Cucumbers have a dark green skin surrounding a light firm flesh that offers a very mellow flavor. Some have small bumps and sometimes light green or whitish spots that do not affect quality.

Short and rather small, the firm spiny pickling cucumber has a waxy green skin. Crunchy-textured, this cucumber’s flesh is quite tart in flavor.

This foot-long slicing cucumber is less flavorful than other varieties, but it has less conspicuous seeds and a thinner skin.  This is a good variety if you focused on looks – you can cut it into round, green-trimmed slices.

Yellow straightneck squash is an attractive glossy fruit that may be bright to creamy to lemon yellow. The skin may be pebbled or it may be smooth, with a somewhat paler flesh.

Usually cucumber-sized, the very popular Italian squash can vary from a few inches long to well over a foot. Having pale green or white flesh, the green skin is streaked with white with a somewhat square-ish stem end. The flavor is very mild and unassertive.

These squash are medium-long, slender and cylindrical in shape. Bright golden color and a delicious, sweeter, distinctive zucchini flavor.

Resembling its namesake, the small round globe squash wears hints of black stripes on its shiny jade-green skin. Generally the size of a softball and measuring about three inches in diameter, this unique squash offers a mildly sweet delicious flavor and a firm texture.

Part of the summer squash family but the smallest of the lot, measuring as little as an inch across. Patty pans are  green when young but shade toward light green or white when mature. Their shape has been compared to that of a flying saucer.

A small acorn shaped, summer squash that develops a smooth outer skin accented with a scalloped edging around the middle outside of the squash as it matures. This squash can be steamed, sautéed or boiled, providing a flesh with a delicately mild flavor.

This dark green to sometimes blue-green squash is acorn-shaped. Its golden orange colored flesh offers a mildly sweet flavor and a somewhat dry texture. Usually about five to eight inches long and four to five inches across, the hardy rind has rather deep characteristic ridges with a splash of yellow-gold, considered a sign of maturity.

Round with a drum-like shape and ranging from four to eight inches in diameter and two to three inches tall, narrow stripes run down its blocky sides. This squash sports a characteristic turban-like cap on its blossom end. Its dry thick deep-orange fine-textured flesh offers a sweet mild flavor, similar to that of a sweet potato.

Producing a rich golden-yellow flesh with excellent texture, the classic butternut squash is one of the most popular varieties. Butternuts are a smooth bell-shaped squash encased with a pinkish-tan hard rind. Having a relatively small seed cavity in its bulbous end, its tender flesh offers a superb creamy flavor.

Plump in the middle and tapered at the neck, the Hubbard squash is wrapped in a very hard bumpy skin ranging anywhere from a dark bronze-green to light green to pale bluish-green. Inside this winter variety’s tough skin is a tender golden, fine-grained, rather dry and mealy, thick dense flesh that offers an excellent unforgettable flavor.

Spaghetti squash really can substitute for spaghetti. Large, oval and sunny yellow, this variety looks more like a melon than a squash and usually weighs four to eight pounds. Prized for its unusual cooked yellowish flesh, which separates into thin, long, translucent strings that resemble pasta. Fun to eat, even children may ask for more.

A Native American yellow squash with golden stripes averaging 1/2 pound in size. The flesh is golden orange, tender and incredibly sweet!

Bright orange with many creases running from top to bottom, pumpkins have a thick shell on the outside with seeds and pulp inside. Perfect for carving!

No surprise as its name is a yummy giveaway, the sugar pie pumpkin is the very best choice for optimum pumpkin flavor. Smooth textured, this prize pumpkin is one of the very sweetest, if not THE sweetest. Just plain delicious!

A bright orange color, these pumpkin darlings are about four inches in diameter and a perfect size for ornamental displays. The edible firm flesh has a mild taste, but because of the small size, this variety is usually not eaten. Mini pumpkins are primarily favored for their festive decor qualities.