Organic Growing - Butternut Squash

During Summer vacation, I was at my newly moved compost unit emptying the compost container with a list of things to do on that day, accidentally, I rest my eye on a somewhat large leaf which belongs to a type of a vine. At that time I had no idea what this vine is going to be. I had a big dirt pile next to the compost unit which I was planning to add to the beds around the house. For a minute I was debating with myself to pull the vine so I can flatten the dirt to build the last raise bed for this summer. Luckily, I had no energy left in me to do such task on this particular summer morning. 

With some mental notes, and to find what this vine growing in our yard I headed indoors before the sun beats the ground. I knew we had a watermelon early summer and I must have dumped the seeds in the compost. I could not help notice the smile on my face thinking we will be growing watermelon this Summer. During that Aha moment, I completely pulled the idea out of my head getting rid of the new found watermelon vine by the compost. 

After few week my dear neighbor was very helpful in identifying this mystery vine which was making its way to our yard from the compost corner. I decided that I am going to let it run WILD oh... yes... it did ran wild, and in return it provided many butternut squashes. I shared few with our neighbors and we enjoyed one too. 

Few tips to keep in mind when you decide to intentionally plant butternut squash...

• These vines tends to run wild needs a bigger ground space but totally doable in a small yard. 
• Once it starts to bloom make sure to have some other plants which attracts bees for pollination if not you may need to perform this task.
• Once the vine start producing butternut squash, check all the veins on the squash have disappeared before harvesting.
• If there is more crop, try to cut back the leaves. Because, it will allow the sun to shine on these beauties. This process will help the crop to mature and turn its color from light green to a pale yellow.
• Once you harvest the crop let it sit for at least few weeks before preparing it (this resting period is called curing)

We will definitely add a vine to our garden next year as well, since we enjoyed it very much this year. It does adds its own charm to the backyard gardening! Do you plant vines in your garden. Do you plan to incorporate them during early planning season of your yard.