Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
24.07.2023 - 12:31 / hgic.clemson.edu
Like most home vegetable gardeners, I have fought squash vine borers for years. These frustrating pests of summer squash (Cucurbita pepo) often knock out yellow squash and zucchini in my Upstate garden by the end of June. My colleague Terasa Lott shared some great tips on dealing with them in her June 3, 2019 hot topic, Watch Out for Squash Vine Borers. I’ve tried most of the techniques with variable success, but it’s a lot of work and I usually just give up. But this year I decided to try something different, ‘Tromboncino’ squash.
Tromboncino is an Italian heirloom cultivar of the species Cucurbita moschata, aka the butternut squash. Most butternuts are grown as winter squash where the fruit are harvested when mature, sweet, and dense. Tromboncino squash, however, are harvested and eaten when the fruits are young and tender, like summer squash. The best part is that all butternut squashes are essentially immune to squash vine borer due to the species’ dense, solid stems. This trait holds for Tromboncino as well.
For years I’ve heard other gardeners sing the praises of Tromboncino squash, but I had never tried them. So, this year I ordered seed online and grew them for the first time. Today, on the last day of July 2019, after my “normal” summer squash plants are long gone, I’m still harvesting from the Tromboncino vines with no sign of vine borer damage.
Admittedly, I was a little doubtful that it would be a suitable substitute for summer squash, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. The key is to harvest very young, tender fruits. I try to get them the day after the flowers drop from the fruit and I’ve harvested a few with the bloom still attached (the flowers are edible too). These young squashes fill in admirably for
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
All varieties of squash will cross pollinate with each other, resulting in some unusual squash varieties. They are also intentionally bred in an effort to produce squash with unique traits. Some of the weird squash varieties that result may be found on the dinner table or may simply end up as interesting yard art.
Gourds are grown for the decorative fruit which come in weird and wonderful shapes.They are part of the curcurbit family along with cucumbers, courgettes, pumpkins and marrows.
Growing Squash Vertically is the best way to improve the yeild while saving plenty of space! Let’s have a look at how to do it easily!
Squash is native to the Americas; remains have been found in Central America and Mexico dating back as far as 7000 BC.
With all those mums and pumpkins at garden centers and farmers markets, how can we select the best and make them last?
1 butternut squash 2 tablespoons of butter 2 teaspoons brown sugar Dash of salt
I don’t know about you, but I love a product that can be used in a variety of ways and has staying power, especially in the home and kitchen. I recently discovered fall/winter squash and the varieties and versatility that they provide. I knew about the typical winter squash that you see in the grocery store like Acorn, Butternut, Spaghetti, Pumpkins, and decorative gourds, but have been introduced to other varieties like Honey Nut, Kabocha, Carnival, Turban, Banana, Red Kuri, Sweet Dumpling, and Buttercup.
Cucurbita pepo. Vegetable Squash, Noodle Squash, Vegetable Spaghetti, Mandarin Squash, Vegetable Marrow, or, as most people commonly call it: Spaghetti Squash. Have you ever heard of it? Did you know that there was a vegetable, much less a squash, that naturally could take the shape of a noodle without being spiralized? Have you ever cut or cooked one? Did you cook it first, or cut it raw? Were you confused when you first split one open? Did you end up with short pieces of flesh instead of long spaghetti-like strands, as the name suggests? Yeah, me too.
I don’t know about you, but summer squash and cucumbers are a necessity in my garden. Problem is, after a few years, the squash pests show up in greater abundance each year, and only a couple of weeks after harvesting your first squash, the vines are in decline, and production goes to zero in another week or two.
The light-colored tissue we see here is the result of squash beetle behavior known as “trenching.” Trenching cuts off (at least temporarily) the translocation of cucurbitacin defense compounds to preserve the palatability and quality of the squash foliage feeding site. The beetles in this particular field were sprayed and killed after trenching this section of the leaf, so the yellow tissue remains and was not eaten. Similar behavior occurs with other insects, such as dogbane leaf beetles.
I am wild for winter squash, including ‘Jumbo Pink Banana’ (guess which one that is?) and ‘Triamble,’ a blue-skinned three-parted creature of similar endurance to the former. The banana, which can get to 40 pounds or more in a warmer climate, resides in my living room, the gray-blue beauty on my desk. For a year already. Cut flowers, or even a potted orchid? No match. These beauties really last.That’s because they are all in the species of Cucurbita (say: kew-CUR-bit-a) called maxima, the best “keepers” in the squash clan and also some of the finest-grained and thickest-fleshed and to my tongue, tastiest. ‘Blue Hubbard’ is in this species, too, and if you want pies or soup or “pumpkin” bread this winter,