Update on my test of long-keeping squash varieties:
“Bigger Better Butternut”, “Great Lakes Shark Fin”, and “Calabasas de las Aguas” continue to show no signs of softening.
These were picked in October, and stored in open wooden bins in the basement. There were several that softened during the first few months, and those were cooked and eaten before they could spoil. The last one to soften was in late March/early April (I really should have written that down), but more than half of them are still intact and show no signs of spoilage.
(I’m actually going to propose to the seed companies I grow for that we treat these as biennials, so I can select against a short shelf-life.)
That’s amazing that they’ve lasted nine months! The butternut squash I grew which was 9 hybrid only lasted until about April in the basement. After that they started softening up. The basement was also getting warmer about that time.
What temperature is your basement at? At the old house and now at the new house is never a constant number. At the old house some of the air conditioning and heating leaked into the basement oh, so summer was actually quite to cool down there. And the new house it’s the opposite, there’s no venting down there but we do have a garage door that lets in a lot of heat.
I thought about digging a dairy. That’s what they call the cave structures that people in the past dug and they would put a little door on them. They’re all over the place and so cute. That’s where they would store their butter and milk and eggs. And produce apparently. The terrain of the new house is all hills. So there’s plenty of spots to dig a dairy at least. Even though it’s a pain trying to walk around.
I planted some black Arkansas apple trees at the old house, I want to put some more in here as well. Along with their pollinators. I never got to have one of the apples but they should be producing this year for the new owners. They don’t taste that great off the tree, I’ve read, but they store a long long time. And they get sweeter the longer they store. And they have a dark-skinned. Something about all that appeals to me.
So the same kind of idea as your squash. We should make a list of the long keeping produce, the good prepping garden plants.
Where did you get your seeds for your squash?