Winter Squash Needs a Long Season: How Long
Most winter squash types need close to the full length of a frost-free growing season to reach true maturity, not just to produce fruit.
Saving Winter Squash Seed: What Crosses
Saving seed from a winter squash is straightforward until two different types grow in the same patch.
Mildew on Winter Squash: The Timing Decides
Powdery mildew rarely kills a winter squash plant outright. What it kills, when it wins, is time: the weeks the plant needed to keep feeding sugar into…
Winter Squash Flowers and Fruit Set
A vine loaded with blossoms that still turns out three squash by October isn’t broken. It’s just how the plant is built.
Mulch Under a Winter Squash Vine
Straw, shredded leaves or grass clippings spread two to three inches deep around a winter squash vine, kept a few inches back from the stem, do the real…
Squash Rotting Where It Touches the Soil
A perfect-looking squash with a soft, dark patch underneath has usually been sitting in the same spot for weeks, quietly losing the fight against the…
Frost, and the Last Days of the Squash Patch
When the forecast turns toward frost, the answer is simple: get the mature fruit off the vine before a hard freeze hits, leave a short stem attached, and…
Curing Winter Squash: The Step Most People Skip
Curing is the warm, dry rest period right after harvest that hardens a squash’s skin and seals over small nicks from the vine.
Cutting and Cooking a Hard Winter Squash
Cutting a hard winter squash safely comes down to one rule: stabilize before you slice.
What to Grow With Winter Squash
Corn, beans, bush-type flowers that draw pollinators, and living mulch crops like lettuce or dill in the early weeks all work alongside winter squash…