For 2003, the McClellan Ranch team has chosen to do a summer squash trial to research which varieties grow well in the Bay Area and to experiment with different planting methods. The results of the trial will be published and available to home gardeners to introduce them to unusual varieties that should grow well in their own gardens. The project team met in December at the community garden to discuss possible varieties and the selection criteria. At our January meeting, we looked at seed catalogs to select the final list of varieties and developed a plan for the garden plot. The planning team (Alice Schwegman, Eve Hanson, Fred Schulenburg, Magie Klugherz , and Tina Lee) selected 30 different varieties of squash based on type (zucchini, scallop, crookneck, and trellis), color, ease of picking, and disease resistance. Fred Schulenburg wrote letters to the seed companies and was able to get some of the seeds donated to the research project.

In March, we cut down the fava beans and spread manure from the goat farm on top of the chopped cover crop. It was a big effort but the large number of people made the work go quickly.

The fava bean cover crop

Chopping it down

Covering with manure

The gopher team (Bill Michael, Magie Klugherz , and Allen Buchinski ) has continued to do a very steady job of hunting down gophers with six trapped and killed so far this year. The gophers have done some damage in the onion patch and it is only through the consistent effort of the gopher team that the squash project can be a success. The following photos illustrate some of our gopher efforts:

A gopher hole with traps set

Then covered with boards...

Covered with dirt.... to wait!

In April, Ralph Eddy, veteran master gardener, held a workshop to show team members how to rototill the garden beds. A few weeks after the rototilling was completed, the team met again to rake the soil, prepare the beds, and mulch the garden paths. Trellises were also installed at the end of some of the beds for the climbing types of squash (see photo on right). Fran Grabau and Penny Cheney made wonderful laminated signs for each of the squash varieties. We stapled the signs to wooden stakes to mark the garden beds according to our plot design (shown in photos below).

Working on trellises