Row by Row Episode: You Should Be Growing Winter Squash
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So you think you can only grow summer squash during the summer? That's not true, you need to be growing winter squash. Hoss and Sheila give you the TOP 10 BEST winter squash to start in your backyard grocery store! 🌱
Ask most any home gardener and they will tell you that squash is probably the easiest vegetable to grow. Winter squash comes in many different shapes, sizes, colors, and flavors. It differs from summer squash in that it is harvested and eaten in the mature stage when the seeds (inside the vegetable) have fully matured. Many winter squash varieties can be stored throughout the winter. With over 20 different winter squash varieties, Hoss has you want you are looking for.
Hoss' Top 10 Winter Squash Picks
#10 - Acorn Squash
Acorn squash is a semi-bush plant that grows well in compact spaces. Our acorn winter squash varieties are Table Ace, Table King, Taybelle PM, and Reno Acorn.
#9 - Red Kuri
Red Kuri is an open-pollinated, hubbard-squash type with orange, teardrop-shaped fruits that are great for soups, pies, and bread. Each plant produces 2-3 fruits.
#8 - Georgia Candy Roaster
The North Georgia Candy Roaster is a big one! This variety is an open-pollinated heirloom that is extremely prolific and produces fruit that has a nutty, mild sweet buttery flavor. One squash has been known to make up to 3 pies!
#7 - Kabocha
Kabocha Squash is an open-pollinated variety that is hailed by many as one of the best-tasting squash of all time. Not only does the yellow/orange flesh have a wonderful nutty, sweet flavor but the dark emerald skin is also edible. This Japanese pumpkin is a prolific early maturing variety that produces 3-4 lb. fruits.
#6 - Hoss Butternut Squash
Hoss Butternut Squash is a hybrid with improved productivity and more uniformly shaped fruits. Vigorous vines produce heavy yields of 5-6 lb fruits. Hoss Butternut Squash has a less-pronounced bulb and fruits are more uniform from top to bottom than traditional butternut squash. This ensures more flesh or meat per fruit. Fruits have rich orange flesh with excellent flavor and texture.
#5 - South Anna Butternut Squash
South Anna Butternut Squash is a stabilized cross between Waltham Butternut Squash and Seminole Pumpkin. This open-pollinated variety has the shape of butternut squash with the vigor and disease-resistance of a Seminole Pumpkin.
#4 - Spaghetti Squash
Our Primavera spaghetti squash is a hybrid with great fruit uniformity and consistency than open-pollinated varieties. Semi-bush plants with concentrated fruits.
#3 - Algonquian
Algonquian Squash is a Native American heirloom originally grown by the Abenaki tribes of New England. Produces loads of 3-5 lb fruits on semi-compact vines. Sweet and savory!
#2 - Delicata
Delicata Winter Squash is noted for its high sugar content and sweet flavor. Vining growing habit that makes the excellent ground cover to suppress weeds. It's one of the sweetest winter squashes you can grow.
#1 - Sweet Dumpling
Sweet Dumpling Squash has delicate flesh with a wonderfully sweet flavor. Easy to prepare and great for stuffing. Average 8-10 fruits per plant. Hoss' favorite winter squash is the Sweet Dumpling variety.