Following my unsuccessful butternut crop last year, I made a conscious choice to avoid experimenting with the Curcurbita (pumpkin) family in my vegetable patch and resorted to purchasing my supplies.
To my surprise, I noticed a plant growing in October. It had germinated from a seed that escaped from my compost bin so I decided to leave it and see what would happen.
Early in December the first flowers appeared and after my pumpkin fly experience I didn’t hold high expectations. When the fruit began forming I realised that I was actually growing gem squash!
Three months later, the fruit have survived and I am about to eat my first harvest.
I wasn’t too sure when they would be ready to harvest so I did some research and uncovered an interesting fact. Did you know that gem squash is unique to South Africa?
I’ve also learnt that if planted at the beginning of spring, it is unlikely to be attacked by pumpkin fly. Also, given that my garden now contains a lot more plant material which attracts numerous pollinators, I did not have to go through a manual pollination exercise.
As you can see in the photograph, the leaves have white spots on them. This is a bit of mildew which is common with this crop during humid weather which we've experienced in the last couple of weeks. I'm not too concerned about it as the crop is almost ready.
The gem squash plant is easy to grow but needs a lot of space as it sends out long vines. My plant has spread itself over 5m². The plants thrive in rich, well drained soil in a sunny spot. Once planted, the soil must be kept moist and you can expect to harvest around 70-90 days. The fruit is ripe and ready to be picked when the skin is too hard to pierce with your fingernails.
