Hello! And welcome to the backside of November! Already! And next wee – Thanksgiving! Already! Where does the time go? Guaranteed it’s a safe bet to say we’re not spending any kind of time enjoying this weather! I know, I know – it could be a lot worse! I know that every gardener out there is trying to find the time to finish up all of those garden chores before a blanket of white erases any and all traces of the past gardening season.

So let’s finish up our excellent expose on wonderful winter squash. Now last week we talked about the typical winter squash favorites – acorn, butter nut, and butter cup. All are chock full of vitamins A, and C and fiber. All are good eating, nutritious, delicious, and good for you!

Still another really BIG favorite – and I do mean really, really BIG, BIG favorite - is the gigantic, scale-tipping Hubbard squash. Skin color on the Hubbards varies from deep green to pale green, from gray-blue to orange. Hubbard skin is typically rough and can be really warted. Hubbards are usually unusually large, up to 24, 35, 45, and more pounds large. You may need a chainsaw to cut into this puppy. Huh – some puppy – more like a Saint Bernard puppy, or a whale pup!

Some people throw a huge Hubbard down onto a cement surface to smash it into more manageable pieces. And these shattered Hubbard [pieces reveal a very thick flesh, very orange, very dry, very sweet, and very good. Some of these Goliath-sized Hubbards have names like the 45# New England Blue Hubbard, Chicago Warted, or Golden Hubbard.

Now if you don’t want a life-long commitment to finishing off one big Mother Hubbard, there are some smaller Hubbard inventions out there. These more manageable, more user-friendly, more consumer-friendly smaller Hubbards have more appealing names, such as Baby Blue, Baby Green Kitchenette, Blue Ballet, Blue Magic. There’s one multi-colored Hubbard called Lakota. There are teardrop-shaped Hubbards call Uchiki Kuri, Blue Kuri, Red Kuri. These smaller versions range from 2½ pounds to 15 pounds.

And there are many other cutesy kinds of winter squash that most folks have never seen or heard of before. There are the winter Delicatas in either acornish or long-loafish shapes. They have names like Bush Delicata, Festival, Harlequin, Sugar Loaf, Sweet Dumpling, and Sweet Lightening. Then there are the spaghetti squashes called Pasta, Small Wonder (mini-spaghetti) Stripetti, Orangetti, and Tivoli. All these have spaghetti-like strands instead of the typical pulpy flesh found in other typical winter squashes. Boil, bake, or steam them. Add spaghetti sauce and some Parmesan cheese, or add butter and spices. Yum!

Still other different kinds of winter squash are banana squash, Calabaza, Kabocha, Crushaw, Cheese Pumpkin, Jarrahdale (a gray-blue Australian pumpkin), Queensland Blue, Rouge Vif d’Etampes, Vanlencian, Turk’s Turban, Tiny Turk (a baby version of Turk’s Turban).

Yes, there are some pretty weird winter squash out there, and they get weirder. There’s a French heirloom winter squash called Peanuts (that the American name), which is great for decorative purposes, and for its sweet orange flesh. This squash has peanut-like warts on its cream colored rind that start out few and small and then continue to grow and spread over the entire surface as it matures. There is another reddish-orange looking thing covered with tons of bumps or warts like Peanuts. You really have to wonder why it’s called Red Warty Thing!

Another weird one is innocently called TriWay. It sort of looks like a cup-less butter cup squash, which is not weird looking at all. But TriWay looks like 3 cup-less butter cup squashes stuck together! It’s like Siamese triplets! The seed catalog says it’s a rare variety. It says TriWay is excellent for pies or for use as a regular vegetable squash. I say “Ugly!” I say “Why?”

So that’s about it for our brief look at most of the different kinds of winter squash out there. Perhaps you’ve tried all of them, most of them, or none of them. Perhaps you would like to try growing all, most, some, or none of them in your garden next year. Here are some things to keep in mind if you are considering growing some of these tried and true favorites or some of these new-fangled winter squash.

Because they are all winter squash, designed for long storage throughout those long winter months, most varieties take a really long time to grow and mature. Some take up to 120 days. Our growing season up here in the North Country is NOT that long, folks. It’s sad, but true. However, then do aim for varieties that take 80 or 90 days. 100 days? Well, that’s kind of pushing it, especially if the summer is cold or cool.

Also, how big is your garden? Some winter squash varieties grow on vines that can get hundreds of feet long. Good news – some new varieties have bush or semi-bush growth habits.

So do take the time over the next few months to search out some of those easier-to-grow winter squash varieties. Get some of those great mail order seed catalogs. I’ve already gotten 2 wonderful ones so far!

But for now - Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families.

Hey – Remember – Eat Smart New York!

And – Bye – Talk to you soon!
D