Dual Purpose Squash: Eat Now for Summer, Mature for Winter Storage

So far each summer squash has weight about 2.5 lbs each. They can be cut in half to be stored in the fridge.Summer squash is one of the fruits we DON'T grow here for various reasons.  It's so ubiquitous during the summer that neighbors and farmer's markets are usually innundated with them.  Plus it's not something we eat much of.  By the end of July, most people who receive a weekly CSA have become so tired of eating summer squash that they are more than ready to move on to the next NEW produce item from the farm; they welcome the thought of never seeing a zucchini for the rest of season.  Ahh, the perils of local and seasonal eating!  We found a great solution to this (at least if you're growing your own food) - the dual purpose squash.  The seedlings were actually grown and given to us by Rissa, one of our interns who happens to be a quite a foodie and a really great chef.  This heirloom squash has a few names:  Zucchino Rampicante,  Zucca D'albenga, Trombocino, Climbing Zucchini or Italian Trombone.  It's a slender 2 foot squash that bulbs out at the end and the mature fruits get even longer.  The Italians use the mature squash for stuffing ravioli, a venture I hope to take part of this season.

The plant is prolific and needs a lot of space to climb and ramble.  The support needs to be strong enough to accomodate the multiple fruits it produces.  We planted it in two locations: one in a very large pot at the base of the high tunnel skeleton so it would climb up on of the ribs and the other along a 6 foot wooden fence.  They are both doing well and best of all, they are squash vine borer resistant. So for container growers and for regular gardeners this plant works in both situations.

The squashes tendrils could not grab onto the metal frames so they get tied every few feet. The ones on the fence didn't need any help.

Oftentimes when you are growing as much food as we are, you can't find a way to use up all the food.  This plant solves the dilemma: pick from it when you need some summer squash in your recipe or don't pick from it and leave it on the vine to mature and store for winter use.  This is my new favorite fruit to grow and one we wil definitely make available as seedlings next spring at the farmer's market.

For now, check out this intriguing recipe for summer squash with basil, mint and honey!

Watch for winter squash recipes later in the season...hopefully ravioli stuffed with rampicante squash!

Pest of the Month: Squash Vine Borer

SVB moths. They appear more like wasps when they fly.In our first growing year we grew an abundance of winter squash.  It was so easy to amass this large quanity of storage fruits for the winter.  The second and third year proved to be a big disappointment as we were invaded by the nasty squash vine borer (SVB).  It attacks plants as a moth laying eggs at the base of leaf stalks.  The larvae then develop into these gross looking light green catepillars that burrow themselves into the healthy large stems of squash plants.  The first sign that something is wrong is the the appearance of wilting leaves.  It looks like you forgot to water your patch of squash.  Upon closer inspection of the base of the main stem you will find your stems gouged open with several SVBs inside happily munching away and slowly killing your plant the many young fruits attached to the vines.  Burrowing SVB catepillarI have literally picked these bugs out and tortured them on a nearby rock.  They have killed off so many of my squash crops that I've taken it personally.  After removing the pests, it is possible to bury the damaged area in the soil and it will reroot but I've never been able to keep up with it and eventually give up losing the patch.

This year we are trying something else: using a row cover to prevent the moth from laying its eggs at the base of the stalk.  After planting a variety of winter squash: red kuri, buttercup, butternut and delicata we set a floating row cover on all the plants.  It's mid June and this is the time the SVB moth starts egg laying.  If you do get this nasty pest, remember not to compost the vines at the end of the season but to throw them out in the garbage.

We use a lightweight fabric cover made by Agribon

We're not the only ones doing this.  This is a squash field at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, New York, also covered with a row cover.  We are wondering weather or not this is going to present a problem with pollination, however.  Our squash just started to flower...  Another experiment we'll report back with.

Stone Barns use of a row cover on the their field of winter squash