From time to time I look at forums on gardening. A forum is supposed to be a place for discussion and inspiration, but they seem mainly for purposes of friendship and camaraderie, not information. When one takes part in a forum, how does one know if one is getting the correct information? Forums seem filled with folks with questions but few people providing correct answers. For example, I just now looked at a well-known forum on year-round vegetable gardening and someone was asking what to plant in winter months in USDA Zone 9 or 10 and that they already knew they were going to plant winter squash. Someone should have written pronto to say “Hey, you don’t grow winter squash in fall and winter! You plant it in spring.” But no one posted this reply.

Winter squash is a summer vegetable, not a winter one. Winter squash needs to be planted in spring for a long growing season. The common name “Winter Squash” is confusing and comes from the fact that winter squashes have a hard shell and thus they can be stored and eaten in winter. In the olden days people had root cellars where they stored their vegetables for winter use and squash of many kinds, along with potatoes, carrots, onions, beets and turnips was among long lasting vegetables that would feed families through the winter months.

Reliable information on growing vegetables can be obtained from organic gardening clubs, long-time local gardeners, authoritative books for the specific climate in which one lives, Master Gardeners and garden seminars, and garden magazines. I wrote my book for our mild Mediterranean climate since I saw a need for explaining how to garden here where we garden year round but we plant the warm-season crops and annual flowers in spring and the cool-season crops and flowers in fall and winter. I had noticed that many people didn’t know when or how to garden here or what tasks to do when, even if they knew how in other parts of the country. But other writers have written books for other areas, such as Texas, and following these regional books can keep folks from making serious errors like planting a winter squash in fall instead of spring. I suggest you join or an organic gardening club in your area or start up a new one. This is the best kind of forum in which to take part.

Pat

Thanks again.
Fred & Mary