Give me a Z
Give me a U
Give me a C
Give me another C
Give me an H
Give me an I
Give me an N
Give me an I
What's it spell?
Why, zucchini, of course.
I'm thinking many people would not be cheering about zucchini right now as their gardens may be overflowing with them.
Over here, we are cheering enthusiastically over our very first crop.
To date our attempts to grow them have been unsuccessful.
One year the male and female flowers didn't do their thing, another year squash vine borers did them in. In fact, after those failed attempts I swore there would be no more tries. However, last spring I decided I was not ready to admit defeat. I always thought they were easy to grow and it was ticking me off that I didn't have any luck with them.
So, I stuck a few plants in the garden and waited and waited and waited some more. Nothing!
I checked out some YouTube videos about that male and female flower thing. I headed out one day with my Q Tip determined to help them (ahem) get it on only to find out there were no female flowers in the bunch :(.
The other day I was tempted to rip out the whole mess.
Just for the heck of it I started poking around amongst those big leaves and there it was.
Oh, what a beautiful sight :).
The next day while snipping some basil I spotted another little zucchini peeking out at me.
I decided to harvest it promptly before it disappeared like most of my tomatoes have :/.
Once in the house it seemed a photo shoot was in order.
I added another element harvested from the garden, the zinnias.
Zucchini & Zinnias. A happy summertime pair.
I'm wondering if it is normal for zucchini to grow and grow and then put out the squash late in the season? If you grow it, what has been your experience? Do you harvest throughout the season?
I made a big mistake and planted the whole seed packet. I have so many zucchini and they are hard to keep up with. I also planted yellow squash and it isn't quite so prolific. Next year I shall not plant any veggies (well, maybe some peppers and one tomato plant).
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are successful this year, Kim!
I'm told that zucchini are easy to grow but I have not been successful ever! Luckily we're not crazy about it so if someone gives me one medium sized one that's all we need in a summer.
ReplyDeleteI like how you photographed them. Nice.
Ha-ha! I was thinking the same thing. Most folks get overrun with zucchini at some point and are no longer cheering. One summer my cousin and some neighbors had an all things zucchini party because she had such a big harvest. It was a potluck where every single dish was made with zucchini so it was like a taste testing event, too. :) Enjoy your harvest, however big or little it is. Just the fact that you can grow your own is a miracle.
ReplyDeleteLove.
ReplyDeleteGrabbing it before it goes missing seems like a good plan! Enjoy all the fresh produce and tastes of the season. I've only tried growing zucchini once and failed. Your vignettes are the best!
ReplyDeleteWe had flowers but no zucchini this year. Last year I used a paint brush to pollinate and we had just a few before the squash bugs came. A few years ago we had so many I filled my trunk with them and brought to the Senior Center to give away. They are a fickle vegetable. :) Glad you got some. Love your photo. FYI, gardeners recommend you don't plant in the same spot each year because of the squash bugs.
ReplyDeleteHere's to homegrown veggies! Loving my tomatoes!
ReplyDeleteBrenda
Sometimes those zucchinis are hard to find under all those big leaves!! I've learned not to let them grow too big because there are too many seeds then. Smaller ones are better.
ReplyDeleteWe have no trouble growing them here.
I don't know much about growing zucchini...we've only tried it once. It was a few years ago and we merely stuck a few plants in the ground. I had no idea about the male-female thing, lol. We did indeed get a lot of zucchini but I never grew it again since we can only eat so much of it.
ReplyDelete