last year I had a bug problem on only one plant, black beetle like bugs and the cukes did poorley. My squash plants have LOTS of flowers but few squash. I have not seen any bugs, but have not looked under leaves either. b Small squash were dying on the vine on one plant so I pulled it out. I have volunteers coming from the compost pile next to my garden including, butternut what I thing is cukes. Both had been put there over time. To do???? Vangy

There are round eggplants, Thai variety I believe. I think they are usually striped white and green. You may have planted hybridized seeds. I got some hybrid squash seeds in the packet of yellow crook neck seeds I purchased this year. After the plants began to produce, I found that a couple of them aren't true yellow crook neck--they are crossed with another type of squash. They are edible, just not what I had in mind when I planted. Lorna

I can't speak for Spaghetti Squash, but Acorn squash is ripe when it is a very dark green (most varieties), gets an orange spot where it was touching the ground, and is hard to dent with a fingernail. Acorn squash ripens fairly quickly, relatively speaking, and is not as finicky about being 100% ripe to be tasty (but does not store as long).

Hey Carol, My best advice would be to leave them on the vine for a few more weeks. Acorn squash are interesting in that they do eventually turn orange like a pumpkin but they are mature even before that when they are dark green. Basically, as you might or might not know, squashes are divided into two categories. There are "summer squashes" and "winter squashes." Summer squashes include zucchini and are harvested BEFORE they are mature. This allows the flesh to be very soft, squishy, and palatable with little cooking. Also, the seeds are edible at this stage and thus do not need to be removed but may be eaten. Winter squashes however are harvested AFTER they have matured. The flesh is usually harder, must be cooked longer, and the seeds are very hard, mature, and must be removed prior to cooking. This is why we remove pumpkin seeds and in your case, butternut squash seeds and acorn squash seeds. Since acorn squash and butternut squash are both winter squashes, they can be harvested any time after they have matured, giving you a much larger window during which you may pick them. Essentially, it is never too late to harvest a winter squash. By that same token, it IS too late to harvest summer squashes when they have matured unless you want to remove the mature seeds. What this boils down to is that you should wait a few more weeks for your acorn squashes to grow. I've grown acorn squashes for a few years now and they usually are ready by the second week in August but never before the third week of July and my zone is 6. Hopefully that helped! Good luck! Joer