Harvesting Patty Pan Squash

I've got three patty pan (or scallop) squash plants in my garden (Cucurbita pepo). PlantFiles research suggests that they should be harvested when the fruit is 3"-4" in diameter. Does this agree with the experience of the veteran squash gardeners here? Thanks!

Depends somewhat on conditions, but that is right for healthy growing plants. Of course you can pick them smaller, but as they mature they will lose quality. Thats why you want to pick them when they are about half grown.

Also if you let them get much bigger, the seeds inside begin to get larger and the seed coats get harder and it makes them less pleasant to eat (unless you scoop out the seeds, which you don't have to do if you pick them young). The skins are also more tender.

Thanks, Farmerdill and CMoxon. BTW, is it too early to save these seeds? Can or should I save the seeds? I'd like to save them for next year, but I seem to recall that patty pan squash don't always grow true to type, so I'm curious what I'd end up growing. Thanks again.

Depends 1. On the cultivar. Many of them are hybrids. 2. Any other C. pepos near by. They will cross with yellow squash, zucchinni and pumpkins.

If you still wish to save seeds, let one or two mature on the vine. They get a hard dry shell like a gourd. In fact the mature dry scallops make good decorative items.

Thank you for tips, Farmerdill. I'm not sure of the cultivar -- they just said "scallop squash." I'd intended to buy ordinary yellow squash but didn't pay enough attention when I picked them up. I have two other C. pepos in the garden, and they are on the same row as the <cough> seven <cough> zucchini.

See here's the C. pepo I harvested today.

Looks very much to me like white bush scallop. I have grown them before. Here is the PlantFiles link.

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/61002/index.html

Looks more like a Bennings Green tint or one of its derivatives to me. There are just too many white and green tinted bush scallops to make any firm determination from a picture. The whites will not usually show the green tint visible in your photo.

The plant tag was remarkable for its lack of useful information. The squash was tasty, but milder than yellow squash. Nothing a little salt, pepper, garlic, and butter couldn't fix. :-)

kurtwall, you might enjoy trying them this way! Check out the recipe at the following link!

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/486822/

And by the way, a hearty WELCOME TO DG!

See you around the site!

Shoe.

I saute mine in bacon fat, red chili flakes, shallots, and string beans (all from the garden sans pig) then crumble in bacon at the end. Salt, pepper, and maybe a tiny bit of oregano.

Oh, boy. I have these too.
Funny enough, I thought the plant was dying from a major borer invasion. It is STILL KICKIN! Then I thought it was making an awful lot of stem...low and behold, to my failing eyesight, it was just SQUASH. Oh, yum.
I have been slicing and lightly pan frying them in olive oil (nice with a bit of parmesan sprinkled over them), grilling them, the other day I put one in homemade spaghetti sauce. And now I'm going to surf through those recipies!

GGG