Since I have only a few goats now, I decided to stop growing the monster squash. My goats like butternut and so do we. Then I got seeds for kombucha monster squash.
Why Another Big Squash?
Of course, the packet didn’t admit it was a monster. It was just a big, winter squash.
Years ago, our market had sold kombucha squash in the fall. We tried it and liked it.
The squash was medium in size. It had a nice texture baked and a good flavor. Of course, it never showed up again.
This year Pinetree Seeds offered Kombucha winter squash. It immediately went on my seed list.
Maybe I Should Read the Packet?
Kombucha is a hybrid squash between a Cucurbita moschata and a Cucurbita maxima squash. It requires a pollinator like butternut or Hubbard.
Most summer squash is Cucurbita pepo as are sugar pie pumpkins and cucumbers. These are bushy or have shorter vines.
Butternut and a couple of other winter squashes are Cucurbita moschata. They have longer vines.
Giant pumpkins are Cucurbita maxima. These have huge leaves, huge vines, in other words, they are monsters.
Look at the Leaves!
I planted several butternut and kombucha seeds in my squash section. The little plants didn’t look like a problem.
Then the roots hit the stash of compost under their hills. The leaves spread to a foot and more wide. The vines approached the thickness of my wrists and started streaking across the section.
Kombucha Monster Squash
The vines filled the squash section and climbed the fences. One climbed the mulberry tree in the little chicken yard. Others began spreading across the tops of the tomato vines next door.
One thing seems to be true. These squash vines are prolific. There are squashes on the ground under the vines. There are squashes hanging from the fences. One is hanging in the tree!
We and the goats should have plenty of squash to eat this winter. That depends on when I can get into the squash section to retrieve them.
And, perhaps, I should mark out a bigger, more isolated squash section for next year.
