Remember last year when I shared about growing winter squash vertically for the first time? Well, we did that again this year.

You would think when you look at the huge, heavy squash hanging from the cattle panel trellis that they would fall to the ground, but magically they do not. We are amazed every time. Those squash vines are incredibly strong.

Once again, growing winter squash vertically made it possible for us to grow a lot more squash than we would normally have room for. As I say so often, vertical gardening is such a great way to go!

We grew Candy Roaster, from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, for the first time this year. It gave us an abundance of delicious, large squash, and we plan to grow them again next year.

We also grew some mini Butternuts and a few Thelma Sander’s Sweet Potato (a winter squash that tastes similar to sweet potato, thus the name.)

I love to put winter squash in muffins when I bake them. Yum! Jeff has also been making winter squash casseroles lately for the boy because B loves winter squash so much.

Winter squash is so wonderful in that you can still enjoy homegrown produce when the garden has wrapped up for the season. What are your favorite winter squash varieties to eat or grow?

P.S. It has become a tradition to take a picture of each year’s winter squash harvest in a wheelbarrow.