Season of Squash!

Tromboncinos are so named because of their little bulbous trombone ends.Last year, I had a terrible summer squash experience.  The squirrels in my garden stole the first budding squash, and then every squash plant, both the summer squash and my sugar pumpkins, died suddenly.  The culprit was the squash borer, a creature that lays its eggs in late June and whose offspring bore into the base of squash plants (and sometimes cucumbers) and slowly destroys the stem integrity til the plant dries up and expires. 

In my research on how to prevent these attacks, I came across the information that certain species of squash have developed a natural resistance to the borer.  These squash, falling under the family of Cucurbita moschata, include butternut squash, along with two species I'm growing this year: tromboncino and Long Island cheese pumpkins.  Tromboncino is an Italian summer squash that grows on a thick, long vine.  I can tell why it's so resistant to borers, the vine is super thick and covered in hairs that are strong enough to stick in my fingers like thorns.  The vine is so tough that I had trouble harvesting the first fruit from it, and I believe this is also the reason for the squirrels leaving the monster alone.  The vine has grown so incredibly long that it now runs about 15 feet along the brick path of the garden.  I finally trimmed it back, only to find it had grown about 4 feet longer in the span of 3 days.  I also found that the squash I'd been checking on almost every day, grew to twice its size in the few days I'd stopped looking for it.  These squash are amazing in size, with a mild, nutty flavor.  So far I've harvested two, one of which I donated to my landlord as I'm already getting squashed by the summer squash selection of my CSA. 

Summer squash is notorious for overproducing for unprepared growers, and I've heard entertaining stories of people who leave bag fulls of the vegetable on their neighbors' porches, then run away before they're caught.  For me, I'm tiring of the squash stir fries alread, BUT, I haven't even begun with the stuffed squash or zucchini bread, and I found a very helpful zucchini chocolate chip cookie recipe I'm eager to try out.  Other ways to avoid over-squashing include picking the squash when they're tender and young, at least there's less to consume.