I’m always trying new things in the garden. For a couple of bucks I can get a package of seeds and satisfy my curiosity. Summer squash produce quickly and abundantly, so it’s worth the minimal effort it takes to grow them! Let’s check out two varieties.
This year one of my experiments was a patty pan squash called Patisson Golden Marbre Scallop. I tried looking for something that reportedly has the best flavour. These little squash are roundish with a delightful scalloped detailing like your grandma’s lace doily.
Growing Summer Squash
The “bush” of Golden Marbre flowers profusely, almost as thickly as a golden bouquet, which looks awesome, except it is all hidden beneath the canopy of giant leaves.
Summer squash, like zucchini, don’t always have flavour on their own, you have to pair them with something else, and then the zucchini takes on the flavour of the something else, such as in zucchini chocolate cake – nice and moist, but no “zucchini” flavour. I often use it shredded, as filler in soups, just something to add, take up space, thicken it up.
BUT, I wanted to see if there was such as thing as a good tasting summer squash.
I made a seed order from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. They have lots of variety of unique vegetables and flowers, and heirloom, to boot – so I can collect seed for next time, if I can get the fruit to mature enough to produce viable seed. Good luck, Erika – my zucchini seed collecting last year was a fail at 0% germination.
Like other squash, the plants grow quickly. They can be direct seeded in the garden after the last chance if frost. In our too-short season, I start mine 3-4 weeks before the planting date, indoors.
Squash appreciate a lot of watering. On top of that, they grow into huge mounding forms, most of them, about three feet tall and wide. The Italian zucchini I grew that last two years, Costata Romanesco, was larger than most! It may have tasted better than regular zucchini, such as black beauty. Maybe.
Back to the Pattison Golden Marbre Scallop, they can be picked when they are 2-4” across and still lightly coloured. At this size they are nice and tender, and can be sliced into salad, sauteed, or baked.
They can be left to grow larger and treated as a winter squash, lasting longer, but with thicker skin which has aged to a golden yellow. It would be an outstanding addition to a fall display!
To my perhaps unrefined taste buds, they were not anything spectacular. But! They look so fantastic it may be worth keeping around. Even the hubby said so, so it must be true.
The other summer squash I grew this year was a zucchini replacement. It is common in northeastern Italy. The Italian zucchinis are said to be the best!
The Rugosa Friulana squash is another stunner to look at. Its creamy, ivory skin is fantastically warted. Colour and texture together!
But does Rugosa Friulana do anything for the palate? I chowed down on a neck of squash, plain and raw, one afternoon. After a few bites you could definitely get a beautiful nutty flavour going. Quite remarkable, actually.
With other food, as with a meal, the flavour is subtle, but the consensus is that it is, indeed, better than regular zucchini. The flesh is nice and firm as well, while the skin remains edible.
I found the flesh to be a bit thin when they were young and small. I would actually prefer to get the best bang for my buck and let them grow a bit thicker, and maybe dig out the soft, seedy middle, but get more of the firm outer flesh out of the deal.
We ate them plain, in salad, sauteed, and roasted. While the plant was going to town, and we couldn’t keep up with fresh eating, we shredded a few squash, scooping out the seedy middle, and put it in the freezer in freezer bags in two cup amounts, to be added to soup and baking later.
Well, there you have it. Two summer squash that will make a reappearance in my garden next year. I call that a success.
Check out this other neat produce to grow in the garden:
I'm Erika, I live on eighty acres in the northern prairies of southern Manitoba with my husband and four kids. Here, we enjoy the outdoors and try to be more self sufficient as we try new things in the garden and learn about our land and the world around us.
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