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Perennial

No. 0238 · Cucurbita maxima

Snowline Squash

Crop
Vegetable
Climate
Cold
Season
Autumn
Origin
Tokachi, Hokkaido, Japan

No. 0238The variety

A small blue-gray winter squash bred to ripen in Hokkaido’s short summers, sweeter after a month in storage.

Grows best inShort, cool summers and rich soil

Seed passport

Perennial Seed Library · Season 2026

No. 0238
Origin
Tokachi, Hokkaido, Japan
First documented
1949
Days to maturity
90 to 100 days
Height
Trailing vines to 3 m
Hardiness
Frost tender; tolerates cool nights
Sun
Full sun
Spacing
1.2 m between plants
Flavor notes
Dense, dry flesh like roasted chestnut
Pledged open. Free to save and share.Hudson, NY

No. 0238Growth timeline

From sowing to saving seed.

Stage 01 of 06

  1. 01When the soil is warm

    Sow

    Sow 2 cm deep, two seeds to a station, once the ground feels warm to the hand.

  2. 02Day 5 to 10

    Germinate

    Seed leaves rise quickly in warmth. Guard them from slugs for the first two weeks.

  3. 03Week 4

    Run

    Vines spread fast. Give them room, mulch the soil and water at the base, never over the leaves.

  4. 04Week 7

    Flower

    Flowers open at dawn. For pure seed, hand-pollinate and tape the female flowers shut.

  5. 0590 to 100 days

    Ripen

    Leave seed fruit on the vine until fully mature, then cure it somewhere warm and dry.

  6. 06Autumn

    Save seed

    Scoop out the seed, rinse away the pulp and dry it on a screen until it snaps cleanly.

No. 0238Story

The story of Snowline Squash

Snowline was selected on the Tokachi plain of Hokkaido in the years after the war, when farmers needed a squash that could ripen before the first snow and keep through the winter that followed. It is small, slate blue and heavy for its size, with flesh so dense it roasts like chestnut.

A Japanese-Canadian family carried it to British Columbia in the 1950s and grew it for three generations. It reached the library in 2016 in a biscuit tin, with seed from every year’s harvest labeled in two languages.

Grown by

3 growers this season

  • Eamon Keane

    Connemara, Ireland

  • Hanne Mortensen

    Jutland, Denmark

  • Liesl Brunner

    Valais, Switzerland

No. 0238Snowline SquashPERENNIAL SEED LIBRARY

Lending list · Season 2026

Borrow this seed.

Members borrow up to twelve varieties a year. Seed is posted on the first Monday of the month in a hand-numbered paper packet, and all we ask in return is a little of your harvest and a few lines about how it grew.