Squash?

[jal_ut]

Farmers' market produce should NOT sell for less than what is at a soopermarket!

I agree!

I have been attending the local market for several years now and have actually built a client base. People come specifically to buy from me. Interesting how that happens.

I don't dicker. Put a price on it and if they want it they can pay the price. Generally, my prices are about the same or a little higher than supermarket prices. I can't sell by the pound as I don't have a certified scale, required legally, but I can weigh things like squash at home and decide from the weight what price I will put on it. They go to the market priced "Each", never by the pound.

I joined the local market as a venue for my honey, and the produce makes enough weekly to fill the gas tank. Veggies have never made enough to warrant my time spent at market, let alone time and effort to grow it.. If it were just for veggies, I would not attend the market. I'd rather give it to the food bank.

I grow a big garden for myself and family, however it always produces much more than we need so there is excess.

[DoubleDogFarm]

I harvested 45 squashes today and 3 or 4 earlier, from 4 plants. Average of about 12 fruit per plant. That's a lot of food from a small space.



Shape wise, some look like zucchini and some spaghetti. I'm not positive until I cut them open. Zucchini types are more solid and the winters are stringy centered.

Eric

[jal_ut]

Quite an impressive array of hybrid squashes there DD.

[wysteriangnome]

Beautiful garden veggies!

[digitS']

These are something new for me:



They are Marina De Chioggia squash and I had them and an Autumn Crown squash in with the pumpkins. They may have "hunkered down" to avoid being seen by the rabbit. I don't know but the pumpkins nearly buried the squash vines!

I hope they are fully mature but guess there's only one way to find out.

Steve

[DoubleDogFarm]

They look good Steve. A perfect size too. Three like that are much easier to deal with than one huge squash.



Eric

[jal_ut]

I haven't seen Marina De Chioggia. Interesting looking and a good size.

[digitS']

Here is Jung's story on Autumn Crown, (Link).

There were only 2 on their "shorter vine." The fruits were about the same size as the smaller Marina De Chioggia (I'm never gonna remember how to spell that!).

It really wasn't a kind thing to put them in with the pumpkins but those Halloween guys just had a very good year. (I wish pumpkins were as good to eat & as good in pie as winter squash . . . shhhh . . .)

Steve

[mhannum]

Wow - that is quite a collection of squash! Nicely done!

[DoubleDogFarm]

More squash. I believe they are Burgess Buttercup



Eric

[digitS']

I believe they are too, Eric.

They sure look fine!

Where will they go now, in all that moisture that you have to deal with? James and I may have it easy with the dryness. Things are not perfect in my basement for squash. Dahlia roots, it's okay down there but a little too warm for squash, I guess. But, that is temperature. It seems like you would have both warmer temperatures and higher humidity to contend with.

Steve

[DoubleDogFarm]

According to Carol Deppe, Pepo squash should cure in a warm area for one to two weeks and Maxima for a month. Her favorite squash, Sweet Meat, is not eaten until Thanksgiving and later. She has her squash all throughout the house.

She classifies Pepo as Fall squash and Maxima as Winter.

Here is a interview with Carol. You have to wait until about the 7 minute mark to hear her.
https://digthisdigthat.blogspot.com/2011 ... rview.html

Eric

[jal_ut]

I joined the local Gardener's market to sell my honey. It has been a great outlet for selling honey. I do take some garden produce each week and the produce makes me enough to fill the gas tank. So I guess it is worth it. However, if it were just for the produce, it would not be worth my time. I would rather give excess to a charity.

[jal_ut]

That's a lot of food from a small space.

DDF

Yes, one can surely get a lot of food from a squash patch.The winter types keep quite well too so you can be eating squash into next year.

[jal_ut]

These are landrace squash. (Hybrids)

[digitS']

I may become a "one from column A, one from column B . . ." squash gardener. I'm happy enough with open-pollinated squash and would be willing to save seeds. However, my neighbor taught me a lesson about squashes mixing.

A problem might be saving summer squash seed since zucchini and others are Cucurbita pepo. And, so are jack o'lantern pumpkins! Yeah, the neighbor allowed some volunteers to survive, found them inedible and left the fruit in the garden. We shared the same "tractor guy" the next year and I had his volunteers all over my garden - including in my squash patch! I mean, the things were like gourds!!!

So, I maybe I should grow Cushaw pumpkins instead of jack o'lantern pumpkins . If I got the story right, these are pumpkins that you would find in a can. They are C. argyrosperma not C. pepo.

Or . . .

Johnny's sells Long Island Cheese Pumpkin seed. It is a Cucurbita moschata. The other story is that canned pumpkin is from one of these! My zucchini seed would be safe but the butternut and spaghetti squash (both C. moschata) would be in danger of the cheese pumpkin "jumping the fence."



Steve

[DoubleDogFarm]

Spaghetti is a Pepo.

Dickinson field pumpkin - 'Libby's Select' uses the Select Dickinson Pumpkin varity of C. moschata for its canned pumpkins


Eric

[digitS']

Spaghetti is a Pepo. . . .

Eric

Ah ha! I should have checked

Steve

[jal_ut]

My son planted a variety of C. maxima squashes. Every variety he could come up with, then saved seeds. The next year he had a bountiful harvest, they had hybrid vigor, but the variety in size shape and color was fantastic. Yet, they are still all squash.

[digitS']

There you go, James!

That is kind of the reverse of my thinking! Everything from Column A!

Maybe I need to reconsider . . .

Steve

[DoubleDogFarm]

[quote="jal_ut"]My son planted a variety of C. maxima squashes. Every variety he could come up with, then saved seeds. The next year he had a bountiful harvest, they had hybrid vigor, but the variety in size shape and color was fantastic. Yet, they are still all squash.


James I like It. I see a lot of C maxima open pollinated seed on Ebay. Did your son start out with a mixture of hybrids and OP?

You have me thinking, I don't like summer squash and most C pepo, so why not a landrace of C. maxima.

Eric

[jal_ut]

Eric, I just had a Butternut squash foe dinner last night. Hard to beat their flavor. I do like Banana and Hubbard squash too. I have some seed for a Banana Hubbard cross, and that squash is excellent.

Here is a picture, the squash in the middle is the hybrid.

[jal_ut]

A problem might be saving summer squash seed since zucchini and others are Cucurbita pepo. And, so are jack o'lantern pumpkins!

If only one variety of C pepo is grown, you can save seed and it will be true to form, however squash grown and open pollinated will freely cross with other varieties within the same species. If you then save seed it is very likely the next years crop will be hybrids and the fruit will be different than either parent. It will still be squash. Squash is usually pollinated by bees/insects, and they spread the pollen around.

Same goes for C maxima. Though C maxima won't cross with C pepo.

If you really want squash true to type and you grow more than one variety of the same species it is best to buy new seed each year.

[DoubleDogFarm]

"hybrid vigor" coined by Charles Darwin 1800s


I read your son's article in Mother Earth News on TPS. Does he have a write up on Maxima squash?

Although Garden City Seeds is committed to breeding new OP varieties and making them available to gardeners, Navazio values certain hybrids, too, for what he calls their "resiliency and instant adaptability." The difference between hybrid and OP vigor, he says, appears most strikingly in specific regions of the country like the Pacific and Mountain states and northern New England, where early-season cold snaps can slow the growth of heat-loving vegetables. In such conditions, many OPs will go into a "holding pattern," but the increased vigor of hybrids helps them grow through the unseasonable weather

https://www.garden.org/subchannels/care/ ... 293&page=3

Eric

[jal_ut]

I don't know for sure. Have you seen his page?

Click

[digitS']

. . .

. . .The difference between hybrid and OP vigor, he says, appears most strikingly in specific regions of the country like the Pacific and Mountain states and northern New England, where early-season cold snaps can slow the growth of heat-loving vegetables. . .

Eric

Yes, that's my garden!

However, on the same page: "For other plants--like squash, melons, cucumbers and tomatoes--the difference between hybrid and OP vigor is generally less noticeable. . . "

I was hoping that I could just cross 2 tomato varieties that I am happy with and come up with a hybrid that I'm also happy with. If everything comes out okay, I did the crossing a couple months ago with Buisson and Kimberely tomatoes. The mother plant is in my greenhouse "trying" to ripen the fruit!

"Hybrid vigor" was what I was hoping would may the real difference.

Carol Deppe in "Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties" says: "There is an extensive hybrid seed industry for tomatoes, even though they don't display inbreeding depression and thus there is no special biological advantage to the hybrids."

I suppose this takes away one of the good reasons for my attempt but I am still hoping. Good thing I didn't read Deppe first .

Steve

[DoubleDogFarm]

James you are a bad influence or is it your son. I just purchased 15 different C Maxima off of Ebay. I believe they are all advertised non-GMO and Open pollinated.

From Joseph's facebook page I followed to his squash article. He talks about a two squash crosses. Can three or more squash cross in a given year. All maximas of course.


Eric

[jal_ut]

Talking squash:
There needs to be a pollen grain for each seed in the female blossom. One trip from a bee will not be enough. So since it takes pollen from several bee visits to adequately pollinate each female squash blossom, and if there are several varieties of squash nearby, it is feasible that one fruit could have seed that was pollinized by several other varieties and if seeds were saved and planted the following year, you could get quite a variety of size, color, shape and flavor. Yes, just one fruit can contain several crosses.

[jal_ut]

Click

[jal_ut]

Today for lunch we cooked a chunk of a maxima pumpkin, and a chunk of that maxima squash that was the hybrid of the Hubbard and the Banana. The squash hybrid was the better of the two. The pumpkin was rather watery and low on flavor in comparison.

I'll say it again: Pumpkins are for decorations.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Thank you for the taste comparison James. "To water" is one reason I don't like summer squash. I prefer a drier rich flavor.

Five of the seed, off of Ebay, have Pumpkin in their name. All Maxima

HEIRLOOM TRIAMBLE PUMPKIN
https://sustainableseedco.com/heirloom-v ... seeds.html

HEIRLOOM JAUNE GROS DE PARIS Pumpkin https://sustainableseedco.com/heirloom-v ... seeds.html

HEIRLOOM GALEUX D'EYSINES PUMPKIN
https://sustainableseedco.com/heirloom-v ... seeds.html

HEIRLOOM CINDERELLA PUMPKIN
https://sustainableseedco.com/certified- ... -seed.html

HEIRLOOM MARINA DI CHIOGGIA PUMPKIN
https://sustainableseedco.com/heirloom-v ... seeds.html


Eric

[jal_ut]

Looks like you have 5 varieties of decorations?

You may have some seed from this pumpkin. Oh, yes we should name it. How about "Heirloom Paradise Landrace Pumpkin" ?

[DoubleDogFarm]

I looked up all 5 and only CINDERELLA seems to be most pumpkin like.

I added the links to my previous post.

"Paradise Landrace pumpkin". I like it.


Eric

[jal_ut]

I looked at the links. Some interesting squash there. That Galeux D'eysines sure looks good with that thick flesh.

My gosh, if you plant a hill of each of those, you will have squash by the truck load.

I am afraid my maxima pumpkins this year may have crossed with other maxima squash. There were 5 or six varieties of maxima in that patch.

[jal_ut]

My maxima pumpkin. Mind you this was not the largest one.

I took it in and cut it up.

I had already taken enough from that pumpkin to make a couple of meals. (the hole in the first picture )

Anyone need pumpkin?

[jal_ut]

Just trying to eat this one pumpkin. I can eat a piece every day for almost three weeks . Then to think I have eight more of them, plus a truckload of other squashes from my patch this year. I am thinking squash produces a lot of food. Much more than I will be able to eat. Help!

[DoubleDogFarm]

Just trying to eat this one pumpkin. I can eat a piece every day for almost three weeks . Then to think I have eight more of them, plus a truckload of other squashes from my patch this year. I am thinking squash produces a lot of food. Much more than I will be able to eat. Help!

James, I will be sharing some with the neighbor
[youtudotbe]https://youtu.be/tlofNRa3U1Y[/youtudotbe]


Eric

[jal_ut]

Though I practice organic principles in my gardening, I do not use that word (Organic) in selling produce at market. Too much political and legal hype associated with the word.

[DoubleDogFarm]

I would say, "grown with organic tecniques, but not certified"

I had one customer ask, and I told her the line above. She started filling a 1020 flat with vegetable starts. She had about a dozen 4" pots in the flat and then asked if the seed was organic. My answer was "um, oh, er not sure" She set the flat down and walked away. She was buying the plants for a landscaping customer and she needed to be sure.

I may not have sold her any plants, but earned her as a repair customer. I worked on her John deere lawn tractor, a leaf blower and a walkbehind mower. It's all good

Eric

[jal_ut]

The sad fact of the matter is: Those "Organic" plants are no better in any way than any others.

(Now watch me get beat up for saying it.)

Of course all plants are organic by the definition of the word.