Growing Spaghetti Squash

Growing Spaghetti Squash can be exciting with great rewards from the plant if they are looked after. You can either grow Spaghetti squash along the ground or up a frame. The choice is totally down to you and obviously depending on how much space you actually have in the garden as the plant can take up a lot of space. Here we will share with you all the tips for growing Spaghetti Squash and how to get great results.

Spaghetti is part of the Winter squash variety. Spaghetti squash gets it name from once it is cooked and you open it up it looks like spaghetti noodles pasta.

Allotment and Kitchen Garden Book

Are you starting an allotment or planning on growing your own fruit, vegetables, herbs, and flowers in a kitchen garden? If so we highly recommend the book Allotment Month By Month. This does exactly what it does on the cover to help you with what you should be doing in the allotment and kitchen garden each month. Below you can see the link for Amazon where you can purchase the book directly. This book is extremely popular with all allotment holders as you will read in the reviews:-

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Winter Squash

As mentioned above the Spaghetti squash is part of the winter squash family. Part of the winter squash family is butternut squash, Acorn Squash, Banana Squash, Buttercup Squash, Pumpkin plus lots more.

You won’t find any other winter squash like this variety, most winter squash are creamy on the inside whereas this one is stringy like spaghetti.

Purchase Spaghetti Squash Seeds

Do you fancy growing Spaghetti Squash plants at your garden or allotment. Here you can find the link from Amazon to purchase these seeds.

When to sow, plant and harvest Spaghetti Squash

Here you can find out when in the UK is the best time to sow, plant and harvest Spaghetti Squash. Knowing the right time to plant these is critical to getting as many crops as possible.

How to sow Spaghetti Squash Seeds

When sowing spaghetti squash seeds you need to think about how long they take to grow from seed to harvest. You are looking at around 100 days in total. So ideally you should be starting them off indoors this way you can start them in March. You can also plant them outdoors straight in the ground but they will need the warmth to germinate plus they can get attached while the plant is young.

To sow your spaghetti squash seeds indoors the best practice is to plant one seed per small plant pot that way when they grow you won’t need to transplant them to bigger pots before planting them out. When sowing the squash seeds sow them on their sides.

Once you have sown your squash seeds in a plant pot water it and put it somewhere light and warm to help the seed germinate.

If you are sowing your spaghetti squash seeds outdoors sow them in May as they need temperatures of around 21 degrees.

How to transplant Spaghetti Squash plants

When thinking about growing Spaghetti Squash plants outside you need to look at where you are going to be growing them as they can take up a lot of space. They create a vine which can grow for meters and the leaves will cover the garden.

You don’t really want to be planting your squash plants outdoors until the beginning of June or the end of May when the cold frosty mornings have gone.

Before planting out your Spaghetti squash you will need to harden the plants off by fetching them outside for a week and taking them back in. This will let the plants get used to the temperature and will not shock the plants when you plant them out.

To plant out your squash create a hole and add some compost and some fertiliser then you can plant the plant. When spacing them out make sure they are around 1.5 meters apart as they can spread really far.

How to look after Spaghetti Squash Plants

To get the best out of your squash plants keep the soil moist as they will need the water to grow fantastic squash. The best way is to plant a plant pot at the side and water into that then the water will go directly into the roots. Do not water round the plant as this can cause the stem to rot and break off killing your plant.

When you see the fruits on your spaghetti squash plants start to swell you can feed them every 2 weeks with a high potash feed. This will help the plant produce better crops and bigger fruits.

Do not let the fruit sit directly on the soil as this can cause the fruit to rot. Place a tile underneath it so it’s not touching the soil.

How to Harvest Spaghetti Squash

To harvest spaghetti squash is different to summer squash, you need to let the fruit mature on the plant and pick them before the first frost comes. Summer squash you pick when they are quite small.

Find out all about when to harvest Butternut Squash here.