Distance between squash??

I plan on growing several varieties of winter squash this year. I will not need to save the seed. How far away from each other must I plant them? I'm not entirely clear about cross-pollinating. Thanks.

You'll just about have to tape the blossoms and hand pollinate. The pollen is insect borne and the bees will travel to any yellow flower in the vicinity.

The best thing you can do is plant varieties that won't cross pollinate with each other. A good source for this is the book...Seed to Seed by Susanne Ashworth. It's about 20.00 and is one of the most valuable resources a veggie gardener can have.

Daisy; If I read your post correctly, You are NOT interested in saving seed. If that is the case, you do not need to worry about cross pollination, which only affects the seed. Just plant for production. The vining types do take a lot of space and do not intermingle well with bush types. They simply overrun the bush types.

Oops!
I mis-read.

Thanks. I want to plant several varieties of winter squash, just for my own eating. I'm trying to grow vegetables that require little or no processing. My list consists of winter squash, beets, garlic and lots of different greens. I was concerned with planting my squash too close together, and ending up with some unidentifiable, inedible gourd-like squash. Lack of space isn't an issue, but it would be convenient if there were in the same area. Thanks again.

You'll probably find spacing information on your seed packet or in PlantFiles. In general, I allow about 3 feet between hills for bush varieties and 6 feet for vining ones, but a little more room wouldn't hurt if you've got it, especially for some of the longer vines.

HilltopDaisy,

I had an aggressive squash grow up into a concrete mesh tomato cage last year. It grew the largest squash of all. It's making me think more about allowing them to grow up more vertically. Maybe someone else on the forum can tell us if they have had success with a more vertical technique.

I notice you are a zone 4 grower like us. Here's a tip for you that I've learned in my garden. I never plant my squash in hills. Contrary to the popular wisdom, I actually make about a two foot diameter depression in the soil tapering down about 2 inches. My squash always will germinate without the extra heat (the theory behind the hill), but they never consistently germinate in a moisture-robbing hill. If you want the extra heat, then a cloche system is the best way.

FYI: Some people use the term hill to refer to a grouping of seeds in one location.

Jefe

My best (ok, only!) success with squash was when I planted them vertically on a ladder. I planted 2 seeds at the base of each leg and just let them have at it.. I also dropped a rope down from the center of the ladder top. They went nuts! I had patty pans and spaghetti squash all intermingling and having a jolly good time!

Last summer was a disaster - between the rain (fungus) and the white flies - not one single squash or cuke from 4 of each! Ugh!

This message was edited Mar 8, 2005 10:07 AM

I planted 7 winter squash, 4 cucumbers, and 4 cherry tomato plants all in a 4' square raised bed last year with a "framework" for them to climb on that was mostly 2 t-type fence posts, bamboo poles, and sisal twine. I had a very good yield from all the curcurbits. I just kept adding to the vertical space as they needed it and let them intermingle just like Sequee said.