Design

Young small squash are absolutely delicious, and not shippable at all. From home gardens and farmer's markets, they're a summer highlight. I like to enjoy as many different summer squash as I can, and for some reason, am hopeful this season to avoid the dreaded squash vine borers that allow me to harvest one or two from my vines, before causing collapse of the entire plant. Who knows why I think my pattypan, flying saucer, eight ball (Ronde di Nice), cocozelle, butterstick, etc. C. pepo squashes might avoid them this year? Extra cold weather this winter? Late planting? Unusual optimism? We'll see. I'm sure my reliable tromboncino squash (a C. moschata variety) and perhaps the mystery summer squash mix (AKA small young gourds) will provide nice fruits regardless (uh, unless the woodchuck(s) are extra hungry). But I always pick my squash when they're young and tender, knowing that that's when they're the best. But I was a bit dismayed to see giant patty...

After a weekend away, the squash and beans were ready to harvest. I had five large tromboncino squash (the 9 inch + sort), lots of the smaller bicolor gourd-like squash, and a final green bean harvest. Inexplicably, the bean vines wilted late last week, and all the leaves were brown by Sunday. I haven't had a chance to follow up on what it might have been. But the garden peas are growing well, and I need to get the supports up (I guess the bean trellises are now available!) I'm planning on sowing some more fall greens before I leave for a conference late in the week. Just before going to bed, I happened to catch a glimpse of the moon rising above the hedge out the mud room window. Tonight, the moon is full.

This big one was hiding near a old tree stump. (I normally harvest them at the size of the one next to it). Notice its size relative to the cutting board. Yikes! Oops, one that got away! Amazingly, it was still quite edible, roasted in slices with garlic and olive oil. The yard-long bean vines in the satellite garden are starting to produce -- need to knock off some aphids (their one pest) with some water. And, all of our tomatoes love the heat and dry weather that we've had, as long as we water. It's hard to imagine all the rain that folks up in the northeastern U.S. and Midwest have experienced this summer.

My mystery summer squash is probably an interloper, based on the composition of the Summer Squash mix packet from Gourmet Seeds that I recently received (from a second order). Even though the packet is labeled C. moschata , the variety list (Di Napoli, Romanesco, Rondi de Nice, Golden, and Bianco di Trieste) are largely C. pepo , I think. I recognize all of these, except for the 'Golden' in my satellite garden plants. But I think 'Golden' was replaced by a gourd, which is quite tasty when young, but is not happy in our summer heat (the leaves wilt dreadfully in the afternoon). Happily, I've been harvesting the other squash varieties, too, having the best summer squash harvest I've ever had (aside from the tromboncino squash, which is flourishing).

One of the most delightful things about growing your own vegetables is that you can harvest lots of young fruits. 'Baby' squash are so amazingly delicious compared to their mature siblings, it hardly seems to be the same vegetable. A trip to a local farmer's market this afternoon had me eyeing giant yellow squash and zucchini, with overly mature green beans as well. I did buy a largish heirloom eggplant that was delicious, to be fair, but wondered why they were picking such large fruits and not the smaller more desirable ones? To me, the beauty of fresh veggies is to harvest them at their peak, when they're still tender and succulent, and eat them right away. Big is not better in terms of vegetables!

The rain this last week came just in time for the current crop of blueberries. The earlier berries were staying dry and sour from lack of water, then shriveling up. Blueberries (we grow rabbit-eye blueberries, Vaccinium asheii , in the Southern U.S.) are usually trouble-free, drought-tolerant, and attractive, too, in addition to producing lots of berries without any fuss. The squash 'beds' are turning the satellite garden into a squash carpet, as they sprawl down the slope, and around the garden. They require frequent monitoring for errant direction (up neighboring shrubs, the tomato cages, bean trellises, etc.). The mystery squashes definitely need eating when they're quite small (and delicious), as they're tough-skinned and seedy if left to become large. And the tromboncino squashes are starting to produce more heavily -- hmm, perhaps I should have only planted one? Since the woodchuck ate everything last summer but onions, garlic, and tomatoes (it seemed like),...

I "surprised" a number of bees this morning in flowers of my vining Tromboncino squash, a Cucurbita moschata cultivar. I vaguely recalled that squash had specialist bees, and had fun finding out more about them. Early in the morning is when squash bees visit flowers (these actually looked like they spent the night). Squash bees are native bees that specialize in flowers of Cucurbita plants -- zucchini, winter squash, pumpkins, etc. They forage early in the morning, collecting nectar and pollen from both the male and female flowers.

Tromboncino squash are really amazing. I first tried them as a squash vine borer-resistant zucchini-like squash. Here in SC, my yellow squash and zucchini efforts have resulted in only a few fruits before the vines succumb to borers. But Tromboncino squash are tough customers-- a different species than zucchini and yellow squash, and hailing from Italy and the Mediterranean (they're actually related to winter squash, Cucurbita moschata 'Tromba d'Albenga' ) , they grow robust, sprawling vines that root at the nodes, and their stems are borer-resistant. Unfortunately, in the satellite garden, where I've had two years of rampant vine growth (and abundant squash production), the hungry woodchucks have been nibbling any plants I put out there to the ground. So I transplanted some fresh seedlings from my main vegetable garden, and have been training the vines on the fence. Notice the growth in the transplanted vine along the fence in the picture above!

Several good thunderstorms have helped the garden tremendously. We still need more, as we're behind over 10 inches this year already, but everything is looking green and lush. The view from my study window is striking right now- the purple phlox is looking great. The yellow on the right is the Threadleaf coreopis just starting to flower. The society garlic (Tulberghia) in the garden shed border is flowering nicely, and the sage and anise hyssop that replaced the kale makes a nice contrast to the rest of the greys, greens, and purples. The view from the sink at the kitchen window is nice right now; the beans and cucumbers on the trellises are growing well, and a couple of tomatoes are ripening. The tromboncino squash rescued from the woodchucks in the satellite garden is attractive on the fence. Maybe it will produce some squash!