How to Grow Squash in Houston

Versión en español

Learn how to grow squash in Houston, and also pumpkins, winter squash, zucchini squash, Calabacitas and all the others. All these plants are grown during the summer, and they need the same care.

Here in Houston, you can star the seeds in little pots at the beginning of March. Place one seed per pot. And when the plant is about 10 cm high (3″), it’s time to transplant to a raised bed. Be careful when transplanting to not disturb the roots.

You can also plant the seed directly into the ground (April throughout the summer), do a small hill (about 10 cm high, 3″) and plant three seeds in a triangle, 3 cm. deep (1″). If all three sprout, transplant or discard the two weaker plants and only allow 1 per hill. All these plants grow a lot and need space.

Watering should be directed to the base of the plant and practice deep watering, once a week during the spring, later every day. Plants can look sad during the day in the heat but should recover during the night. If they look wilted in the morning, water.

It is important to harvest every day as soon as the season starts, about two months after planting, squashes can go from an appropriate size to Extra Large in a day, the more you harvest, the better the production. You have to use scissors to cut the squash, leaving about 2 cm of stem attached to the fruit (little less than 1″).

The squash plants are easy to grow, you only need a large area to plant and sunshine. Unfortunately, they are affected by various pests and diseases; my management is to remove the plant and plant more seeds. You can star seed all throughout the summer.

Recommended varieties:

For summer squash (Zucchinis don’t do well, so this is usually the alternative in Houston),