Call then what you will, Squash or ‘Button Squash’, these small plants are tasty, easy to grow and do not take much space. So we will tell you haw to grow squash that are sweet and tasty in the home garden.
Squash are small marrows harvested before they mature and used in a range of dishes. They generally fall into two categories Winter squash and Summer Squash.
Probably best known for the Butternut Squash (Butternut Pumpkin) However many varieties of both winter squash and summer squash are available to grow from seed.
In Australia most Squash Varieties are referred to as pumpkins, so lets think of them as compact growing pumpkins.
Squash Varieties
Squash Varieties Include: Baby Blue, Bush Table Queen, Blue, Banana Blue,Butternut Hercules, Butternut, Butternut Waltham, Crookneck, Hubbard Crown Prince, Gem, Golden Hubbard, Gramma, Green Hubbard, Jarrahdale, Jap, Potkin, Queensland Blue, Red Hubbard, Spaghetti and Turks Turban.
All grow with prickly hairs on hollow stems, large deeply lobed leaves and are vigorous growers in the right conditions.
All have both male and femalt flowers on the one plant and they can be pollinated by insects as well as by hand. So you only need one plant to get fruit. Multiple plants will in most cases result in better pollination rates, so we usually grow 3 – 4 at a time.
Shape varies greatly from long narrow fruits to rounded types, some even curved. Fruit colour also varies from yellow, to orange and green.
How To Grow Squash in the home garden
All varieties are vine that spreads across the ground and will scramble up a trellis if encouraged. They do noy need to climb to produce fruit, however if trained to climb or grown vertically this can be a real space saver in the vegetable garden.
Squash grow in just about all climate zones from tropical to cool. The difference is which season you plant them in and which varieties do best in your particular climate zone.
Growing Conditions
You will need a sunny position in the garden, and you can either start them from seed, or plant seedlings.
The smaller growing types can also grow well in containers, so even in a small garden, they are easy to grow. You can plant them from late winter to late summer and get a good crop.
- Dig over the soil well and add some well rotted compost.
- seedlings can be planted at around .5m apart, use a dibbler, or just a stick to make the hole. Place the seedling in the hole and backfill.
- Water in with a liquid seaweed fertiliser and keep moist.
- You can mulch around the plants with some lucerne hay or similar.
Top Tips on How to Grow Squash
- Watering
Keep moist through the growing season, on very hot days water the plants deeply early in the morning.
Mulching around the plant also helps with moisture retention. - Harvesting
Except for what we call pumpkins, which are a squash it is best to harvest the fruits while small. Large squash can be tough and stringy.