Everything you need to know about growing all kinds of squash

With so many types of squash to choose from, you will never be bored in the squash patch. Here are some growing tips and varieties to add to your plant list.

• Yellow squash can have straight or curved necks, and all have a mild flavour.
• Zucchini is not always green. Gardeners can also grow gold or striped zucchini.
• Scallop or pattypan squash is much loved by trendy chefs, probably because the young, immature squash are so pretty on a plate.
• Middle Eastern varieties have smooth green skins and are often even more productive than zucchini.

• Buttercup types have vigorous vines that produce supplemental roots along their stems.
• Acorn squash mature faster than other winter types, are available in space-saving bush varieties and they're great for stuffing.
• Delicata or sweet potato squash are just the right size for single servings and are good for stuffing, too.
• Hubbards can be huge and they store well when kept in a cool, dry place.
• Butternuts are tops in nutrition, versatile for cooking, resist pests and store for a long time.

Summer squash, including yellow crookneck and straightneck, zucchini and scallop (also called pattypan) squash, grow fast and produce heavily when planted in late spring.

A few weeks later, plant winter squash in hills, sowing five seeds in each and thinning to the best three seedlings.

• Be sure to allow at least two to 2.5 metres around the hill for the vines to spread. Most summer squash grow into big, bushy plants, but winter squash run a little or a lot, depending on the variety.
• All squash like rich soil and plenty of sunshine. Prepare for planting by digging a hole large enough to hold a bushel of cow manure or compost; dump it in and top off with eight centimetres of good garden loam.

Butternuts are naturally resistant to squash vine borers.

• Plant plenty and harvest some of the fruits when they're immature, like summer squash.
• They're as tasty as zucchini, and picking some young ones will increase the size of the fruits you allow to mature.

Don't place where squash and its relatives have been grown in the past year or so. To confuse squash vine borers and cucumber beetles, interplant squash with radishes or basil.

Harvest once the rinds are firm and the vines begin to shrivel.

• Cut the stem about five centimetres above the fruit.
• While no squash is frost hardy, don't worry about cool fall nights — they intensify the sugars in the flesh and produce the sweet flavour.

Pumpkins love summer; some large-fruited varieties require about 110 frost-free days to mature.

In northern areas, some pumpkin-loving gardeners start seeds indoors under lights three weeks before their last frost date.

• Cure harvested pumpkins for a week in a dry place at a temperature of about 24°C.
• To kill bacteria and fungi on the skin, dip the pumpkin in a weak chlorine solution (one part bleach to 10 parts water).
• Store in an unheated attic away from dampness.

Miniature pumpkins are easy to grow, and they're great for a child's garden.

• Simply plant the seeds in an old compost heap and in 10 weeks or so you will have dozens of palm-size pumpkins.

Pumpkins with cheese in their names — including 'Long Island Cheese,' which has a round, flattened shape like a wheel of cheese — are resistant to squash vine borers. They're also better than jack o'lantern types for making pies.