There are four main types of winter squash, and some hybrid crosses. Refer back to your catalogs or websites if you are unsure which type your varieties belong to, as this helps determine when to harvest. If you haven;t grown any winter squash this year, use these photos and descriptions to help you plan for … Continue reading “Harvesting and Storing Winter Squash”
Harvesting squash and cucumbers The weather has heated up, the squash and cucumbers are growing well, and the combination leads to irritation from prickly leaves on sweaty skin. Some people get quite a rash from harvesting these crops, others just get a short-term itchiness that is cured by rinsing arms and hands in cool water. … Continue reading “Harvesting squash and cucumbers, Starting Seeds in Hot Weather, ATTRA tutorials”
The category “summer squash” includes yellow squash, patty pan squash and round squash, as well as zucchini, a specialized kind of summer squash. They are easy to grow – the main challenges are pests, diseases and moderating the quantities available. When a succession of healthy plantings can be maintained, these crops can crank out … Continue reading “Squash (and Zucchini) Success all Summer!”
You can find a wealth of information on my website about growing, harvesting and storing winter vegetables. There are many links here in this post (all should open in a new tab, so you won’t go down a rabbit hole), and you can also use the search box in the upper right to enter … Continue reading “Fall and Winter Vegetable Growing, Harvest and Storage”
Hoophouse Squash Variety Trial A month ago I wrote about our hoophouse squash variety trials for pollination issues and blossom end rot. I think our problem was mostly unpollinated squash, rather than blossom end rot. Go to last month’s post for valuable links to distinguish the two conditions. We planted 15 Golden Glory zucchini (good … Continue reading “Hoophouse Squash Variety Trial, Garlic Recap, Flowers for Organic IPM”
Here’s my Many Crops, Many Plantings slideshow from my shared Friday morning pre-conference intensive workshop at the Carolina Farm Stewardship Conference. Scaling Up: Maximizing High Tunnel Production Gena Moore, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, and Pam Dawling, Twin Oaks Community High tunnels provide high-value space for growing various crops throughout the year, but maximizing production comes … Continue reading “Hoophouse Many Crops slideshow, Hoophouse Squash article in Growing for Market, Modern Farmer”
We grow one bed (90 ft or so) of yellow squash in our hoophouse, to extend the season earlier. This year it is a dismal failure. We have had splendid success some years, with good harvests for several weeks before our outdoor squash are ready. What has changed? One aspect is climate change including … Continue reading “Challenges with hoophouse squash”
Here’s the photo of our hoophouse that we used on the cover of my forthcoming book The Year Round Hoophouse. You can read about it here. Yes, exciting news! I’ve been writing my second book, the Year Round Hoophouse, I finished the manuscript at the end of February, and New Society Publishers have accepted it. … Continue reading “My Forthcoming Book, Hoophouse Squash and Cucumbers, Growing for Market magazine”
After a couple of summer months off from speaking at events, I am gearing up for the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello, near Charlottesville. This two day festival has a day of ticketed workshops on Friday September 8 and a field day on Saturday September 9. Saturday workshops, demonstrations, tours and kids events are all … Continue reading “Heritage Harvest Festival, Carolina Farm Stewardship Assoc Conference, Succession Planting Podcast”
This past weekend I was at the Organic Growers School spring conference in Asheville, NC. I presented my workshop on Spring and Summer Hoophouses twice. This link will take you to a blog post where you can get the handout. An older version of the slideshow is at this SlideShare link. Later this week I … Continue reading “Hoophouse seasonal transition to tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers”
