An Early Harvest

Her favorite thing lately is to help me thin the carrots. Her second favorite thing is to pick peas. Which means peas and carrots are on tomorrow night's menu. The onion in the picture is one of dozens of recently pulled multiplier onions, which I am pleased to report definitely lived up to their name. That garlic wasn't really ready but I was curious to see if anything was actually developing underground, which apparently it was. But I didn't grow that zucchini -it's a gift from a friend and fellow gardener two doors down. Looks like zucchini season is starting early this year.

Squash pollination update: not good

See how it is yellowing? Not a good sign. It seemed to grow at first, it's about an inch and a half long, but it has not grown any in the past several days. I fear it will shrivel and fall off soon. The reason may be because the vine "upstream" from it is actually supporting several very large squashes already, and those have grown surprisingly quickly in the past few days. Perhaps the plant is getting maxed out, the squashes that have already set are approaching maturity and are sending out chemical signals that actually slow/inhibit the newly set fruits. Remember what they say about cucumbers, not to let any of them get ripe on the vine, because then the plant stops producing new ones? Seems to apply to squash too.

I also hand-pollinated another of my squashes, and it took right away and is growing nicely. It was actually the first fruit to set on it's vine. I started out thinking I was pollinating a "Type 1" of the Georgian Chestnuts ("Type 1" is growing on a trellis, apart from the "tangled mound"), but on closer inspection, we might actually be in for a "Type 4". There are actually 3 separate vines growing on the trellis, and the female blossom I pollenated was on a third vine, apparently the latest-maturing of the lot. I used pollen from the "Type 1" plant, though. Hmm. Maybe it's getting kind of late in the season to be doing this.

On a happier note, corn has silked!!! Luther Hill on the 24th, Ruby Queen on the 26th. I think now it's only 15-20 days to wait for fresh corn on the cob.

Hand Pollinating Squash

After dinner the other night, I went out to the giant tangled mound at the back of the garden to search for a female blossom that looked like it would be ready to open the next morning. I found one: Its a female blossom because you can see at the base of the flower the little bulge that is the ovary, which will grow into a squash if it gets pollinated. So I got out my yarn, mostly because I could not find any tape, and did this to it:

The reason for that is to keep the flower from opening before I am ready. It keeps any bees from contaminating it with unknown pollen before I can get to it with the pollen I want to use. Squash flowers only open in the morning and fade by noon. A squash flower is receptive to pollen for a few hours in the morning; after 11am it's pretty much over. That is the reason for all the fuss.

The female flower was on a vine with "type 3" of my Georgian Chestnut squash, and I want to self-pollinate it, so I went to look for a few likely male blossoms on the same vine, and selected this one:The male blossoms have no bulge in the stem. I tied it up too:

The flower petals will be blocked from unfurling in the morning until I untie them, but the binding does not stop the ripening process. The pollen will be ripe in the morning, and the female flower will be receptive. Nothing to do now but wait until morning.

So after a nice cup of coffee, at about 9:30 the next morning, I went outside to do the deed.

I located the female flower. Yes I was correct, it was ready to open, see how it changed overnight, petals trying to unfurl, color much oranger:
I went and found the male flower. Its petal tips were also straining against the yarn. I picked it, leaving a long stem for a "handle":

The weather that morning was cool, overcast and drizzling but not raining. There were not very many insect pollinators out and about, conditions ideal for conducting this procedure.

I untied the male flower, and stripped off the petals, careful not to knock any pollen off of the anther. This flower was definitely ready, pollen grains were clearly visible and falling off. I untied the female flower, inadvertently damaging the petal tips slightly, it sprung open as soon as the yarn was released. It was definitely ready too. I rubbed the anther of the male flower on the stigma of the female flower, trying to sort of paint the pollen on all 6 of the stigma's lobes.

Then I immediately tied the female blossom petals back closed, to keep bees from contaminating it with other pollen, as the flower would probably remain receptive for a few more hours.

And that's pretty much it. Now I'll just wait a few days to see if it "took". The blossom and yarn will fall off in a few days, so I'll have to be sure and mark this squash somehow, and let everybody know not to pick it-it's being saved for its seeds.

Introduction to Georgian Chestnut Squash (USSR)

Georgian Chestnut (USSR) (c. moschata) is a squash that I have been unable to find out much information, at least through google. It is a variety I agreed to trial for Dave (a.k.a "American Gardener" on various gardening forums), who is in the process of starting a seed company.

There seem to be 3 distinct types of the Georgian Chestnut (USSR) (c. moschata) squash growing in my garden, on 3 separate vines. These were all from seeds from the same packet from Dave. Either this is a variety prone to much variation, or these seeds have been crossed. Here's what's growing:

Type 1. Pear-shaped, immature pale green-almost white, and no silver mottling on leaves:
Type 2. Bell-shaped, immature medium green netted pattern with distinct striping, and no silver mottling on leaves: Type 3. Blocky-oblong shaped, so far seems a little larger than the other types, immature medium green netted pattern, with moderate silver mottling pattern on leaves: Worth noting:

These squash are extremely vigorous growing and fruiting, even the one planted in poor soil. They are fruiting before an "Upper ground sweet potato squash", another c. moschata touted for being vigorous and heavy bearing (who only have male blossoms so far, I have already harvested several G.Chestnuts), and the plants seem a little bigger, and filled out faster too.

We were all very surprised how tasty the immature squash are when prepared like zucchini (c. pepo types). I read that some c. moschatas, like the "trombocino" italian squash, can be harvested immature and used like zucchini, so I tried it with these. I mean it was really good. and who raves about zucchini?

So far, I have only tasted the "type 2" of my Georgian Chestnuts. I'd like to develop the "type 3" shape, as the uniform and blocky shape will lend itself well to uniform chopability for the cook. Did I just use the word "develop"? I guess I did. I sound just like a plant breeder.


I am kind of nervous about being able to successfully isloate and self-pollinate each of the three distinct types I observed in my garden, because 2 of the plants exist in a tangled mound. I'm pretty certain that the different types I observed are from different plants. I would follow a vine from tip as far as I could to its root, and thanks to their extreme productivity there is a squash at almost every leaf axil, and as far as I can tell only one of the types shows up on any given length of vine. I have been watching the blossoms, trying to get a good feel for when they are about to open. I plan to tape closed or tie the selected female blossom bud the night before it's ready to open, and also locate and tape closed a few ripe male blossom buds on the same vine, to ready them for the next morning's activities.

As I have already have requests for seed trades, I shall attempt to isolate and self-pollinate each of the three types, to save seed. The next post will be about an actual pollination exercise. Why not just let nature take its course and not worry about separating types? Well, I may just save seed from some of those naturally pollinated fruits as well. But I am curious to know if I can stablize the different types, perhaps come up with my own strain that grows "true to type".

I never thought I'd be this passionate about squash.