as Lofthouse predicts in his book Landrace Gardening, the squash plants will bear a lot of stress in the first season and generally not do very well…… but that after saving the seed that does survive, one begins along the path to a landrace variety of more adaptability and resilience.

generally speaking, my squash plants were very weak overall…. i suspect not only for the environmental stressors mentioned by Lofthouse, but also due to breaking ground on a very new clay space and planting into a compost layer with potentially high salt content. …. i also suspect a second year of working the same space will help alleviate some of these concerns.

kojinut was essentially the best performer (thank you Lady Cone Hop Yard!!), with a few really nice squash that tasted great…. these seeds have been saved. …. the two fruit on the left in the top photo above were practically dropped by the plant, only immature seed inside. ….. overall though, i trust that replanting what was saved, plus some additional genetic diversity in the form of new seeds (some from a landrace squash breeder who is a member of EFAO), and we’ll seek better results in 2024.