Ann's Air Gardens

Squash from Seeds

These seeds I am growing from a supermarket spaghetti squash may or may not ever bear fruit, but that does not matter as I am growing them for their leaves.

I am in a hurry to get some leaves grown to try in different recipes, as it is possible that with recent disruptions in our food supply it might not be possible to find safe to eat fresh greens in my local store.  I hope that doesn't happen, but I want to be ready.  

I chose spaghetti squash for 5 reasons:

1.  It is very fast-growing. 

2.  I happened to have the seeds on hand. 

3.  The leaves are highly nutritious. 

4.  If mature squash develop I can use the pulp to improve my bread dough, and

5.  I just really like squash. 

 

Making Do with What is on Hand

These are the first true leaves from Ronde de Nice Squash seeds I had sprouted indoors before the 2020 Shelter in Place went into effect. 

Before this crisis I never would have thought of eating squash leaves as a vegetable, but apparently they are highly nutritious .  They are attractive as well, and grow fast.  Assuming that they are cut and come again, I removed these leaves as soon as new leaves started to open behind them. I rolled them into a cigar-shape for easy slicing and cooked up a small batch.  Happily, I found that the scratchy texture of the leaves mellows out upon cooking and the flavor was quite acceptable.  I put them in Pasta Primavera, along with thinly sliced Leek leaves. 

My next endeavor will be to sprout some seeds I happened to have saved from store-bought spaghetti squash to see if their tender young leaves will make a viable indoor food source for these times and to see if they can be propagated from cuttings as quickly as they grow from seeds.   

I should mention that store bought fruit and vegetables may or may not be fruitful, but my goal here is to produce leaf crops, so that doesn't matter.  

I also use squash to improve my bread dough, and blogged about that here.