How To Grow Squash

Learn how to grow squash and let your garden provide you with healthy ingredients. Summer squash (Cucurbita pepo) and winter squash (C. pepo, C. maxima, C. moschata) are essentially cultivated similarly.

Items needed to grow squash:

• Squash seeds of desired variety or use squash transplants
• Light, ordinary, well-drained soil
• 5-10-5 Commercial Fertilizer
• Full sun

Steps to Grow Squash:

1. Prepare the soil outdoors to grow squash. Dig a hole 18 inches deep and fill it with well-rotted cow manure compost mixed with garden soil.
2. Set transplants in the garden as soon as all danger of frost is past. Plant transplants in hills or groups, spaced 4 feet apart, 4 or 5 to a hill, with 4 to 5 inches between plants. Provide adequate moisture.
3. Sow seeds outdoors in prepared soil. Plant 1 inch deep and 4 to 5 inches apart and 6 or 7 to a hill once night temperatures no longer fall below 50 degrees Fahrenheit and supply adequate moisture. Thin seedlings to the 3 strongest plants once they reach 3 inches tall.
4. Fertilize squash plants when they begin to vine. Scatter 1/4 cup of 5-10-5 fertilizer around the base of each plant.
5. Control pests and diseases. Keep area free of weeds and check undersides of leaves for insect eggs and signs of damage. Use appropriate chemicals, such as pyrethrum to control cucumber beetles, squash bugs and vine borers.
6. Harvest squash by twisting the stems off the plant. Be sure to remove mature fruit so that new fruit will be produced. Plan to harvest every few days.

Vining squash is sprawling, so plan to grow it around the edges of the garden or provide it with support to grow on.