My wife and I went away for a week, and put our 18-yo son in charge of picking our summer squash (yellow squash and zucchini) while we were gone. I showed him what bed they were in, and how big they should be when they should be picked.

Unfortunately, when we got back, we found that he had ALSO picked all of our winter squash (Candy Roaster North Georgia), which were in a different part of the garden, thinking that they were other yellow squash, and that he had "missed" them earlier in the week. We had 3 squash growing, all about 20 inches long, and ranging in weight from 5 to 6.5 lbs each. One of them (the heaviest) was starting to get an orange tinge, and the stem was just starting to get brown/woody in parts. The other two are more yellowish-tan with some green areas, and the stems were still pretty green. The plants were put in the ground on May 3rd, and the squash were picked approximately July 15th.

Questions:

Will these be OK to eat?

Will they ripen more it we leave them on the counter?

Is there still time for the plants to set more fruit? (we are in Zone 9b, San Jose, CA)

Maybe the early harvest will encourage the plant to set more fruit?

See attached photo.

Thanks for any advice.

-Joe