Winter squash update...

I picked the first winter squash from the garden yesterday, one of the Orange Cushaws.  It had turned orange, mostly, so I decided to go ahead.  There must be about 6 to 8 of these on each of the 4 plants out there, and they are EVERYWHERE!  Very prolific vines.  If we can salvage just a few of these before our first heavy frost, I'll be happy.

2 pounds, 1 ounce!

Next is the biggest Pink Banana Squash, about 13" long right now.  I've read up on it and think I have to wait until it turns pink to pick it.  It's still a definite pale yellow right now.  I hope it makes it.  This plant is also just HUGE!  There are about 4 to 5 on each of these vines too, and the vines are the longest out there, reaching out of the garden and into the ground around it.  There's just no stopping it. I hope we make it with these too.

I have a couple of squash out in the Watermelon/Pumpkin patch, too.  The Thelma Saunders has set a few fruit, but the others are lots of vine and no fruit yet. The biggest one looks about the right size, but it's supposed to turn a pale orange when its ready.  Probably won't be getting anything much more from them before frost, but we'll see.  The Farmer's Almanac has the first heavy freeze for our area for November 6th...interesting to see how close it will be to that date.

Thelma Saunders Sweet Potato Squash

John and I are making plans to increase the size of the garden this winter.  He's going to move the fence around and build me 4 more raised beds and the hoop house from the Bean Haus that he put up for me last spring.  I'm sooo-o-o looking forward to having more room to move around.

I'm going to update on how the garlic is going soon.  I'm supposed to cover the entire bed in hay for the winter, so I'll do that and then let you know how it goes!