Quote:
Originally Posted by JoParrott
I am also interested in early winter squash, mostly compact vines since my garden is small. But why would you need staggered harvests when they keep all winter anyway? Just use them whenever you want.
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Hello JoParrott,
My crop of stored squashes never make it through the whole winter as I grow for 2 small families that enjoy cooking A LOT, and with squash often when it's in season (baked, roasted, and for soups and stews). So if I have an earlier maturing winter squash I can use that one first until the later maturing one is ready to harvest, thereby "hopefully" extending how long my stored crop of squash lasts. I just figure I need to vary the types I grow and grow at least 2 types each season (and types that don't readily cross each other).
I've only grown 3 types of squash over the past years: Nutter Butter (a Butternut type), West Indian Pumpkin (my biggest and most productive so far) and Guatemalan Blue Banana Squash (which I'm growing currently along with Nutter Butter).
Do you have any early winter/compact squash you prefer over others? And are the compact squash varieties productive for you?