Squash Swap
The Great Squash Swap!
The Sunshine Coast Seed Saving Collective sponsors the community to have free squash seeds.
We share the information needed to keep grow squash seeds that are true to their breed.
Squash ranks higher in difficulty to save true seeds because of the chances of cross pollination. Squash need a lot of space to grow true to seed, up to 400m -1500m. That's a large distance, especially for smaller hobby gardeners! There are solutions to this too, such as talking with your neighbours about their growing plans or using isolation methods.
There are also ways you can grow more than one squash in your own garden are keep the seeds true to breed. There are 3 species of squash: curcurbita moschata, curcurbita pepo and curcurbita maxima. If you are growing one of each species, you don't need to worry about them cross pollinating within your own garden.
Another aspect of our Squash Swap initiative is to get people exchanging the food they grow so we can become a collective, co-operating, sustainable food culture. If we organize and plan our gardens on a community level, we can grow seeds true to breed & share the diverse harvest!
Below are some photos of community members who have grown out beautiful squash and brought them to share at the Seedy Saturday. We welcome you to bring your squash to the next Seedy Saturday or send us a squash selfie on our facebook page!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/243887565821343
Squash Selfies!!
Diannes Mixed Squash - Aug 31, 2014 2:23:51 AM
