Spaghetti Squash | From Dirt to Dinner

There are no zucchini plants in the Dirt to Dinner garden, for reasons that will be obvious to you by August, if they aren’t already. ;-) Instead I’ve been trying to learn more about the squash varieties we do have going. For instance, did you know that the ‘pumpkin’ you buy canned to make into pumpkin pie is actually a squash that is most closely related to Butternut? I’m loving all the details available at Watch Your Garden Grow, from the University of Illinois Extension. It even includes recipes!

Spaghetti Trellis

So far, the most vigorous grower we have out in the garden is the Spaghetti Squash which we are hoping to convince to grow up the trellis we have so generously provided just for this purpose. Unfortunately, the plants have designs on the wide open spaces in front of them and keep growing away from the trellis which backs up against theshade of the bushes that edge the garden. We could actually consider relocating the trellis, but there are still carrots and big white Icicle Radishes growing where it would need to go. Note for next year: Squash trellises need to be on the sunny side of the squash plants.

Net Loving Squash?

At least the mystery squash seems happy to give it a try. Though, in my heart of hearts, I’m worried that this might actually be a cantaloupe plant of some kind. I’m not actually sure how to tell the difference. If it has big triangular leaves with spiny stems and sends out those little twisty tendrils that cling onto other plants and –hopefully–trellis netting, it could be anything from a Delicata to a cucumber as far as I can tell right now. I better go back to my website on growing squash to see how much more I can pick up.

Delicata Shade Crop

These guys I am pretty sure really are Delicata. They are a Compact Winter Squash from Renee’s Garden that gets great reviews for growing well and tasting a lot like sweet potatoes, which most of the kids are happy to eat. I took this picture just before I thinned them down to the recommended “2 strongest plants per hill.” I could have carefully pricked out the extra plants and moved them to a sunny spot so we could see exactly how much difference the sunlight would make, but it’s starting to feel like there’s an awful lot of squash growing around here. There are eight of the compact Winter squash plants left after thinning, half Delicata and half Early Butternut. There are at least twenty plants representing the dozen different varieties mixed into the Zucche in Miscuglio we got from Grow Italian with names like Tonda Padana, Serpente Di Sicilia and Berrettina Piacentina.

Pre-Columbus Natives

And, not to worry, it’s not *all* Winter squash. There are two Summer squash plants that I know of in the garden. They are Golden Scallopini Bush squash from Seeds of Change. It’s a rare native American cultivare that predates Columbus. And it makes small 3-6″ squash with a flying saucer shape that I hope will appeal to the kids.

Potato Build-A-Bed

The vertical growing we’re experimenting with in the Dirt to Dinner garden includes lots of different trials. We have a bed of All Blue potatoes that started out in a shallow raised bed in 4″ of soil. We are hammering on new boards and adding more soil until the potatoes are eventually growing through 2′ of soil in a raised bed at least that tall, in hopes of a larger potato harvest.

Bamboo and Bandannas

We have the Three Sisters beds where the corn will grow to support the beans that will climb up the stalks and the squash will, ideally, cover the ground, shade everybody’s roots and help keep the whole thing stable in a headwind. Luckily, the beds are up against the fence.

We are also using several different vertical methods with our tomato crops. The determinate plants, like the Romas and the drying tomatoes, are staked with bamboo poles since they aren’t expected to grow much more than 3′ tall.

And then we have the fancy stuff.

Scared of Heights?

Like the four different varieties of watermelons we are trying to grow on trellising. (Ice Box, Yellow Doll, Tiger Baby and New Orchid) And the cantaloupe and Spaghetti Squash. And the dozen different winter squash from Italy with names none of us can pronounce that we are hoping to train onto netting strung between metal poles.

Some of it sounds crazy, I know. But vertical growing is hard to resist. The kids have 112 square feet in their individual growing boxes. When we add the trellising to the northern sides of the beds, that gives them, more or less, an additional 120 square feet of growing space on the vertical. The peas and the cucumbers will love it, maybe they will take their friends along?

Happy Climbers

If nothing else, the green beans will grow up the nets we have set out for them. They won’t be easier to pick this way, but we chose mostly drying beans to grow in this section so we don’t have to mess with them alot. And I did slip in some Kentucky Wonder on the end. I am hoping they will be worth the extra trouble to harvest.

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