Spaghetti Squash

I am not the biggest fan of spaghetti squash but my clean eating mother-in-law gave me a seedling to transplant in the garden during her visit in May. Surprisingly, the seedling survived being packed in a suitcase, an hour flight from NY to MD, and a one and a half hour car ride before being safely transplanted into growing medium before being transplanted out into the garden. But not everything that starts well, ends well.

So far I learned that spaghetti squash grows just like zucchini, but its leaves are more compact. The fruits (3-5 per plant) look like a swollen, stubby light colored zucchini. That was interesting to me since I always thought spaghetti squash was golden yellow in color. Guess I will have to wait and see if the fruits change from green to yellow when the they are ripe. But that will have to happen next year...

Despite battling squash bugs, the plant was looking fantastic with two large and two small squash forming. That was yesterday. Today, I must report that I have lost the spaghetti squash plant - without harvesting a single ripe fruit. The leaves are wilting and the fruits are turning rubbery. Now I am sad because I was looking forward to tossing some vegetable "spaghetti" into real spaghetti.  It is a tough life being a farmer.
  

Wilting Spaghetti Squash