Tatume Summer Squash (Heirloom, 50 days)

Almost totally bug proof well into the season.

I've had tatume several different years. Unlike other squash that quickly succumb to the squash beetles no matter what I do to try to stop them, tatume seems impervious until early fall. In the mean time, they are making egg shaped squash small to quite large. We cook them up like zucchini. Never tried making a bread with them like zucchini but I would imagine it would work. So if you want a lot of squash to boil like any summer squash and add butter salt and pepper, or to fry they make a lot and you don't even have to water them unless it's super dry. They do grow about 8 to 10' vines so you need room and use gloves to gather the bounty because they have spiny vines---probably why the bugs leave them alone. Next year I'm going to try growing other vining squash between the tatume to see if that will help protect the others from bugs, plus I bought some spinosad that I can try and see if that helps the bug issue. They do make a big orange pumpkin toward the end but I haven't tried them yet. We have five waiting for experiments in the kitchen for now. Good luck and happy gardening.