For the Love of Squash: Our Crop Plant Study

I developed the taste for squash quite a while ago. Squash casseroles being a summer mainstay here in the south. I remember sitting at my grandparents’ table. A plate laden with summer vegetable from Pawpaw’s garden. He had rows and rows of vegetables and two, large gardens. I thought his mechanical pea sheller was the neatest (and loudest) thing!

And ever since we’ve grown a garden in our own backyard, we’ve grown squash. The children love it too. Middle Girl especially. She loves it so much she asked for her very own square foot garden. Two-thirds of her garden is squash and one-third cucumbers. She also loves to make pickles with Nana, from her cucumbers, but that is another story.

Last year we lost our squash crop to some sort of borer beetle we read about in the paper. {Sniff} This year, I think we’ve got it!

The squash particularly love this spot by the patio. Plentiful sunshine. Plus that tiny leak in the garden hose gives the squash plenty of water when the children fill up the backyard plastic pool. Which is often these days of mid-90 degree temps and nary a drop of rain in sight {Pant, pant}.

So, yesterday morning, we noticed more of the beautiful yellow flowers of the squash plant. See how the outside of the petal looks like someone came along and folded it nicely, just so?

We read a few of the excerpts from the Handbook of Nature Study on pumpkin and squash. There is a wonderful explanation within those pages of the flowering of the plant, the vines, the seeds. We’ve watched our squash plant and noticed all the stages of the flower, pictured above.

We also read about the parts of the flower and their roles from our God’s Design for Plants.

We decided to draw the pretty flower and squash plant.

Youngest Girl pointed out the curly vine.

Middle Girl noticed the ants that were marching up and down the stalks.

Eldest Girl really liked the yellow flower.

Eldest Boy focused on the curling leaves and the large stalks.

We’ve watched our squash and cucumber since they were seeds. And the flowers make us anxious for squash to slice up for our supper. Microwave squash casserole, a pone of cornbread or a hoe cake, a few other veggies and some sweet tea or iced coffee will make for a wonderful summertime meal!

Studying our squash makes us want to study Lil’ Buddy’s potatoes too! We helped him plant them around the same time.

If you would like to study nature in your backyard, please join in with us at The Handbook of Nature Study. Our hostess, Barb-Harmony Art Mom, is sharing monthly newsletters chock full of ideas for short, joy-filled times outside. It’s the focus of our summer time!

How about you? How is your garden growing?