Topic: Growing squash

[bikegirllisa]

Another daft question from the beginner!  I am going to plant out my squashes in the next week or so, and I don't really want them all sprawled all over the ground.

So, here's my little brainwave - if I take two pallets and lean them up against each other in a triangle type shape, could I plant my squash and train them up the pallets - thereby (a) saving space in the beds and (b) keeping the squashes off the ground, dodging the evil that are slugs?

I can't decide if this has come to me in a flash of inspiration, or I read this somewhere.  Do you think it will work?

[grannyjanny]

Will you be growing sweetcorn. You could plant them in the same bed, 2 sisters. I think there are some squash that will climb but others need to sprawl. Which ones have you got growing?

[Ben Acre]

Squash and their relatives are sprawlers, If u dont want that dont grow them they wont yield very well any other way.

[artichoke]

I have led squashes up into an apple tree up some trellis, and up a hedge, with a fat squash sitting on top of the hedge and having to be poked down. They are just as happy to climb as to sprawl.  Also have a look at this thread:

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,67068.0.html

where you can see squashes neatly coiled round like snakes.

I myself don't think squashes would climb corn without bringing down the corn; isn't it beans that are supposed to climb in the Three Sisters?

I certainly have squashes sprawling around underneath the corn as a living mulch.

[bikegirllisa]

Thanks for the answers - especially for the link artichoke.

[Jeannine]

Certainly you can grow squash upwards, I would advise against doing it with the very big ones eg Sweetmeat or Hubbards but for the majority it will be just fine, be prepared to tie them in and offer some support to the larger size squash if need be.

If you tell me your varieties I can give you the weight  to expect.

XX Jeannine

[Digeroo]

I have grown pumpkins up an apple tree and squashes up very stout canes.  They do not do as well as on the ground because they tend to put out extra roots on the way so you will have to keep them well fed and watered.  I think they would totally flatten a corn plant, the beans try their best to flatten them too.   I have seen squashes in Turkey climbing all over trellises and with the fruit hanging down.

I can remember seeing some lovely pics on here of climbing squashes.  Sorry I cannot find them.

Trompetto D'Albenga will climb up anything. 

[antipodes]

There are many people on here that grow squash upwards! Pallets sound like quite a useful structure. One year I had a squash that had grow up the raspberry bushes and back down again!!
Someone else had a good idea teh other day - for vining ones, start to coil them around their own growth point, in a spiral, then you get just a very thick cluster rather than a long trail. I will try that this year.

Excuse me, but is Ben Acre a troll, or just rude?  ???

[1066]

the pallet thing could work but make sure to really anchor them into the ground, the last thing you want is squashed squashes  :)

I meant to ask what varieties are you growing bikegirllisa?

[ceres]

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[grannyjanny]

TBH I didn't mean the squashes to climb the corn I just meant they could be grown in the same bed as a space saver but now i see it can be done. Thanks for the info.

[bikegirllisa]

I'm doing gem squash, courgettes, pattypans and butternuts.  I grew up in South Africa, and these are the vegetables of my (and my husband's) youth - so I am really interested in them doing well!

I think gem squash might be called something else in the UK though - maybe acorn squash?  About the size of a ruby grapefruit, dark green hard skin, orange flesh - taste utterly magnificent cooked in the microwave and then the inside scraped out, mixed with a good dessertspoonful of double cream and plenty of nutmeg and cinnamon!

Thanks for all the answers and suggestions - I am still undecided about the pallets.  The bed I am going to put them in is 4m x 2m - and I was thinking three pattypans, three gem squash, two butternuts and three courgettes.

[Jeannine]

Hi, no problems.

Your pattypan and courgette are summer squash and will be bush, so they don't need to climb at all.

Your Butternut, even if the larger variety will be fine growing upright.

Your Gem will also go over the palettes, wether you pick it and use it as a summer squash or leave it to fully mature in which case treat it as a winter squash It is a good choice as it is one of the few squash who are dual purpose.

XX Jeannine

Meant to tell you, your Gem will cross with your summer squash and they will cross with each other but your Butternut cannot cross with the others so you could save seeds from it unless iut is one of the hybrid ones.

[1066]

Aaahhhh Gem Squash one of my all time favourites  ;D A load of S African mates who all raved about them when they were in the shops here, and they got me hooked  ;D.
The good thing I find about them is that as a squash they don't try and take ove rthe world like some do, nice and manageable. I usually get a decent crop. YUM !!

Happy growing  :)

[bikegirllisa]

Ooh - a pattypan gem squash cross!  I almost hope that happens.  Would be very tasty, I think! 

Thanks for the adivce Jeannine - very much appreciated.

[Jeannine]

Go for it gal, let me know of you do it, bearing in mind it won't affect this years crop but if you save seeds  you will see it next year.

Maybe you could call it Gempan.. or better still Jampan.

Depending on the type of pattpan you are growing it could be Goldgem, or Gemstar..oh eck I could do this forever!!

Such is the wonderful world of squash.

XX Jeannine

[antipodes]

As an Aussie I get very confused about all this squash/pumpkin thing! Where I am from, squash is any type of summer squash that isn't actually a courgette (which we call Zucchini!!!) For example the pattypan squashes (which I looove) are just yellow or green squash. A round summer squash is a round zucchini!  And anything with a hard skin, and yellow or ornage flesh, is a pumpkin!  And even butternuts are butternut pumpkins!
In fact we only ever saw 3 or 4 types of pumpkin - Queensland blue and Jap or Jarrahdales, and butternuts, I had never seen many of the other types of pumpkins till I came to Europe!

But I am one of the rare persons on my site that grows different squash and my neighbours are always amazed to see butternuts trailing down the side of the path, or bright yellow zucchini! They are one of teh most enjoyable veggies, I find.

[Jeannine]

I have Queensland Blue, Japs and Grammas growing from your side of the world. Along with a very rare one from NSW. Jarrahdale is not one that I like, I prefer Triamble.

XX Jeannine

[chriscross1966]

Buttercup squashes such as Bon-Bon climb avidly , they produce plenty of tendrils to hook themselves on with and I've had them growing all over a boundary fence of chickenwire on a plot before.... they were perfectly capable of setting a 5-6lb fruit at height....