Two squash/pumpkin questions . . .

[oceanbaby]

I am new to gardening, and need some help!

I planted a yellow squash plant. It is huge, and the squash are growing. One squash, however, is HUGE! It is probably two feet long and six inches wide! However, it hasn't turned yellow - it is still a pale green. When do I harvest this thing? Is it even edible anymore? Is there a way to keep them from getting so huge, or is this just what they do?

We planted two jackolantern pumpkin plants, and one mini pumpkin plant. All three are huge and sprawling all over the place, with upwards of 50-60 flowers/mini pumpkins. Am I supposed to thin out any of the individual flowers/pumpkins? Will they grow to full size with that many?

Any tips or suggestions would be much appreciated!

[cschick]

Originally Posted by oceanbaby

I am new to gardening, and need some help!

I planted a yellow squash plant. It is huge, and the squash are growing. One squash, however, is HUGE! It is probably two feet long and six inches wide! However, it hasn't turned yellow - it is still a pale green. When do I harvest this thing? Is it even edible anymore? Is there a way to keep them from getting so huge, or is this just what they do?

We planted two jackolantern pumpkin plants, and one mini pumpkin plant. All three are huge and sprawling all over the place, with upwards of 50-60 flowers/mini pumpkins. Am I supposed to thin out any of the individual flowers/pumpkins? Will they grow to full size with that many?

Any tips or suggestions would be much appreciated!

Pumpkins have male and female flowers, so not every flower will result in a pumpkin. (In fact, in my experience, they generally have far more male than female flowers.) You want to leave things alone until you're at least sure you have a pumpkin that's been fertilized. If it hasn't, it'll turn yellow and fall off the plant in a few days. Don't do anything to the flowers themselves unless you want to make some squash blossom recipe.

I've heard that if you want massive, massive jack-o-lanterns, you shouldn't allow more than one or two pumpkins per vine. If you just want average size jack-o-lanterns, you can leave more than that. Just make sure the vines are receiving plenty of water.

[JamieCatheryn]

You want to cut summer squash when it's the size you want (like 5-8" often?), even if it does odd things with the color. The immature fruit are not ripe anyway so ripening is not a big concern I guess. If your summer squash grow big and hard like winter squash, you can always peel them and scoop the seeds out and cook them so they don't go to waste.

[laohaire]

I'm just envious. My squash and pumpkins are doing squat.

[HeatherAtHome]

Big summer squash: after peeling and scooping out the seeds, you can also grate them up and freeze to use later in soups, pasta sauce and cakes/cookies. I'm purposely going to let some grow later on.

[TanyaS]

Envious here, too. We lost all our squash, zukes and pumpkins to borers and squash bugs.