Go Vertical With Winter Squash

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Jay White

I grow squash almost year round. Since there are literally hundreds of varieties of them it is very easy to find several that will do well for you no matter where you live. Right now I am growing three little bushes of yellow crook neck. However, the stars of my fall garden are the five varieties of winter squash that I am now growing.

A lovely little acorn squash that I grew vertically last year

Now I am going to make a bit of a confession. I actually enjoy eating yellow squash and zucchini a lot more than I do winter squash. However, winter squash gives me three things that the bushing types never will – 1) It is visually stunning when grown on structure 2) It is almost 100% immune to the squash vine borer and 3) I can decorate with the fruits.

Growing Vertically – Winter squash typically grow on vines – BIG VINES. It is not uncommon for many varieties to produce vines that are 20 to 30 feet long. Because of this, a lot of folks don’t grow them. While there is no way to stop them from going big, you can control the sprawl by growing them up a structure. I grow my winter squash on a 32’ length of cattle panels. The large scale foliage of these plants cascading off of the structure makes my garden look lush and almost tropical.

I love the large scale foliage of winter squash

I planted five varieties of winter squash (see image at bottom of post) on August 15. I could have planted any time after the soil temperature was above 70 degrees. If you plant when the soil is too cool, many squash seeds will actually rot in the ground before they get a chance to germinate. Squash is also very tolerant of all types of soils. It can grow in soils that are slightly acidic and soils that are slightly basic.

Since squash grow so well from seed, and many varieties mature in 50 to 60 days, you definitely do not want to waste your money on transplants. Plant your seeds in a sunny location when night time temperatures are in the sixties. Plant them about an inch deep in soil that has been well worked with compost. Squash are heavy feeders and need good drainage to thrive. Compost will provide both of these requirements to the plants. Most squash plants sprout in 5 to 10 days. Once the true leaves appear you can thin your plants to 36” for vining types.

A baby winter squash awaits it’s flower’s opening and pollination

Because squash are big, fast growing plants they require more water and nutrients than many other vegetables. While 1” every five days may be sufficient in heavier soils, squash in sandy soils will require more. Watch your plants. It is normal for them to wilt a little on a very hot day. However, if they are wilting heavily you may want to increase the frequency of your watering. Also, since they use so much water, squash will definitely benefit from mulch. Mulch with compost and it will help the soil retain more water, keep the roots of the plant cool or warm and feed it all at the same time.

As you can see from the pictures, winter squash produce stunning foliage. Some of the leaves of my heirlooms are as large as elephant ears. These large vines also produce lots of large yellow squash blossoms that really bring in the bees.

Squash Vine Borer – If you are going to grow squash you are going to have bugs. I can deal with squash bugs. While annoying, they don’t really set my plants back much. However, no matter how hard I try, I just cannot beat the squash vine borer (SVB).

SVB damage on last year’s winter squash. Even though a SVB obviously attacked the plant, it did not effect fruit production

Luckily, winter squash are almost immune to the effects of this horrible little pest. Notice I said almost. The SVB can devastate summer squash because it only has a few stems to produce leaves and fruit. The ugly little caterpillar can borrow through these few stems and destroy the plants entire vascular system. Winter squash, on the other hand, spread out and put down roots every place a node lies on the ground. Because of this, even if the SVB caterpillar gets inside the base of the plant, it cannot destroy the entire vascular system. All of those rooted nodes ensure that the plant can continue to thrive even if the base gets infested with the SVB.

If you grow vertically you will be limiting the number of nodes that root on the ground. This can limit its SVB fighting power. If you are really worried about the SVB I suggest letting one or two vines grow on the ground and then let the rest grow up over the structure. Winter squash is designed by nature to grow over things. They produce tendrils that are long and strong. Because of this it is very easy to get them to grow up and ove something. If you just lay your vines on the structure for one night, the tendrils will take over. After that there is no more need for help from you.

Beautiful Fruit – Even though I don’t really love eating winter squash, I do love looking at them. With the exception of the cushaw, most of the winter squash that I am familiar with produce very attractive fruits. When you go to the store to buy “gourds” for your fall arrangements, there’s a good chance you won’t be buying gourds. All of those textured, oddly shaped red, orange, green and gold “gourds” are actually the fruits of several varieties of winter squash. Without getting too botanical, know that if it is woody and hollow, it’s a gourd. If it is solid and has some weight to it, it is a squash (or a pumpkin which is also a squash but that’s another post). One of the most commonly used squash in fall arrangements is the Turk’s Turban. I love this funny looking squash so I am currently growing three vines of it in the row garden. I am also growing Lakota, Galeux d’ Eysines, Black Futsu and The Red Warty Thing (not making that up folks, that is its real name).

The five varieties of winter squash I am currently growing.

Another reason that these lovely squash make such good decorative objects is the fact that they store really well at room temperature. This storage capacity is why people grew them before refrigeration. If the skins and the stems of your squash are not damaged they should stay fresh and attractive in an arrangement for three or four months. I plan to harvest mine toward the end of October. They will then be used throughout the house until after Thanksgiving. At that time, the Christmas decorations will go up and I will be free to eat all of these lovely squash that have served me so well.

Chicken Update

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Jay White

I haven’t posted anything on my wife’s chickens in a while; mostly because there hasn’t been much to post. Over the past couple of months they have been doing what young chickens do. Unfortunately, during this time, they have fully established their pecking order. This is very upsetting to Sally and me. We really expected more out of our girls. We read somewhere that the chicken on the bottom of the pecking order would become your favorite. We can now affirm that bit of wisdom is 100% true.

This is Tiger Lily. Who could be mean to something this cute?

Tiger Lily is one of our Ameraucanas. She is the smallest of the six birds and as such they pick on her regularly. When it is time to roost at night, they kick her off. If she catches a nice, fat grasshopper they chase her down and try and take it away from her. Because the other chickens are so mean to her, she stays pretty close to Sally and I when we are outside. Not only does she know that we will protect her from the bullying, she has learned that we usually have something special in our pocket just for her.

My wife found a treat on-line called Chicken Crack. This stuff is amazing. We have experimented with different treats for them, but this stuff is by far and away their favorite. We used to share it equally with all of the girls. However, when they got so mean, we mostly cut them off. Now, treats for the five mean girls is plain old hen scratch. While they are scratching away, we call Tiger Lily over and let her eat all of the Chicken Crack she wants right out of our hands.

The coop is finally done! I think it turned out pretty cute.

Even though our girls look all grown up, they are not yet producing eggs. They are only 4 ½ months old so we are hoping for some October eggs. Knowing that they will soon be laying encouraged me to make the final push to finally finish the coop. Sally and I spent a lovely Sunday afternoon building their nesting boxes. We also got the door painted and the outside lights installed. It has taken me almost three months to get the girl’s coop finished. However, I think it was worth the effort.

The nesting box that is currently completely unused

Gruene Days

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Jay White

This past weekend I tagged along with my son Chris and my son in law Cameron when they went to meet an old high school buddy at Gruene Hall. It had been about 30 years since I last walked through the doors of the oldest continuously operating dancehall in Texas and I wanted to see how much things had changed.

Thirty years ago, Gruene Hall was the main reason that folks came to the town of Gruene. Gruene Hall has been hosting the stars and future stars of country music since 1877. When my wife was a student at the university formerly known as Southwest Texas State (now Texas State—Go Bobcats!!!), she and her friends would drive over from San Marcos to dance and listen to a tall, skinny kid named George Strait. King George is not the only country star to get his start there. Gruene Hall has been providing the best in country music to two-stepping cowboys and cowgirls for the past 135 years.

No plant says Texas better than cactus and no building says dancehall better than Gruene Hall

Dancing is no longer the main reason to come to Gruene. The town is now a bustling spot for tourists, shoppers, foodies and wine aficionados (with a great dancehall). Someone has done an excellent job of preserving the charm of the old parts of the town and then enhancing them with very attractive landscapes and plantings. All of the common areas are dotted with trimmed native trees and lined with neat decomposed granite or brick pathways. The unpainted board and batten shops are the perfect backdrop for a host of Texas tough plants like purple sage and southern wax myrtles. There are also tons of beautiful borders scattered around as well.

If you want to make a plant “pop” plant it in front of a gray background

The thing that got me the most fired up were the impressive container plantings that are scattered around the town. The massed whiskey barrels that combined lush flowers, cacti and succulents were beautiful. By using containers of different heights and plants of different textures, the designer created lush gardens that seemed to “tumble” down a hill and spill onto the sidewalk.

The container gardens in front of Gruene Hall are stunning

I love container gardens. I wish I were better at creating them. The rule for creating beautiful container arrangements is the “Thriller, Filler, Spiller” method. The container arrangements at Gruene take that concept a step further. Instead of having a thriller, filler and spiller in each pot, they take a large, tall pot and put a single large scale plant (see the thornless prickly pear) in it to create the thriller part of the arrangement. Then they arrange pots of different heights that contain plants of different textures to create the fillers and spillers. The effect was very attractive and as you can tell, I was pretty impressed with it.

This thornless prickly pear makes a great “thriller in the container arrangement

My wife and I love to dance and there is still no place in all of Texas that is better to do a little belly rubbin’ than Gruene Hall. However, as I discovered this weekend, dancing is no longer the only reason to go there. While you can still hear some great music you can also shop, eat at some very nice restaurants and enjoy some really great people watching while sipping a glass of artisanal Texas wine. The Gruene Music and Wine Festival runs from October 10 through the 13th. If you have never been to Gruene this is a great time to go. Fall in Gruene is a great time to appreciate all of the charm of days gone by while enjoying the best that modern Texas has to offer.

Whisky barrels make great containers

Fall Veggie Picks (Cabbage) by Patty Leander

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Jay White

The cole crops that we grow today evolved from wild plants native to the coastal regions of Northwestern Europe and the Mediterranean. Cabbage might well be considered the granddaddy of them all, being the first member of the diverse brassica family to be cultivated.

Growing requirements for cabbage are similar to broccoli and cauliflower – cool weather, moist, fertile soil and at least 6 hours of sun. Plants are fairly tolerant of heat in the early stages of growth but must have cool weather as they mature in order to form a tight head, thus an ideal choice for fall cultivation. Transplants should go into the ground 10-12 weeks before the first freeze date in your area; here in Central Texas brave souls plant in August while the rest of us wait to plant in September, hoping for rain, an overcast day and/or a break in the heat. Once established most cabbages can handle temperatures into the mid-twenties and chilly weather will even sweeten its flavor.

‘Cheers’ cabbage is a blue-green hybrid with excellent disease resistance . All Photos by Bruce Leander

Cabbage varieties can be distinguished by shape (round, flat or pointed), color (green, blue-green, purple or red) and leaf type (smooth or crinkled) and what you choose to grow depends on your personal taste. ‘Golden Acre’, ‘Dynamo’ and ‘Farao’ are early-maturing green varieties that form solid round heads with excellent eating quality. ‘Early Jersey Wakefield’ and ‘Charleston Wakefield’ are heirlooms that have been grown in the U.S. since the 1800s but their conical shaped heads still surprise uninitiated gardeners.

‘Alcosa’ savoy cabbage

Purple and red varieties add interest to our gardens, vibrant color and flavor to our food and healthy nutrition to our diets. They contain phytochemicals called anthocyanins which have been associated with improved memory function and reduced cancer risk. Availability of red and purple varieties tends to come and go as breeding improvements are made but current selections to look for include ‘Ruby Perfection’, ‘Red Acre’ and ‘Red Express’. Blue-green hybrids like ‘Blue Vantage’ or ‘Blue Dynasty’ have been bred with better disease resistance than most of the paler green types so look for those if your cabbage has been less than vigorous in the past. Savoy cabbage has lovely crinkled leaves and a sweet, tender heart. Recommended varieties include ‘Famosa’, ‘Alcosa’ and ‘Savoy Ace’.

Chinese cabbage, also known as Napa cabbage, is a different species from heading cabbage but it is easy to grow and has become very popular for grow-your-own gardeners. It is a vigorous grower with a delicate flavor and is often used for stir-fry and kimchi. Depending on variety it will produce a tight, barrel-shaped head or a loose head of crisp, frilly leaves. ‘Blues’, ‘Tenderheart’ and ‘Bilko’ are reliable producers. If you have trouble finding decent transplants this fall then try growing your own seedlings for planting in late winter or early spring.

Be on the lookout for aphids, especially on the underside of leaves

Be on the lookout for aphids, cabbage loopers and cabbageworms; these common pests can decimate a crop if not controlled. Aphids can be dislodged with a strong spray of water or can be smothered with insecticidal soap. Caterpillars can be controlled with any insecticide that contains the active ingredient Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis). Another option is to exclude the moth that lays the eggs by covering the plants loosely with lightweight row cover when they are very young. Plants can remain covered throughout the growing season but should be uncovered for fertilizing and periodic inspection.

Exclude the moths that lay caterpillar eggs by covering plants with floating row cover; alternatively handpick the worms if you don’t have many plants or try regular application of Bt insecticide.

Once you harvest your cabbage it can be braised, stuffed, stir-fried, fermented, pickled, shredded for coleslaw, chopped for salad or added to soups. It is fun to try several different types – who knew that common cabbage could be such a diverse and interesting vegetable!

H.O.P.E. for Small Farm Sustainability

Posted on September 1, 2013 by Jay White

No matter how long I garden, I am still amazed at how much food I produce. This spring I had five rows that were 33’ long and three feet wide. In that small amount of space I produced over 300 pounds of tomatoes and 200 pounds of cucumbers. I also produced about a bushel of green beans and my peppers are still producing. Every time I haul in far more tomatoes and cucumbers than my wife will ever be able to can, I think “Wouldn’t it be nice if I could give this to someone that actually needs it”. Unfortunately, thinking about is all I ever do.

Saul and Diana Padilla of Yahweh’s Farm and H.O.P.E for Small Farm Sustainability in Harlingen. Photo by Eloise Montemayor

Luckily, there are some gardeners out there that do more than just think about helping those “that actually need it”. Saul and Diana Padilla are the owners of Yahweh’s All Natural Farm and Garden in Harlingen. Saul and Diana grow and sell organic, seasonal fruits and vegetables through their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). They also offer free range chickens, goats, rabbits, and farm fresh eggs to their members.

A future farmer helps tend her family’s plot in the H.O.P.E. community garden

Saul and Diana love farming and they feel blessed to be able to to make a living doing what they love. Saul is life-long farmer and Diana was formerly a fine dining chef. When they are not farming, they are working to develop and promote a “Buy Local” food community in the Harlingen area. Because of their involvement with the local food movement they learned that a whole lot of people in their local area could not afford to provide their families with fresh, healthy produce like they were growing on their farm. As Christians, this bothered them so much that they decided to do something about it.

H.O.P.E. community garden grows a whole lot more than vegetables; it is also growing a strong local community of organic food producers

With the help of Kate McSwain , the Padilla’s decided to follow the teachings of Christ who said “… let us not love with words or tongues but with actions and in truth”. They took an acre of their farm out of production and gave it to those in their community that really needed it. The three of them started a program that they call HOPE (Holistic, Outreach, Practical Education) for Small Farm Sustainability. HOPE strives to help people become more self sufficent and food secure by teaching them to produce healthy, organic food for their families.

Local volunteers built beds, installed water lines and continue to support the H.O.P.E. community garden.

Diana persuaded the University of Texas Pan-American to provide a greenhouse, hand tools and a once a week instructor to teach these deserving families how to abundantly produce organic vegetables on their plot. After that they recruited volunteers to help them lay out the plots, install water lines and build the beds. The families that joined the program were free to grow whatever they wanted. With the guidance of the Padilla’s and other volunteers, the first class of H.O.P.E. grew baskets and baskets of fresh melons, cucumbers, squash, onions, corn, beans and peppers. In fact, some of the family plots were so successful that the “HOPE farmers” were able to supplement their income by selling their extra produce at the Harlingen Farmer’s Market (Diana was instrumental in getting this market started).

A beautiful cantelope grows among the corn in the H.O.P.E. community garden.

According to Feeding America (feedingamerica.org), about 1 in 6 Americans go to bed hungry every night. That is a staggering number of people. For someone like me that has enjoyed so many blessings in my life, this statistic truly saddens me. I just cannot imagine how hard it would be to have to send one of my kids to bed hungry. My hat is off to the Padillas. If there were more people like them there would be a lot fewer hungry people in the U.S.

Running an organization like HOPE takes more than volunteer labor and good intentions. Each plot on the HOPE Community Garden uses about $15 worth of water each month. If you would like to help the Padilla’s continue to provide the land and skills needed to change the lives of hungry people in the Valley, please consider a $15 monthly sponsorship. This small donation will ensure that one more family will be able to feed their children “with fruits of their lands and the work of their hands”.

Donations can be addressed to:

H.O.P.E

19741 Morris Road
Harlingen Texas 78552

If you would like to learn more about HOPE you can call Diana at 956-412-4916.