Squash turn up in an extraordinary range of shapes, colours, tastes and sizes, from the long-necked butternut to the little sweet dumpling whose flesh tastes of chestnuts. Fibre-rich, low in calories and full of vitamins, they are grown for the autumn and winter kitchen: give them very rich, heavily composted soil and they will keep the whole cold season.
Butternut, spaghetti squash and moschata squash, maxima squash, red kuri squash, sweet dumpling… Squash exist in a huge variety of shapes, colors, tastes and sizes.
Prepare them mashed, in soups, baked, and sweeter ones (like butternut, red kuri squash, and sweet dumpling that tastes like chestnuts) can simply be roasted in an oven with a dash of oil and gourmet fleur de sel salt.
Fiber-rich, low-calorie and stock full of vitamins, these squash can be eaten in fall and in winter, because they keep very well for the entire cold season.
Squash differ as much in the way they occupy the plot as in the way they reach the table. This table sets the varieties named here side by side, so you can match the space you have to the flavour you want.
| Squash | Growth habit | In the kitchen |
|---|---|---|
| Spaghetti squash | Heavy fruit — let the stems run along the ground | Mashed, in soups or baked |
| Butternut | Vining — lighter fruits can be trained up spiral stakes | One of the sweeter squash; roast with a dash of oil and fleur de sel |
| Red kuri squash | Vining — lighter fruits can be trained up spiral stakes | Sweet flesh, excellent simply roasted |
| Sweet dumpling | Vining — lighter fruits can be trained up spiral stakes | Tastes like chestnuts; roast whole with oil and salt |
| Patisson (pattypan) | Clumping, does not vine — grows more like a courgette | Eaten like the other squash: baked, in soups or mashed |
Whichever you choose, all of them need the same very rich, heavily composted ground to fill out their fruit.
Just like tomato, squash is a demanding plant that requires very rich soil. It is impossible to do without adding a huge amount of compost to the vegetable patch before planting.
Seedlings are best started in mid-spring indoors. Place your nursery pots near a source of heat: sow one or two seeds per pot in soil mix. After one month, transplant your young seedlings to the garden, spacing them one or two yards (meters) apart, depending on the variety.
Snails and slugs consider these choice morsels, so protect them with a ring of ashes that you must renew after each and every rainfall.
Depending on the species, you can either let your squash stems run around the ground (heavier ones like spaghetti), or use spiral stakes to let them climb (for lighter ones). Some varieties, like patisson, are clumping and don’t vine around – they grow more like zucchini instead.
Mulch the foot of your plants thickly, at least 8 inches (20 cm), and water once a week in summer if the weather is dry, without wetting the leaves.
Squash harvest is at the beginning of fall, when the first frost spells hit. Squash harvested at the end of fall can keep for several months in a dry room with a room temperature between 50 and 70°F (10 to 20°C).
