This season may be different. Cold and rainy weather delayed growth and development of both crops and pests by about 3 weeks, maybe more. I didn't want to wait for the bugs for much beyond end of June, or there will not be time for fruit to develop. We'll see if planting late means avoiding bugs this year.
So, here's my squash patch as it looked on June 27, looking south toward our house and small young orchard. There are 60 squash hills, each with about 3 seeds planted. As in previous years, there are lots of squash varieties, including three types of patty pan shapes , three round zucchini, two middle-eastern varieties, and about 6 regular zucchini varieties, all in dark green, light green and yellow varieties. In addition, I have seed from the F1 generation of a mutant plant that grew in 2008. I saved the seed, and planted some in 2009 and more in 20010. I had some interesting shapes that I called minaret, green papaya pear, and avocado. This year I planted some of the 2009 seed again (I did not get any fruit in 2010). So I want to document my simple efforts at plant breeding and seed saving this season. New shapes will be a nice addition to the squash that I sell.
Temperatures had warmed enough by early July for quick seedlings emergence. Here's one of the first hills to have cotyledons emerging, on July 4.
This photo shows the seedlings for one of the more advanced hills as of July 15, the day after an irrigation. There are three or four leaves beyond the cotyledons at this point for many of the hills. The seeds are slower to germinate in some hills. A few hills had to be replanted.
Here's the squash patch on July 15. Look close and you'll see the young squash seedlings. There are also quite a few weeds. The tallest "weeds" are alfalfa plants. I'm going to try to keep them in the garden so that when the season is over, the alfalfa will still be around to serve as a cover crop next year. 
2 comments:
Karen - love your blog. I'm growing 30 zucchini plants, for market, for the first time this year, and have learned more from your blog than any other info. source. Thanks!!! I really appreciate how you know each plant individually. We're an urban farm and smaller, even, than what you've got cultivated - I think - so I did - and can do - a lot of hand-picking of squash beetles & eggs. I knew my plants really well at that point. Since they've disappeared (gone dormant?), I haven't gotten out there as often. I had thought I'd only need to harvest weekly, but from reading your post I realize it needs to be much more often. Again, Thanks!!
Hello Karie Lou. I'm glad that you find my blog useful. I haven't kept it up very well, but I will hopefully add some more comments about this past seasons's squash adventures soon.
I visited your website - I gather that your market garden is in Arizona, right? Here in Idaho the frost has killed off our squash plants. They are very susceptible to frost. They are annuals, so once they disappear I wouldn't expect them to grow back, even without a frost. If you want more squash you will probably need to replant. I don't know if they will flower in the winter in mild climates (some plants need long days to flower); you can probably ask other growers at your farmers' market.
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