Need advice on growing winter squashes

[Dover]

I haven't grown them before, but would like to get some going this year and wonder what I should expect as far as space needed, best type of setup (let them crawl along the ground, train them up on trellis, etc.) and so on. Also wondering the best way to store them in this Texas heat. Do people build root cellars in Texas?

I'd like to grow acorn squash, red kuri, and butternut. Any experienced advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Kolesar]

1. Johnny's has a "reduced vine" butternut squash and that is what I am growing this year

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/product.aspx?scommand=refine&search=butternut&qstateid=d0b665db-aed9-4124-bd2e-60078e25a88d&rbc=categorystring&rbv=Vegetables%3a+Squash&item=2604

I would recommend that you find a seed company that is located in the Southern growing region. I put last year's crop of spaghetti squash in our basement where the temperature was 55 to 60 degrees and they lasted from September to December. The vines on spagetti squash were about ten feet long. Hope that helps.

[Dover]

2. Yes that was helpful. I've used Johnny's Seed before but don't recall that one.

thanks for the link and info.

Do you happen to know if using the seed from an acorn squash (one I bought at the store and recently ate) are going to give me a good quality squash? I've already stuck them in dirt and they've sprouted, but don't know whether I should invest my time/energy/garden space in them.

[Kolesar]

3. I would presume that the offspring is a hybrid with unpredictable traits, but...

...I grew some spaghetti squash in my garden last year from a "volunteer" that sprouted from the 2006 crop that had rotted in the garden.

Now that I think about it, my yield was a bit less and a few of the squash were only cantalope sized. I think that I had more plants in 2006 than I had in 2007, so I should have had a higher yield in the previous year. I paid more attention to the garden last year than in the previous year, and I lost track of whether I had undersized fruits.

When do you start a garden in Texas? I read that southern gardeners can start a fall garden after the spring garden is done.

[Dover]

5. I guess you can determine planting time by estimated frost dates.

Generally speaking for central Texas it's mid-March to mid-November. With global warming...who knows. But it's a very long growing season. So you can harvest many plants midway through this cycle and then plant another right away. But I'm not an experienced gardener, so am only just learning how to time plantings and harvests.

Spring frost



Winter frost

[crispini]

7. Here ya go, the TAMU charts are quite good:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/fallgarden/falldirect.html

I'm thinking about my fall garden right now! :D

[Dover]

8. Wow! That's really handy! Thanks for sharing that chart.

I'm going to do a Fall garden because I just didn't have it together in time for a Spring garden.


BTW, a personal question for you - I've wondered about the for awhile - What is the meaning of your handcuffs icon?
There must be a story there.....lol!

[crispini]

9. It's just one of those running jokes.

I think I posted that joke, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but whips and chains excite me" on one of the KOEB threads way back in the day -- and much hilarity ensued -- and then someone gave me the sparkling "pink fuzzy handcuffs" gif that I used to have in my signature -- and I *had* to wear it, because someone had given it to me, so I wore it for *years* -- and now, I don't think anyone would recognize me without a pair of handcuffs somewhere around! :rofl:

[crispini]

4. It's anybody's guess whether that's a hybrid or not.

Since it's commercial, it's probably hybrid and the offspring will be different, but why not give it a go? You might only want to plant one or two though. I can't resist doing things like that myself. Why not, the seed was free, haha.

[Dover]

6. Yes, why not?

I got some incredible peaches last year from a volunteer tree. I don't know if I'll get a repeat performance, but hey, it didn't cost me anything and I was up to my eyeballs in fabulous peaches! On the other hand, these squashes will require soil, space and tending with water, etc., so they aren't exactly "free". But I will try a couple and see what happens.