Your best (favorite) squash

I have been searching the internet and seed catalogs for hours and am now just confused. Would you please help me? What is your favorite squash to grow in your home garden?

I'll be making this same post in several other veggie categories. Appreciate any help you can give.

Lilygardener

My favorite of all varieties is Tahitian Melon Squash-C.Mochata. It does require a fairly long growing season 120-140 days.It has a solid stem, so is resistant to vine-borers.It has the highest sugar content of winter squash and mature flesh can be grated raw and served in salads like "Waldorf".I grew it this past year and won't be growing it for a few years as I have over 100 W.squash vars. that I still need to grow out.(limited space).Tahitian's make spectacular Pumpkin Pies!-

Yellow crookneck - Horn of Plenty
Zucchini- Clarimore
Winter squash - Butternut , but I don't have a clear favorite cultivar

Zebraman and Farmerdill,

Thank you for the input. I am anxious to locate and try these favorites. Winter has barely started and I already can't wait for Spring.

Lilygardener

Lilygardener;
I will concur with Farmerdill. The Tahitian Melon squash has a wonderful flavor has very large squash that are similar to the butter nut but sweeter. They do get rather large, one will feed a family. They are also a heavy producer. If you have a good size family, and love squash. I would recommend trying it. But the butternut is of the size that is more manageable for the smaller family. However I like most all squash. The Tahitian, will reach up 3' long have a bowl at the blossom end much like the butternut. but usually a larger diameter, most cases the neck is curved or crooked. I am sure you would love the flavor. My own personal preference though partly because of the size is the butternut. It is also a good keeper. There are only the two of us, so smaller is better. I also like the acorn, but one is like, just a taste. Not much flesh for the size. I hope I don't confuse you any. I haven't tried the crookneck, or a lot of others. Don't have a lot of space for many.
Three years ago I had one plant of the Tahitian. I give away five or six, and still had thirteen left for us The smallest one was just over 15" long
With that I would say, if you aren't sure, I would try 2 or 3 hills of the Tahitian and a few of the butternut. If you have to share some all the better. One gentleman still tells me, that that was the best tasting squash. I think he is hoping I will plant some more. Which I think I will.
I may have to sell some at a roadside stand though LOL~~~~~~~` Russ

Hi Russ,
I think I have a deal in the works to trade for some Tahitian seeds with another DGer. I am anxious to try them. We are four in the household and my mother is not much of an eater except for veggeis and sweets. But just a few of anything is likely to be enough for us.

Before this year I have only grown squash that I have found availble as plants at the local hardware store or Home Depot, etc. I have never really selected and sought a particular type before and appreciate all the helpful comments I can get to guide my selections. This year we will have a tasters garden with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. My list of varieties to sample is G-r-ow-i-n-g !! :)

Many thanks for your helpful information,
Lilygardener

If you like sweet potatoes. they are very good too. they are easy to start and easy to grow too. They are full of all those good healthy things as well. Vitimen A, C, fiber and beta carotene. more than most other veggies, including spinach and broccoli.

Definitely butternut (I usually grow Waltham's), Trombocino, and this past summer I grew Zephyr and it was a hit both here at the farm as well as for our mkt customers.

Shoe

Shoe; I think I will have check out the Zephyr, haven't run into it before. Willing to try it though.
Russ

I think you'll like it, Russ. Customers were so disappointed when our squash crop had gone by (drought and bugs).

Seed is available at Johnny's. (It's a hybrid though so don't plan on saving seeds.)

Shoe

Randponder: I know what you say about sweet potatoes is right and I am supposed to eat them instead of whites. I'm sure there are folks around here who grow sweet potatoes but I've never met any. I wonder how well they do in Georgia.

Shoe: I'm getting so many informed suggestions, it may take me a couple of years to try all of them. Thanks for your input. Sounds like you are a professional and know what the public likes. Decisions! Decisions! A delicious dilemma!

Lilygardener

I like Zepyhr, but want to try the ZepyhrF1 from Johnny's. Interesting new squash. We also like Patty Pan and acorn types. I prefer Centenial for a sweet potato. They seem do very well here.
So many choices, that's one of the wonderful things about gardening. Just keep good notes about what works and what doesn't.

doccat5,

You are right about the notes. Putting things down on paper helps me organize in my head too. After I've arranged ideas, rearranged, and rearranged over and over again, the material become more and more my own, and I get a really good mind map of what I'm going to do and how I'm going to go about it. Every day, little by little, my final Spring garden is being formed in my mind, preparing for its birth when the time comes.

Lilygardener

Excellent. Are you doing wide row, raised bed? etc.

Doccat5,
Most of my beds are raised because of poor soil on our lot. Our tomato bed from last year is an area on a fairly steep slope that is hemmed up on the three lower sides and filled with better soil. The tomatoes were pulled out last month and only a couple of rows of garlic are planted there now. Those rows are of course not wide.

If our plans materialize we are going to greatly expand the hemmed up area and fill in with good amended soil. Our squash will likey be in that area.

We are also eyeing an area on the east side of the house for a few squash plants. The ideas are still incubating in my brain and are subject to change. Right now I see a row of tomatoes to the north side of that bed with a row of squash in front. To the south of that area is the entrance to our basement which creates a void area of about 12 feet. To the south of that is a newly created, unspoken for raised bed which is app. 20 x 10.

Wide rows. I don't know quite what you mean. How wide do you recommend? Does it depend on the variety?

doccat, "I like Zepyhr, but want to try the ZepyhrF1 ".

Yes, Johnny's bred the Zephyr hybrid and that's what I'm referring to in my above post. I've not heard of an OP Zephyr or any other squash carrying the Zephyr name. Do you have a source for one?

Shoe.

Johnny's is the source, horseshoe. Looks like one of those "son of" serials thingies...........LOL Check their online catalog, the squash sounds interesting.

I'm sorry lilygardener, I wasn't thinking. We use wide row, raised bed gardening because we use a Troybilt tiller. As opposed to single row planting. Our raised bed are not fancy, just earth shoveled about 4 inches above the ground and leveled a bit. The rows are about 3' wide, it's easier to maintain and you can walk on either side to harvest or tend the beds. Or sit and just enjoy the garden. I interplant using both veggies and flowers, usually marigolds, nastriturims, and other flowers that act as insect repellants, besides they're just purty ! I'll probably ramp it back this year and do 2 beds, 25' long and 3' wide. We don't need as much anymore and I would like to turn part of the area into flower gardens and add a greenhouse. I haven't been able to do major gardening for some years, just doing enough for table use, but since I've retired, my head is working overtime and so it the DH...........LOL Please feel free to dmail me if I can help you in any way.

doccat5; I too like the Centennial S/P. But they are not the most uniformed size tuber. I like the taste, and the large size of some of them and a crooked one or two. They don't go to market just our table. and a few of the older shut-ins, or at least are unable to raise a garden themselves anymore. Although I plan to try some vardhman" spelling"may not be right. but it sounds like another good one.

Shoe; DW says we are going to try some of the zephyr this next year. So I guess I better start my seed purchases soon.

And good luck to you lilygardener, on getting the seed you want to try.
I think the year I bought the Tahitian melon squash. they had like three seeds to a package. If that is still the case I wouldn't worry about that as they do very well.

randbponder, would you please post your results on the Tahitan melon squash. I saw some other posts about that, or at least I think that was it. It looked interesting. I like to try a couple of "new", off the wall, you CAN'T grow that here, stuff, just because I think it's great fun.

Doccat5; I planted all three seeds. I think I remember that at least one died I can't remember if I caught it with the tiller or what. But we got what I would call a bumper crop from those. If you scroll back a little. I was telling lilygardener of the size and shape of the tahition and the butternut. That was just in yesterdays posts. Your neighbors will be amased when you pick a 3' long squash with a bulb on the one end and the rest is all flesh They are a pinkish tan when ripe.

For those interested in exotic winter squash, an alternative to to the Tahitian is the Neck Pumpkin, Don't believe it has as much sugar content but an excellent squash of the type. Both are in the butternut family but BIG. Here are some of the exotic C. moschata from this year.

Oh, that looks wonderful Farmerdill.

Great pic, F-dill!! What a great harvest!

And, I just ran across Neck Pumpkin recently, think I was perusing Pinetree Seeds and saw it listed there. Looks like something I'd like to try.

Doccat, as for Zephyr and Zephyr F1, I'm aware that Z-F1 is available at Johnny's but I was asking if you had a source for a non-hybrid Zephyr. (In a post above you made you said, ""I like Zepyhr, but want to try the ZepyhrF1" leading me to believe you have grown another squash with the Zephyr name that is not a hybrid.

Oh yeh, F-dill...being in the butternut family, does Tahitian have the same hard vines like butternut or are they hollow? Thanks.

Shoe

Ah, no sorry horseshoe, I misunderstood

Okay, thanks! If you had I was on a mission to find an open-pollinated version of Zephyr! :>)

Hope you give Z-F1 a try next year, I think you'll be pleased!

Again, thanks!

Shoe