Growing Summer & Winter Squash

For the squash lovers among us, it's time to get planting. Summer squash are planted for warm weather harvest and picked when immature. Their skins are soft and they can be stored for 1 to 2 weeks. Pattypan, yellow crookneck, zucchini or Italian squash are good examples.

The other type is winter squash; it's grown for harvest in late summer or fall. The fruits have hard rinds and are harvested when mature. Winter squash will store well in a cool, dry location for 1 to 6 months. Good examples are acorn, butternut, buttercup, delicata and hubbard varieties. Pumpkins are squash, too, and spaghetti squash looks like any other winter squash but after cooking the nutty tasting flesh is made up of long, spaghetti like strands.  Yum! 

Planting & Growing

Squashes are large, vining plants that will continue to bear fruit for weeks after initial harvest.  Because vines are so large they need ample growing space, but a container (such as a wine barrel) can work, too.  Smaller fruiting varieties can be trained on a trellis. Train vines to go in the direction you want them to go. Move them in the direction you want them to grow a little each day. Bury vines with an inch or two of soil to encourage secondary root growth. Winter squash need more growing space than summer squash and both perform best in full sun and planted in fertile, well-drained soils containing high levels of organic matter. Plant squash in hills and sow 4 to 5 seeds per hill at a depth of 1 inch. Hills and rows of should be 3 to 4 feet apart. Hills of winter squash should be spaced 4 to 5 feet apart with 5 to 7 feet between rows. 

Roots need regular moisture, but leaves and stems should be kept as dry as possible to prevent leaf and fruit diseases. 

Pests

Squash bugs cause leaves to wilt and may damage fruit.  To control squash bugs, destroy yellowish to brown egg clusters on undersides of leaves, trap adults with boards or burlap set in the garden at night, then collect and destroy your catch each morning.

Powdery mildew: when it’s hot and humid squash are susceptible to powdery mildew.  Treat with copper spray at the first sign of problems.

View recipes that use summer squash here