Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Tomatoes are so last month! My delicatas are coming up and my pumpkin is well on its way.

Upper is pumpkin, lower is deliata.


And here is the biggest delicata so far. There are 5 or so more!

Oh my gosh, delicata is the best. We didn't plant any this year and I totally regret it. I will post my beautiful baby acorns tomorrow!

Edit: I love that they are taking over your yard. Rawr!

Looks great, Isa! I must admit, I never grow squash because of my luck with vine borers. I usually trade or get free stuff from my friends. Have you made anything with the blossoms?

I haven't made anything with the blossoms because I've been away and now my kitchen is in disarray and I'm about to leave again. Maybe there'll be some waiting for me when I get back from Portland!

Am I not going to mess up the fruiting if I pick off my flowers? I picked one off once and it came off so easy, but then it looked like all that was left was just stem...

Did you pick off a male or female flower? They're separate. The female will have a protuberance at its base which develops into a squash, if pollinated. Only pick male flowers, and only if you're leaving enough to pollinate the females.

Jill beat me to the punch. Damn, you're good!

How many plants are there for each of them? It looks like a lot of vines for the delicata! I would love to grow them, that's my favorite squash. But I don't think I have enough room.

Go vertical, Auby! Trellis those babies up towards the heavens!

My trellis(es?) are already taken up by trombochino and green beans. I need a (poison ivy free) half acre!

Containers with supportive stakes?

Attack of the Killer Pumpkin is back!

Do trellises really work for such heavy squash? I was concerned.

Anyway, I came home to an insane squash forest! It was dark so I couldn't figure it all out, bur I'll get in there tomorrow and see what's what.

You can make little "hammocks" to support individual squashes, but when you consider how long each vine is, you'd have to either grow dwarf varieties or top the vines. You can also grow winter squash through corn rows, if you let the corn get a head start first.

Once again, Jill is right. Read "Square Foot Gardening." The book covers how to effectively trellis all sorts of shiitake.

Will do!

Thanks for the compliments. My background is in horticulture (although I'm getting rusty since I'm no longer working or volunteering in that field), plus I've had a veggie garden for 35+ years too.

So some of the vines have snuck off into the shade. Is that okay if the actual squash isn't in sunlight? The roots and most of the plant is.

Also, I noticed on my pumpkin only 4 or fruits and the rest of the flowers seem to be male. Is that normal, to only get two pumpkins per vine? There are over 20 flowers so it seems weird.

Double also, I got maybe 8 delicatas from each vine, and I think they are done. Or will there be a second round or anything? Again, I see only make flowers left.

And on a happy note, the delicatas are so incredibly delicious. They almost taste like they're from the sea, there were so many flavors going on there. Like scallops, maybe. My tastebuds were very confused at first.

Oh and a squash montage!

You only want a couple of pumpkins per vine. the more pumpkins, the smaller they'll be as they compete for water and nutrients. you might even have to, gulp, pinch off a baby pumpkin or two to better your harvest. It's not pumpkin cruelty, I swear!!

Ok by "vine" do you mean per plant or per vine on each plant? I accidentally said "vine" but I meant plant.

I had some white winter squashes which were scalloped in shape growing, one per each plant. It seems the plants were healthy one day, and mildewed the next. Three of the plants still have a chance, but one was dead today, so I picked the squash. The squash itself seems smaller than I would have expected, but its skin is tough enough, so maybe its done? I'm eating it anyway.