Springtime is a starting point for a variety of warm weather events. One of those activities is planting the early warm season crops.
One of the standards in the western hemisphere is squash. While a wide variety of this vegetable is available in supermarkets twelve months a year, that was not always the case.
Historically, squash plants were first cultivated in pre-Columbian America over 2000 years ago. These early open-pollinator or heirloom varieties performed well in the tropical climate and delivered a generous volume of food per acre.
They had the additional benefit of being easily transported and had a reasonable storage-life. With the advent of improved transportation routes and population shifts, the squash gradually made its way east to Europe and beyond.
Squash plants in the home garden can add a fresh vegetable to the dinner menu for several weeks during the spring and early summer. A wide variety of cultivars are available to suit almost every taste.
Today’s gardener has an excellent selection of squash cultivars from which to choose. In addition to the heirloom cultivars, there are many hybrids with excellent production traits.
Any of these can be cultivated using either seeds or transplants, both of which are readily available from catalogues, commercial nurseries or retail establishments. All have been very successful at delivering this vegetable for the home gardener.
Squash have entered the realm of genetically modified organisms (GMO’s) in the last few years. GMO cultivars are utilized only in commercial production, mostly in Africa.
Another important feature to consider is whether the cultivar is determinate or indeterminate. Determinate means most of the vegetables set in a short time-period and indeterminate means they set over a much longer period-of-time.
For the home gardener, this can mean the difference between eating some fresh and preserving the remainder or eating fresh all season long. Commercial varieties are typically determinate because it is economically efficient to pick a field once or twice over two weeks as opposed to all season long.
For the home gardener, transplants will take 70 to 90 days to produce. Seeds will take about two weeks longer and should be covered with about a half inch of soil when planted.
The plants require about an inch of rain per week during their growing season, and pollinators are very important to ensuring the plants successfully set squash.
Many heirloom varieties have been placed in that classification because they are indeterminate and not efficient from a labor standpoint to repeatedly harvest. For the home gardener, the wide window of production can be a distinct advantage.
As with most vegetable production, squash seeds need to be planted in full sun locations. An absolute minimum of sun exposure is six hours.
Seeds should be planted about 24 to 30 inches apart in heavily organic, but well-drained, soil. The separation is important because overcrowding will reduce air flow between plants.
Stagnant humid air which does not allow plant leaves to dry will promote fungal diseases. In most cases, once the disease has become established it is time to remove the effected plants.
Keep a clean garden, removing weeds and any dead foliage. This too will help with reduced disease potential.
If planted early enough, insect pressure will be minor, but as the season progresses the bugs will make their presence known. Monitor the garden for these pests.
Once the harvesting starts the gardener and their family (and likely friends) will get some tender, fresh and healthy squash to eat.
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