How To Grow Squash In Containers From Seed To Harvest!

what's going on growers it's James Prigioni  coming to you live from jersey today me and   tuck are going to show you how to  easily grow squash in containers   so you can be harvesting fresh squash  from your backyard or patio let's go here's the end goal right here fresh organically  grown squash in containers that we could just   harvest and eat in our backyard or patio so let's  get into how anyone can grow squash like this the   first thing we need to do is decide which variety  of squash we want to grow whether it be a summer   squash or a winter squash at the end of the  video i'm going to go more into detail about   the kinds of squash but first let's get into how  to actually grow it i'm going to show you how i'm   growing summer squash my favorite variety this  is the castado romanesco now that we have our   variety chosen the next thing we need to do is  work on our soil and container for containers i   like using these five gallon buckets that you can  get from lowe's or home depot just make sure that   the bucket you get is food safe it's a food grade  bucket we want to make sure that we're actually   growing food and only things that are food safe  when growing in containers drainage is one of the   most important aspects that we need to think  of so to make sure i get good drainage in my   buckets i like to drill a bunch of holes in the  bottom of the bucket with a half inch drill bit   now that we have our containers chosen we can move  over to soil so when it comes to soil squash are   actually heavy feeders so we want to make sure  we have a soil that has a high level of nutrition   and we want a soil that drains well but can also  retain a good amount of moisture so what you can   do is either use a good quality potting mix or  you can do what i do and make your own soil if   you want to make your own soil like i do i'll give  you my basic mixture it consists of three parts so   it's all broken down to one third equal parts  the first part is either coco coir or peat moss   so i like to use coco coir better i prefer  it and it does incredibly well for my plants   so the second part is either vermiculite or  perlite i prefer using vermiculite over the   perlite and the third part is compost so what we  do is we add those in three equal parts one-third   compost one-third vermiculite and one-third cocoa  core what i do is i dump all those onto a tarp and   then i just use that tarp to mix everything all  together then i put all my soil into my pots i am   using mushroom compost as my compost component and  because this compost was used to grow mushrooms it   could be a little depleted in regards to nutrition  it doesn't really have that much nitrogen anymore   because those mushrooms sucked out a lot  of that nutrition so to compensate for that   what i like to do is add about a half a cup of  this happy frog organic all-purpose fertilizer i   love this stuff because it works fantastic it's  organic and it's also packed with a lot of the   different strains of the mycorrhizal fungi so it's  like we're adding nutrition fertilizer and we're   also adding the inoculation of this fungus after i  mix my fertilizer thoroughly through my soil it's   time to plant if you're going to be planting your  squash in the early spring just make sure it's at   least one to two weeks after your first expected  frost date because squash plants are sensitive to   the cold next i take my casta romanesca seed  and plant that about an inch deep i like to   plant at least two seeds in the ground to make  sure i get good germination then i water it in   about a week after planting your squashies  they should start to pop out of the ground   and once they have about two true leaves what i  like to do is cut out the weaker of the two plants   then i make some my own mulch of diced leaves  i take this mulch i put it around the base of   the plants nice and thick to keep the soil nice  and cool and also help to retain the moisture   at this point your squash plants should be in  cruise control just make sure that they have   adequate moisture but you don't want to over water  what i like to do is to see if i need if the plant   needs water based on the weight so right now it's  relatively light so i know it needs a little bit   of water when i know it needs water what i like  to do is come out in the morning and make sure i   water the plant at the base and i make sure not to  get any of the leaves wet we don't want to get the   leaves wet to harbor any kind of fungal diseases  or anything so to keep the leaves dry is important   especially when you're watering when i water i  also like to make sure i have a tray or something   underneath the reason i put this tray here is  because i drilled so many holes at the bottom   for good drainage the water can drain out pretty  quickly so when i put the tray at the bottom   that allows the water to sit here and the plant  to kind of soak up some of that water to make   sure the soil is fully saturated after the  plant is done watering i will again lift it up   to check the weight of it this way as time goes on  i can continue to lift that plant up and this will   give me a good idea of when the plant actually  needs water before we move on we want to give   tuck a little fresh water here want some fresh  water boy just so we can stay hydrated because   it's definitely getting hot out here i also wanted  to mention if you want to grab some merch grab it   while you still can this is the exclusive summer  merch get it at jamesprisgioni.com we've got water   bottles kids clothes you know women's clothes  all different stuff so grab it while you can   about six weeks after your seeds pop up out of  the ground the first flowers will start to appear   your first round of flowers are going to be your  male flowers and these pop up first to kind of let   the bees know to come around because it's about  time to get to work it's easy to identify the   difference between the male and female flowers  the female flower will have the actual squash   at the end of it right there and the male flowers  will be over here they have no squash at the base   so if we have our female flowers here and  they don't get pollinated they will die and   fall off when the plants are young so if you  only have one plant like this and you want to   make sure you get a good pollination what you  can do is you can take a q-tip and go from the   male flower to the female flower to pollinate  it or you could take a male flower like this   just cut it and then we're gonna pull back  these the actual leaf part and get down to this right here then we could take this right over  to our female and drop that in there like that just rubbing it like this this will ensure  pollination so we make sure we get some good fruit   on it so this is a good idea if you only have  one or two plants and you want to make sure you   get the most out of them as my squash plants start  to produce i know that there's a lot of energy and   nutrition being pulled from this plant i can also  see that some of the leaves are starting to yellow   a bit so to compensate for this what i do is add  some additional fertilizer to do this i like to   take a five gallon pot and add some of either my  homemade soil or some potting mix then i add about   one third of a cup of the happy frog fertilizer  then i add that in mix it all together then what   i do is i go to my potted plant i remove all this  diced leaf mulch and put it in a different pot   then i'll take that potting mix that i added  the fertilizer to and top dress around all my   plant after this i'll water all that soil in  then i'll take my mulch bring it back around   the base of my plant and then water it in again  this way i know my plant has adequate nutrition as   it starts heading into full production most squash  plants are actually vines as you'll see right here   although some of the summer squash come in bush  types so when it comes to the vine you can either   grow it up a trellis or you could grow it and just  let it sprawl along the ground when your vine one   like this reaches about five feet long it's a good  idea to go out and knock off the growth tip right   here what that will do is it will encourage a lot  of side shoots and that will actually increase   your overall harvest when it comes to harvesting  summer squash the long varieties like this   it's best when you get them about six to eight  inches long when it comes to your rounded squash   you can get those when they're about four to eight  inches in diameter when it comes to your summer   squash it's really important to stay on top of  picking because if we allow one of these squash to   finish and this flower to fall off the whole plant  will focus on just producing seed in the squash   so if we allow that to happen the whole vine will  quit producing if we continue to harvest them this   thing will produce fruit up until the first frost  when it comes to your winter squash things are a   little bit different so your winter squash won't  be ready well your winter squash you don't want to   harvest early if you harvest them early they'll be  like watery and have no flavor your winter squash   need to fully ripen on the vine before you harvest  them so it's a good idea to let like a first round   of a light frost come then you could go out and  check your winter squash and if the shells on   the outside are hard they're probably ready to  grab now it's finally time to harvest our squash   we don't want to just crack the squash off the  plant we want to make sure we come out here with   a nice set of pruners and cut the squash off so we  don't damage the fruit in any way this will allow   the squash to uh not go bad and last a lot longer  if we cut this end here it's going to dry off and   it can make the squash you know go bad a lot  quicker so when it comes to growing squash there   are two different types you've got the summer  squash which already in the summer and you've got   the winter squash which are aren't ready to like  uh in the fall like in the autumn time like that   so your summer squash are going to consist of your  green and yellow zucchinis your crook neck squash   uh all different ones like that they only take  about 60 to 70 days from seed to harvest on the   other hand we have our winter squash our winter  squash are going to consist of like our acorn   squash our butternut squash our blue hubbard  squash those ones take about 75 to 120 days   to harvest and like i mentioned before the winter  squash need to ripen on the vine fully before you   pick them or they're not going to really have that  kind of flavor so whether or not you're growing   winter squash or summer squash how to grow it is  relatively the same one thing you might want to   think about is since the winter squash takes a lot  longer than the summer squash you may need to add   an additional round of fertilizer just to make  sure that those plants have adequate nutrition   going to the final push in that production so  you can get the delicious squash fresh to eat   me and tuck are super happy with the beauty  of this squash pretty good uniformity and to   be able to grow in a pot like this i mean it just  is so fantastic because it means anyone can do it   so me and tuck often say just because you don't  have a lot of space that's not a good enough   excuse to not to grow some of your own food that's  today's video girls thanks for watching i hope you   enjoyed it i hope you got something out of it  even though it appears me and tuck have like an   incredible amount of space to grow food we still  can't help plant some things in the pots because   it's just so much fun to be able to grow  food in places that you wouldn't even suspect   or to be able to grow food in like one location  and like oh it's super hot right here let me move   it to a shadier spot so planting in pots it's just  a joy and it's a lot of fun to me plus i think   it's a little harder than growing in the ground  because when you're going in pots when you have to   make your own soil and you have to you know plant  the seed and you just get to be literally you know   a part of the whole entire process from making the  soil to planting the seed to guiding the growing   along to harvesting it's just a it allows you to  like encompass the whole thing so i think a lot   of container gardeners are great gardeners  and if you're a new gardener starting in a   container you're just going to be so good when  you get the opportunity either to either move   into a raised bed or to move into the ground  so i think this will really hone your skills   before you get the chance to plan in a you know  in a bigger area you'll notice one thing in this   video which is kind of sad to say tuck was not  in it that much it's just it's a hot day out here   so this guy's kind of has been chilling in the  shade doing his own thing so we're thankful for   him being out here even always being in the videos  and just being an encouragement to all of us if   you love seeing talk in the videos do not forget  to spam hearts down in the comments for the leader   the boss the king tuck himself in the flesh can't  be stopped you can see by his demeanor he's just   a little tired today he's been drinking some water  but he's not as amped up as it usually is so make   sure you throw some hearts in there just to get  this guy feeling a little better one thing i want   to mention before i let you go is to grab some  of the merch at jamesprigioni.com we also have   those kneelers on there too so the kneelers are a  limited time thing there's not many of them left   so if you want to grab a kneeler make sure you get  one before they're all gone here he comes this guy   now he wants to be in the shots more what a beasty  is i also wanted to thank one of our new channel   members jennifer lehmann thank you for being  a part of team grow thank you for contributing   thanks for having your hand in all the things we  grow here all the tomatoes we produce and to just   to be part of team grow i i can't thank you  enough me and talk had a blast out here it   won't be long until we're back making more videos  about growing food because you know what else is   there to do that's what we love doing james and  tuck will be back at you again real soon we out!

Channel: The Gardening Channel With James Prigioni

Views: 65,733

Keywords: growing in containers, growing in 5 Gallon bucket, how to grow squash, how to grow squash in containers, how to grow zucchini, how to, how to grow in containers, how to garden, patio garden, container gardening, gardening in 5 gallon bucket, organic gardening, gardening, seed to harvest, James prigioni

Id: BPNfKx02L68

Length: 12min 11sec (731 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 13 2022