I've been delaying this as much as I possibly could but after I made a discovering on my squash plants I decided this would no longer be a good idea. Yes its possible we could still have a freeze but it is unlikely. So I will take my chances.
I found flower buds on the squash plant. Yup and some bloomed already. Can you believe it? So given this, the squash might take the shock of a transplant even harder with fruit on it but it can no longer stay in the pots they're in. They're just too small.
So first is first here is how the plants looked a week ago.
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| Outdoor Pot Garden Squash/Corn 3/10 |
These are buds I discovered on Monday (3/14). The nice part about these picture are the close ups. It gives it a jungle appearance and you can see the stems of the squash. They are spiny. So be careful when handling them. They can poke you. It doesn't seriously hurt but who likes to get poked.
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| Squash Bud |
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| Squash Bud with Vines |
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| Squash Bud |
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| Squash Vines Holding on to corn Leaves |
I noticed that the squash also grow small curly vines. This immediately made me think of Cinderellas carriage and how it came from a pumpkin. Also its interesting how the buds are mostly at the base of the plant. That means that their blooms are not very visible. They hide under the leaves.
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| Squash Blossom |
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| Squash Blossom |
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| Squash Blossom |
The squash blossoms seem to come out then shrivel up right away. I think its because these plants are very thirsty and they need plenty of water. I'm not very good about watering them early in the morning so the plan is to water them at night and give them another soak in the day if they need it. Especially now that I put them out in the ground. Besides I read that you don't want to water them in the morning when the flowers are blooming because it will affect their pollination. I'll write more about that at the end. The above open blossoms are those pictured after a transplant where I gave them a good soak the evening before with a bit of the Bonnie's Herb and Vegetable Plant Food.
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| Transplanted Squash |
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Transplanted Squash and Corn |
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Transplanted Squash and Corn |
I found that the squash did not have very deep roots. It seemed to be okay with its small planting space. The corn though was dying to get out of the pot. It was getting close to lining the bottom of the pot with roots. I pulled a few of them loose so that they could grow into the new soil.
Lets cross our fingers that they do well in their new spot with the soil. I plan to water them every day for a week or two so that they don't take them move so badly. Then I'll probably go back to watering them every other day. If I see that they take the sun hard, I'm ready to cover them up to provide them with a bit of shade and rest from the sun.
The squash blossoms are very interesting because it turns out that there are male and female flowers on the same plant. The female flowers will have a small fruit like shape at the base where as the male flowers will have a simple base. Both a male and a female flower have to be available on the same day so that they can pollinate and the female flowers can form fruit. I'm studying the flowers as they are coming out and when I can identify each with certainty, I will post some pictures and let you know.
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