Harvesting Winter Squash and Ornamental Gourds
Now that it’s fall, it’s time to pick the winter squash here at my farm!
Every June, my gardeners and I plant pumpkin and winter squash seeds in one of three patches at my farm - I like to use seeds from various seed companies and from interesting and tasty fruits I’ve enjoyed in years past. By October, they're all ready to be harvested. This week, my head gardener, Ryan McCallister, picked a selection of acorn squash, carnival squash, and butternut squash. He also picked some ornamental gourds in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors.
Enjoy these photos.
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- This year, we planted squash on one side of my vegetable garden down by the chicken yard. The leaves cover most of the cucurbits as they form, but winter squash is ready to harvest when the foliage on the vines start to wither and turn brown. This happens by late September to early October here in the Northeast. We had a lot of rain this season, so we don’t have as many as past years, but there are still quite a few to harvest.
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- Always choose winter squash that is dull and matte. Shiny skin on squash may indicate it still needs time to mature.
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- This is butternut squash. Butternut squash, sometimes known in Australia and New Zealand as butternut pumpkin or gramma, has a sweet, nutty taste similar to that of pumpkin. Although technically a fruit, butternut squash is used as a vegetable that can be roasted, sautéed, toasted, puréed for soups, or mashed for casseroles and pies. Nearby are some cherry tomato “volunteers” which grew from the seeds of fallen fruits.
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- This is a Thelma Sanders sweet potato, a type of acorn squash.
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- Storage life varies by squash type. Butternut can store up to six months. Just be sure to store squash in a cool, dry spot at 50 to 55-degrees Fahrenheit with humidity of 60 to 70-percent. Acorn squash stores the shortest amount of time – about four-weeks.
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- Depending on the type of winter squash planted, anywhere from one to 10 fruits can grow per plant.
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- A garden situated in full sun with warm, well-drained, fertile soil that’s slightly acidic is the ideal spot for growing squash.
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- Ryan cuts each one off its vine using a sharp pair of garden clippers.
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- Always cut the squash carefully, leaving at least two inches of stem attached.
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- Winter squash contains an impressive amount of immune-supportive vitamin A and vitamin C, as well as dietary fiber, manganese, copper, potassium, folate, manganese, vitamin B6, vitamin K, vitamin B3, and omega-3 fatty acids.
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- Once the fruits are cut, they’re gathered by type, wiped with a rag, and then carefully placed into crates.
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- This is a crookneck squash, a type of butternut. It is medium to large in size and is cylindrical with one bulbous end and a long, curved neck. The tan skin is relatively thin, smooth, and is connected to a rough, green stem.
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- Green acorn squash is small to medium in size and has an ovoid shape lined with deeply furrowed ridges that taper to a point. The flesh is moist and spongy with a hollow center that contains stringy pulp. When cooked, its yellow-orange flesh becomes tender and offers a mildly sweet and nutty flavor. Carnival squash has colorful patches and flecks of dark green, light green, orange, and yellow. They’re a popular specialty market variety. These fruits average about a pound each.
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- This crate of butternuts is filling up.
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- There are so many ways to prepare winter squash – savory soups, sweet desserts, and steamy side dishes are just some.
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- My family loves winter squash, so I try to grow enough to last us a while.
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- The ornamental gourds were planted in a patch behind my main greenhouse. Again, it is hard to see the colorful fruits underneath all the foliage, but they’re there.
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- Ornamental gourds come in a mix of shapes and are perfect for decorating. The colors can range from cream and yellow to green and bicolored.
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- Ornamental gourds must ripen fully on the vine, so never be in a rush to harvest them. When the fruit is very hard and cannot be pierced with a fingernail, it is ready to harvest.
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- And always be sure to harvest them with a bit of stem attached. All Cucurbits that lose their stem stubs are much more likely to rot.
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- Here is a brightly colored and oddly shaped yellow gourd. Gourds need full sun and a growing season with 100 to 180 days of warm temperatures, preferably between 70 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit with well-drained, light, sandy soil.
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- This dark green gourd has many warts. If possible, avoid planting in the same spot two years in a row to minimize the chance for disease. I always practice crop rotation here at my farm.
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- It’s fun to see the rainbow of colors, shapes, and sizes of the many varieties we grow.
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- As the crates are filled, they’re brought up and placed on a table outside my Flower Room. Such a pretty collection of squash and gourds. No ‘decorating’ is required. Just putting them out in a single layer on a table or along a stone wall makes a wonderful display.
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