Just FYI, water is what makes the biggest difference with squash yield, even more than heat. If they don't get a LOT of water throughout the growing season you will always get smaller fruits. I've not done many experiments side by side in the garden, but I did one with manually watering one of two outdoor squash last year and the one I watered yielded 40% more weight than the adjacent one with no extra water. It may be a useless sample size, but 40% for two identical plants in identical soil and sun conditions was big enough for me to feel confident saying the gardening advice to water squash heavily is well founded IME. Keep up the vids, I've learned much from you and thought I'd share my experience in case it helps you.
here at the Caribbean I grow squash and water it's a key factor, dry seasons give small ones and too much rain will get them to fungus, so have to plant just before hurricane season,
G'day from Norther Australia! I have a very good tip for increasing your pumpkin yield and it's backed up by science. I've been doing it for years and it works! Pumpkin is a very important main crop for me so I had to find ways of increasing yield. Pinching out the growing tip or leader on a pumpkin plant will divert energy and nutrients to the lateral growth or side branches. This stops the vine from sprawling and taking over your garden; it also encourages greater fruit formation. When the plant is about 1.5 metres long, pinch 2 cm off the very end. The growth tip or apical meristem is the site of growth hormone production; removing the tip stops suppression of the lateral branches' growth. This results in a less sprawling plant with more fruit. I hope this helps. Cheers, ~D.
The wind isn't the only thing destroying the leaves of the squash plants at 3:58. That's quite the powdery mildew infestation. Where I grow the climate is more suitable for squash, but the native pests of squash are also present. I'm guessing that in Ireland the squash bug and the especially devastating squash vine borer are probably not issues.
Yes, well spotted. I didn't worry about it as it was near the end of the season, but I want to take the mildew more seriously this season. Thankfully we don't have those pests here in Ireland ( I think!!!)
True grow them in tough conditions and learn more... I’m a fisherman (and gardener) and you learn how to fish better in pressured heavily fished water, then pristine unfinished lakes... My guess is it’s the black plastic cover in simple garden that retained the heat and allowed better results, amongst other factors...
I would be really interested to find out how much of an advantage the black plastic is in this context. I am thinking of doing some temperature readings next season.
My recreation and time off gardening in the summer is visiting the walled gardens of National Trust grand houses here in UK. While some have a long list of volunteers, many do not, and of course volunteers are not pressed men or women - they take time off and go on holidays. So while there is lots of attendance and enthusaism at the start - an d I guess funding too - the whole gardens of several acres tends to be put to "easy" crops. And guess what, that is often squashes and pumpkins. Although some of the food gets used in the cafe kitchens and the volunteers and staff get to help themselves, the garden has to look attractive for the visitors as it did for the lord back in the day. Growing a range of squashes works well for them in a more of less no dig environment. I have grown kuri squash for quite a few years now, the original seed came from a stall at an organic farmers market in Germany. They sold the squash by weight and cut off slices to order, I just asked for some of the discarded seeds, and I sow three or four from the previous year for our needs. I would like to grow more, and more varieties like butternut but our space constraints mean that may be less likely. But as you say, eating them over winter through to spring is a delight, so maybe other things should give way. The lack of sophisticated storage requirements and looming disaster of brexshit may be the determining factor. Our neighbours garden sort of juts out across ours, so same climate and soil, except the gardens are separated by a 6' fence. Their garden an allotment is very sheltered, while ours is exposed and we get lots of wind most years, exacibated by the swirl round our house and the neigbour the other side. I think many crops dislike much more than a zypher, certainly wind is one of the greatest pests we have to deal with most years. Sometimes rivaled by cabbage whites or blackbirds. Thanks again for the insightful analysis and video.
that is interesting how gardens will use squashes to make the place look good, and easily fill the space.I want to get back into growing a wider variety of squashes, and ukichi kuru is definitely on my list. I love having a load of squash in the house at this time of year. And as you say with brexshit coming along, I am even more thankful! I still have 26 squash remaining, probably more than 100kg, and none of them are showing any signs of spoiling. i just keep them on the stairs - one per step! Squash definitely don't like the wind!
I so agree with you about growing where the conditions are marginal!! I'm always interested in that because there is a lot of learning though also some heartache! But you do learn!! And that's my greatest joy in growing!!
@@REDGardens me too , my old house was set up with it as i worked away for 4 days at a time , but it was what the buyer wanted the most , so it remained , lol
With the exceptionally warm summer this year we have had issues getting plenty of water to these hungry plants! My Pumpkins seemed to ripen very quickly this year and were slightly smaller than last seasons but overall it wasn't a bad crop, tasted good and those that we haven't used yet are storing well. The information you provided Bruce had given "food for thought" if you excuse the Pun as we do enjoy growing these crops. Best Wishes.
⚠⚠⚠✔great video and pretty awesome experiment in Ireland I knew that someone would eventually work out this mystery of how squash can grow in different parts of the world and you did just that. Thank you it was really informative and fun to watch🖒
I know of some people who start seedlings from seed on the hat of composting manure. Maybe adding manure into the soil at the root may add some more heat to the immediate area of each respective plant🤷🏽♂️
One of the squashes that I grew was speghetti and from 4 plants got 20 squashes, 18 large, 1 very large weight 7lb and one very small one. I only have a 16ftx11ft bed for my squashes so had to come up with ideas to put as many squash plants in as possible. 1st heavily manured the bed and cover with card, let the worms do their work. Made 16 plastic covered metal towers, lined with empty compost bags filled with grass cuttings, kitchen scrapes, manure and finally when squash ready to plant out a layer of all purpose composted deep as the 5in pot. Burying the pot at the side of the plant to aid watering. Did the same thing with the U Kuri, Acorn types, Delicata and the butternuts. The Crown Prince was planted in the bed along with Victor and Blue Banana. I got 62 Squashes. What would I do differently? I have been given some Harris fencing so along with other structures I will grow them all vertically. While a few were not as big as they could have been the thrill of experimenting creates a bigger thirst for knowledge which I have learned from people such as you and Charles Dowding. All the best look forward to more videos.
For some reason, I didn't know where you lived until now. You have similar summers to here, I think. Soil is different. And we're both deep into research and experimenting on what makes plants grow.
No dig plot in the fall: try removing the cardboard. Then heavy grass and leaf mulch (8-10" thick). Cover with weed barrier. In the spring, pull back the weed mat, and plant seedlings right into the mulch and lay back weed mat accordingly. This method works great for weed suppression and water retention. I also find the mulch holds the water and slowly releases it into the soil, reducing root rot.
I have tried a variation on your suggestion a few years ago, and it ended up being a fantastic breeding ground for slugs, that ate all the transplants. I'd like to find a way to get around that, but haven't figured it out yet, especially with the weed barrier preventing natural predators finding the slugs.
0:31 i got curious to see how was this heatmap on my city, oh boy, it was all yellow in winter/autumn and all red in summer/spring. I wonder how much food you would grow here.
I grow crown price, they taste great. I had a very good crop in 2018. I have a large cover that I put over 4 plants at a time when I plant them out, it helps them a lot
@@REDGardens being from New Zealand I grew up eating them, although Turks turban would be another variety common there, i have never been able to grow them in Ireland as they never matured properly, other comments about growing that smaller variety (can't spell it) I have grown them well, and the flavour is nice, a bit more nutty, but there is not much flesh to them, as they have a lot of seeds.
@@kalimstanney8437 It is a bit of a struggle finding good varieties for growing here in Ireland. it is one of the reasons why I have stuck with the Crown Prince for the last few seasons.
RED Gardens I know, I have tried a lot of variety’s. I even got heirloom seeds from America but never got one plant to produce anything. My crown prince definitely matured well this year, the first one or two that we ate weren’t that great but after a month they really started to improve, we still have two left, but we need to eat them soon.
A squash variety that I'd recommend that does very well in cool, wet Bristol, is the Tromboncino. Most people eat it as a summer squash, but let it mature and you get huge, long butternut style squash, with minimal seeds. I get very high yields in Bristol compared to other squash.
Ive been enjoying so many grow channels I think all your warm varieties would definitely benefit from some kind of geothermal adaptation. Im sure your at least somewhat familiar; it seems as though an affordable option with a few to several 6-8" plastic tubes grouped together and buried approximately 8 feet down and drawn across 30-90 feet. maybe that will keep you warmer in a green house combination! Amazing feedback. prosperity!
I did not grow any squash this year because my squash gets attacked by squash bugs and squash vine borers. Someone on utube suggested spraying with a mixture of water and peppermint oil. Even though I didn't grow squash this year ,I saw a few squash bugs on my cucumbers and tomato plants but not enough to hurt them. If I grow squash next spring I am planting them in a different area away from the garden and spray them with the peppermint mixture.
I am really glad that we don't have those squash pests here! One less thing to affect this marginal crop. Hope the peppermint oil spraying works for you.
Viney plants are well known to do well in sheet mulches ;) that's what you did. They like the slight warmth from the microbial activity in the compost and their roots seem to like the complexity of a good sheet mulch for some reason.
I know every gardener on youtube is probably tired of hearing this shit, but you should try amino acids since you want to take it to the next level. I tried it with my squash, left handed amino acids work wonders. You either need powdered product form of it or you need protien in the soil and either protease teas or a protease producing microbe in the soil. Greenhouses also might be necessary, it's all about keeping the rH as close as possible between 40-70% so that the amino acids can work properly, which basically is for calcium uptake but also other minerals as well (It's all about the transpiration stream man!!)
@@REDGardens I see. I re-watched your video, and you really emphasize the water factor with this experiment. I would imagine with those giant leaves that those plants are heavy transpiration pumps, so they would need a lot of water. It seems right to me that moisture retention would be the main difference, other than space available for the plant to grow. It is interesting to speculate on how much that mini poly tunnel helped the simple garden squash at the beginning though. I also noted at the end that you had a freeze that ended your season early. Amino acids have buffered tomato crops through freezes, I wouldn't doubt them buffering squash as well. Thank you for sharing. I am seriously considering moisture retention for my future squash patches. Normally I just aim for good compost with good microbial life, which retains moisture pretty well. Now I am considering white clover as a cover crop while growing squash to retain more moisture, as that would work better for my situation. I'm also wondering about the development part of the squash in the simple garden w/ that poly tunnel. Interesting narrative indeed sir.
I agree. If you want to learn about a plant, grow it in marginal conditions. I'm learning a lot trying to grow bananas in north Florida on the border of zones 8 & 9.
@@REDGardens I Have grown them for three years now and they have always ripened earliest for me. The other variety i like more and more is a bush variety called Honeybear F1 (terrible name but a great squash)
Start the plants indoors about a month before you transplant them outside. You need a good strong few weeks of high temperatures in order to get a good crop. I grow squash, pumpkins, and more in Wyoming with an even shorter and very dry season than you. To decrease the need for space, send the vines to climb by training them, you can also train them to stay in a smaller area by continuing to move the vines every other day or so. Try red kuri squash, you'll thank me. They're extremely hardy, excellent yield, unparalleled flavor, and extremely good storage life. Also, looking at the leaves of the plants, you had an issue with dewy mold. Spray the leaves with a bottle of soapy dishwater at the first signs of dewy mold. I've been gardening in both East Tennessee with a very similar climate to Ireland, very wet, high humidity, though it can get warm, the warm days do not last that long. I now live in Wyoming where the climate has completely changed, but I am continuing to grow everything that I grew before. I've been doing this since I was a little girl and I'm now in my 40's. What did seem to do much better this year was a few plants that I tossed into a pile of old mulched wood chips leftover from a tree that had been cut down the year prior. One particular red kuri squash that was planted there yielded over 20 squash on 1 plant. My cucumbers produced hundreds of cukes. I do not use harsh fertilizers and absolutely no pesticides. When I see a pest on my plants, it is immediately picked off and killed. I check my plants daily. If I fertilize at all, it's whatever was leftover in the kitchen that I just toss out to the soil. I have not amended my soil other than to add a few bags of garden soil which I have mixed simply with hoeing it in. I believe in digging deep, softening the soil up well, and invest in a broad fork. I plan my garden according to the vegetable I'm growing. I companion plant, space is very limited, so I plant herbs around the bases of nearly every large plant that I put. Anywhere there is an available space on my land, food is grown.
I start my plants in a purpose built mini greenhouse with heated sand base, and have been getting much better transplants, but sometimes they grow too fast. i've tried red kiri a few times, and it was fine, but didn't seem to get the results others do, and the fruit didn't ripen so well, but I plan to try again next season. Great to read about all your approaches to growing food, sounds wonderful!
I agree with you about the Red Kuri - grew it this year for the first time - it's absolutely delicious - such a rich sweet flavour. And lots of squashes on each plant. Top variety!
we had a weird growing season here in new Brunswick Canada zone 4b , as well even had no flowers on my 2 potato plots , but was surprised at the yield from them none the less, 16 plants, approx 20 kg return , but had to water very heavy, i think the fact that i hill them with fresh compost twice is what gave me a ok yield , but 40% were bite sized, left them grow till first frost, then dug them up ,,, we had snow 15 cm and the ground froze hard again on june 6th ,my neighbor only had one spegittie squash , from 6 starter plants , and got very little yield of her potato crop , what rain we got was in flash down pours that would run off and not soak in at all , not even enough to maintain lawns which is odd for here, as we along the coast , ground was hard and very dry, to the point even walking on the lawn would kick up dust , i faired better than my neighbor mostly because, of my growing method, , 50 /50 compost and peat with 15% worth of course wood shavings, from my planner mixed, in 3x8 raised beds , with 20 cm+ depth ,neighbor had potato bugs very bad , while none were found on mine, just 30 m away , i can only think it due to them being in raised beds, and that i always plant marigold as a companion plant to attract pollinators with my potato plantings , carrots size while looked great at the surface, but were very short in length, green beans, did well , as did the peas, but tomatoes , which i normally have too many , were lacking , and had little to give away unlike most years, and got one cucumber from 25 plants and it was a dwarf , and straw berry's were a disaster , most were pasty and flavor less while the rest would not ripen before they started to get eaten by the crows , , ill add 2.5cu/m of fresh compost across all my beds x 8 and hope the weather will be better, ,unlikely as the weather network is already warning that 2019 will be hotter and dryer than 2018 , here believing in the future, ill still plant just the same ,
Sounds like a tough season, and hard to grow in. It would be very interesting to figure out what the issue with the potato bugs was - could be the compost mix you use, or just better water/nutrient balance. Not looking good for the weather patterns in many places!
@@REDGardens ya so true, for the weather,,, ,as for the potato bugs, i suspect it may be the boxes, as the only time i had them was when i did not grow in a large bucket 2"cu or box bed , , but in all fairness the ground they grew was in a older open bottom compost bin ,, and i had potato bugs from that bin , but again not in one of my boxes only meters away , , my assumption is that they do not like to be above ground elevation , because in both grows , there were grown with compost ,,, that's why i suspect it not only the compost , , and although i had some bugs in that compost bin ,,, it was still far less than my neighbors , ground planted garden with out any compost just 30 m away , ,,, if any one can explain this i would enjoy hearing why , as my neighbor getting disappointing at her lack of ability with these pest and see's that i have none most years , and only once , from that bin , , the bin was dug to a depth of 20 cm below the surrounding ground level in a attempt to benefit from the compost tea leach and worm castings made by the native worms as they entered the compost bin to do their amazing work , as i have planted pumpkin in this method with great results , even better than , the one grown in a box bed on the same day , but that could be the micro climate caused by the bin it self, ( wind break and heat sink effects) compared to the open sided box bed even better moister availability at ground level ,, ,,,, i also feed every two weeks all my gardens with compost tea,( fine mesh bag, with 30 cm cu worth of fresh compost , soaked and agitated in a 205 l water barrel 24h ,then remove the mesh sack return remaining wet contents to the compost pile , water with watering cans ), , in place of chemical additives , with great results normally , but 2018 weather got the better of me i think
I don’t know. I suspect it needs a breathable cover, but it probably depends on the size of the area and how windy it is to allow air to flow under the plastic, and how hot the climate is.
@@REDGardens it is in a windy and boggy field in ireland so the climate is not ideal to start. I think ill invest in a roll of breathable cover just to be sure. I will put a small portion under plastic tarp and see how they compare.
Simple answer -Not sure,..but only because I've never heard anyone talking about it! I always trimmed my squash anyway, like I was taught as a boy. Once the plant has 4 good fruits I 'prune' that vine, leaving a couple of leaf nodes past the last fruit. Squash foliage will take over if left to it, but when pruned, (watered well) on heavily manured soil, they produce large fruits.
I have never trimmed my squash, except to prevent them from encroaching on another vegetable, but it is one area that I want to explore. It would be interesting to see how it would impact the results. Sounds like another experiment and another possible video!
It does! I would be interested in those results too. ps. I was a little surprised that you use F1 hybrids and not an heirloom variety. Was that just for uniformity?
There were a few reasons for selecting the F1. Mainly it has been the best preforming squash I have tried (thought haven't tried loads). There is that yield bonus for a F1. Though I'm not so interested in the uniformity for the sake of it, with so few plants the uniformity between them all reduces one variability in comparison. But the main reason for going with a commonly available vs heirloom variety is that I want to be relevant to a wide variety of people. I generally select decent common varieties, that anyone can at a variety of different seed suppliers. I would generally prefer an open pollinated variety, but with some crops, the F1 is a better choice.
This squash has a very dense flesh, very rich and quite dry compared to a lot of other squash?pumpkins. Which means I needed to adjust how I use it in the kitchen. i find it is better steamed rather than cut up in cubes and roasted - which causes into dry out quite a bit. It is excellent in soups and makes fantastic pies.
I wouldn't recommend polyculture for squash. Too much space competition. I would recommend cover cropping radish for winterkill to add phosphorus and potassium to the beds.
Interesting thought. I imagine that if the plants have a healthy mineral balance in the soil, they will be more resilient. On the other hand, if there was really great fertility, then the plants will grow even bigger, and would need more watering.
It won't reduce weather related stress. It will make for stronger plants IF soil fertility is a limiting factor. Which would make it appear to reduce weather related stress.
@@REDGardens I've tried different mixes over the years but always see a big difference when I put a good dollop of horse manure in the bottom of the planting hole
After the summer we just had, it is almost certainly a lack of water that lowered your yields. As you said, squash loves water. Ive also always had a problem with Crown Prince. Never seems to want to do well for us. Have you tried Red Kuri? Its a Japanese variety. Much smaller and probably the best squash ive ever tasted. Seems to do better than any other variety in Ireland, at least for us. Smaller individual fruit, but roughly around the same yields, maybe even more if you usually lose fruit to pests or rot. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_kuri_squash
I have tried Red Kuri, and had some success with it, and very tasty! I have had better success with the Crown Prince, but hope to grow some Red Kuri next year in my larger plot - they are so handy in the kitchen.
I got the feeling watching this that you dont lose your squash leaves until the frost? i always lose mine way before due to mildew. How are you avoiding this? (live in Denmark)
Thankfully, the leaves of this variety didn't show any signs of mildew before the frost. I have had mildew on courgette leaves, but I really haven't figured out what to do about it, mainly because it is late in the season, and I have had enough of courgettes!
i harvested around 15 kilos of squash from around 20 square meters,i think my garden aint doing nearly as good as yours,well living in brazil,simple have too maany plagues,insects,mold issues,and stuff
Some places can be really tough to grow in, and I know that the pest problems I have here in temperate ireland are nothing compared to what can invade a vegetable garden closer to the tropics!
i grew musquee de provence by accident and i got a total of 21 pumpkins. of all sizes. small medium and large. they grew fast. and most were done growing by around august. the last one was finished a week before halloween. these things took up about 35 feet of space. the vines were massive. it did help that some grow up onto the fence. but the pumpkins that grew there got so massive broke off and the other we magaged to keep it supported. even though the ones that broke off were still young they tasted really good. they had a nice green brown marbling color to them. they store well so long as they dont get wet.
Ah, Musquee de Provence! I grew that a years ago, and got a really great crop one season which was so delicious, but struggled for the next few years. So I switched to the Crown Prince variety, which is close, but in my memory not as tasty. Thanks for reminding me about that variety, I should try growing it again.
@@REDGardens no problem bro. when i originally bought the pumpkin it just had a sticker that said fairytale. and then i found that thats usually the name given to it when being sold at super markets. there is also another one they sell here in los angeles called castilla. that one looks exactly the same but grow much bigger and has a bigger seed cavity. that one is typically from mexico since i think thats the one they grow in mexico for the seeds. since toasted pumpkin seeds are really popular there. hopefully next year i can grow a different variety. maybe blue jarrahdale.
Squash does not respect or know any boundaries .
Indeed!
qtpwqt very very trooooo
True that
I so agree that at the end of the day its about getting a harvest that you enjoy balanced with how much input it takes.
Yeah, it an important balance to try to achieve.
Just FYI, water is what makes the biggest difference with squash yield, even more than heat. If they don't get a LOT of water throughout the growing season you will always get smaller fruits. I've not done many experiments side by side in the garden, but I did one with manually watering one of two outdoor squash last year and the one I watered yielded 40% more weight than the adjacent one with no extra water. It may be a useless sample size, but 40% for two identical plants in identical soil and sun conditions was big enough for me to feel confident saying the gardening advice to water squash heavily is well founded IME. Keep up the vids, I've learned much from you and thought I'd share my experience in case it helps you.
I like the "real learning" you've mentioned.
Cool
No brotha, most importantly.. Thank You for sharing. Love, Health & Prosperity!
here at the Caribbean I grow squash and water it's a key factor, dry seasons give small ones and too much rain will get them to fungus, so have to plant just before hurricane season,
Too much or not enough - rarely just enough - seems to be the way.
Yummy!!! I grew approx. 20 squash from one plant, simple, nothing extra but water. Keep it up!! I enjoy your videos.
Thanks. Squash are great crops, with the heat, water and enough space!
G'day from Norther Australia! I have a very good tip for increasing your pumpkin yield and it's backed up by science. I've been doing it for years and it works! Pumpkin is a very important main crop for me so I had to find ways of increasing yield.
Pinching out the growing tip or leader on a pumpkin plant will divert energy and nutrients to the lateral growth or side branches. This stops the vine from sprawling and taking over your garden; it also encourages greater fruit formation. When the plant is about 1.5 metres long, pinch 2 cm off the very end. The growth tip or apical meristem is the site of growth hormone production; removing the tip stops suppression of the lateral branches' growth. This results in a less sprawling plant with more fruit.
I hope this helps.
Cheers, ~D.
I'll have to try that. I have heard of people doing it with melons. Thanks.
👍👍✌
your my new number 1 favorite gardener now that oneyardrevolution has stopped making videos.
Wow, thanks! Shame oneyardrevolution has stopped.
Thank you again for a kind and thoughtful look at growing and understanding vegetable
Glad you appreciate my work.
The wind isn't the only thing destroying the leaves of the squash plants at 3:58. That's quite the powdery mildew infestation. Where I grow the climate is more suitable for squash, but the native pests of squash are also present. I'm guessing that in Ireland the squash bug and the especially devastating squash vine borer are probably not issues.
Yes, well spotted. I didn't worry about it as it was near the end of the season, but I want to take the mildew more seriously this season. Thankfully we don't have those pests here in Ireland ( I think!!!)
True grow them in tough conditions and learn more... I’m a fisherman (and gardener) and you learn how to fish better in pressured heavily fished water, then pristine unfinished lakes...
My guess is it’s the black plastic cover in simple garden that retained the heat and allowed better results, amongst other factors...
I would be really interested to find out how much of an advantage the black plastic is in this context. I am thinking of doing some temperature readings next season.
Great Video. Would have been interesting to hear about your plans for next year.
Thanks. I am planning to do a video about my plans in the new year.
Thanks for doing the comparison
:-)
My recreation and time off gardening in the summer is visiting the walled gardens of National Trust grand houses here in UK. While some have a long list of volunteers, many do not, and of course volunteers are not pressed men or women - they take time off and go on holidays. So while there is lots of attendance and enthusaism at the start - an d I guess funding too - the whole gardens of several acres tends to be put to "easy" crops. And guess what, that is often squashes and pumpkins. Although some of the food gets used in the cafe kitchens and the volunteers and staff get to help themselves, the garden has to look attractive for the visitors as it did for the lord back in the day. Growing a range of squashes works well for them in a more of less no dig environment.
I have grown kuri squash for quite a few years now, the original seed came from a stall at an organic farmers market in Germany. They sold the squash by weight and cut off slices to order, I just asked for some of the discarded seeds, and I sow three or four from the previous year for our needs.
I would like to grow more, and more varieties like butternut but our space constraints mean that may be less likely. But as you say, eating them over winter through to spring is a delight, so maybe other things should give way. The lack of sophisticated storage requirements and looming disaster of brexshit may be the determining factor.
Our neighbours garden sort of juts out across ours, so same climate and soil, except the gardens are separated by a 6' fence. Their garden an allotment is very sheltered, while ours is exposed and we get lots of wind most years, exacibated by the swirl round our house and the neigbour the other side. I think many crops dislike much more than a zypher, certainly wind is one of the greatest pests we have to deal with most years. Sometimes rivaled by cabbage whites or blackbirds.
Thanks again for the insightful analysis and video.
that is interesting how gardens will use squashes to make the place look good, and easily fill the space.I want to get back into growing a wider variety of squashes, and ukichi kuru is definitely on my list. I love having a load of squash in the house at this time of year. And as you say with brexshit coming along, I am even more thankful! I still have 26 squash remaining, probably more than 100kg, and none of them are showing any signs of spoiling. i just keep them on the stairs - one per step!
Squash definitely don't like the wind!
I so agree with you about growing where the conditions are marginal!! I'm always interested in that because there is a lot of learning though also some heartache! But you do learn!! And that's my greatest joy in growing!!
It is an interesting place to explore.
Very interesting - I hope you manage to get some kind of even basic automation into your watering regime. I think you’d be surprised at the outcome!!
I definitely need to automate things with watering.
@@REDGardens me too , my old house was set up with it as i worked away for 4 days at a time , but it was what the buyer wanted the most , so it remained , lol
With the exceptionally warm summer this year we have had issues getting plenty of water to these hungry plants! My Pumpkins seemed to ripen very quickly this year and were slightly smaller than last seasons but overall it wasn't a bad crop, tasted good and those that we haven't used yet are storing well. The information you provided Bruce had given "food for thought" if you excuse the Pun as we do enjoy growing these crops. Best Wishes.
Thanks! Interesting to hear about how your squash did this season, it sounds similar to what happened here: fast maturing but smaller.
⚠⚠⚠✔great video and pretty awesome experiment in Ireland I knew that someone would eventually work out this mystery of how squash can grow in different parts of the world and you did just that. Thank you it was really informative and fun to watch🖒
Lovely video!
Thanks.
Great video
:-)
I know of some people who start seedlings from seed on the hat of composting manure. Maybe adding manure into the soil at the root may add some more heat to the immediate area of each respective plant🤷🏽♂️
I love all winter squash they are my favorite soup .
I agree!
With such a short season, it might be worth trying smaller squashes, for example Red Kuri or Delicata.. Could make a difference I reckon.
Those ones might work better, I hope to try a much wider range this season.
One of the squashes that I grew was speghetti and from 4 plants got 20 squashes, 18 large, 1 very large weight 7lb and one very small one. I only have a 16ftx11ft bed for my squashes so had to come up with ideas to put as many squash plants in as possible. 1st heavily manured the bed and cover with card, let the worms do their work. Made 16 plastic covered metal towers, lined with empty compost bags filled with grass cuttings, kitchen scrapes, manure and finally when squash ready to plant out a layer of all purpose composted deep as the 5in pot. Burying the pot at the side of the plant to aid watering. Did the same thing with the U Kuri, Acorn types, Delicata and the butternuts. The Crown Prince was planted in the bed along with Victor and Blue Banana. I got 62 Squashes. What would I do differently? I have been given some Harris fencing so along with other structures I will grow them all vertically. While a few were not as big as they could have been the thrill of experimenting creates a bigger thirst for knowledge which I have learned from people such as you and Charles Dowding. All the best look forward to more videos.
For some reason, I didn't know where you lived until now. You have similar summers to here, I think. Soil is different.
And we're both deep into research and experimenting on what makes plants grow.
Looks like you are doing interesting stuff - always good to experiment.
No dig plot in the fall: try removing the cardboard. Then heavy grass and leaf mulch (8-10" thick). Cover with weed barrier. In the spring, pull back the weed mat, and plant seedlings right into the mulch and lay back weed mat accordingly. This method works great for weed suppression and water retention. I also find the mulch holds the water and slowly releases it into the soil, reducing root rot.
I have tried a variation on your suggestion a few years ago, and it ended up being a fantastic breeding ground for slugs, that ate all the transplants. I'd like to find a way to get around that, but haven't figured it out yet, especially with the weed barrier preventing natural predators finding the slugs.
0:31 i got curious to see how was this heatmap on my city, oh boy, it was all yellow in winter/autumn and all red in summer/spring. I wonder how much food you would grow here.
I grow crown price, they taste great. I had a very good crop in 2018. I have a large cover that I put over 4 plants at a time when I plant them out, it helps them a lot
Interesting to hearth you have the same experience with the Crown Prince variety.
@@REDGardens being from New Zealand I grew up eating them, although Turks turban would be another variety common there, i have never been able to grow them in Ireland as they never matured properly, other comments about growing that smaller variety (can't spell it) I have grown them well, and the flavour is nice, a bit more nutty, but there is not much flesh to them, as they have a lot of seeds.
@@kalimstanney8437 It is a bit of a struggle finding good varieties for growing here in Ireland. it is one of the reasons why I have stuck with the Crown Prince for the last few seasons.
RED Gardens I know, I have tried a lot of variety’s. I even got heirloom seeds from America but never got one plant to produce anything. My crown prince definitely matured well this year, the first one or two that we ate weren’t that great but after a month they really started to improve, we still have two left, but we need to eat them soon.
@@kalimstanney8437 Yeah, they do seem to improve with storage. I have five beauties left!
A squash variety that I'd recommend that does very well in cool, wet Bristol, is the Tromboncino. Most people eat it as a summer squash, but let it mature and you get huge, long butternut style squash, with minimal seeds. I get very high yields in Bristol compared to other squash.
Thanks for the recommendation.
Ive been enjoying so many grow channels I think all your warm varieties would definitely benefit from some kind of geothermal adaptation. Im sure your at least somewhat familiar; it seems as though an affordable option with a few to several 6-8" plastic tubes grouped together and buried approximately 8 feet down and drawn across 30-90 feet. maybe that will keep you warmer in a green house combination! Amazing feedback. prosperity!
More warmth would help!
I did not grow any squash this year because my squash gets attacked by squash bugs and squash vine borers. Someone on utube suggested spraying with a mixture of water and peppermint oil. Even though I didn't grow squash this year ,I saw a few squash bugs on my cucumbers and tomato plants but not enough to hurt them. If I grow squash next spring I am planting them in a different area away from the garden and spray them with the peppermint mixture.
I am really glad that we don't have those squash pests here! One less thing to affect this marginal crop. Hope the peppermint oil spraying works for you.
Viney plants are well known to do well in sheet mulches ;) that's what you did. They like the slight warmth from the microbial activity in the compost and their roots seem to like the complexity of a good sheet mulch for some reason.
oh I see they didnt do great lol! still, they make better sheet mulch plants than many others
I know every gardener on youtube is probably tired of hearing this shit, but you should try amino acids since you want to take it to the next level. I tried it with my squash, left handed amino acids work wonders. You either need powdered product form of it or you need protien in the soil and either protease teas or a protease producing microbe in the soil. Greenhouses also might be necessary, it's all about keeping the rH as close as possible between 40-70% so that the amino acids can work properly, which basically is for calcium uptake but also other minerals as well (It's all about the transpiration stream man!!)
They do seem to do well with mulch, but I think they just didn't get enough water this year.
Amino acids is one area that I know very little about, so interesting to read your comment. I really should investigate more.
@@REDGardens I see. I re-watched your video, and you really emphasize the water factor with this experiment. I would imagine with those giant leaves that those plants are heavy transpiration pumps, so they would need a lot of water. It seems right to me that moisture retention would be the main difference, other than space available for the plant to grow. It is interesting to speculate on how much that mini poly tunnel helped the simple garden squash at the beginning though. I also noted at the end that you had a freeze that ended your season early. Amino acids have buffered tomato crops through freezes, I wouldn't doubt them buffering squash as well.
Thank you for sharing. I am seriously considering moisture retention for my future squash patches. Normally I just aim for good compost with good microbial life, which retains moisture pretty well. Now I am considering white clover as a cover crop while growing squash to retain more moisture, as that would work better for my situation. I'm also wondering about the development part of the squash in the simple garden w/ that poly tunnel. Interesting narrative indeed sir.
I agree. If you want to learn about a plant, grow it in marginal conditions. I'm learning a lot trying to grow bananas in north Florida on the border of zones 8 & 9.
Wow, bananas. That would be cool.
Try Uchiki Kuri also know as Red Kuri/ Hokaido. Always the first to ripen for me
Dig Sow Grow I didn’t have as good of success with the Uchiki Kuri that I grew a few seasons ago, but I am going to try to grow them again next year.
@@REDGardens I Have grown them for three years now and they have always ripened earliest for me. The other variety i like more and more is a bush variety called Honeybear F1 (terrible name but a great squash)
@@digsowgrowI've heard that Honeybear F1 is a good one.
@@REDGardens They take up a fraction of the space of a trailing variety, good taste and they store well
Start the plants indoors about a month before you transplant them outside. You need a good strong few weeks of high temperatures in order to get a good crop. I grow squash, pumpkins, and more in Wyoming with an even shorter and very dry season than you. To decrease the need for space, send the vines to climb by training them, you can also train them to stay in a smaller area by continuing to move the vines every other day or so. Try red kuri squash, you'll thank me. They're extremely hardy, excellent yield, unparalleled flavor, and extremely good storage life. Also, looking at the leaves of the plants, you had an issue with dewy mold. Spray the leaves with a bottle of soapy dishwater at the first signs of dewy mold. I've been gardening in both East Tennessee with a very similar climate to Ireland, very wet, high humidity, though it can get warm, the warm days do not last that long. I now live in Wyoming where the climate has completely changed, but I am continuing to grow everything that I grew before. I've been doing this since I was a little girl and I'm now in my 40's. What did seem to do much better this year was a few plants that I tossed into a pile of old mulched wood chips leftover from a tree that had been cut down the year prior. One particular red kuri squash that was planted there yielded over 20 squash on 1 plant. My cucumbers produced hundreds of cukes. I do not use harsh fertilizers and absolutely no pesticides. When I see a pest on my plants, it is immediately picked off and killed. I check my plants daily. If I fertilize at all, it's whatever was leftover in the kitchen that I just toss out to the soil. I have not amended my soil other than to add a few bags of garden soil which I have mixed simply with hoeing it in. I believe in digging deep, softening the soil up well, and invest in a broad fork. I plan my garden according to the vegetable I'm growing. I companion plant, space is very limited, so I plant herbs around the bases of nearly every large plant that I put. Anywhere there is an available space on my land, food is grown.
I start my plants in a purpose built mini greenhouse with heated sand base, and have been getting much better transplants, but sometimes they grow too fast. i've tried red kiri a few times, and it was fine, but didn't seem to get the results others do, and the fruit didn't ripen so well, but I plan to try again next season.
Great to read about all your approaches to growing food, sounds wonderful!
I agree with you about the Red Kuri - grew it this year for the first time - it's absolutely delicious - such a rich sweet flavour. And lots of squashes on each plant. Top variety!
I love pumpkins 🎃 - too bad they didn't work out for me this year, next year I'll try having them in a tunnel.
A tunnel can really work, if you are willing to give up the space! Hope you have better success next year.
we had a weird growing season here in new Brunswick Canada zone 4b , as well even had no flowers on my 2 potato plots , but was surprised at the yield from them none the less, 16 plants, approx 20 kg return , but had to water very heavy, i think the fact that i hill them with fresh compost twice is what gave me a ok yield , but 40% were bite sized, left them grow till first frost, then dug them up ,,, we had snow 15 cm and the ground froze hard again on june 6th ,my neighbor only had one spegittie squash , from 6 starter plants , and got very little yield of her potato crop , what rain we got was in flash down pours that would run off and not soak in at all , not even enough to maintain lawns which is odd for here, as we along the coast , ground was hard and very dry, to the point even walking on the lawn would kick up dust , i faired better than my neighbor mostly because, of my growing method, , 50 /50 compost and peat with 15% worth of course wood shavings, from my planner mixed, in 3x8 raised beds , with 20 cm+ depth ,neighbor had potato bugs very bad , while none were found on mine, just 30 m away , i can only think it due to them being in raised beds, and that i always plant marigold as a companion plant to attract pollinators with my potato plantings , carrots size while looked great at the surface, but were very short in length, green beans, did well , as did the peas, but tomatoes , which i normally have too many , were lacking , and had little to give away unlike most years, and got one cucumber from 25 plants and it was a dwarf , and straw berry's were a disaster , most were pasty and flavor less while the rest would not ripen before they started to get eaten by the crows , , ill add 2.5cu/m of fresh compost across all my beds x 8 and hope the weather will be better, ,unlikely as the weather network is already warning that 2019 will be hotter and dryer than 2018 , here believing in the future, ill still plant just the same ,
Sounds like a tough season, and hard to grow in. It would be very interesting to figure out what the issue with the potato bugs was - could be the compost mix you use, or just better water/nutrient balance.
Not looking good for the weather patterns in many places!
@@REDGardens ya so true, for the weather,,, ,as for the potato bugs, i suspect it may be the boxes, as the only time i had them was when i did not grow in a large bucket 2"cu or box bed , , but in all fairness the ground they grew was in a older open bottom compost bin ,, and i had potato bugs from that bin , but again not in one of my boxes only meters away , , my assumption is that they do not like to be above ground elevation , because in both grows , there were grown with compost ,,, that's why i suspect it not only the compost , , and although i had some bugs in that compost bin ,,, it was still far less than my neighbors , ground planted garden with out any compost just 30 m away , ,,, if any one can explain this i would enjoy hearing why , as my neighbor getting disappointing at her lack of ability with these pest and see's that i have none most years , and only once , from that bin , , the bin was dug to a depth of 20 cm below the surrounding ground level in a attempt to benefit from the compost tea leach and worm castings made by the native worms as they entered the compost bin to do their amazing work , as i have planted pumpkin in this method with great results , even better than , the one grown in a box bed on the same day , but that could be the micro climate caused by the bin it self, ( wind break and heat sink effects) compared to the open sided box bed even better moister availability at ground level ,, ,,,, i also feed every two weeks all my gardens with compost tea,( fine mesh bag, with 30 cm cu worth of fresh compost , soaked and agitated in a 205 l water barrel 24h ,then remove the mesh sack return remaining wet contents to the compost pile , water with watering cans ), , in place of chemical additives , with great results normally , but 2018 weather got the better of me i think
Great video. Would squash grow under thick plastic tarp or would I need to use a breathable ground cover?
I don’t know. I suspect it needs a breathable cover, but it probably depends on the size of the area and how windy it is to allow air to flow under the plastic, and how hot the climate is.
@@REDGardens it is in a windy and boggy field in ireland so the climate is not ideal to start.
I think ill invest in a roll of breathable cover just to be sure.
I will put a small portion under plastic tarp and see how they compare.
Try 'Pink Banana'. I live at 800ft and find it the most reliable, stores very well and it's delicious! I can send you some home saved seed if like.
'Pink Banana' looks like a very interesting variety. Did you find it to be as vigorous a plant as other people describe it?
Simple answer -Not sure,..but only because I've never heard anyone talking about it! I always trimmed my squash anyway, like I was taught as a boy. Once the plant has 4 good fruits I 'prune' that vine, leaving a couple of leaf nodes past the last fruit. Squash foliage will take over if left to it, but when pruned, (watered well) on heavily manured soil, they produce large fruits.
I have never trimmed my squash, except to prevent them from encroaching on another vegetable, but it is one area that I want to explore. It would be interesting to see how it would impact the results. Sounds like another experiment and another possible video!
It does! I would be interested in those results too. ps. I was a little surprised that you use F1 hybrids and not an heirloom variety. Was that just for uniformity?
There were a few reasons for selecting the F1. Mainly it has been the best preforming squash I have tried (thought haven't tried loads). There is that yield bonus for a F1. Though I'm not so interested in the uniformity for the sake of it, with so few plants the uniformity between them all reduces one variability in comparison. But the main reason for going with a commonly available vs heirloom variety is that I want to be relevant to a wide variety of people. I generally select decent common varieties, that anyone can at a variety of different seed suppliers. I would generally prefer an open pollinated variety, but with some crops, the F1 is a better choice.
How does it taste in comparison to a pumpkin you make pie out of or like zucchini or yellow crook neck?
This squash has a very dense flesh, very rich and quite dry compared to a lot of other squash?pumpkins. Which means I needed to adjust how I use it in the kitchen. i find it is better steamed rather than cut up in cubes and roasted - which causes into dry out quite a bit. It is excellent in soups and makes fantastic pies.
what a awesome method of growing pu,pkins
It works well
I wouldn't recommend polyculture for squash. Too much space competition. I would recommend cover cropping radish for winterkill to add phosphorus and potassium to the beds.
The polyculture (or more accurately intercropping) worked a lot better last season.
I wonder if a seaweed fertiliser would help reduce weather-related stress.
Interesting thought. I imagine that if the plants have a healthy mineral balance in the soil, they will be more resilient. On the other hand, if there was really great fertility, then the plants will grow even bigger, and would need more watering.
It won't reduce weather related stress. It will make for stronger plants IF soil fertility is a limiting factor. Which would make it appear to reduce weather related stress.
you're from Canada?! I didn't think you sounded very "Irish"
Yep, from Canada, but have been in Ireland for 2 decades.
@@REDGardens What got you to move to Ireland? If you don't mind me asking.
Molecule An Irish woman brought me home with her.
Do you use horse/cow manure for squash?
Generally I use compost from mixed sources, but I have some cow manure for one batch next year.
@@REDGardens I've tried different mixes over the years but always see a big difference when I put a good dollop of horse manure in the bottom of the planting hole
After the summer we just had, it is almost certainly a lack of water that lowered your yields. As you said, squash loves water. Ive also always had a problem with Crown Prince. Never seems to want to do well for us. Have you tried Red Kuri? Its a Japanese variety. Much smaller and probably the best squash ive ever tasted. Seems to do better than any other variety in Ireland, at least for us. Smaller individual fruit, but roughly around the same yields, maybe even more if you usually lose fruit to pests or rot.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_kuri_squash
I have tried Red Kuri, and had some success with it, and very tasty! I have had better success with the Crown Prince, but hope to grow some Red Kuri next year in my larger plot - they are so handy in the kitchen.
This white squash you are growing, is it a pumpkin or squash?
It is a squash - the Crown Prince F1 variety.
you learn more from failure than success
Indeed! And in this case, I still got a lot of squash to eat!
Roll on 2019! 🍏🥦🥕🌽🌶🍠🥔
Indeed!
Was the Squash good for soup
Excellent for soup. Made a big batch this evening.
I got the feeling watching this that you dont lose your squash leaves until the frost? i always lose mine way before due to mildew. How are you avoiding this? (live in Denmark)
Thankfully, the leaves of this variety didn't show any signs of mildew before the frost. I have had mildew on courgette leaves, but I really haven't figured out what to do about it, mainly because it is late in the season, and I have had enough of courgettes!
i harvested around 15 kilos of squash from around 20 square meters,i think my garden aint doing nearly as good as yours,well living in brazil,simple have too maany plagues,insects,mold issues,and stuff
Some places can be really tough to grow in, and I know that the pest problems I have here in temperate ireland are nothing compared to what can invade a vegetable garden closer to the tropics!
i grew musquee de provence by accident and i got a total of 21 pumpkins. of all sizes. small medium and large. they grew fast. and most were done growing by around august. the last one was finished a week before halloween. these things took up about 35 feet of space. the vines were massive. it did help that some grow up onto the fence. but the pumpkins that grew there got so massive broke off and the other we magaged to keep it supported. even though the ones that broke off were still young they tasted really good. they had a nice green brown marbling color to them. they store well so long as they dont get wet.
Ah, Musquee de Provence! I grew that a years ago, and got a really great crop one season which was so delicious, but struggled for the next few years. So I switched to the Crown Prince variety, which is close, but in my memory not as tasty. Thanks for reminding me about that variety, I should try growing it again.
@@REDGardens no problem bro. when i originally bought the pumpkin it just had a sticker that said fairytale. and then i found that thats usually the name given to it when being sold at super markets. there is also another one they sell here in los angeles called castilla. that one looks exactly the same but grow much bigger and has a bigger seed cavity. that one is typically from mexico since i think thats the one they grow in mexico for the seeds. since toasted pumpkin seeds are really popular there.
hopefully next year i can grow a different variety. maybe blue jarrahdale.
I was like 666