Vegetables Gardening - Growing Organic Vegetables

Hi, this is my first year of gardening witht your method. I wondered about the squash (zuchinni, yellow crook neck, summer squash) and if they are able to climb the strings attached to the T-frames. If they are then do you prune them to one stem like the cucumbers and melons? Thanks for your help.

Heather & Group:

Zucchini and yello crook-neck squash are DETERMINATE crops, which means that they do NOT grow long vines, and can't be trained to grow vertically. However, it is still advantageous to hold the short stems off the ground, and to prune leaves to keep them from dragging on the ground or interfering with their neighbors.

On the other hand, other squash, which ARE vining, CAN be trained up the baling twine strings. In those situations you should limit them to one vine.

But in removing the sucker stems of all vining crops except tomatoes, you let them grow beyond the first female blossom (the one with a tiny fruit forming behind it). This way you get much more fruit, but without having vines everywhere.

Jim Kennard

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