Removing squash and pumpkin blossoms

Credit: Elizabeth Rowlands

Yes, remove the blossoms and also the small fruit that will never mature.

Although I haven’t tried it, you might like to try this recipe for cooking with squash blossoms.

Harvest all your squash before the first hard frost. When the stem is hard and the skin does not scratch with a nail, it is ready to pick. Cut from the plant leaving a good stem.

Damaged squash need to be eaten right away; good ones need to be cleaned off, and put in a warm dry place with good air movement for about 10 days until the skin really toughens up.

Store in a cool dry place, away from rodents.