Clarinette Lebanese Squash

Has anyone grown this? Is the plant like a crookneck or zucchini plant (thick vine, big leaves)? Thanks.

Uprooted - I have not grown it but I would LOVE to grow a Cousa-type squash - usually lighter skinned and you pick when shorter/squattier to make Cousa or stuffed squash. I am from a Christian Lebanese family but I don't remember what my grandmother grew. davesgarden.com says it's a bush type zucchini squash growing about 2 feet tall with spacing around 3 feet.... If you do try to grow it, I'd love to see how it goes for you.

BlackWalnut, thanks, I'd never heard the term cousa squash. Glad to know that the perfect person to answer my question was here :-). I found a packet of these seeds that apparently my mother had bought, and the blurb made it sound yummy, so I said why not try something different? These are from Botanical Interests, which I know are sold in a lot of the nurseries around here.

I found a link to it on Dave's the other day but when I clicked the page only had the squash name and nothing about the plant, hmmm . . . thank you for providing that, it does sound the size of most zucchini plants I've grown.

Anyway, I will update if I get fruit! I have a terrible history with borers and squash bugs here. I am hoping that by planting a bit later I may be messing w/ the bugs' life cycle. I am not really dedicated enough to do all the preventive organic stuff I've read up on, and I won't use pesticides on my veggies, so I may have sealed their fate before the 5 little seedlings poking up even have a chance! ;-)

I can now attest that this is not a bush plant like the zucchini I have grown in the past. I put a stake in the ground and propped the vine up against it and it is growing vertically all on its own with no ties. It has little vining tendrils attaching to the post. (the post/stake is actually the support for a metal shelving unit I will never use -- the tendrils are twining into the holes in the metal post)

However -- the war is on -- no sign of borers but the dreaded squash bugs have arrived in force!! Scraped off one cluster of eggs and found a bunch of the bugs all over the plant. Off to do what's necessary to get rid of them. They laughed at the Neem spray I sprayed directly on them. I will check out organic measures but I might go all Sevin on them if I have to in order to preserve the plants.

Soapy water will kill squash bugs, I water the plant at the base and leaves to get the bugs up from the base, then spray them one by one.
Ha-v-v

Thanks Ha-v-v, 6 less squash bugs are roaming the earth. I think the Neem may have done more than I thought because there were more than that earlier. I did as you said and watered well and then instead of spraying I hand picked and dropped them in soapy water. They did not emerge.

I also laid down a piece of cardboard by the plants; I read that they will gather underneath it, thereby making it easier for me to commit bugicide in the morning. Such murderous thoughts running through my head.

UnderTheBlackWalnut: Years ago, a friend of my mother's gave her some seeds of an annual herb she said was "good with lamb and rice" and was from Eastern Europe. It's an amazing summer herb, tasting of a combination of thyme, oregano, capsicum, and a bit of citrus. A couple of years ago, I took a start of this strange herb in to the office where I worked, and asked a second-generation Lebanese attorney to take it to his grandmother and see if she could identify it. Result: Grandmother said it was zatar--which I'd always heard was a combination of herbs and sumac, not a single herb. Have you every heard of this, from a family member perhaps? I'd love to know the real name of the herb. BTW, being afraid of losing it (it's a very tasty addition to summer barbeque), I have it planted in more than one part of the garden, and carefully look for seeds to scatter, then keep an eagle eye out for baby "zatar" plants in the spring. Hoping for more info from you. Nonna

Nonna - Ok you've stumped me and my master gardener aunt. I sent your question on to her and she said:

"Zatar is a combination of Sumac (a bush), thyme, roasted sesame seed and salt. Folks in the Middle East have various ways of making foods so that may account for the person below who gave some different ingredients. Mom (UTBW's grandmother) did not use it in foods....but pressed a mixture of zatar/olive oil on top of the pita bread she made and then baked it. It was delicious. "

I, too, have always thought Zatar/Zahtar is sort of like what Indian curry is - a mixture of several different flavors and not just one plant. I am stumped as to what your herb is. Maybe if you posted a pic here or took one to your local extension, they could help you narrow down at least the herb family it's in???

As an afterthought - I wonder if it's some variety of thyme?? I can't think it would be sumac as even edible sumac is more like a tree (beware some species of sumac are poisonous). I am wondering if she meant that the herb was USED in zatar???