Quick Reference
When to Start |
Direct seed in May when forecast shows no danger of temps dropping below 45 degrees.
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Crop Rotation |
Avoid following cucumbers, melons or any members of the pumpkin/squash family
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How To Plant |
Plant seeds 1" deep in mounds, 4-5 seeds to a mound
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Spacing and Support |
Start mounds 3' apart on a trellis, or 6' apart if you plan to let them spread out on the ground
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When to Harvest |
When the stem turns brown and woody
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Storage |
Depending on variety will last for several months if stored in a cool dry place
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Winter squash gets it's name from a legend that says it once thrived on the ice plains of Siberia. I just made that up, but winter squash does have the distinction of being the rare garden item you can keep for several months without canning, freezing, or anything of the like. Winter is exactly when you'll be happy you did grow squash the previous summer. Long after all the fresh vegetables are gone, you can pull out a squash to make a delicious soup and some varieties are good enough to eat like a baked potato right out of the oven. Even if they aren't your favorite food, you can still grow a wide variety of ornamental gourds that looks great as decorations and can even be made into bottles, instruments, and birdhouses when dried out. We have said in other areas that vegetables like peppers come in every shape and size, but that might literally be true for winter squash. If you want to grow something nobody has ever seen before, winter squash is the vegetable for you.
When To Start
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Direct seed in the garden well after fear of frost has passed. All squash varieties need serious heat so you want to start these on the later side. Since you wont be eating any of these until the fall at the earliest, there's no big rush. Seeds won't germinate until the soil is at least 70 degrees, and optimal growing temperature is 65-75 degrees.
Some people will plant squash indoors early from seed and you can buy plants at greenhouse, but don't bother. Whatever head start you gave them will be offset by the transplant shock your plant gets when you rip it's roots out of the original pot and plant in foreign soil. When you start from seed the plant gets to grow undisturbed from day 1. |
Crop Rotation
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Avoid planting in the same spot that cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, or any member of the squash family grew in the previous year.
Click here to read about crop rotation and why it is so important It's important to not only avoid planting the same crop in the same spot 2 years in a row, but you also have to avoid plants in the same family as they typically draw on the same nutrients and have issues with the same pests. Click here to learn more about plant families and find a chart showing which ones are related. |
How to Plant
Gardening pro tip: Use free child labor whenever possible
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Direct sow seeds right into the garden well after the final frost of the spring has passed. Rake the dirt into mounds to maximize the amount of dirt where the seeds will be planted. Push down the top of the mound forming a shallow bowl. almost like a little volcano. This will ensure some rainwater will collect and drop down to the seeds vs. just rolling down the side of the mound.
Seeds should be planted fairly deep, about 1" below the surface. Plant 4-5 seeds per mound. After the seeds germinate and seedlings are well established, thin each mound to leave the 2-3 strongest plants. |
Spacing and Support
We grow squash on a trellis made of pine tree trunks and steel wire fencing. Pretty cool right?
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On a Trellis: Mounds can be placed 3' apart or even closer if the plan is to direct the vines upward. For the last few years we have grown squash on a heavy duty trellis and have done pretty well. Squash vines actually look exactly like cucumbers and grow the same way too. Winter squash vines will grow at roughly the pace of Jack's beanstalk, so unless you have a huge plot a trellis is the way to go to maximize your space. The first year we planted winter squash in the middle of the garden it ended up taking more than half of it over choking out any other plant in its path. You can use this to your advantage to grow a privacy wall which looks great in the morning when the huge orange flowers are open.
On the ground: As we mentioned squash vines will take on a life of their own so we recommend giving them 6' of space between mounds to really stretch out. We like the trellis for overall efficiency, but really on the ground is the way squash was meant to grow. You'll notice as the plants mature they begin to sprout roots all the way up the vine. On a trellis those become useless, on the ground those will take hold, drawing nutrients in and anchoring the plant down. A common problem with pumpkins and other squash are vine borers. One of our biggest garden nemesis', the squash vine borer burrows into the vine right at the base where it meets the soil and lays eggs inside. Ultimately this kills the plant as it rots in that section, cutting the vine off from it's roots. When you let the plant spread and root itself along the way, this issue becomes less serious. It will still ultimately kill the plant but the smaller roots will keep it going much longer than it otherwise would have. |
Harvesting
Pumpkins are really just a variety of winter squash. You can see here the stem has turned gray and woody indicating it's ready to be picked
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Winter Squash are ready once the green stem turns brown/gray and woody. This tells you the squash is now cut off from receiving any nutrients from the plant and therefore will not get any bigger. For winter storage crops you want to keep on the vine as long as possible and pick before the first frost.
You'll most likely need garden sheers or even hedge clippers to cut the stem off. And once you do, don't carry the squash by the stem. Sometimes it rips right off and your squash will rot quickly at that point. As long as it has no wounds and the stem is fully in tact it will last in your basement or a similar environment for months. |
What to do with way too many of them
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Since winter squash keeps so well you can just store as much as you think you'll need for a year's supply and give away the rest. If your local food bank accepts fresh produce winter squash is a great option because of it's long shelf life.
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