um...can you resend that in English? Sorry, I tried, but I don't understand "fingers off key". =)

I think the answer is "yes".

Winter squash is called winter squash because it has a hard shell and, if properly cured, can last in storage for many months but that doesn't mean you can't grow it and enjoy it throughout the season.

I don't see any advantage to winter-sowing winter squash in our climate since it requires warm temperatures to germinate and grow and dislikes being planted early in cold soil, and tends to rot if planted to early. It is very easy to direct-sow and sprouts quickly.

You can direct-sow winter squash seed into the ground at the proper planting time, which is anytime after the soil temperature at planting depth is consistently staying at or above 70 degrees, which normally is sometime in mid-May. The OSU-recommended planting dates for winter squash in Oklahoma are from May 15th through June 15th. Assuming you haven't planted too deeply and assuming the soil temperature is between about 70 degrees and about 95 degrees, your seedling will sprout in about 3 to 7 days.

Days-to-maturity are estimates only and you may or may not have mature squash ready to be harvested in the number of days the seed packet says. Much of your success depends on having active pollinators in the garden when the blooms are open so that the squash blooms set fruit. If the pollinator find your male flowers and female flowers shortly after the female flowers bloom, then you may get squash in the number of days specified by the DTM on the packet. However, if the pollinators don't find the flowers for 2 or 3 weeks, your squash will mature "late" compared to the DTMs on the seed packet.

You can sow seed anytime the soil temperatures are in the right range, so if you want to time your winter squash to mature late in the season, pick a harvest date when you'd like to harvest your winter squash and be sure that date falls before your first freeze of autumn. Then, count backwards about 100 days and sow your seed then. If the seed sprouts in the standard week or less that's common in warm soil, you should be harvesting your winter squash in fall. Then, you cure the squash and store them appropriately for long-term storage so you'll be able to eat your winter squash during the winter months.

Having said all the above, I sow winter squash as early as I can in spring once the soil temps are at the right level. Winter squash are prone to several diseases and most have severe pest problems (squash vine borers and squash bugs, among others) and the larger and more well-established a plant before the pests arrive, the better its chance of surviving the annual onslaught of diseases and pests.

If you select a winter squash variety that is Cucurbita moschata, it will have a better chance of surviving than one that is C. pepo, C. mixta, C. maxima or C. argyrosperma because many C. moschatas are tolerant of squash vine borers while most other winter squashes are not. You should know that even the borer-tolerant varieties sometimes are killed by squash vine borers but not as often as the other types are. A few of the winter squashes from the C. moschata family are: Butternut, Golden Cushaw, Seminole, Musquee' de Provence, Black Futtsu, Lunga da Napoli, Long Island Cheese, Sucrine Du Berry and Trombocino.

If you've never grown any sort of squash family plants before, then you may not have problems with squash bugs or squash vine borers the first year or even the first few years. For a few years after we mooved here, the squash pests didn't find us and I grew 15 to 20 kinds of squash every year. Once the squash vine borers and squash bugs found our garden, though, they have come back almost every single year, but I still tend to get a pretty good harvest before they kill the plants. I think the only winter squash I've ever grown that has never been killed by the squash vine borer is Seminole.

Hope this info helps,

Dawn

i'm growing butternut,spaghetti, and .bush buttercup. I'm really conserned about the price of veggies. my friend in new york said she had to pay $5.00 4 a head of lettuce. I'm adding Swiss chard and Fennel this year When do u plant fennel?

Fennel is something you can winter sow. However, it dislikes transplanting so be very careful not to disturb the root ball when you do, or grow it in peat pots or something biodegradable that can be transplanted in its entirety.

You can also sow seeds in a pot you want to grow it in now, or direct sow them on a prepared bed. Fennel likes a rich soil (same as dill).

I am not sure about Swiss Chard, but Dawn probably knows.

Susan