Winter Squash -A Start!

While today wasn't exactly sunny and hot, the rain did at least stay away for the most part. The ten day forecast still shows mostly cloudy and cool days ahead, so I decided that I had better start some of my heat-loving vegetables in pots. I fear that if I were to direct seed them right now, the seed would simply rot in the cold, damp soil. I chose three varieties of Winter Squash to grow this year. Two are returning favorites - "Delicata" & "Butternut". I wanted to try one new variety this year. Since I am short on garden space with at least partial sun, I had to retire "Buttercup" to give "Chirimen" a try. "Chirimen" is described in the Territorial Seed catalog as an open-pollinated winter squash that matures is 95-110 days. The squash has  a greenish-black shell that develops into a dull bronze-orange color. The 5-8 pound fruit have a moist, sweet flesh. Due to space constraints, I am going to have to grow these down in the big garden. We shall see how they do in half-day sun. Fingers crossed. I also found in my seed stash a never before opened package of  "Canoe Creek Colossal"  Melon, package dated 2008. I have no idea where I am going to plant them and if they will even set fruit here in the Northwest. But with that great name I have to give it a try!

The last few years I have had good success starting my squash in peat pots. When it comes time to transplant, I gently pull away what's left of the pot and plop the seedling right into the hill. They haven't missed a beat with that method. Pictured above, I have all the pots ready to plant.

The seeds are dropped in. It will be interesting to watch the germination rates. The melon , "Delicata" & "Butternut" seed is all 3 years old. For this reason, I planted 1 more of each variety then I will need. The squash did have a decent germination record last year, with seed two years of age. I only had to re-plant a few.

Topped off with  soil, watered and ready. Now is the hard part, waiting!

I have also been potting up more dahlia tubers this week, as the weather has allowed. Today I planted for over an hour. I now have 147 potted - but nothing up yet!