melons too. For your interest, here are my experiences in upper Ottawa valley growing some weird vining stuf:

Burr Gherkin



Impressively productive compared to my cursed cucumbers and for something with a leaf like a watermelon. Actually, Cucumis anguria, had some competition from the citron for pumping out the fruit this summer. I would grow it again if I could figure out what I can do with this bounty of little fruit. Perhaps... gherkins?

My source: Seed trade from down south in the U.S. I hope to have some available this year.

Achocha



Stories of Cyclanthera species impressive productivity in mild climes such as the UK did not come true in the sand trap of the old garden or during our mini drought, interspersed as it was by storms. I can confirm that it is a very impressive climer however.

My source: Seed trade from a mild part of Europe.

Citron



Want to surprise your friends with your prowess at growing watermelons? Try the perserving melon: citron, Citrullus lanatus. You can't split this baby open and dig out juicy goodness unfortunately but you can prepare all manner of canned yummies. Mostly they are for a lemon preserve but I have heard of them being used in place of cucumber and apple. Currently on my research list as you can see I have a few dozen. Anyone want to try one?

My source: Perth Seedy Saturday

Gourds - exotic up here



They aren't ripe yet but they're trying. I'll have to update you further on how they are doing. Langenaria siceraria is pretty enough to grow as a decorative especially as its large white flowers open later in the day.

My source: An italian squash and gourd mix

Mouse Melon

I didn't get a chance to grow Melothria scabra year but I they get tops for cuteness and have a nice flavour the one time I did try. They were grown in shade so descriptions of vines dripping with little melons was inaccurate for me. I'll try them again before throwing in the towel.

I'd love to hear other people's experience with the cuke pretenders and other unusual edible gourds and melons.

Stored Harvest Monday

I was very excited because I was cooking up some delicious winter squash lasagna - recipe inspired by a picture in Mother Earth News - with a butternut that had been grown on this land though not by me. This meant that I had something to post for Harvest Monday, hosted by Daphne's Dandelions...


This is one of those four element meals where everything happens at once.

... BUT we must have been very hungry and the lasagna looked so delicious that I forgot to take a picture of the finished product until... well... it was finished.


A dirty tray where once lasagna lay.

At this point, in the blog post, you'll probably be looking for a recipe but I'm not one of those cooks. Most of the time, I just wing it (Of course, with gardening I am a rigorous researcher and executor of orthodoxy. Really). So for those that will leave unsatisfied otherwise here is what I did:

Element 1: Boil thinly sliced rounds of butternut or other neck pumpkin
Element 2: Boil lasagna until al dente
Element 3: Fry onions
Element 4: Make a thick roux (equal portions of flour and butter) with milk, seasoned with salt and curry powder. Melt in a generous amount of cheddar cheese.

Layer with lasagna then pumpkin, onions and roux. Do it again. Top with a final layer of pasta covered by grated cheddar cheese. Put in the oven at a highish temperature and cook until everything looks melty and yummy. I recommend cooking covered for the first half of the time so that the top layer doesn't get too crispy or burnt.

Try to get that f#$%rst piece out. Pair with a salad from your polytunnel. Serves however many people you cook for though portion size will vary.

***

Admin stuff: For some reason, I can't change the design elements of my blog so note that Jeruselum Artichokes are no longer available.

Harvest Monday - Got Grapes

I think these are Concord.

Last year, I nearly pulled up the grape vine because it had never produced when I noticed my daughter pulling small purple balls from near the bottom of the vine. This was surprising as they were supposed to be some sort of light rose coloured grape but colour mismatch aside, the grape death sentence was stayed.


To thank me, the grape vine is dripping with fruit this year. They are sweet but seedy. Not bad for eating, but probably better for processing into grape jelly or juice. I think that this variety is the graft stock and everything above suffered some calamity such as winter kill or rabbit nibbling.

Washed by the rain, harvested grapes in a colander.

What to do with grapes?

1. Eat them
2. Juice - you know squish and strain.
3. Freeze as popsicles
4. Jelly
- Jelly without pectin
6. Grape Butter
6. Stuffed Grape Leaves
- Lots more on the wiki page: Dolma
7. Dehydrate seedless varieties for raisons
8. Make Fruit Leather
9. Wild Grape Wine
10. Wild Grape Yeast Starter


Cold Hardy Grapes Supplier and Info:


http://www.littlefatwino.com/bertslist.html
Green Barn
http://hubpages.com/hub/Growing-Grapes-in-Northern-Climates
Cornhill Nursery in New Brunswick
Manitoba Agriculture Site with suppliers and surival tests


Native Grapes


You may have a small mountain of these vines growing around your place or you may be looking for a really easy plant to grow... below is a list of some of the wild grapes that you might find nearby. Their mouth appeal varies between species and plant to plant. Many improve in flavour after frost or with plenty of sweetener.


Vitis riparia - River grape
Vitis labrusca - Fox grape
Vitis aestivalis - Summer grape (good link!)
Vitis vulpina - Frost grape (yes, it really is different from V. riparia)


If you go foraging make sure you don't sample moonseed by mistake.

***
What do you do with your grapes?

Harvest 'yucky veggies' Monday

Some tasty squash soup and my suspicious youngest daughter.

Mmm... homegrown squash made into a warming midwinter meal. Just imagine the aroma of pumpkins and spice wafting through the house. Thick chunks of bread liberally dunked with a nice glass of whatever you like to wet your pallette. A fire in the background and a good feeling inside that you have grown this bounty for your family...

... until reality hits and your children hop happily upstairs for a meal only to discover that it is something TASTY! I am borrowing this insult from a friend of mine's child. He does not eat tasty food. Tasty food is suspicious.

My youngest approached the chair with caution saying 'What is it, What is it,' over in and over in a slightly hysterical voice and then on hearing the answer says, 'Yech! I don't like squash. I wanted something good.' (not true - see evidence below) She poked it to see if it was alive maybe? A very small amount entered her mouth that was already screwed into a yucky face. She relaxes again. Wait, this isn't awful, not ice cream but not awful.

She finishes her meal and ask for seconds.


Here she is eating a RAW baby squash. Dirt, it seems, makes the best seasoning.

***

Winter squash is one of my favourite veggies to grow, not just because of it's dramatically large leaves that look like they are going to consume the rest of your garden, or the profusion of edible stuffable flowers, or the impressive ballooning of the fruit or even the delicious flavours in soups, pies, stews, pastas and so on, but because they are such an easy vegetable to store. Though some wash them after harvesting with a weak bleach solution and cure them for several weeks, I have yet to get around to doing that. Instead -

- I dust them off and stick them on a shelf in our dry, cool basement.

That's it. I've had squash, known for long storage, last easily until the new ones are harvested.

When I get the hankering for a pie or some fresh veg. in January, I take one off the shelf and enjoy cutting into the lush flesh. Since it's the seed gettin' time of year, may I recommend Waltham's Butternut if you are from around here. It performed well even in this poor year. I got my original stock from The Cottage Gardener.

More from me on Growing Squash

Thank a squash

Bumpy, lumpy, smooth and ribbed, orange, yellow, green or blue, thin, squat, lobed or curved. Pumpkins! Squash! Eaten young by slicing through soft skins or left to harden for storage in winter. Since it is Thanksgiving time in North America, what better subject than one of our native veggies: the main ingredient in pumpkin pie.

Here is a lovely little butternut and...

... what it became, a couple lovely little pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving.


Of course the season here has come to an end and the leaves of the pumpkin have been wilted by powdery mildew:


The White Death: Powdery Mildew often starts around mid summer here. It doesn't usually kill the plant before...

and touched by frost:


The Black Death: Frost damage will turn the leaves brittle and darkened, sometimes black. Say so long to your squash plant. Though I have seen light frost singe upper leaves while leaving immature lower leaves untouched. It's possible there might be some regeneration but I usually yank them right afterward.

but I got a descent and delcious harvest despite the slow start to this year.


The Long Tutorial on Squash Growing - go ahead read it, I dare you.

Starting from Seed

In Ottawa, you have two choices, start indoors or out. If you start indoors, they only need a short leap on the season of 3-4 weeks. Make sure they are started in something which you won't need to overly disturb the roots - think soil block, peat pot or newspaper cone. This is especially useful if you are trying to grow something with a slightly too long growing season or if your growing season is unusually short. It might also work as insurance against the unpredictablility of last frost.

You can also wintersow your squash by placing them in a mini greenhouse container outside and allow them to sprout when the microclimate suits them, which I find is usually around 2-4 weeks early. Some people provide extra early warming of the soil by planting in black tires placed on your mound directly on the ground. You can stretch plastic or floating row cover overtop to increase the warmth. I think this works better to speed germination but should be removed afterwards to prevent the solar oven effect.

Or you can direct seed. Since squash plants are hungry plants, dig in some manure, compost or other organic matter. Many people mound up the ground which can give extra growing room and heat but this is not necessary. Others plant pumpkins with beans and corn in the classic Three Sisters arrangement.

Plant no more than three seeds and stand back. If you have problems with cucumber beetle eating your seedlings, give them some protection such as a large bottomless margarine container twisted into the ground (will also protect against cut worms) with nylon stretched across the top. This only gives them a head start as the plant often outgrow this confined protective area. Feel free to create larger versions. Anyhow, up pops the plants and on they grow.

Cut off the head of the weakest seedling. Go on, do it. Don't let your kids watch, they might not let you. If you are me, then let the other two grow to hedge your bets or wait a few weeks and then mow down one more, leaving only one plant per hill.

Growing On


One squash vine freshly pulled from the garden displaying both forms of Death (see pics above). Notice the lawn chair for scale... okay I admit it is a child's size lawn chair but still.

If you are growing a bush-type squash, then they'll become rather large plants, needing about four square feeet to accomodate them but if you have the more exciting vining variety then it will need room! How much? Think 10-30 foot vines and you'll have an idea. There are a number of ways to handle this. Firstly, you can let them ramble amoung your other vegetables. Their big leaves will shade out some planting spots but also some weeds. You could also plant them at the edge of the garden bed letting them wander around the yard. This is a sneaky way of extending your veggie garden (ha hahahahahah) and it cuts down on the amount of lawn you are able to mow. You can also move the spreading vines so that they border the garden or stay out of the way though they will forever seek the best growing conditions like light, heat, nutrients etc... You can also let them ramble up trellises, existing trees and more. Trellising is good for small fruited / summer eating varieties but for larger fruited ones, you'll have to support the fruit. Nylon or other strong netting can be used to build little hammocks. An advantage to ground growing is that the plant tends to root along the vine giving it more access to water and nutrients. If fruit is allowed to mature along the ground, you may get slug scarring but unless it is heavy, I just find it adds to their character.

Usually male flowers appear first followed by females with minature fruit on the bottoms. You can eat squash flowers which are stuffed, battered, fried and more but leave some for pollination. If you are eating the immature fruit such as in zucchini or trombocino then keep them picked young so that the plant will keep producing more. If they are winter squash such as butternut or hubbards, let them ripen on the vine until the rind is hard and mature coloured (colour depends on variety). Cut cleanly off the vine with a sharp knife before the first frost, including as much stem as possible. Never pick up by the 'handle' since broken handles mean fruit spoiling more quickly.

Storage


Descent harvest minus one that I ate before this picture from a single squash plant (same as pictured vine above.) You want to know the variety? Um... a nice Quebecoise seed seller gave me it... um... don't recall. It's somewhere in my seed tower...

If you are me, then dust off dirt and stick on a cool, airy shelf in the house until you want to eat them. If you are a less lazy gardener, you may want to wash them in a weak bleach solution to limit the amount of interloping rot causers, let them thoroughly dry and then store in a cool, well ventilated spot. Remember to check often for rotting and cull the bad ones. I guess it goes without saying that you should eat those with a shorter shelf life first as not all varieties have the same storage capacity.

Seed Saving

Squash plants are outbreeding and insect pollinated which means that your courgette (nod to you Europeans out there) may cross with your pumpkin to produce pumpettes and you need a lot of plants to maintain the genetic wealth of the variety and keep it strong.

Not all squash plants will cross. There are four main species that gardeners grow (this is not a complete list, no way, no how. Seed to Seed by Ashcroft has a good list). These are:

Cucurbit moschata: Butternut, Cheese
Cucurbit pepo: Many pumpkin and zucchini are in this category
Cucurbit maxima: Hubbard, Banana
Cucurbit mixta: various Cushaws, silver seeded gourds

So if two squash in your garden share the same surname (species name) then they can cross. Your real problem is getting enough plants to save good seed. Seed to Seed says 24 plants - yes I mean 20+4 not 2 to 4... 'is the recommended population size at goverement facilities.' If you are only saving for yourself or informed friends, then you can try saving from as many plants as would be sane for your garden. Store the seed well so you can use it for a couple years as long as the plants perform as you would like. Over time, if you continue to save from only 2 or 3 plants, you will get a weak, narrow genetic line so you'll probably want to buy or trade for new seed.*

Saving the seed is easy. Scoop out, separate from guck, dry really, really well and save in a clearly labelled air tight container. Keep out of light, moisture and heat.

***

*If you haven't read anything about seed saving and population size before and are now suddenly freaked out, FEAR NOT as not all plants are as space hungry as squash. Many are self pollinating and could be saved from just a few plants though more is always better.

I Wet My Plants and her series on wintersowing plants which include squash

Mom and Me and the Squash that ate the Garden!

Every since reading Eliot Coleman's glowing reports on Trombocino squash, which is reputed to produce prolific immature squash to be used like zucchini on its sprawling vines, I've wanted to try it. The texture is supposed to be superior to the more commonly used watery green machines and if left on the vine, it will harden into the C. moschata's typical tan skin housing sweet, orange flesh rather like its more well known sibling, the butternut squash. It apparently also shares the characteristic of having a solid stem making it Squash Borer resistant.

"Step away from the vine mom, it looks hungry."


My mom and her wonderful gulf island garden. See that huge Artichoke flower in one of the raised beds on the left. Yes, I'm jealous.

Last spring, I got my hands on a seed packet that I shared with my mom. Well, weather in Eastern Canada has not exactly been cooperative and vining crops got a sloooooow start what with a short drought in June followed by 40 days and 40 nights of rain in July. August has been slightly less soggy so I'm finally seeing my first female fruit.


Big things start small, I hope.

My mom, on the other hand, living on a Gulf Island off Coastal B.C. (otherwise known as La La happy snowless land) has been having drought. Her crops would have shrivelled and given up months before if it wasn't for the roof collected rain from winter that they store in a cistern. She tells me it has the lovely aroma of decaying vegetable matter that got caught in it as well making for a compost tea when it comes to watering time. Her trombocinos are a far sight more advanced than mine:


Newest fashion accessory for the eco-conscious.

How do they taste mom? Hopefully I'll find out for myself in a week or two... sigh.


Trobocino snake slithering around in the garden mulch.