They need to be tranplanted before true leaves appear. They really do better direct seeded. They can be planted as early as snap beans (after the last frost). The old warted Summer Crookneck has good flavor. Of the hybrids Horn of Plenty is good for me.
{{gwi:11305}} It is small fruit.
Gentry is larger ( a semi crookneck) good producer {{gwi:11307}}
If you have problems with Geening, Supersett is excellent {{gwi:11309}}

Thanks farmerdill !

Those are gorgeous!

I looked up the varieties that you mentioned, and found each of them at different seed companies.

I found the Horn of Plenty at Parkseed.com, $1.95 for a packet of 20 seeds.

I found the Gentry Hybrid at Gurneys.com, $3.99 for a packet of 25 seeds.

I found the Supersett at Renee's Garden Seeds on Amazon, $3.99 for a packet of 20 seeds.

Do these sound about right? Do you know of any problems with any of these companies? Are there other companies that you like better?

Most of them say that growing time is 40-45 days. Is that from the time you put the seeds in the ground? Or from the time when they first sprout?

I thought that seeds need a special soil in order to sprout, like those Jiffy seed-starting soil pellets. No? It's ok to put the seeds directly out in the
garden soil? I plan to try a raised bed this year. Does the soil need to be covered after you put in the seeds? Like the little Jiffy kit?

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As you can see, I didn't really know what I was doing. ;)

I get really nice yellow crookneck squash in zone 5, high desert of Oregon. We get anywhere from 70-90 days growing season, depending on our luck.

Squash won't take any frost and our last frost can be late as 4th of July. So squash goes out late and I still get plenty of crooknecks and zucchini.

That's great, oregon!

Do you recall where you get your seeds from? Or do you save your own? Does your squash have a special name?

I get them from Twilley seed http://www.twilleyseed.com/. I get the 100 seed pkts but they have 25 seed pkts Gentry and Supersett at $1.75 Horn of Plenty $1.55.

No, seeds don't have an actual need for special soil to make them sprout. Seed starting potting soil is just a finer-grained mix that doesn't have big hunks of stuff to end up sitting on top of tiny seeds.

Squash have big seeds which make strong sprouts that can readily push their way through ordinary soil. You can't put them under rocks or logs, but they'll do fine in any kind of reasonable garden soil.

I've found that direct-seeded squash grow much better than transplants. Squash are noted for having delicate roots and they often take longer to recover from transplant shock than it takes for the seeds to grow to the transplant size.

They want full sun, can't take any frost, and shouldn't be planted until the soil has warmed. Cool climate gardeners can speed up the soil warming by using clear plastic tunnels over the area where the hills will be but you have to let the bees in when the plants are flowering to get any squash.

Squash are customarily planted in hills to ensure good drainage. To make a squash hill first dig a hole about 6-8 inches deep and a foot or so across. Fill it level to the ground with compost then mix in the soil you removed and shape a mound with a flat but slightly dished top.

To plant the seed use your finger to poke 4-6 holes about 1 inch deep in a wide circle on top of the mound. Drop a seed in each hole then gently close the holes and firm down the soil on top of them. Water carefully so as not to wash them away.

Thin to the best 2 or 3 plants after they have some true leaves. I know thinning hurts, but the roots need the room for the plants to be really productive.

Make your summer squash hills about 3 feet apart so you have room to get around and between them to harvest.

Given a reasonable amount of luck with the weather you'll soon be eating squash.

Yellow Crookneck is one of my very favorite vegetable varieties, and I have never lived in the south. So it definitely can be grown elsewhere. It's always possible to get a streak of bad weather but it should grow fine where you live in most years. It doesn't require a long growing season. I suggest direct seeding. Squash really doesn't do well in seedling pots for very long.

Yellow Crookneck is an old variety. It was grown by Native Americans at least 200 years ago. It has a special flavor I don't find in other yellow squashes. I haven't tried very many other yellow squashes but the ones I've tried were lacking that old time flavor. I recommend sticking with Yellow Crookneck, or Summer Crookneck as it is sometimes called. Why take chances?

I would consider a large cold frame/small green house arrangement to give some extra warmth to the plants, particularly in the begining when they may not like the chilly weather.

b2alicia, I just buy whatever is on the seed rack. I don't think summer squash is one of those things where variety makes enough difference to make it worth paying shipping.

But I agree with Jimster. The crooknecks are much better than the straight neck yellow squash. Without going out and pulling my seed packets, my memory says the seeds are "Yellow Crookneck".

One packet of seeds lasts me a very long time. 2 zucchini plants and 2 crooknecks and there is more squash than my family can eat.

I start Hubbard squash in large pots (one or two gallon. I can start them about a month early in an unheated greenhouse. They are starting to vine by then and I don't think you can start them much earlier. When planting, I slip the pot off and plant the entire root ball.

The hubbard take a lot of room. I have them in a 4'*8' compost pile. However, they cover that and start to run. They seldom set fruit in the pile preferring 20+ feet along the vine. I'm not sure if time or distance is the critical factor.