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CLEVER CROP | Spaghetti squash
Spaghetti squash
Cucurbita pepo
This zucchini-like fruit is the pasta you have
when you’re not having pasta
Words Jennifer Stackhouse
One of the most celebrated April
Fools’ Day jokes of all time was
a story broadcast in 1957 on the
highly respected BBC currentaffairs
show Panorama about the annual
spaghetti tree harvest in Switzerland. The TV
segment, which can be viewed on YouTube,
showed a family supposedly gathering long
strands of pasta from their own trees.
The joke fooled many and lots of viewers
are said to have contacted the BBC for
details on how to grow a spaghetti tree. While
spaghetti is normally made from wheat flour
and water mixed with egg, Panorama wasn’t
completely barking up the wrong tree, so
to speak, as it’s possible to grow your own
spaghetti on a vine, if not a tree.
When cooked — baked,
boiled or microwaved
whole — the flesh can
be scooped out in strings
that resemble cooked
strands of spaghetti.
The spaghetti squash is grown much
like a cucumber and is closely related to
zucchini. The vigorous vine produces large,
cylindrical fruit that ripens to bright yellow.
When cooked — baked, boiled or microwaved
whole — the flesh can be scooped out in
strings that resemble cooked spaghetti.
Simply serve with your favourite pasta sauce!
It’s high in nutrients and low in calories.
Planting & growing
Plant the seeds of spaghetti squash in spring
when the soil has warmed and all threat of
frost has passed. Place the seeds directly in a
prepared vegetable bed or plant into a large
container at least 40cm across or larger. As the
vine sprawls much like a zucchini, space seeds
at 1–1.2m apart so the vine has room to grow.
Like all cucurbits, spaghetti squash has
both male and female flowers, the female
flowers producing fruit. The vine takes
around 15 weeks to produce mature fruit.
Harvest the large fruits that have turned
bright yellow. Cut the fruit from the vine,
leaving a piece of stem attached. If kept
watered, the vine should continue producing
until the first winter frost. Plants may be
attacked by powdery mildew towards the
end of the growing season.
Spaghetti squash
label
Common name: Spaghetti squash
(vegetable spaghetti)
Botanical name: Cucurbita pepo
Family: Cucurbitaceae (squash family)
Requires: Full sun
Dislikes: Drying out
Suitable for: All areas
Habit: Spreading annual vine
Needs: Room to spread or a trellis
Propagation: Seed
Difficulty: Easy
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