There are many different shapes and colors of winter squash. These squashes provide a wonderful delicious feast in late fall and winter, especially in soups and when they are roasted. I like to grow winter squashes because of the many different ones and they are easy to grow. Winter squashes can be grown in containers, and the stems can be trained to make a decorative fruit, but I have not yet done this, I have planted them in my garden with my other vegetables.
I planted my seeds in pots under cover in the spring. I do this by filling 4 inches pots with seed compost, water each pot real good, and then let each pot drain real good. I put one seed in each pot 1 1/4 inch deep and I continue on doing this until I get all of my winter squash planted. Next, I will set each pot into a heated propagator set at 59-64 degree for a week or two. When I see my seedlings and I know that it is definitely not going to be anymore frost, I will then plant them out in my garden because winter squash and frost sensitive. In early summer, is when I plant my winter squash plants, but before I do this I will harden them off first to get t hem acclimatize to outdoor conditions. I place them outside during the day, and the I bring them back inside at night for two weeks. After this I plant them out at 3 feet apart, and water them well. They also need to be planted a the same depth in the ground, as I had them planted in my pots. Always protect them from slugs by putting a light dusting of pellets on them. I keep my planets water well as they are growing and all through the summer months. The plant needs to be feed well by regularly applying a general-purpose fertilize as it says on the instructions.
There are two types of winter squash and they are bushy or trailing. Bush-types ones has clumps of leaves and the trailing plants send out long, winding stems. Now, I would like to write about some different winter squash tat is available to grow. "Butternut" is a classically shaped squash that is grown on trailing plants. This one has deep orange flesh and few seeds. They are ideal for stuffing and roasting. this winter squash stores real well. "Harlequin" is a very colorful fruit, this one would be the one if the space is limited and it produces a good harvest. "Sweet Dumpling' is a trailing variety and the squash has a slightly ribbed , white-skinned fruits with green vertical stripes. It grows 5-6 inches in diameter and it has yellow flesh. "Queensland Blue" is a Australian heirloom variety that has heavy-ribbed, gray-blue fruits. They grow to 10 inches in diameter and has a nutty, orange flesh. "Uchiki Kuri" is called "onion squash" and it is a trailing variety winter squash. The fruit has orange flesh and it harvests five or six fruits per plant. "Turk's Turbar" is a trailing type that has unusually shaped orange fruit that has a sweet taste to it. It also has bold green and white stripes to the fruit. The fruit grows to 8 to 10 inches in diameter. "Cream of the Crop" it produces acorn-shaped fruits that are large and it has cream skins and nutty-flavored, golden flesh. It is a compact plant and it produces 3 or 4 fruits per plant. "Crown Prince" is a trailing plant that bears round, gray-blue fruit and they are 8-10 inches in diameter. It has an orange flesh that tastes very nutty when they are cooked. Vegetable spaghetti is a trailing plant and the mild-tasting flesh of the fruit separates into spaghetti-looking strands, It produces 3 or 4 fruits for each plant. Mid-fall my winter squash fruits should be coloring up. I will harvest all of my winter squash before the first frost comes. I always leave a little stem on my winter squash, as I am cutting it form my plants. I will leave my fruits in a warm, sunny spot for two weeks to get them harden. The fruits can be stored when needed.
There are a lot of different varieties of peppers that you can choose form. You can choose them while they are green or you can leave them to color up and mature so they can develop their full sweet flavor. Peppers can be grown in beds, containers, and growing bags, either under cover or outside. You can plant eight plants on each nine feet row and three plants in each growing bags. If you are going to grow your peppers in a container, you can put two or three plants for every container that you have to use.
Getting Started: 1. Peppers require a long growing season, so you will have to sow them under cover early in the year so they will have plenty of time to grow to maturity and then produce fruit. Your pepper plants will do real good in large containers as long as you provide them with fertile compost and if you give them enough space to grow. 2. Sowing Seeds If you want to use small pots to sow your peppers seeds in them, you can put one pepper seed in each pot then cover it with a thin layer of soil, and then put it in a heated propagator. You will need to do this with each pot that you plant in. After you get your pepper plants strong, you will need to plant them in a 3 1/2 inch pot and keep them under cover. The young plants has to be kept well watered. When the plants reach eight inches in height, they will need to be feed regularly with a liquid tomato fertilizer.
3. Planting out If you are going to plant your peppers outside, you will need to harden them for two weeks, to harden them, they will need to be put outside doing the day and move your plants back inside at night. The site has to be a sunny, sheltered place and you will need to space each pepper plant sixteen inches apart in each direction, or if you want to sue containers because of not having a great big area for a garden, just fill each container with a multi-purpose compost with a minimum diameter of anything less then twelve inches. Then water your plants well. 4. Growing Indoors You can grow your peppers on a sunny windowsill indoors or outside in a bright spot that is under cover. If your plants are inside you will need to hand pollinate indoor flowers. This is done by simply inserting a cotton swab or soft paintbrush into the center of each open flowers, and then transfer the pollen to another open flower. 5. Routine Care All of the pepper plants has to be kept water well. You will need to feed the pepper plants with a high potash liquid fertilizer such as a tomato feed to encourage flowers and then fruits to form. Keep your plants fed every two weeks and keep them well watered.
6. Harvesting The colors of the peppers will come in different colors according to the many different varieties of peppers. The colors are green, red, orange, yellow, or purple. You can harvest them while they are green, or your can wait till they mature which they will be sweeter. Take a pair of shears to pick your fruit, and by doing this, the plant is not damage. Put a cloche on your outdoor pepper plants in the fall, and this will help speed up the ripening. Four different kinds of peppers "Gypsy" this pepper is a compact fruits which are very flavorful and fleshy. "Gourmet" this pepper is a compact plant that produce well and the peppers are orange. "California Wonder" this pepper has a very sweet flavor and the peppers grow large and red fruit. "Marconi" this pepper grows to be long and tapered ones and when they mature, they will be red.
I have fond memories when I was growing up and summer was always very busy on our farm. We would be out picking different vegetables and just say one of the vegetables would be summer squash. Mom and I would cook some squash for supper, along with other different vegetables form our garden. We would cook our summer squash which was crooked neck, with some onion and a little sugar, water, and then cook it down. Yum!
Summer squash are easy to grow and the plants will crop a heavy supply of fruit all summer long. Here I will like to talk about a few different varieties of summer squash. "Tromboncion" needs to always be harvested when the squash reaches to 12 inches long. Patty pan is a type of squash, which comes in white, yellow, green in colors. "Sunburst" can be picked as a young fruit or let it grow bigger before you pick it. "Rolet" is a baseball sized fruits that has a sweet tasting fruit. In early summer is when we plant our summer squash seeds in our garden. We will s ow two seeds together, then water the seeds in well, and cover with a cut-off plastic bottle for each pair of seeds. In our garden now, I planted our summer squash seeds on a outside row because they grow like watermelon vines, they take up quite a bit of space. I also plant them in a space of 3-5 feet apart, and water them real good after planting. Summer squashes should be watered well and they need to be fed regularly with tomato fertilizer. After I do this, I will mulch around the squash plants with a thick layer of compost or some other organic material. I do this, because the mulch will break down and will constantly release nutrients to the plants.
The majority of summer squash are of the trailing plants so I just leave them on the ground. Squashes will take about for to seven days after they flowers start to wilt. If I want some of my summer squashes to be bigger, then I will leave them on the vines longer, and then go back out to the garden a few days later and then I will start harvesting my summer squashes.
We planted some zucchini in our garden in the spring when we were planting our other vegetables for our summer garden. They produced very well. They can also be planted in containers, but I have not tried that method yet. There are many different. Jemmer bears yellow fruit. Defender is one that crops very heavy and it is resistant to the cucumber mosaic virus. Parador has yellow fruits and they stay yellow even when you are cooking them.
Zucchini seeds I plant out in our garden in the summer is zucchini. I will put them in a sunny, sheltered area of our garden. I will add organic matter to my soil before I sow any seeds. Zucchini are real quick to grow and to fruit, and they need to be kept well-watered through all the summer and I water our zucchini plants, while I am watering my other garden plants. I weed out my zucchini plants while I am hoeing out the rest of the garden. I also will keep pellets out in my zucchini plants, to try to deter slugs and snails.
I check my zucchini plants daily and if there are zucchinis ready to harvest, I will do that while I am out in the garden. I use a sharp knife to harvest the zucchinis. The long variety I plant needs to be harvest when they are 306 inches long. I also like to take two or three zucchini plants and keep the fruits on these plants and let them develop fully. The plants that I do this will produce a smaller crop of thick-skinned squashes that I will harvest in late summer.
I have been gardening off and on my whole life and we always plant rutabagas. Mom and I cooked our rutabagas like we cook our Irish potatoes, and have some turnip or mustard greens and all you'll would need with this would be a pan of cornbread and some milk. Rutabagas is good because they will come in the fall and winter when the rest of the vegetable garden is pretty bare.
Rutabagas will take five or six months to mature fully. I always dig in plenty of well-rotted organic matter such as compost or manure in the fall before I sow my rutabagas like I do other vegetables that are in the brassica crops. When it get to be mid to late spring here, I will go out to my garden and get it ready to plant. I will get all of the weeds out of my garden space, and then I will rake it level. Then I will make a drill that is 3/4 inches deep, and water it well. Now I will sow my seeds along it and cover it with a little more soil to level the soil and then firm it down gently. Then I water them good. I make my multiple rows at least 12 inches apart. If the weather is going to be cold enough for a frost, I will go out to the garden and cover my rutabagas with a single or double layer of horticultural fabric to help with insulation and speed up the growth. Plants need to be well watered while they are covered. Rutabagas have the same problems with the same pests and diseases along with the members of the brassica family. During the warm weather, there is always the possibility that flea beetles can come to the plants and they can do a lot of damage. I put a insect-proof mesh over my plants to prevent access to the plants. As for routine care of my rutabagas. I always keep my plants well watered, definitely during the day spells. I also apply a 2 1/2 to 3 inches deep mulch of organic matter to help to lock the soil moisture.
In early part of fall my rutabagas roots will be large enough to harvest. I use my garden hoe to pry the roots out of the ground. Rutabagas can be stored in boxes of sand or I put mine in a shed until we need some rutabagas.
