Permapotes

Squash

Squashes are a varied group of vegetables, ranging from tender courgettes to large storage squashes. You can choose them for their flesh, flavour and kitchen uses, as well as the space the plant occupies in a garden. A squash is not necessarily round or orange: fruits may be elongated, flattened or ribbed, and green, yellow or patterned in colour.

They belong to the genus Cucurbita, in the Cucurbitaceae family. Several species include vegetable crops: Cucurbita pepo includes courgettes and spaghetti squash; Cucurbita moschata includes butternuts; and Cucurbita maxima includes many pumpkins and red kuri squashes. The word squash therefore describes a group of cultivated plants rather than one species with uniform characteristics. Familiar kitchen names do not always correspond to separate botanical species.

The distinction between summer and winter squashes mainly concerns the stage at which the fruit is used and its suitability for storage. Summer types have tender skin and flesh that is still young. Storage types develop a harder rind and fully mature flesh. Winter squash does not mean a plant that grows through freezing weather: these annual plants are sensitive to cold, despite the seasonal name of their fruits.

Growth habits vary considerably. Some types have a bushy outline, with short stems around the centre of the plant. Others produce long trailing stems with tendrils. Large leaves, sometimes lobed, create an expansive canopy. The yellow or orange flowers are conspicuous. Male and female flowers are separate on the same plant, and insects take part in pollination. This floral structure is distinct from the many possible shapes of the eventual fruit.

The fruit has a seed cavity surrounded by flesh whose colour and texture differ between varieties. Some flesh is dense and sweet, while other types are more watery or fibrous. Spaghetti squash has flesh that separates into strands after cooking. Butternut and red kuri squash offer other texture profiles; their names do not give every fruit the same flavour or size. The character of the flesh is as useful a distinction as the appearance of the rind.

In the kitchen, squashes feature in soups, purées, gratins and roasted dishes. Young forms, including courgettes, also have uses suited to their tender flesh. Their varied outlines and colours add visual interest to a vegetable garden. This description concerns edible vegetable squashes; ornamental forms are not automatically equivalent to varieties intended as food.

View the cultivation calendar
Squash
Squash
Characteristics
  • Lifecycle : Annual
  • Exposure : Full Sun
  • Frost Hardiness : Frost Sensitive
  • Cultivation Difficulty : Easy
  • Mature height : 50 cm
Sowing & Planting
  • Greenhouse Growing : Not Required
  • Sowing Depth : 2 cm
  • Plant Spacing : 120 cm
  • Row Spacing : 120 cm
Maintenance
  • Maintenance : Moderate
  • Water Requirements : High
Other characteristics
  • Soil Type : Humus-rich
  • Soil pH Preference : Neutral
  • Pest Sensitivity : Moderate
  • Disease Sensitivity : Moderate
  • Weed Sensitivity : Moderate
  • Pollination : Insect-pollinated
  • Propagation : Sowing