Zucchini

[cjsmith]

OK, you guys are all going to laugh at me when I say this, but next summer I want to try growing zucchini.

I'm serious. It's great with beef, tomatoes, onion, and garlic in a stir fry. It's lovely sliced up and steamed with yellow squash with nothing more than some pepper on it. It's probably going to be scrumptious in this cream-of soup I've got in the crock pot right now. I like zucchini bread and would make some now except I shouldn't eat any. I even plan to try scraping strips off it with a peeler and serving it like pasta. (Hey. No making fun of a desperate woman. I haven't had pesto, marinara, or alfredo in months.)

Anybody have a lot of zucchini they don't know what to do with? I can help out. I'm generous that way.

Comments

[lindalee.livejournal.com]

People are right about being careful...zucchinis are definitely prolific.

However, if your patch of soil hasn't previously been a garden, and if you don't quite get the soil up to snuff before you plant, your plants may not be quite as prolific as you hope. This bit me this year...so I am *not* overrun with zucchini, even though I'm growing some. So yes, be cautious, but don't plant only one seed!

I also want to second the advice about looking underneath the leaves. I make a daily check, and I kneel down on the ground and look very very carefully. It's easy to miss one until it gets huge. Also, zucchinis can grow 3/4 of an inch to an inch every day. It's easy for them to get out of hand.

As many have said, squash blossoms are edible, but be careful to only pick the male blossoms (don't worry, there will be more male blossoms than female blossoms), or else you'll be aborting squashes. You can tell the female blossoms, because they'll have a tiny proto-squash at their base. Also, when you pick the blossoms, make sure there isn't a bee inside!

And if you want squash-y spaghetti, you do know about spaghetti squash, right? :-)

Actually, depending on when your frost hits, I wonder if you could get a Fall crop in if you start now?