I’m not sure what’s going on with my winter squash. They look weird.
I planted four kinds of winter squash this year: butternut, delicata (the queen of squash), tahitian (supposed to be a long-necked butternut) and a couple seeds called “Cool Old Squash” (in Anishinaabe: Gete-okosomin) from the White Earth Reservation Seed Collection. I picked up a few of the seeds at a seed swap in February. Here is a link to a radio program with Winona LaDuke speaking about how the seed was found, what the squash looks like, and a recipe: baked squash canoes filled with wild rice and maple syrup!
I think I also planted a hill of pumpkin seeds, though they were a few years old. All the seeds except the White Earth seed (um, and maybe the pumpkins?) were purchased from seed companies, so I had high expectations of their quality (i.e., no cross-breeding). I planted them in a few hills in my ample new raised beds. The germination rate was uneven, but I did end up with several good looking plants that are vining away. I even started a couple inside (delicata and butternut) and moved them out into the beds.
They started flowering early and then some fruits appeared. Not butternut. Not long-necked. Definitely not delicata. Two kinds: this big green squash that doesn’t look like it’s going to suddenly turn into a butternut squash (above), and this other funny yellow one. I fear the big green squash might be from my own pumpkin seeds and have crossed with butternut.
The yellow one looks like a banana squash, and that is good. The Gete-okosomin is a banana squash, yellow and orange with green at the end. And they are supposed to get big (8-30 lbs/ 2 1/2 feet?), which it seems like these are going to do.
There are other flowers on other plants. So I could still get some butternut squash or Tahitian or even delicata. But if worst comes to worst, I believe I will eat well on cool old squash all winter…