The Most Important Pro Tip For Harvesting Butternut Squash

The cooler days of late summer mark the start of butternut squash season, one of the most exciting heralds of fall, in our opinion. This time of year has us daydreaming with anticipation about mashed squash with maple syrup (name a more autumnal dish, we dare you!) and choosing the best toppings for squash soup. If you've been growing butternut squash in your garden and eagerly looking forward to all the good eating that's coming your way, you may be wondering when, exactly, you should go ahead and harvest this bounty. After all, they can be tricky nuts to crack, and not just because we may need a microwave hack for cutting squash. It's also because the squash tend to turn the right color (a warm tan) before the insides have fully matured, making it hard to tell exactly when they are ripe.

There's one indispensable trick for knowing when your squash is ready for picking, and it's at your fingertips — quite literally! All you need to do is score the flesh of the squash with your fingernail. If your nail sinks in easily or leaves a deep mark, the squash is underripe. A butternut squash that's ready to come inside will resist gouging, as the skin is very, very hard. Another cheat code is looking at the squash's stem. If it's brown and withering, especially if the squash itself passed the fingernail test, you are most likely good to go!

When stored the right way, butternut squash will remain good for anywhere between 6 and 9 months, ensuring that you are able to enjoy the bounty of fall well into next spring! The important factor to remember is that squash stays freshest when it's in a cool, dark place. You can follow logic to guess what that means ... butternut squash is one of the squash types you can (and should!) store in the fridge. Don't have space in your fridge for these big guys? You can store them anywhere that stays at or below room temperature. Depending on where you live, in the cooler months that might even mean stashing them in a box in your garage, as long as it stays off the floor! 

Some gardeners swear by wiping the skin of the squash down with a very mild water and vinegar solution to kill any germs, then wrapping the individual squashes in newspaper to protect them from bruising. Others insist that handfuls of straw protect the squashes better. Ultimately, you want to keep them from touching and safeguard the fruit (yes, botanically, they're fruit) from humidity or moisture.

This may all seem complicated, but once you've gone through one or two squash crops, you'll get the hang of the ins and outs of growing this delicious garden stalwart. The fingernail test is your key to knowing when to harvest your plants, ensuring that the squashes are perfectly ripened for storage and long-term noshing.