I oftentimes heard from more experienced gardeners that squash plants love to rise in a compost stack . I never tried it in practice though , well , not until the last yr when it happen kind of unexpectedly and it terminate up with us havingthe best squash harvesting ever …
It was in the midriff of spring last yearwhen I dump all the compost we had in the middle of the allotment . I intended to spread it all over the spring up area before the season get in full swing , but due to lack of time , I had to just go away it there . Then , in a few weeks ’ time , squash seedlings come forth out of it . I guess they rise out of hibernating seeds I discombobulate into the compost bin one season prior to that . Those self - germinated squash racquets plants kept growing and growing vigorously throughout the summertime , and – by the center of fall – produce piles of healthy and delicious fruit without me lifting a finger !
I never watered those self - seeded works . Neither did I fertilise them or bear upon them in any other way of life . But they produced batch of fruits nonetheless . I realise that nutrient - rich compost was all they needed to thrive . It not only fed them , but prevent their grow environment moist and barren of skunk too .
In addition to hokkaido (red kuri) squash (pumpkin), we planted hungarian blue squash this year as well. I must say that it turned out well. We liked the taste and the fruits also store well. We harvested them months ago and they still look healthy and fresh!
#1: The more compost you give them the better
This class I want to give crush the same lavishness of growing in the compost , and , hopefully , get even more fruits in proceeds . I fetch all the compost we had to the allotment again . This clock time though , I did n’t just dump it and leave it in a great deal , but overspread it over two garden bed . Then we planted 18 squash vine seedling in them …
And the termination ?
We produce slightly more fruits than last year . It was a record - breaking year in term of the numeral of fruits , but to be honest , I was a little disappointed . I expected more . At least double the amount we got , because we had three times more more plants growing this class .
So why the differences ?
I think about it and came to the conclusion that the thickness of the compost bed must have made the difference . The amount of compost was similar . The departure this twelvemonth was that I circulate it over doubly as large arena .
There were other things that may have contributed to the deficiency of fruit as well …
#2: The sooner you (trans)plant them the better
With the exception of sweet potatoes , this season we raised all vegetable seedlings by ourselves . We saved money this way , but we had to put lots of clip and effort in it too . Transplanting them to the garden and to the allotment was not a breeze either . We had dozens of seedling to move and things became overwhelming at one percentage point . We had to make priorities …
It suffices to say that the squash was n’t a antecedency . We leave it for the closing . We go the seeds quite of late , and what ’s more , we did not supervise to move the works to the allotment before the terminal of May . The last single went into the primer coat even later ( in the beginning of June ) . This means that we were about three to four week behind docket . So , we miss a lot of uprise time this mode …
3: They need water during dry summer spells
One thing I do n’t care to do is water our veg plants with rap water . Besides chlorine it oftentimes other soil - damaging substances ( such as fluoride and salts ) as well . I much rather have rainfall do all the workplace and use mulch to keep the soil moist afterwards …
Sometimes though , you just do n’t have a choice . You have to do it , or you risk terminate up with less green goods – or no green goods at all . And that ’s on the button what go on to us this season . You see , presently after we moved our squash seedling into the ground , summertime started and it suddenly became very hot during days which were then accompanied by farseeing periods of dry spells …
The plant were catch off guard . They had to face uttermost weather condition conditions ( which lasted almost throughout the whole summer ) before they could properly adapt to their young surroundings . Instead of producing , they had to focus on surviving .
#4: They are resilient plants
It was obvious that the plants are struggle . I could see it everytime I visited the allotment during the day . Their leaves were always wilted and I was win over that they are not going to make it …
Squash are resilitent plant though . They not only survived , but fully recover as soon as the weather towards the end of August convert and there was more rain . They begin flower shortly afterwards , and later on on – towards the ending of Septemper – they started raise as well . They produced about eight to ten beautiful squash fruits in total . We still have four of those wait to be eat up over the course of the upcoming winter !
We made luck of error with squash this season . I ’m sure we would have got more fruits if we had embed them preferably and in a thicker layer of compost . Or if we had watered them on a regular basis during those hot and dry summertime month . But at the conclusion of the day ( or better tell at the ending of the season ) we did get produce . What ’s more , we also study new thing which will help us do even easily in the time to come .
