How to Grow Sweet Potato Squash

Sweet potato squash is a type of winter squash and is also known as delicata. The taste of the sweet potato squash is somewhat like that of a sweet potato. A lot of winter squash have thick hard rinds that are not edible but the sweet potato squash is different. It has a thick and tasty flesh and an edible rind. The sweet potato squash is hardy, thrives in hot weather and produces fruit all summer long, plus it is easy to grow. Winter squash is best if steamed or baked.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Winter squash seeds

1. Fertilize the ground and wait a couple of weeks. This keeps the soil looser and richer, which helps the plants to grow better.

2. Plant about five seeds in a small hill and cover with about 1 inch of dirt. All of the hills need to be spaced 2 or 3 feet apart. Space each row of sweet potato squash 3 feet from each other. Not spacing each plant and each row enough can encourage a disease called powdery mildew to grow. This can occur also if the ground gets too wet.

3. Water the plants once a week. They need about an inch of water. You might try watering twice a week if the weather is extremely hot.

4. Check the seedlings often. If one looks weak or withered, pinch it off at ground level. This gets rid of the plants that aren’t going to make it and pinching instead of pulling keeps the roots of the other seedlings from being damaged.

5. Wait and watch until the squash grow big enough and then pick. One way to tell if the squash is ready to be picked is if your fingernail cannot puncture the skin.

Tips & Warnings

• There are two types of squash--summer and winter. Summer squash have thinner, softer skins and do not keep for long. Winter squash are thick-skinned and can be stored for months at a time before going bad. They need to be in a dark cool space, like a root cellar or a cabinet in a cool room. Delicata don’t always last as long as some of the other winter squash, due to their softer skins.
• It is important to wait until after the last frost of the season, late in the spring before planting sweet potato squash seeds. They do not do well in cold or cool ground. Sweet potato squash continue to grow and mature on the vine all summer. They need to be harvested before the first frost or the squash will be mushy.