Not every ear ripens at the same time. Not every kernel will get pollinated. I check on mine every few days when they are getting close. It might be 2 weeks from first pick until they are done. As long as you dont have an bug issues then just pull back the husk a little and have a peek. If its not ready pull it back up and wait a few days. Looks like you have a good harvest be happy!!!!! I just vaccum packed 5 dozen ears worth over the weekend.

I wanted to see how my first crop of Spaghetti Squash was doing so I did pick the biggest one i had (yes still on the white side). It microwaved up just fine (I have done this before with storebot ones), but it was harder to get it to flake out the strands -- they were not all yet formed up and had higher water content. It made a good pile if a little slushy -- mostly broken strands. One good thing: it seems that the part that was NOT yet ripe enough to flake into strands can still be eaten in chunks just like a regular squash -- just slice it away from the skin and eat like regular squash or zuchhini. So, if you do not want to get backed way up with a lot of ripe squash, you can pick some early but with a few 'issues'

Dorothy, After you received the rain from Ike, how quickly did they die? And, would I be correct in assuming your soil already had a lot of moisture in it before the rain from Ike? Usually, one heavy rainfall won't kill healthy tomato plants in just a matter of days. However, if this year's heavy rains had kept your soil pretty consistently wet, then Ike could have been "the straw that broke the camel's back" and finished them off. Normally, when we have exceptionally heavy rainfall here in Love County (like we had in the spring and early summer of 2007), my tomato plants will first show signs of nutritional deficiency for several weeks before they begin to die. There's not much you can do if that happens, and as you watch the signs of nutritional deficiency appear and worsen, you know they'll be followed by yellowing of the leaves, dropping leaves, and the wilting and then death of the whole plant. Usually, in order for the soil to be wet enough to kill the plants, the soil will have that sour smell. Here, in the raised beds (4" to 8" above grade) where I plant tomatoes and peppers, it takes about 8 weeks of excessively moist soil to kill a tomato plant. But, of course, everyone's situation is different and a lot of how long it takes would depend on how well you soil drains. There are many diseases that kill plants very suddenly, and I know that you probably have seen some of them in your many years of gardening. If it wasn't the rain from Ike that finished off already-too-waterlogged tomatoes, then it might have been southern blight. I haven't seen it often, but it will take out a plant in just a day or so, and without the foliar spotting that precedes a lot of the other wilts. As much rain as you have had, I would suspect it in the death of your plants....the cukes and okra as well. Even if they didn't die of waterlogged roots, I suspect the rain encouraged fungal and bacteria diseases that thrive in wet soil and on wet foliage. Dawn

Sorry but yes there is such a thing as real yellow squash just like there are white squash varieties and orange varieties and striped varieties. And they are all Cucurbita. Yellows include - Yellow Crookneck, Yellow Straightneck, Custard Squash, Golden Scallop Squash, Lemon, Squash, etc. to name just a few. They are just commonly called squash while zucchini is normally called zucchini. Yellow squash are warty, zucchini is smooth skinned. Yellow squash have a pointed (aka nipple) end, zucchini have a rounded blossom end. Most zucchini varieties have a more coarse texture in the meat while yellow squash varieties are a smooth texture. Zucchini has a higher water content while the yellows are drier. Zukes have a much milder flavor in general while the yellows have a richer more buttery flavor. One can avoid any confusion by simply naming the variety rather than using generic terms. <So they actually started out pure yellow and eventually turned green? What causes them to turn green?> Yes. See farmerdill's explanation for why above and you can pick them at any stage. Dave