Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners

Reviewed on 01/20/2007 by California Olive - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	California, United States Frost Free Season: More than 203 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Large - More than 1,600 square feet (40' x 40') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
This is a C. moschata squash resembling a huge butternut. This family of winter squash, in general, does better in our hot, dry climate than C. pepo or C. maxima squash or pumpkin (when grown for fall harvest, anyway - Kabocha squash are grown near here commercially for export in June and July and spaghetti squash harvested in summer works O.K.). Most other winter squash and pumpkins succumb to soil disease or insect-borne disease before squash matures in fall. This may be partly because they must be planted late, in hot soil, to mature at the proper time in fall. Insects and disease get a head start on the plants. Tahitian requires a long season, so it matures at the right time for fall storage in our climate when planted with other spring crops. Size of the fruit is highly variable, and shape may be straight or curved. Quality may vary with seed vendor. Additionally, quality seems to be adversely affected by growing near C. moschata summer squash like Zuchetta Rampicante. This surprised me, as I thought the pollen parent could only affect the quality of the fruit produced by the pollenized seed. Although the quality of sweet corn is affected by the pollenizer, I had not expected this with squash. The flavor and texture of Zuchetta Rampicante is superior to Tahitian as a summer squash but far inferior as a winter squash. When left to mature, Zuchetta Rampicante fruits can be as long as Tahitian, but are much skinnier and don't keep as well. Flesh sort of resembles spaghetti squash in texture and flavor. When isolated from other C. moschata varieties, the flavor of Tahitian is very sweet and generally rates 5 stars. Texture is good and flesh is moist when baked. Fruit keeps very well if mature when harvested, even outside on the porch (protected from freezing), though quality declines when weather warms up in spring. Plants require monitoring for squash bugs like other varieties of squash.

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