Growing Winter Squash

Winter squash allow you to have fresh grown vegetables from your garden well into the winter months. Many home vegetable gardeners shy away from growing winter squash because they tend to grow on expansive vines and they can take the entire growing season (3+ months) to mature. When you have limited space in your home garden, winter squash become a luxury. Many grocery stores have begun selling a wider variety of winter squash, which provides another excuse for not growing them at home. However, as with all other plants, to get the best tasting and best varieties, you will need to grow your own.

Luckily many seed companies have developed winter squash varieties that either grow on shorter vines or as bushy plants. Some even ripen faster. They are also breeding winter squash to have smaller fruits, which might not sound like a feature, but if you’ve ever seen the size of a mature hubbard squash, you’ll begin to appreciate the thought. Whatever variety you choose to grow, the fruits need to be fully mature to cook or keep. Most will still have very tough skins, making them difficult to clean, but enabling them to be stored for months in a cool spot, like a basement. Take a look at some of the most popular winter squash varieties and learn about growing them.