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My most surprising veggie success of 2009!
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Posted by skybird z5, Denver, CO (My Page) on Tue, Nov 10, 09 at 21:28
| Hi guys,
I didn’t have much of a veggie garden this year! Didn’t plant the early crops because I needed to get siding—which I still haven’t done, and when I planted the root crops, I apparently covered them too thickly with grass clippings and most of them never came up (or else I didn’t cover them thickly enough, and they dried out too much after germination when I was gone sometime). That left me with beans, cukes, and squash!
I wasn’t expecting anything at all useable, but I had decided to try Table Ace acorn squash this year. I decided if I planted it on the far edge of the garden area, the vine could grow out onto the compost pile, giving me some "extra room." Since I really wasn’t expecting anything to start with, when I didn’t get the seeds planted until well into June, I REALLY didn’t expect to get anything.
Much—VERY much—to my surprise, a small acorn squash started to develop shortly after it started growing! I still didn’t have much hope but, hey, it was an experiment anyway! By the time I left on vacation near the beginning of September, the one squash was getting pretty big—and two more small ones were starting. When I got back from vacation near the end of September the big one was hard/ripe, and the two little ones were still small, but they were getting hard too. Whoda thunk!
On September 30 when it was supposed to get COLD in a couple days, and I wasn’t gonna be here to "protect" them, I picked them! Look what I got! (8½" plate)
I REALLY didn’t think we had a long enough season to grow winter squash around here, but I will definitely be trying it again next year! I've already eaten the two small ones—which I was kinda thinking might not keep too long, and I’ll be saving the big one for a little while yet!
Fresh veggies are SO much better than store bought!
Does anybody else around here grow winter squash? I don’t remember the topic coming up before—but then my olde—and battered—brain’s not what it used to be!
Squash girl,
Skybird |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: My most surprising veggie success of 2009!
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| I bought a package of those seeds last year, and just plain forgot to plant them. We grow quite a bit of winter squash, it keeps really well and seems to taste better as the winter goes on. This past summer we grew "Confection" and "Cha Cha" from Johnny's, these are smaller squash that work for two people, or one pie. And then we grew Guatemalan Blue, which is a banana-like squash, only blue, and has a distinct, nutty taste. Those seeds are hard to come by, so I grew a couple of plants that were isolated, and hopefully will have seed that comes true. |
RE: My most surprising veggie success of 2009!
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| I got mixed up - this past year I bought seeds for "Honey Bear" acorn squash and never planted them. But Table Ace, I grew a row of that one a few summers ago. It was amazingly productive - sort of small trees with half a dozen squash on each. |
RE: My most surprising veggie success of 2009!
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Skybird,
I usually have a little longer season than you but this year I know we got a freeze about the same time in the fall. We have grown spaghetti squash for several years and just love it. I got it and a smaller Hubbard variety I tried out real late. In late June. Both made but had lots of immature also. I think if you can get them out by June 1st a person will do fine. I would compare DTM's also. But yes great to have something homegrown during the winter. I'm going to try growing a few things in a cold frame this winter. I've read Elliot Coleman's 4 season gardening and going to try it. Jay |
RE: My most surprising veggie success of 2009!
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| Jay, what I remember most about 4-Seasons Harvest was that Coleman was essentially using greenhouses for winter storage of crops grown during the warmer parts of the year. A bed of greens . . . protected by a plastic tunnel . . . inside a greenhouse . . . that sort of thing. Skybird, I'm not close but I grew acorn squash successfuly even where the season was very short. When I planted it in different garden - it had a "funny" taste. I was surprised but even my neighbor had the nerve to tell me that he didn't like the flavor. Well!! Maybe it has to do with the soil . . . ? I tried 3 different acorn varieties and gave up. My favorite squash is delicata but it cannot properly mature most years. I grow Burgess Buttercup each and every year. (It never fails to make me very happy and makes about the bestest pie! :o) Steve |
RE: My most surprising veggie success of 2009!
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| I can usually get a good crop if I start the plants indoors in good sized pots - gallon is ideal - let them grow up as much as possible - a couple large leaves and the vine taking off is better - and then stick them in really rich, composty soil. Say 3 to 4 weeks head start in the greenhouse. |
RE: My most surprising veggie success of 2009!
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| This cold and snowy weekend, we've been cooking squash and making pies. Some notes: Those two from Johnny's are, squash-fruit-wise, about as good as it gets, if you can let it mature on the vine. The 'Confection' is the blue-grey one, and a bit dry and flakey, but boy, does it make a heckuva pie. The "Cha-Cha" is a Kabacha, again really dense, thick, but creamier flesh. My daughter will eat one with no salt/butter/anything, just a spoon. The Guatemalan blue is ok, but the two we opened up are still a bit watery. There's as much edible flesh in either a 7" dia Cha-Cha or Confection as in a 14" long Guatemalan blue. Seed and bake squash for an hour, let cool a bit, scrape flesh into food processor. Add two eggs. Add cinnamon, ginger, and honey, add milk. Whir up, pour into frozen store pastry shell, bake 60-70 min at 350. I like it refrigerated. For breakfast. |
RE: My most surprising veggie success of 2009!
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| I grew Small Wonder Spaghetti Squash. It didn't quite ripen on the vine but they did finish turning color inside. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Tales of a Transplanted Gardener
RE: My most surprising veggie success of 2009!
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| We grew a lot of winter squash this year. I start them in 6 inch pots in April and then put them out when they had two large true leaves under walls of water. In the middle of August I cut off the ends of the vines so they would put their energy in the forming squash. We harvested 10 orange Kabocha which are small pumpkin size and a dry orange fleshed squash. Then there were 40 Hubbard squash. Some that were around 20# each. They were planted in the corn field. I have 2 Kabocha and 4 Hubbard left to do something with after giving and selling squash. |
RE: My most surprising veggie success of 2009!
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| I also set them out in pots now but without the WoW's and that may be why Sweet Mama Kabocha only ripened 1 fruit from the hill - a few years ago. DW wants to try Kabocha again. I think she looks at them and says, "Why not? They look like buttercup without so much to waste." I'd better come up with an early maturing one. Sweet Mama demands it! Blue Hubbards have worked fine. I don't know why I have only grown them once or twice . . . digitS' |
editing
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| Why doesn't GW have editing? They were Baby Blue Hubbards that I grew before. I'm quite sure of it. d'S' |
RE: My most surprising veggie success of 2009!
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| Steve, I grow a 'baby' hubbard called "Blue Ballet" - its pretty good. Kinda thin-walled, but that may be more to do with variable growing conditions - some years better than others..... Not that I'm an expert (or anything close), but I've yet to find anything better than those two from Johnny's - the most consistent, best eating quality squash I've grown. *I Think* what Margaretmontana is talking about with the 'orange kabocha' is one called "Red Kuri' it seems to go by other names now. Thats a really good one too. |
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