How to Grow Spaghetti Squash From Seed
Spaghetti squash seeds
This is an exciting time at the House-of-Chaos. We’ve been exchanging seeds via PlantSwap and Freecycle and starting those seeds in Peat Pellet Greenhouses. Each greenhouse has 36 chambers so I’m able to get three dozen seedling started. One of those seedlings are spaghetti squash, a melon squash that produces the closest thing to pasta! The sweet golden fiber is delicious when baked, served with butter and cheese, pesto, Alfredo, marinara and meatballs.
Spaghetti squash is an easy-to-grow squash that can be grown nearly anywhere. It’s a winter squash, which means that it’s not harvested until cool weather, after the skin has had a chance to become hard. Because spaghetti squash is so easy to grow, and develops so quickly, it’s an especially good beginner plant for young gardeners. Just be sure you have a sunny spot and plenty of space in your garden for the sprawling vines.
Instructions
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Young Spaghetti Squash
Plant spaghetti squash seeds about three weeks after the last frost inyour area, or when the soil is about 60 degrees F. Select a large, sunny spot in your garden, and prepare the soil for planting. Remove weeds, loosen the soil to a depth of at least 6 inches, and work in at least 2 inches of compost.
- Hoe the loosened soil into mounds, and plant four or five spaghetti squash seeds 1 inch deep in each mound. Leave a minimum of 6 feet between each mound, and allow at least 50 to 75 square feet for each one. Keep the soil damp until the seedlings sprout, and then water deeply once a week. Spaghetti squash does better if the soil is kept fairly dry.
- Keep the area free of weeds either by hand or with a hoe. If you use a hoe, work carefully so you don’t disturb the shallow roots of the spaghetti squash.
- Thin the seedlings when they’re 3 to 4 inches tall. Leave the two largest spaghetti squash plants per mound, and remove the remaining seedlings by pinching them off at ground level. Don’t pull the seedlings, because doing so can dislodge the seedlings you want to keep.
- Harvest spaghetti squash when the skin is hard, usually in September or October, or before the first hard frost. Cut the squash from the vines, leaving about 2 inches of stem remaining. Store the squash, not touching, in a dry place where the temperature remain between 50 and 55 degrees F.
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