💚 Green Hubbard Squash

What it looks like

Why this variety

Green Hubbard is the classic Hubbard, the one the blue and golden Hubbards are variations on: dark green, warty, club-shaped, 10-15 pounds of sweet golden flesh under a rind so hard that opening one is a kitchen project, not a casual slice. That rind is the point: it is why a Hubbard stores 4-5 months and why it was a cellar staple before refrigeration.

The flesh is sweet and mild, excellent for pies, soups, and roasting, with a texture that stays firm rather than stringy. In a warm garden, a maxima like Hubbard needs a long season and room to roam, so plant it early in spring or in late summer for a fall harvest, and give it the sunniest, richest bed you have.

How to grow

Direct-sow in hills in warm soil, at least 65 degrees, or start indoors 3 weeks earlier and transplant young. Thin to the strongest 2 plants per hill and let the vines run: Hubbards sprawl 10 feet or more, and trying to contain one in a small bed is a negotiation you will lose.

Feed the bed heavily before planting with compost and castings, then side-dress when vines start to run. A Hubbard fruit is mostly water and sugar built from sunlight, and a starved vine makes small, pale squash that do not store.

Water & feeding

Deep watering at the base, 1-2 inches a week, tapering off as fruit matures so rinds harden properly. Morning watering and wide spacing keep mildew at bay on a vine that would otherwise become a damp mat by midsummer.

Common problems

Hubbard vines are long and the fruit sits on the ground for months, so rot from soil contact is the quiet enemy: slip a board or straw pad under each developing fruit, and do not let fruit sit in standing water after heavy rain.

• Squash vine borer (Melittia cucurbitae – plant suddenly wilts despite wet soil): slit the stem, remove the grub, bury the stem section; row cover until flowering prevents egg-laying. Moschata types, with solid stems, shrug this pest off far better than pepo types.
• Pickleworm and melonworm (caterpillars boring into fruit and flowers, a warm-climate specialty): scout blossoms and young fruit, hand-pick, and cover young fruit where practical; fall plantings often dodge the worst of the summer pressure.
• Powdery mildew (white dusty coating): improve airflow, water at the base, remove the worst leaves; give vines room instead of letting them pile into a damp mat.
• Rot in storage: only store fruit with a hard rind, a dry corky stem, and no nicks; cure 10-14 days warm and dry first, and check stored fruit regularly.

Harvest

Harvest when the rind is hard enough that a thumbnail barely dents it, the skin is fully dark green, and the stem is dry and corky, about 110 days from seed and before heavy frost. Cut with 2-3 inches of stem, cure 10-14 days warm and dry, then store cool and dry for months; flavor improves with a few weeks of curing.

Saving seeds

Green Hubbard is the classic Hubbard, open-pollinated, so saved seed comes true — let a fruit cure fully on the vine and scoop the seed, and keep it from other Cucurbita maxima types, which cross readily. The full method is in the Saving seeds section of the Winter Squash guide.