:: Winter Squash ::
“Delicata” “Burgess Buttercup” “Table Queen Acorn” ” Waltham Butternut”
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:: 09.10.08 ::
Vine Death
The squash plants I set out for the Fall didn’t make it. They were attacked by the dreaded squash vine borer. If you ever see a beautiful red wasp on your squash …KILL IT!…it’s not a wasp. It’s an evil horrible moth and it’s laying eggs that will destroy your crop. I saw the moth one day and after looking it up to see what it was I immediately went over the plants looking for the eggs. Sure enough, I found them and removed a bunch but I obviously didn’t get all of them. My garden is organic and I do not use any kind of pesticides or insecticides, so no spraying. The eggs are very small, tiny red ovals. I just gently scraped them off the stems and leaves then squished them with my fingers.
I kept my eye on the plants as much as I could but one by one they started to wilt and I found a few of the plants with worms inside the stems. I tried to squish them and bury the stems in the soil to make new roots, but the plants still died. The little Acorn squash in the image above never made it. 
I know I am not the first to suffer plant death from this horrible insect but it really pissed me off. I had over 15 squash plants and lost all of them! After this, I have to admit I was defeated for the rest of the season and gave up on the garden. I let a lot the other plants waste away without fertilizer and regular watering.
I will probably try planting squash at least one more time, since I really love squash. But next time I will have to keep them carefully covered with a row cloth. Damn bug!
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:: 08.04.08 ::
Seedlings
The first set of squash seedlings I planted are already up. About half of them germinated, so today I planted some more in the empty spaces. Hopefully it will work better the second time around. I think I made a few mistakes on the first try…like I put a few of the seeds in upside down and they had a hard time. I pulled them out when the root side started to come out of the dirt and turned it around. Not sure if that is ok, but so far they seem to be doing fine. I also think some of the smaller seeds got washed down too far or maybe were too wet, I dug around a little to see if I could find them and it was as if they had disappeared. Weird. So I put in a few more seeds today just to see how it would go. Just for the record, the Pattypan summer squash came up first and a couple of them already have their second set of leaves. The Delicata came in second. They seem smaller but are also doing well. The others took a few days longer and I think that is because the seeds are older. Also the Buttercup seeds are thicker and it seems like they have a harder time pushing out of the shell since it’s thicker. I only have one Acorn squash seedling so far, and I just planted the Waltham butternuts today.
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:: 07.26.08 ::
New Beginning
I have been wanting to start a Fall garden and germinate my own seeds…and today I did it! I planted four types of squash this evening. They are snuggled into their growing containers with moist soil and a plastic cover. I have them on a shelf in the spare bedroom where there is no a/c on in the house. That bedroom gets south sun from one set of windows so it should warm up in there enough to start germination without having to set them on something warm (especially since the average temperatures this week are 100F !). A couple of these seeds were purchased in 2006 so I’m eager to see if they will germinate or if they are too old.
Here is what I planted…
Delicata
| eed Depth | Seed Row/Spacing |
Days To Germination |
Days To Harvest |
| 1″ | 4ft | 7-10 | 95-100 |
This is a “winter” squash and is said to have a sweet potato like flavor. Ivory cream skin with dark green stripes. It matures at about 7-9 inches long and 3″ around. the vines are suppose to be short and prolific. It is also a “good keeper” so like most of the winter squash it will stay good for a while and can be stored. This packet was also purchased last week. (FerryMorseSeeds-ArchiesGardenland-$1.99/package).
Burgess Butercup
| Seed Depth | Seed Row/Spacing |
Days To Germination |
Days To Harvest |
| 1″ | 6ft | 7-10 | 95 |
This is also a “winter” squash, dark green with white stripes and a “button” indention on the blossom end . Mature at 3-5lbs. Can’t remember exactly where I purchased these, they are a couple years old, dated 2006. Says it is a Northern favorite so they should grow ok here in the fall/winter (?)
(FerryMorseSeeds-Lowes-$1.42/package).
Table Queen Acorn
| eed Depth | Seed Row/Spacing | Space Between Seeds |
Days To Germination |
Days To Maturity |
| 0″ | hills | 0ft | 0 | 0 |
Another “winter” squash, also a dark green color. These seeds are also a couple years old, from 2006. (BWI Bulk Seeds-RusselsFeedSupply-$?/ounce).
Waltham Butternut
| Seed Depth | Seed Row/Spacing | Space Between Seeds |
Days To Germination |
Days To Maturity |
| 0″ | hills | 0ft | 0 | 0 |
Another “winter” squash, color is a pale beige. These seeds were bought in 2008 but were labeled 2007. (BWI Bulk Seeds-RusselsFeedSupply-$.50/.5 ounce).
