Front vegetable beds
With a forecast of mild days and afternoon thundershowers ahead, I went ahead and sowed climbing squash seeds on the front trellises, with some trepidation.
They're mildew-resistent varieties, so I'm hoping they'll look decent (unlike a few years ago, when I had huge squash leaves to "edit" constantly in the front, as they were so unsightly....) They're also unusual varieties -- an Indian C. moschata cultivar called Tinda and another C. moschata cultivar from Mexico called 'Tatume'--hopefully both will resist the squash vine borers!
I'm also going to plant tromboncino squash later on-- it's another good alternative for traditional summer squash (which ALWAYS succumbs to borers here, at least without exceptional coddling and row covers, in my experience).
Here's a selection of tromboncino (and other) squash musings from previous posts. It's always revealing to look back on what happened in previous years. Hmm, it was the tromboncino that I had to keep editing the old ratty mildewed leaves, and vowed never again....
We plant tatume every year, and they are indeed borer resistant! Our other squash and zuke plants always succumb near the end of July--no matter how vigilant we are--but our tatume plants keep going. If you let the fruits mature they make a hard-shelled pumpkin-like squash. We don't care to eat them that way, but our chickens love them. We keep the squash in the basement over the winter and give them one cut open every now and then.
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