This year was supposed to be the year of the squash for me. I haven't had much luck in the past with squash, so I planted a variety of squash seeds: seeds saved from heirloom pumpkins, cucumber seeds from Johnny's Seeds catalog, and a few seeds that popped up on their own (volunteers) in soil taken from the composter. I had 6 or 7 plants started, the majority of which succumbed to powdery mildew.
Two of the squash plants, however, made a hearty go for it. I was sure they were cucumber plants, but instead, they produced a light green striped squash. I harvested a few early on and threw one on the grill (sliced, and lightly oiled with salt & pepper). We used it as the main ingredient on one of our first charcoal-grilled pizzas (one of our best). Later that summer, the same squash climbing up our garage turned a pale yellowish-orange, almost peach. And then I realized, I had been growing BUTTERNUT SQUASH all along. Lesson learned: unripe butternut squash is really good on pizza.
