Gardening tip: Cultivating spaghetti squash

It’s not quite the right time of year to begin planting a new vegetable garden, but now is a good time to start the planning process. Some vegetables should be planted earlier than others in order to capitalize on the entire growing season and spaghetti squash definitely falls into this category. However, knowing exactly when to put your squash seedling into the ground boils down to guessing and finger crossing.

Frost kills squash no matter the season; waiting to plant until no chance of frost remains in the spring is the only way to cultivate a proper squash garden.  In the same vein, plucking your squash from the garden before even one night of frost rolls through in the fall or winter is absolutely vital. 

Not quite ripe enough

 Spaghetti squash will ripen best on the vine and my advice is to let the vine die completely or until the chance of frost arises. If you must harvest earlier than you'd like, make sure to leave 6-10 inches of vine attached the to squash when you bring it indoors. A bright yellow squash devoid of any lingering green spots on a deceased vine will produce the tastiest “noodles.”

Once your squash is fully ripened, creating “noodles” is easy. My favorite way to cook the squash is to bake it in water. Here’s my recipe:

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Thoroughly wash squash and cut off as much stem as possible. Safely cut the squash in half lengthwise, using a large, sharp knife. With a spoon, scrape all of the seeds and seed mush out of the squash halves, leaving the meaty interior intact.

Fill a large baking tray with about 2-3 inches of water, depending on the size of your squash. Place the squash halves with skins facing up (meaty interior facing down) in the baking tray. Bake for 35-55 minutes at 400 degrees, depending on the size of your squash.

Grab a fork and slide the prongs into the meaty interior, pulling lengthwise to create “noodles.” The squash is ready if the skin bends when pressed gently and the meaty interior can easily be scraped into “noodles” with a fork. If you prefer softer pasta, cook the squash slightly longer. Otherwise, it has a natural ‘al dente’ texture.