I realize I have spent a bit of time this fall lamenting my weird potager…. but I have the truth on my side.
I had 2 spaghetti squash. One yielded 11 squash the other 2. Four per plant is normal.
I had 4 butternut squash plants that yielded 4 normal squash and 3 of the tiniest butternut squash ever. Four per plant is normal.
I planted 2 delicata squash and got 4 total squash. I don’t know what normal is as this is the first year.
I planted 2 sweet dumpling squash and got the one I cooked below which was a little bigger than a tennis ball. The other plant also produced 1 squash – the size of a golf ball. I didn’t bother.
The acorn squash produced the normal number but only about half grew to a normal size.
I don’t think the garden store fertilizer is working.
It may be time to call the farmer…..
But the green beans and onions and shallots and tomatoes were wonderful!
It may be time to give up the potager…..
Stuffed Sweet Dumpling Squash
Total time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 sweet dumpling squash, cut in half, seeds removed
- 2 shallots, roughly chopped
- 2.5oz (45gr) bacon, chopped
- 1 tbs butter
- 2 tbs maple syrup
Instructions:
- Place squash halves face down on a baking tray and bake in 400F (200C) oven for 25 – 30 minutes. Or microwave for 5 – 7 minutes. Shells will ‘give’ to the touch when they are ready.
- Remove and turn over.
- While squash bake sauté bacon until almost crisp. Drain fat if needed.
- Add butter, shallots and sauté 5 – 10 minutes longer shallots start to brown.
- Remove from heat and add maple syrup. Keep warm until needed.
- When squash are ready divide mixture and fill each squash half
- Return to oven for 5 minutes, just until heated through. Serve.
I also have, in the past, lamented the lack of fall color here compared to where I grew up in the hills along the Mississippi in Wisconsin.
I may be getting used to living here or, perhaps, I’m just seeing the beauty more clearly.
Here is our little woods this fall:
Not nearly as brilliant as a hillside of red maples and sumac, but it is pretty.
When we had the field cut after we moved in we decided to leave a little patch for the rabbits.
Yes, in retrospect that was a foolish decision. This is what it looked like in 2009:
We ignored it for 2 years, then in 2011 we cleaned it out in the spring. We took out trees that were too close and cut out the brambles.:
The tall poplars in the back were on our neighbors property and have since been cut down. Our woods looks like a bunch of skinny sticks.
It’s growing up. A few more years and will have our own supply of firewood.
I have had a difficult time growing squash also! When you figure out the trick, let me know! I did not know they were so fussy.
Give up the potager?! Nooooooo. Not when you get those cute little dumpling squashes. Are they sweet like butternut?
I didn’t try growing winter squash but I did plant yellow zucchini. The plants produced zillions of male flowers and not one female flower. So no zucchini at all!
elena, some years they just grow like crazy; this year they didn’t. I also did not know they were fussy. I thought you just threw some seeds out and that was it. Now I’ll have to figure it out LOL Thus we learn.
Elizabeth, no, I won’t give it up – but I do get to complain about it. My yellow squash did the same. How can I not grow courgette!?! I need to find some manure….. Maybe I’ll creep out to the farm field some night….