If we have not yet fallen in love with squash, it is surely that we know little about them. Summer and winter squash are easy to grow, eaten fresh or long after harvest, and come in a variety of shapes, textures and flavors that make them entertaining in the garden or on the plate.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
It’s too early to sow annuals in the garden, too late to start sowing tomatoes and peppers, which we’ll be getting in seedlings this year. Cucurbits – which include melons, cucumbers and squash – can, on the other hand, be started in seed and then migrate outwards. But is there any reason to move the season forward? Not if we plan to plant them in the vegetable garden, according to the co-founder of La Courgerie, Pascale Coutu, whose farm in Sainte-Élisabeth, in Lanaudière, has made squash her specialty.
“By sowing them directly in the garden, we will have stronger plants that are more resistant to fungi and diseases. And in any case, their growth will eventually join those that have been sown within”, she stresses, adding that there is no point in running… rather, you have to sow in time.
In cold, moist soil, the more fragile varieties risk rotting before they have even had the opportunity to germinate. To sow, we will therefore wait until the soil is warm enough at the end of May. We will wait a little longer before leaving our plants, the time that the temperatures stay above 10 ohC. The first week of June is a fairly reliable reference in many parts of Quebec.
PHOTO ROMAN HOLIDAY, FLICKR
Zucchini female flowers and fruits
In pots and in the garden
Squashes and other members of the cucurbit family do not like to be transplanted. It is best to start seedlings in the planter where they will spend the summer. Most summer squashes lend themselves to container growing, but bushy squash, whose fruit grows close to the plant, will be less invasive than runners. However, they can be hung on a railing or a stake. These criteria rule out pumpkin and most winter squashes which, in addition to having heavy fruit, are invasive and very likely to want to flourish on the neighboring balcony, eight feet away… There are, however, cultivars which offer smaller fruits, such as Baby Blue and Jack-Be-Little.
Limit the spreading of winter vines to the garden by pruning them after the last female flowers — which can be recognized by the swelling of the fruit at the base of the petals — or where you consider you have enough gourds for your needs, advises Pascale Coutu. In almost all cases, they will be expansive and, once their large foliage has developed, impossible to ignore. Reserve the extremities of the vegetable garden for them. The vines can be redirected wherever we want as they grow, that is to say before they develop rootlets to anchor themselves to the ground.
A squash and a cucumber do not fertilize each other, just as a dog and a cat cannot have babies. To promote pollination and maximize production, I recommend separating the melons from the cucumbers and grouping the squash by family.
Pascale Coutu, squash expert
“In this way, the bee will easily pollinate the specimens that can be pollinated between them,” she adds.
Summer or winter squash?
Summer squash, such as zucchini or patisson, is eaten at harvest time and does not last more than three weeks in the fridge. Winter ones are distinguished by their shelf life of several months when stored in a cool, dry place. They are harvested at the very end of the season, when they reveal their attractive, sometimes even unusual shapes and colors.
Varieties to discover
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PHOTO PROVIDED BY SEMENSES DU PORTAGE
The orange, flavorful flesh of the ‘Red Kuri’ pumpkin makes it a favorite in the kitchen.
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PHOTO PROVIDED BY NORDIC SEEDS
The arrival of the “Canada Crooked Neck” preceded the widely used butternut squash today. Larger, pretty with its end reminiscent of a swan’s neck, it keeps for a particularly long time.
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PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, PRESS ARCHIVES
Smaller than their counterparts in the winter squash family, ‘Hubbard Baby Blue’ fruits weigh 1-2 kg and are suitable for modest-sized gardens.
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PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, PRESS ARCHIVES
In the family of giants, the “Galeuse d’Eysine” attracts attention. Its fruit reaches between 5 and 10 kg on average and provides abundant sweet flesh.
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PHOTO PROVIDED BY SEMENSES DU PORTAGE
There are several varieties of turban squash. Their colors vary, sometimes adorning themselves with orange, bluish or yellow hues.
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There are as many as 10,000 varieties of squash, according to some sources. They are grouped into different families, the best known in Quebec being vegetable, musk and pumpkin.
Winter vegetable gardens (Cucurbita pepo) include pumpkins, acorn squash and spaghetti. They have a hollow center and are therefore easy to stuff. More stringy than musk and pumpkin, they are also more delicate in taste.
Musks (Cucurbita musquata) include the butternuts, their most famous ambassadors, and others less known such as the “Black Futsu” or the “Musk of Provence”. Generally easy to peel, dense in flesh and tasty, they are attributed a fine taste of hazelnut or melon. They make excellent fries, creamy soups and lend themselves to stews.
The giantess, also called pumpkins (Cucurbita maxima) which include Hubbard, pumpkins, Buttercups, turbans and kaboshas, reveal their generous orange flesh, rich in carotene and sweet, which is suitable for purées, soups and desserts.
For the plate and for the pleasure of the eyes in the garden, I would advise to plant several varieties, but in small quantities, and as long as you do, to dip into the different families, by choosing, for example, a butternut, a peppery and a Sweet Mama.
Pascale Coutu, co-founder of La Courgerie
“The seeds lose a bit of value from year to year, but not that much. We can therefore afford not to sow the whole bag and keep some for other years. »
When to harvest?
In the case of summer squash, the fruit is harvested when it is young, firstly because it is more interesting in taste — the skin is then tender and the flesh, without seeds —, but also because it This is how the plant will continue to produce female flowers, says Pascale Coutu, specifying that the purpose of the squash is not to feed us, but to ensure its offspring.
“If you let your zucchini get as big as a baseball bat, it will stop producing. Your plant will then have accomplished its mission, which is to produce seeds. Even if we have not planned to eat them, it is therefore preferable to pick the fruits. In this way, and by providing them with a regular supply of fertilizer, we are sure to have enough to eat all summer long. »
Unlike summer squash, winter squash should be harvested when their stalks begin to dry out, their skin is dull and a fingernail cannot easily penetrate their epidermis. However, ripe for picking does not mean ready for consumption. The fruit continues to ripen once harvested. He is ready when no trace of pale green colors his skin and he has finally earned his official color.