Confession Time: I'm Tired of Squash!!!
Hey Neighbor,
Okay, I’m just going to say it—I am officially tired of squash!
It happens every year around this time. I’ve eaten them every way imaginable: stewed, in casseroles, grilled, stuffed, and—of course—fried. One night I fried up a whole batch and ate so much I gave myself a full-on greasy squash hangover. It took me two days to recover!
Every summer, it’s the same ritual. I do believe, you could feed a small country with just a 30-foot row of squash.
I bring buckets of squash to work to give away, and no one will even make eye contact with me when I say, “Hey… we’ve got more squash!” Even my neighbors have stopped replying to my texts. But despite my current squash fatigue, I have to give it credit—summer squash is one of the easiest and quickest things to grow.
They come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and even textures—yellow, green, two-tone—you name it. For me, spring is the best time to grow them because insect and disease pressure is lower then. That said, I’ve got a few more squash maturing in the garden, and after that… I think I’ll take a break from summer squash for a while.
Now let’s talk about hard squash.
Summer and winter (or “hard”) squash come from the same family, but we grow and harvest them differently:
- Summer squash: harvested when immature, tender, and soft-skinned
- Hard squash: harvested when fully mature, with tough skin and longer storage life
Hard squash pros:
- Don’t produce as heavily
- Have a sweeter flavor
- Store better—pepo types (same species as summer squash) can last up to 45 days
- Take longer to mature
Right now, I’ve got Taybelle PM Acorn Squash growing, which should be ready to harvest in 2–3 weeks.
Some of my favorites:
To me, the pepo types just taste better—but the trade-off is that they store the shortest amount of time among hard squash.
Since they take nearly twice as long to grow as summer squash, disease and insect pressure can be an issue. I recommend growing a powdery mildew-resistant variety like Taybelle, and staying on a consistent spray program to keep vine borers and diseases at bay. Use Take Down Garden Spray to control vine borers. Rotate Liqui-Cop and Garden Phos for disease management Yes, you can mix Take Down with either fungicide when spraying if you have space in the garden or need to replant an area—hard squash might be a great option. You can direct-seed them easily and growing them on drip irrigation will help combat dry weather and disease pressure.
Unlike summer squash, I never get tired of hard squash.
Get Dirty,
Greg