Tromboncino Squash

I have followed the garden adventures of the Dervaes family for over a year now. They are an amazing inspiration when it comes to Urban Homesteading.One of their most fascinating plants is the Tromboncino Squash (Cucurbita moschata). They grow them on a pegola and they hang like swan necked bells. After happily finding the seeds at Diggers I set to work growing my own.
It has been a joy to watch it grow literally an inch a day and soon cover my arch as well as travel over 3 metres each way along my fence.


I watched with anticipation as the first flowers

and fruits appeared and celebrated when they too started hanging like bells. Each visitor to our house was given the special tromboncino tour and they even made an appearance at my daughters school for an Earth Hour presentation. This week we finally got to eat one and they are delicious.A cross between a butternut squash and a zucchini. They are susceptable to powdery mildew so you need to be vigilant.I have been spraying mine with milk spray.



If you are after an interesting and delicious addition to your garden then I highly recommend the Tromboncino Squash. By the way if you leave them to sprawl on the ground they curl up like a trombone hence the name :)

Solar Update

At one day under 8 weeks since the solar panels were installed, today we crossed the 1000kwh mark.1008 kwh to be exact. We only had the new meter put in about a month ago so the first half was just solar used during the day and second half has included export as well.
As of this afternoon we had used 242 kw and exported 346kw so we should have a nice surprise in our first bill.
As lovely as the sunshine is the garden is dying for rain..I am not sure how much more of this weather it will take.