DID YOU GUESS IT??

The Stem on a Squash

Imagine your vegetable garden without corn, squash and beans. These native American crops soon became staples to early European settlers of North America, who were taught how to grow them by the indigenous people.

It would be hard to find a family of crops with more to offer than squash. Ingredients for salads, soups, main dishes, breads and desserts – and, of course, vegetable dishes – are all to be found in the squash family.

The variety in the squash family is extensive. You have long-season and quick-maturing varieties, vine and bush crops, a continuous summer harvest and crops for storage, as well as the makings for household decorations and roasted, salted snacks, not to mention scary jack-o-lanterns.

The most difficult part of growing squash may be deciding which types to plant. Both summer and winter squash come in a variety of sizes, shapes and colors, from straight green zucchini to yellow crookneck summer squashes and white and more traditional orange pumpkins to pink banana and silvery Hubbard squash. Gourds come in a host of knobby and smooth shapes resembling crowns, penguins, eggs and even geese, with colors ranging from white to tan, yellow and green.

For more information, read

The Sensational Squash

Native and Historic Crops

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