How to Grow Pink Banana Squash
- 1). Combine around 2 to 4 inches of manure or compost into the garden soil with a spade, then form the garden bed into mounds, one mound per squash you want to plant. Mounds should have a generous 5 to 6 feet between them and be around 20 inches wide and 12 inches high.
- 2). Cover each mound in black plastic, and bury the edges at the base of the mound. This helps increase the temperature of the soil. Prepare the garden bed around three to four weeks prior to the last frost date in spring.
- 3). Sow a pink banana squash seed in a peat pot with potting soil, around 1 inch deep, and moisten it with water. Sow the seeds at the same time as you prepare the garden bed, so that by the time the last frost date is past, you have seedlings emerging. Sow more than you want to plant so you can choose the strongest seedlings to set in the garden.
- 4). Cut a slit in the plastic on the top of each mound, and make a hole in the soil large enough for the peat pot to fit. Choose the strongest, healthiest-looking seedling to plant into each mound, and compost the remaining. Plant the seedlings after the last frost date has past.
- 5). Water the squash plants deeply once a week to encourage deep roots.
- 6). Side-dress the pink banana squashes with high-nitrogen fertilizer after the first flowers set on the vines and again three weeks later. This gives energy to the plants for fruiting. Don’t fertilize later than this, as the energy will go to the foliage rather than the fruit.
- 7). Harvest the fruits when they are mature, with a hard rind and a golden pink color. Use a sharp knife to cut each stem around 3 to 4 inches from the base, being careful not to nick or scratch the fruits.
- 8). Store squashes in a dry, well-ventilated room, preferably on slatted wood to allow air flow all around them.