Following up on my Long de Nice squash, what I’m calling Tromboncino’s French cousin. The vine is huge and productive, pretty much exactly like Tromboncino, and we had been enjoying a lot of little squash in the 12-14 inch size harvested just as the blossom wilted. Seriously these were as big as some regular zukes I harvest before they had even bloomed.
I also had a few big ones I had to cut when reigning in the vine that I gave to fellow gardeners who grow bottle gourds to try and they said they were great. I went ahead and harvested one at about 3 pound size to try and used it for a vegan curry and it was pretty amazingly tender and sweet still at that size. I only used about a third of the squash for the curry and this one squash was enough for 2-3 4-person meals. I lost a piece of my zoodle cutter so I didn’t try them that way, but I think it would be great for that and I particularly like the thicker neck for easy processing. The larger but still immature squash easily keep for a week or more on the counter which is nice as well.
I finally harvested one of the smaller ones I’ve been letting go for winter squash which was about 7 pounds, but most seem like they’ll be in the 8-10 pound size. I’ll be curious to see how they store. I’ll let this cure for at least a couple weeks before trying it and will report back then.
Fun to grow and I personally prefer the shape to the longer Tromboncino, but I didn’t taste them side by side so not sure which one would taste better. In the future I think I’ll always harvest them at the larger size since there was no loss of tenderness. I’ll grow them again, but I need to be careful where I plant them due to the huge vines.
For traditional zucchini dishes, like ratatouille, I still prefer the taste of real zucchini, but for other dishes these work very well. Hopefully the mature squash will be similar to a good butternut, but if they aren’t as good I’ll just use them all as immature squash next time.
I’ve also been harvesting other squashes. Mainly Honeypatch/honeynut. There are also some Tetsukabuto seeds I saved that got crossed with a honeynut or Honeypatch. They make green butternuts of various sizes, shapes, and ripening properties. There was also a plain old Marine Grey (rodent damaged) and a Tetsukabuto x Marine Grey seedling I harvested.
I did not grow this one, found it at a shop selling ornamental pumpkins. They’re called cheddar pumpkins (New England Cheddar F1?). I baked half of one and it was pretty good. A little bland like the Candy Roaster, but it had a nice pumpkin flavor, sweetness, and starch content. Sort of like a pollinated Tetsukabuto, but simpler. It lacks the savory undertones that Tetsu has. Texture is a lot like a sweet potato.
From a $ standpoint the thing was only $4 and makes 10 wedges. Cheap food. Wonder what the seeds would give me.
I harvested a Zucchino Rampicante. I can’t cook them at home because my Dad is highly allergic. They’re supposed to be like zucchini when harvested smaller?
No idea but that looks like the Chinese tropical pumpkins I have growing! They and Thai kang kob get the bloom that I only recently learned had a name. I don’t harden things off properly, but my Thai kang kobs stored for 4-5 months.
Some speckles on this one North Georgia Candy Roaster. None of the others on the same vine exhibit this. It isn’t really giving disease to me; they don’t feel like lesions or seem to be impacting the integrity of the skin.
This is the best I can do for curing. Arguably, I should have put them on my sunny deck 2 weeks ago when it was warm. I’m starting to think this is the biggest problem I face for why my squash is never super sweet. I just don’t have any spot that goes above 76- this being the warmest with the windows and the lights. But, it’s also the lowest humidity. Upstairs humidity is closer to or at 50% but colder.
Very sadly, one of the biggest and most beautiful mdp’s was rotten. It grew upside down on the driveway and I think on the asphalt, the weight killed the vine. Couldn’t see until flipped it over to harvest and noticed the vine was dead and it was rotten where stem used to be. won’t make that mistake again! Thankfully, we have a few more big ones ripening up. Still a few more LIC and tromboncino to pick as well as all the BNS, honeynut, gourds and jackolanterns (but those are really close). TKK and LIC made a few very late pumpkins that we will pick as ornamentals when I clean up the vines. The TKK escaped to my gardens and we found 2 sneaky pumpkins hanging in black lace and under some other plants. I definitely have too many edibles this year and will be giving away!
Might be the move to use a space heater in a room with a temp sensor. I actually created a little curing chamber for my potatoes. Its a Rubbermaid tote with holes drilled into it, a computer fan, and a heat mat and thermometer. I also have a humidifier in thr room set to 50%
I feel you! It was warm in our laundry room and sunroom, but now that we’ve had our cold snap I don’t have any good places to cure things. Thinking of running them all back out to the greenhouse even though it will be cooler at night. Still have squash on the vine, too.
One thing I really like about the Honeynut & Honeypatch is the solid, no pith neck. And I dry farm these so it’s not like I’m watering them when it gets dry for long stretches.
That’s a good idea! After spending more time to think it through and move a thermometer and humidity reader around, I think my laundry room and garage are decent options with higher humidity (45-50% so still low) though on my rack with the lights on the immediate area under the lights is closer to 80. Just abysmally dry.
But, I’m still trying to understand curing better. I don’t harvest my winter squash until they are fully colored and the skin is hard such that my finger nail only leave the tiniest of marks and doesn’t really dent. To some great degree doesn’t that mean they have both ripened and cured? I’m understanding curing as the skin hardening and starches being converted to sugars. My pumpkins are always starchier and less sweet than what I can buy, so they aren’t adequately cured for sure. It’s already been many weeks for the first round I harvested. will moving them to more humidity help convert starches to sugars? We are going to have 2 days of 80’s starting tomorrow and I can load up my last remaining deck space.
Go figure I wait until the end of year 4 growing pumpkins to ask the important questions.
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