Summer Squash (Custard White)

How to grow Summer Squash (Custard White)

Cucurbita pepo

🥕 Vegetable 🌱 Grown each year

Scalloped, flying-saucer-shaped summer squash with a buttery taste. Pick them small and often, like courgettes.

At a glance: Sow late April to mid May, harvest from mid June.

When to sow, plant and harvest

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Sow outdoors
Harvest

Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.

Growing Summer Squash (Custard White): what it needs

Light
Full sun · 6+ hours a day
Watering
Water generously at the base, never over the leaves
Soil
Fertile, well-drained soil
Spacing
90 cm
In pots
Only in large containers
Feeding
A general feed before sowing or planting
Harvest
About 60 days from sowing
Hardiness
USDA zones 3–9
Difficulty
Easy

Step by step

  1. Late April – mid May · 2 weeks after the last spring frost

    Sow Seeds Outdoors

    Sow thinly in drills where they are to grow. Sow seeds on their edge, 2 cm deep.

  2. 5–10 days after “Sow Seeds Indoors” · Early May

    Check Germination

    Seedlings should appear in 5–10 days. If sown outdoors, thin to 90 cm apart when big enough to handle.

  3. 45–66 days after “Plant Out” · Mid June – early July

    Start Harvesting

    Pick when 8–10 cm across; the more you pick, the more you get.

  4. 70–100 days after “Start Harvesting” · Late August – late September

    Finish and Clear

    Clear plants after the first frost.

More vegetables to grow

Photo: Netherzone / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)