Squash 2021

Sunday, October 24, 2021

Mystery Hybrid Squash thriving in the open garden (in the ground)
September 21, 2021 --> Lookit those bearded irises on their second blooming, in SEPTEMBER!

It's been an odd year for pretty much all squash in my garden. After returning from a long trip, I found many of my squashes (both the summer and winter kind) really struggling, with the base of their stems looking sort of like this:

Gray Zucchini in the open garden, struggling
Gray Zucchini in the open garden, struggling
September 12, 2021

Not sure what it is, but the Blue Hubbard, Acorn Squash, and Patty Pan were doing so poorly I tore them out in early August. I left the Butternut Squash in the vegetable garden, and the Gray Zuchhini & mystery [volunteer] winter squash in the open garden. The Butternut appears to have recovered somewhat. It has a single fully developed fruit, another one most of the way there, and then a little baby that may or may not make it past the first frost, depending on if I cover the plants or not.

Butternut Squash (3) growing in the vegetable garden Butternut squash growing in the vegetable garden
September 21, 2021
Butternut, Blue Hubbard, Patty Pan and Acorn Squash in the vegetable garden
July 21, 2021

After last year's 16lb whopper of a Blue Hubbard Squash, this year I got one 4.25lb Blue Hubbard! Really quite small and sad. The mystery winter squash, which appeared as a volunteer in my vegetable bed where I grew squash last year, was much more productive. 4 mostly ripe fruit with 2-4 more on the way. They look like they could be a cross with last year's Long Island Cheese Pumpkin and something smaller. Maybe the Acorn Squash. Who knows what it'll taste like, but the plant itself is very vigorous! I planted it next to the garlic, so its vines could grow through the garlic leaves right before I pulled them up in July.

Mystery Hybrid Squash thriving in the open garden (in the ground)
Mystery Hybrid Squash thriving in the open garden (in the ground)
September 21, 2021
Planting the Gray Zucchini and Transplanting the Mystery Squash
June 3, 2021

The gray zucchini started out pretty well (like all the others), even though it had a little late start. I didn't want to plant it in the open garden until it was bigger, so I potted it up. It did just barely make it through July. Part of the trick of reviving it and the Butternut Squash, was burying an earlier part of the vine, so that it could form roots in several locations. In this way, if any one segment of the plant was impacted, it didn't kill the entire plant. I got a few more gray zucchini out than I did Bennings Tint Patty Pan.

Planting the Gray Zucchini in the garden
June 3, 2021
Gray Zucchini & Mystery Squash growing in the open garden
July 21, 2021
Zucchini and mystery squash growing in the open garden
September 22, 2021

Better squash luck next year, I guess!

1 comments:

rainmelon said...

I misread the title of this post initially as Squash 2.0 -- which I guess in some ways it is! Super weird garden year. Anyway, better luck next time, butternut squash ;-).