Sibley squash
$4.00 – $7.00
(Cucurbita maxima)
A Hubbard type with sprawling vines, which looks like a slate-grey oversized football. Dry, sweet flesh is excellent, and it stores well (Let it cure ‘til January at least for the best flavour). Named for Hiram Sibley & Co. of Rochester, NY who released it in 1887; Sibley had gotten it from an old woman in Van Dinam, Iowa who had grown it for fifty years. Also known as ‘Pike’s Peak’. A Slow Food Ark of Taste variety.
Start indoors 3-4 weeks before last frost, with 1-2 seeds per pot 1/2” deep and thinned to strongest plant. Can also direct seed after frost in late May- early June. Plant three plants per hill, 8’ apart for vines and 4’ apart for bushes. Topdress with manure. If planting with corn and beans, plant in separate hills between rows of corn hills at same time as corn. Before frost, harvest squash, leaving a stub of stem several inches long; cure indoors for several weeks to a month. Store at room temperature.