Winter Squash Roundup 2013: Part 3

This is the squash class of 2013.   Back row:  Musquee de Provence [3].
Middle:  Honeyboat delicata [4], Queensland Blue [1], Greek Sweet Red [1]
Right side:  Rampicante [2]
Front:  Black Futsu [3, pink with the blue cast], Tiny Whites, Australian Butter [1]

I love that the rampicante squash look like long necked birds.   They can harvested green, like summer squash, and which encourages lots of new squash, or you can wait until they turn beige.   They're orange inside then and are an excellent winter squash.   We like them that way. 

Here's the Australian Butter.   The vine succumbed early to vine borers and it didn't seem to like the cool wet weather we had early in the  summer.   I did manage to get this one though.   I think that under the right conditions, these would be good bearers and get much bigger.   I'll try them again.

This is a Greek Sweet Red.  I've grown them before and really like that they put on a late summer push.   I can get several new squash in September and October.   They're dense and delicious.  One of my favorites. 

How was your squash production this year?

Winter Squash Roundup 2013: Part 2

Pretty!    Notice the big ones in the back?   Those are Musquee de Provence.  

Because French pumpkins are somehow more....je nes cest pas quoi.   Which means I don't know what.  No. Really.   That's what it means.   "I don't know what".   And which is probably spelled wrong.   Because French is not one of my languages. 



So I should probably leave that alone and just focus on my lovely squash. 

Here's the Musquee de Provence up close. Notice that they're bigger and orange-r than the Black Futsu in the middle up there.

I got three of them.   I love them.

What I didn't get was any from the Rouge Vif D'Etampes pumpkins that I planted.   And that's really sad because I really wanted red pumpkins this year.   That's what 'rouge' means.  Red.

I have no idea what the rest means and I guess it doesn't really matter, because I didn't get any anyway.   Maybe next year.  

This is a Queensland Blue.   I like these squash and so do the squash bugs  We only got one of these before the squash bugs and the borers got them.    I'll keep trying though.  That blue really makes me happy. 

Winter Squash Report 2013: Part 1

We got a decent array of winter squash this year in spite of the wet cool start and the variable end of summer.

Wild and wacky weather was the name of the weather game this summer. 

Here are a couple of the cool varieties we grew.   This one is Black Futsu.   Beautiful shape and a lovely blue-ish cast.   

I hope it tastes as good as it looks.   They're a medium sized pumpkin - as big as your head - that's still a lot of pie. 

The truth is, they're so pretty, I wait until the last second to cut them open.    I just love looking at the outsides.

This was another new one for us.   Honeyboat delicata.   These were so good we couldn't keep the bugs off them.   Reasonable prolific for us, they are smaller - the length of your hand.   They ripened early.   

We'll do these again.   Just because they're so cute.

I know that's a dumb reason.  I don't care.   The world needs more cute squash.  Amen.

More squash in a later post.  Stay tuned.

2013 Winter Squash

I grew a bunch of winter squash this year, as I always do.   Here's a preview.   Details coming in the next few days.

Tiny Pumpkins

Can I just tell you how much I love little bitty white pumpkins? 

At the end of the season, sometime in December, we pitch the remains in with the chickens and every year when we use the chicken dirt in the garden, I get some of these cuties as volunteers in the veg garden.  

So many cute things to do with them.   Here's a list of ideas and pics from Pinterest.

Shout out in the comments what you'd do with a pile of little white pumpkins.

Another Squash Update

Yeah, I know it's kind of obnoxious to keep posting pics of baby squash, but I have a little squash obsession and I think it's only fair to share it with you.   Some people show off pics of their kids and dogs, I show off pics of my squash.   It's a crazy world.

Also, excuse all the hands in the pics.  Not super attractive, but I wanted to give you an idea of how big they are getting.

This is Australian Butter Squash.   Sort of chunky and exactly the color of butter. This is our first time growing this one.  I can't wait to see how big it gets and what it tastes like. 

This one is Honeyboat Delicata.  It's pretty prolific.  I've got at least six fruit right now and they set pretty early.  They're a little longer than my hand.  I think they're supposed to turn more coppery when they're ready to harvest, so I'm waiting.  

This is Black Futsu.   I tried it last year and it finally set fruit in late September.  They were adorable and tiny but too late to ripen.   I decided to try again this year.   You can see how big this one is getting.   It'll have an orange area when it's ready.

This one is a summer squash - Golden Marbre Pattypan.   I love the stripes.   These get a bit bigger than my palm and dark yellow when they're ready.

And this one is a Musquee de Provence.  You can see how big it is already and it's just getting bigger.   I have two more big ones like this one.

The little white things are some volunteer baby white pumpkins.  We keep throwing the remains in with the chickens and every year we get more of them as volunteers from the chicken dirt we amend the garden with.  

Squash Update

So the truth is that I'm kind of in love with squash plants.  I love the way the bees buzz all over them.  I love the flowers, I love the fruit, I love the vines.  They crawl all over the garden and we have to leap frog over a lot of them but I don't care.   They make me happy.

This is winter squash Black Futsu with yesterday's flower, today's flower and tomorrow's from right to left.   It made me laugh. 

This is a baby Queensland Blue [left] and a baby Golden Hubbard [right].   They're a bit bigger than your fist in this pic, but they'll get a LOT bigger before they're done.   The QB will turn a lovely blue gray and the GH will turn a screaming traffic cone orange when they're ripe. 

And as always, I let a couple of  volunteer mystery squash stay this year.   This one is nice and smooth and regular and pretty pale.   Maybe another batch of the little white pumpkins that seem to volunteer so well in the chicken dirt?    I hope so - they make adorable decorations. 

Winter Gourds

Remember those weird warty stripey squash that I grew last year?   They grew up to be tan?   And then they were inedible.

So, I suspected they might be gourds.

And to test my theory, I left them outside on the patio table all winter long.

Do you know what happens to gourds when you leave them over winter?   They get nasty and moldy and eeww - but that's normal because then they get a hard shell that you can cut into to make birdhouses or not cut into and make shakers.

It's what rurified people do on the weekends. 

So I wanted to see if my weird warty stripey inedible tan squash would act like gourds and do the winter moldy eeww thing and get hard shells.    Because then I would know that they were gourds.

So I left them out all winter and they did get moldy and eeww, with hard shells.

And now I know.    They were gourds.

I'll scrub them up a bit and see if they'll make good birdhouses.   That'd be totally cute.

Winter Squash Tasting

The real test of winter squash for me is how tasty it is.   I don't grow decorations, I grow food.

Turns out that two of the squash I planted were decorations.   Not tasty at all.

The first was the Omaha Pumpkin.  I got the seed from Baker Creek, but there must have been some cross pollination, because it didn't look right and it was more like spaghetti squash than pumpkin.   I don't care for spaghetti squash at all.

The flesh looks like this when baked.    Stringy.   Nasty.   I threw it to the chickens. 

The second was the warty stripey volunteer squash that came up.  

It had a hard shell that was very difficult to get into and the flesh looked like this.  Eric thought it might be a gourd.

Stringy.  Nasty.   Definitely a decoration.   I threw it to the chickens.  

Sooo.   I did get a few decorations after all.

I think the Faux Omahas will rot - the skins seem soft.   I'll pitch them somewhere where the seeds won't volunteer in the garden.

 I'll let the warty things dry out and see if they are indeed gourds.  If they are, then they'll just get harder and eventually dry out until you can hear the seeds shake around inside.   Then we can make birdhouses or such with them.  

We still have the butternuts to try and the Greek Sweet Reds and the rampicantes.   I have a good feeling about those.   I'll keep you updated. 

Coconut Squash Soup

Winter squash soup is one of my favorite breakfasts.

Really. 

I love it.    Especially the sweet soups.

We have a lot of winter squash this year and I was thinking that coconut milk would make a wonderful addition to squash soup.

And guess what!?

It totally was.  

And it was so easy that it's embarrassing to even call it a recipe.  

Coconut Squash Soup
from www.rurification.com

• 1 squash the size of a big head.  I used one of my golden hubbards.   
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• Toasted Coconut marshmallows, cut in half

Cut the squash and take the seeds out.   Roast the squash until very soft.   Scoop the flesh out of the skin or peel the skins off and put the flesh into a blender.  [Feed the skins to the chickens.  Or your compost pile.   Or your trash can.   Whatever.]   Blend the good squash stuff up with the coconut milk and brown sugar.  

Then put it in a casserole dish and top it with the coconut marshmallows.   Put the cut sides down all over the soup.    And then broil it until the marshmallows are all toasty and puffy and fabulous.   

To say that I loved it was an understatement.   Everyone loved it.  The real miracle was that even Lily ate it and liked it and she's not into the winter squash type vegetables.  At. All.  Period.  End of subject.  Unless they're in pie.

I'm thinking I could dress this soup up if I added a bit of cinnamon and some finely ground coriander.   What do you think?

Winter Squash on Purpose

These are the winter squash that I grew on purpose.     Definitely ones to do again.

Queensland Blue.  I only got the one.  They are long vines and the young fruit does not seem to like damp.   I got this one because I let it grow out of the bed into the path where it got more air and sun.  It's about 10-12 inches in diameter.  The vines scarred around the vine borer and just kept growing.   Harvest when it turns blue, then grey.  Leave a bit of stem on.    It has a dry flesh that is wonderful baked.   I'd do these again.  

This is supposed to be Omaha Pumpkin.   I've grown Omahas before and these are not they.    Some seed contamination, I guess.   They're usually just a smaller, elongated version of your basic jack-o-lantern pumpkin.  These are a bit wrinkled and very yellow instead of orange.  

Golden Hubbard.   Easy.   Large.  Screaming orange.   Very long vines that wander.  There is no doubt when the fruit is ready.   They start out yellow, then turn orange-red.  Try to take the stem off for long term storage.    This is the only squash that does better without the stem.  I can't get the stems off, so we'll be eating these soon.  Protect them from rodents if you can.  Our voles loved them.   I'd do these again.  

Greek Sweet Red.   I love these.   They're large and they are fast growing. These are about 16 inches tall.   The flesh is dry and delicious.    They come on late, but fast so don't despair if you don't see any for a while.   I've had several show up in the past month and they're ready in just a few weeks.   There are two more that showed up a couple of weeks ago and I expect they'll be turning in the next couple of weeks.    The vines will go everywhere and they're pretty hardy against vine borers.   Let them go.  You'll find fruit in weird places, but it's pretty tough and can handle some movement if you need to get a vine out of the way.  Just support the fruit as you move the vine to where you want it.  These will continue to change color after you harvest them.   Protect these from rabbits if you can.   I harvested the greener one a bit early to get it away from a curious rabbit. 

Volunteer Squash - Ripe

We throw all of our veg type kitchen scraps to the chickens, who eat them and churn them up into black gold for the garden.    Chicken dirt is a miracle.

But loaded in that chicken dirt are a lot of seeds and so we get some volunteers.   This year we got a lot of tomato volunteers and squash volunteers.    I kept four of the squash volunteers and this is what they finally turned into.

This is a regular old butternut squash.  The regular color, the regular size.   Easy to identify.  

And these started out as tiny white pumpkins - only as they aged they turned a creamy yellow.   Very pretty. 

And this is a beautiful little white pumpkin.  I started out with half a dozen, but they were really susceptible to rot and the rest of them rotted.   Darn.   They were really cute. 

Then there are these.    This warty thing is about the same size as the white pumpkin.  I got four of them.   They were distinctly striped on the plant, then the stripes disappeared and they turned beige.   After I harvested them and they sat for a while curing, the stripes came back.   Weird.   They grew in full sun and I'm curing them under a tree - maybe the sun vs. shade has something to do with it.   I hope they taste good because even though they're really kind of strange looking, I find them entirely enchanting.  

Winter Squash

Here is a selection of the winter squash I grew this year.    It's a wild and crazy bunch and there are still a few in the garden growing.    The Greek Sweet Red just won't slow down.   I have two more in the bed that keep getting bigger and bigger. alongside a few more Omaha pumpkins and another small golden hubbard.

This is what I can definitely say about winter squash.   They love the bees and they love a lot of chicken dirt.   This is the best year for winter squash that I've ever had. 

Here's what I grew:  

• The three screaming orange ones are Golden Hubbard
• Two tall on the far right and one tall on the far left are Greek Sweet Red
• Three skinny beige in the back and one on its side in the front are volunteer butternut.
• The big fluted blue grey thing on the left is a  Queensland Blue.  I only got the one.
• The shorter greenish warty pumpkiny things at the back are volunteers.
• The two yellow pumpkins at the right are supposed to be Omaha pumpkins, but that's not what they looked like last year.    
• The tiny white pumpkins are volunteers
• The single white pumpkin in front is a volunteer.   Very susceptible to rot.   That's the only one that didn't succumb.

 I'll be showing you close ups and giving some details of each kind in the next few days.