Garden Notes

Squash growing on top of the June bearing strawberries

It really bothers me to harvest an early crop and then have nothing in that space until the next year. So a few years ago when my strawberry crop was finished in early July, I decided to try planting butternut squash right on top of the strawberries.

Now, I was not sure if there would be sufficient time for the squash to mature and produce a fall crop, but decided plant anyway and hope for the best. Well that squash just took off and we had vines everywhere. I was actually concerned about how the strawberries would manage under all that foliage. Luckily that year we had a late fall and I was pleasantly surprised at how many squash we actually harvested. Also the strawberries did not seem to mind one bit and in fact I think they appreciated the shade during the month of August. Since my experiment went so well that first summer, I have repeated it each year since, being careful to plant my squash in different sections of the strawberry bed.

We all know that Wisconsin weather can bring an early frost, so I now plant those squash in mid-June. That way, they are up and growing, but not really very big while the strawberries are ripening. By July they start to spread out and by late August, I usually have the first few squash. The last squash in early October do not really harden off because we run out of time, but I harvest them anyway, cut them up into cubes and freeze them to be used in soups and casseroles through the winter.

I think this is a great way to get more mileage out of the same garden space without sacrificing the early crop, which in this case are my June bearing strawberries.