I've had them last all summer in the years when the SVBs don't show up. That's from an April of May planting. In a bad drought year, they last as long as I keep watering them. I only get an SVB-free year about 2 years out of 10.

If you want to grow summer squash all summer long without worrying much about SVBs, grow one of the Korean summer squashes that are C. moschata types. Some of them are shaped very similar to avocados and are nicknamed avocado squash. The other one is long and similar in shape to zucchini. C. moschata squash plants have solid vines, not hollow ones, so the SVB grubs find it almost impossible to tunnel through them. Kitazawa Seed Company is my source for the hybrid Korean summer squash seeds, and they are worth every penny.

My yellow squash lasted until October last year, when I let it go and stopped fighting the squash bug battle. (The bugs showed up in July and I cleaned them out a couple of times a week.) The seeds were planted at the end of April and they drowned in May, but a few came back and did really well. I was able to freeze quite a bit. (I'm learning that frozen squash is good in casseroles and soups, but not plain like the fresh. Also, I pre-breaded several batches before freezing and they taste fine. Still not quite the same as fresh.)

I love squash but hate the squash bugs. I don't even like looking at them. I agree that frozen squash isn't the same as fresh, but I generally only use it in casseroles and soups. Nothing is as good as fresh, but I'd still rather have squash from our own gardens, even frozen squash in the off-season, than to buy squash at the grocery store where we have no idea how it was grown. Sometimes I buy organic squash in the winter time but I don't even think grocery store squash is nearly as good as squash from the garden.

Thanks so much for the replies. I am thinking of starting the seeds in big pots a couple weeks earlier to get a head start on the squash bugs.