Ah, the versatile squash—handy for pies, cakes, side dishes, main dishes, jack-o-lanterns, or a home for Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater’s wayward wife. Not only are squash easy to grow, seed saving is like a box of chocolates – you never know what you are going to get. It’s the vegetable lottery.
Squash, and other cucurbits like cucumbers and melons, cross-pollinate easier than anything else in the garden. They just can’t wait to spread their DNA and surprise the seed saver with never-before-seen varieties of squashy goodness.
As a convicted – er, confessed – seed hoarder, I can’t resist saving seeds from a variety of garden goodies, even though I know I may end up with FrankenSquash, or a Sasquash, or even a WereSquash.
Squash need little attention in the garden. Once the plants have a head-start on weeds, you can let them do their own thing – squash gone wild.
A friend called me up one day, worried because someone had told her if she didn’t trellis her squash, it would rot on the ground. “Do you live in a swamp?” I asked her.
Since she didn’t, there was no worry with letting the squash wander across the garden, finding its own way in the world, just like those kids that leave the nest.
In fact, it’s healthy to let the squash run across the ground, spreading roots from place to place. If a root borer should strike, only one small section of the plant will die. You can remove that section and kill the root borer –with a chainsaw, or fire. The rest of the plant will live on, no pesticides required.
Squash bugs can be a nuisance, but most likely you will still harvest more than enough squash before the little vegan vampires suck the plants dry. Pesticides are rarely necessary in the home garden, as long as you don’t mind a few imperfections in your produce, or squishing bugs with your fingers.
It’s just about time to get that squash planted. You can do starts or direct seed. Before you know it, you will have harvested a veritable vegetable rainbow.
Zucchini is a summer squash, which means you need to eat it during the summer, or dehydrate it, can it, or freeze it for storage.
Winter squash, on the other hand, like pumpkins, butternut, hubbard, acorn, and the like, develop a thick skin (like journalists and columnists) and a somewhat waxy coating (which we lack) which allow excellent storage for the winter – thus the name.
You can use most winter squash the same way you would use pumpkin – bake it in a pie, bread, bars, cookies, make a soup, carve a jack-o-lantern, or build a home for lost fairies.
Pink banana squash is a favorite of mine, just because it’s so unusual and stores well. It’s a little sweeter and drier than pumpkin, and works great in recipes.
Here’s an easy way to prepare it:
Wash the squash, and cut open lengthwise. Scrape out seeds (an ice cream scoop works great) to roast, or to save, or to give to a nearby seed hoarder.
Place cut side down on baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees until a fork pokes easily through the outer skin (time varies from 30 minutes to an hour or more, depending on the size of your squash). Remove from oven and let cool for recipes, or serve while warm with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, or your favorite topping.
Scrape cooked squash from skin using a large spoon or ice cream scoop. You can freeze extra cooked squash in two-cup increments, which is about the average amount needed for most recipes.
Pink Banana Squash Pie
2 cups cooked Pink Banana Squash (or any other similar winter squash)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
dash of ground cloves
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
Mix well and pour into pie shell. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake 45 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
