Spaghetti squash - Vegetable spaghetti

Cucurbita pepo

Spaghetti squash produces oblong fruits weighing 1-3kg with yellow flesh and skin. The pumpkin is cooked in pieces, and the flesh falls apart during cooking into a shape similar to spaghetti. These are most often served as a side dish.

Pumpkins can be sown in pots at the end of April and transplanted to a permanent place when they sprout the first true leaf, but not before the end of the danger of frost (May 15), or they can be sown directly to a permanent place at that time. When planting in a permanent place, we must make sure that the plant has enough space, so we plant them at least 50 cm apart. Pumpkins like strong soil, so we do not plant them in poor soil, but they grow very well, for example, on the edge of a compost pile. Pumpkins also do not tolerate drought well, so we water them occasionally during dry periods.

If we want a lot of fruit on one plant, we must pinch it. On the main cutting, remove the top after the first nine leaves, and do the same on the first side shoots. The main cutting has almost all male flowers, the first side shoots have a few male and a few female flowers, and the other side shoots have mostly female flowers.

ATTENTION: for good pumpkin germination, the soil must be at least 10°C!