I’ve been whining about no zucchini, yellow squash, and cucumbers for the last couple of threads. Well, I have since harvested two nice cukes with a couple more small ones on the vine. The squash is a different story. Two days ago, I pulled up the yellow(ing) plants - they were pathetic. I did not get a single yellow squash although the plant bloomed. I had 3 baby zucchini, two rotted very small and the 3rd got maybe 4 inches long and started turning yellow. The squash bugs were horrible and despite daily attention, they continued to ‘appear’. My SIL next door was having the same issues. Over the last two days, I’ve done a little asking around - my aunt got no (as in “zero”) squash this year and my brother’s business partner, who usually has a nice garden, has gotten no squash, few cukes and his tomatoes aren’t doing well. It looks like in our area, it’s a poor garden year.
While looking up squash issues, I came across something that is supposed to be squash bug resistant and grows like a son-of-a-gun & will take over your garden, if you let it. It is sort of like zucchini but with a nuttier taste, more like a winter squash (which I love). This interesting plant is a zuchetta tromboncino rampicante. Does anyone have any experience with this? I found a gardening blog post with pictures and info: http://www.gardenbetty.com/2011/10/zucchino-rampicante/ I’ve never seen this stuff before, but if I can find it, I’m planting it next year. My SIL said she’s not planting squash anymore, but I want to at least give this a try before I give up.
If this can be found, I'll find it and tell you where. If it's resistant to critters, it's worth a try. I could also grow it in a tomato tub that has a circular lattice kind of thing in it. That would be perfect for this plant. Let me see if I can find it - I went to that link and read about it.
You can get the squash here and I’ll post other places:
http://www.territorialseed.com/product/1100/400
Squash bug resistant?!?!?!?! I just added that to my wish list.
Sounds interesting and worth a try. Don’t give up on cukes etc. You could try growing them next year in a pot with a trellis to climb, using some all purpose potting mix.
That way if you have some sort of soil borne fungus it won’t be as likely to hurt the plants.
We had a big crop of cukes and squash in 2010, and lousy luck in 2011, and 2012, but this year they are all doing great.
I just plant a few of all the stuff I like, and see what develops. Something almost always produces.
THanks for the information on the tromboncino rampicante! I’ve printed that out for my files!