Few vegetables are as rewarding and as confusing at once as squash. A single plant sprawls over half a bed and hands you fruit in autumn that keeps for months. It only gets confusing at the shop and the seed tray, because the same word squash means one thing rock-hard and another creamy, one giant and another handy.
The key is knowing the types. Once you know which squash is good for what, you never buy the wrong one again and you grow exactly what ends up in your kitchen. Let us start with the three families, then the rest becomes easy.
Three species, many types
Botanically our edible squashes fall into three species. The giant squash (Cucurbita maxima) produces the biggest brutes, but also the fine Hokkaido. The musk squash (Cucurbita moschata) is the heat-lover with the butternut as its star. The marrow squash (Cucurbita pepo) is the largest clan: courgette, spaghetti squash, pattypan and, sadly, the inedible ornamental gourds all belong to it.
For the kitchen the species is secondary. What matters more is what you have in mind: a quick soup, a bake, or an eye-catcher on the table.
Which squash for what?
The four kitchen types
- Hokkaido
Small, orange, nutty. You can eat the thin skin, which saves the tedious peeling. The all-rounder for soup, roasting and cake.
- Butternut
Pear-shaped, few seeds, creamy flesh with a fine flavour. Ideal for purée, risotto and anything from the oven. Needs peeling.
- Spaghetti squash
After cooking the flesh falls apart into spaghetti-like strands. A treat on the plate and a light side dish.
- Pattypan
The saucer squash is used young and tender like a courgette, fried or stuffed.
How to grow squash
Pre-grow warm or sow direct
From late April raise squash warm (CW 17 to 18), or from mid-May sow two seeds direct where they are to grow. Squash germinates fast once the soil is warm.
Plant out after the last frosts
Only set the young plants out after the last frosts, roughly CW 19 to 22. Plan generously: one plant quickly wants a square metre and more.
Set it on the compost
Squashes are heavy feeders and love the compost heap or a hole full of well-rotted manure. There they grow most lushly and ramble elegantly over the heap.
Water evenly
The large leaves transpire a lot. Water plentifully at the roots so the fruit grows evenly. Drought stress slows the harvest.
Harvest ripe, before frost
A squash is ripe when it sounds hollow on a knock and the stalk is corky and dry. Harvest with a piece of stalk attached and before the first frost, usually in October (CW 40 to 44).
After harvest, a fully ripe eating squash keeps for many weeks to months if kept cool and dry. What matters is a clean, dry stalk: if the stalk rots, the whole fruit soon follows. A Hokkaido or butternut comfortably rides out the winter on the shelf.
Curing and storing properly
Whether your squash keeps for two weeks or half a year is decided after the harvest. The most important and most often forgotten step is curing. During it the skin corks over, small injuries seal, and the squash becomes fit for storage.
Cure for one to two weeks
Let the harvested squash cure warm and dry, at about 20 to 25 degrees on a sunny windowsill or in a warm room. The skin hardens and the stalk dries out completely.
Store cool, dry and airy
After that, store them cool at about 10 to 15 degrees, dry and airy. A dry storeroom beats a damp cellar. Lay the fruit out singly on a shelf so they do not touch.
Check regularly
Look them over every few weeks and take out any squash with a soft spot at once. One rotting fruit infects its neighbours. Never break off the stalk while doing so.
How long a squash keeps also depends on the species. A Hokkaido is at its best after two to four months, then the flavour fades. Butternut and musk squash keep for half a year and longer with good storage and even grow sweeter over time.
Why you must never eat a bitter squash
All cucurbits can form the bitter compound cucurbitacin. In our eating varieties it has been bred out, but it lingers in ornamental gourds. That is why ornamental gourds are for looking at only, never for eating.
A bitter squash goes entirely in the bin. No tasting on, no cooking off, no exception.
The iron rule of squash
Frequently asked questions
How do I tell whether a squash is ripe?
Knock it: ripe, it sounds hollow. The stalk is then corky and dry, and the skin so hard that your fingernail leaves no dent. Green, soft stalks mean: wait a while longer.
Can I re-sow seeds from a shop-bought squash?
With shop-bought eating squash, yes, though many varieties are hybrids (F1) and split in the next generation. The bigger risk is crossing with an ornamental gourd in your own garden: then bitter, inedible fruit threatens. Bought open-pollinated seed is safer.
Do I really not need to peel Hokkaido?
Correct, the Hokkaido skin softens on cooking and can be eaten. Butternut, musk and the big eating squashes you do peel. Wash the skin before cutting all the same.
Why does my plant form many flowers but hardly any fruit?
Squashes have separate male and female flowers. Only the female ones (with a small fruit set below the flower) become squashes, and only after pollination. If insects are scarce, it helps to transfer pollen with a brush from a male to a female flower in the morning.
