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Put Some Blue in Your Vegetable Garden©

By: Arlene Wright Correll

Sometime in the 1700’s the Blue Hubbard Squash arrived in Marblehead, MA from South America via the West Indies. These are pretty big squash and I have found that the best way, for me at least, is to put them in a big plastic bag and drop them onto the ground. They split open nicely and one is able to work with them.

Though blue on the outside, the flesh is a lovely bright orange and the squash is sweet and fine textured.

Once you have past your last frost and the ground is warm in the late spring you can plant these seeds by making small hills about 4 to 6 feet apart and putting 6 to 8 seeds per hill about 4 to 6 inches apart. Water well and in about 7 to 14 days your will have your plants. After your plants emerge and are about 4 inches tall, weed out all but the 3 healthiest looking plants. This is a good winter keeper.

When I live in Australia in 1984 I was served a lot of different kinds of blue squash and one of them was a pumpkin shaped one called Jarrahdale which grows from 6 to 120 pounds! Blue on the outside the flesh is sweet and rich with a golden yellow to orange color. This also is a good winter keeper and one of my gardening hosts said they had stored some for up to a year! The Australians crossed a Blue Hubbard and a Cinderella Pumpkin to get this beauty. You plant the seeds the same as for the Hubbard and you have a yield in about 100 days.

Since I spent a good deal of time in Queensland, I was served a lot of Queensland Blue Squash. This is a deep ribbed squash that is wider at the top and tapers down to a point weighing out at about 10 to 12 pounds. Blue on the outside it has a wonderful sweet deep orange flesh with stems that are a stripped green and white making this whole squash quite colorful to my artistic eye. It needs full sun, good watering, planting seeds as about and you will have a good yield in about 105 to 115 days. Absolutely delicious!

When you want something really different try an heirloom squash called the Guatemalan Blue Banana Squash. Obviously from its name it is blue and it is banana shaped with tasty firm flesh and this squash is quite productive giving a good yield. It is a vining type of plant and its squash range from 12 to 35 pounds. The seeds, once you can find some, will yield a good crop in about 100 to 110 days. The birds, bees and butterflies love this plant.

We often think of color only in our flower gardens, but putting some blue in your vegetable garden will make a good conversation starter, plus good, healthy eating.

Author Resource:-> For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books. Remember to check out her artwork, especially of her fruits and vegetables. Arlene says, "All my royalties from the sale of my books go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my site."

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